Annoying Fantasy Trends

[Mystery Man]

I really hate it when authors slap fantasy settings and names on novels that are all about heaving bosoms and pulsing loins, and try to claim it's a fantasy novel rather than a romance novel. While not all their novels are like this, Anne McAffrey and Mercedes Lackey are both guilty of this charge on multiple counts.

An emphatic ditto, me too and hear hear. While there's nothing wrong with the pulsing busom novel sell it for what it is.

 

[rogueattorney]

The cliched plot of: Young orphan, who's really a king, is taken on a magical quest by a dizzy old man, who's really a mighty wizard to defeat the big evil dude and his unstoppable minions, as fortold by the prophecy. Along the way they join a group of miss-matched travellers including the spunky princess love interest (running away because she didn't want to marry the goofy/homely/evil/old noble with whom her parents were arranging a marriage), the gruff but loveable dwarf/barbarian, the mighty but tragically flawed warrior, the noble and perfect elf, the charming but roguish thief, the seemingly incompetant wizard apprentice who eventually becomes a great wizard, and the matronly old nurse-maid who keeps everyone in line. They are betrayed by one member of the party. Another member of the party (seemingly) dies, making the others resolve that much more to get the job done. The hero wins despite impossible odds, through his faith, honor, charm, kindness, bravery and other good qualities more so than through any actual skill or overt action taken. In the end, it's announced the hero's the King, and he can finally marry the princess.

Or any of the variations on that theme.

R.A.

 

[MaxKaladin]

The cliched plot of: Young orphan, who's really a king, is taken on a magical quest by a dizzy old man, who's really a mighty wizard to defeat the big evil dude and his unstoppable minions, as fortold by the prophecy. Along the way they join a group of miss-matched travellers including the spunky princess love interest (running away because she didn't want to marry the goofy/homely/evil/old noble with whom her parents were arranging a marriage), the gruff but loveable dwarf/barbarian, the mighty but tragically flawed warrior, the noble and perfect elf, the charming but roguish thief, the seemingly incompetant wizard apprentice who eventually becomes a great wizard, and the matronly old nurse-maid who keeps everyone in line. They are betrayed by one member of the party. Another member of the party (seemingly) dies, making the others resolve that much more to get the job done. The hero wins despite impossible odds, through his faith, honor, charm, kindness, bravery and other good qualities more so than through any actual skill or overt action taken. In the end, it's announced the hero's the King, and he can finally marry the princess.

Or any of the variations on that theme.

R.A.

I always thought an author could have fun with this plot by twisting it so that:

1. The young orphan and the ditzy old man turn out to be a decoy so the bad guys will concentrate on trying to find and kill them while the competent folks half a continent away actually do the stuff that sets things right. Neither knows they're a decoy. The powers that be don't care because, hey, who is going to miss one orphan and a half-senile old man, right?

OR

2. The young orphan is totally unimportant. He accidentally made one of the bad guys mad and now the bad guy wants to kill him. The "good" guys drag him along because, well, someone has to rub down the horses, fetch firewood and generally do the menial stuff and they certainly don't want to do it themselves. He doesn't have to go. He can take his chances with the bad guy if he really wants.... Tell the story from his POV as the more or less innocent and uninvolved bystander basically watching all this stuff from the sidelines and noticing the foibles of both the bad guys AND the good guys.

 

[rogueattorney]

I always thought an author could have fun with this plot by twisting it so that:

1. The young orphan and the ditzy old man turn out to be a decoy so the bad guys will concentrate on trying to find and kill them while the competent folks half a continent away actually do the stuff that sets things right. Neither knows they're a decoy. The powers that be don't care because, hey, who is going to miss one orphan and a half-senile old man, right?

Tolkien already did this in the story that got this whole thing started. After all, weren't the king in hiding (Aragorn) and the dizzy old man (Gandalf) just the decoys for the guys that really mattered (Frodo & Sam)?

R.A.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Tolkien already did this in the story that got this whole thing started. After all, weren't the king in hiding (Aragorn) and the dizzy old man (Gandalf) just the decoys for the guys that really mattered (Frodo & Sam)?

Well, true, but I don't really think of Aragorn as a young orphan. I was actually thinking more along the lines of the whole thing being a farce where Aragorn was really the lost king and Gandalf wasn't as befuddled as he let on either. In my version, the kid would be a more or less ordinary orphan and the old guy only thinks he's in the know and is actually just having his delusions of grandeur more or less egged on by the higher ups to serve as a decoy.

An alternate version could have the old man knowing what he's doing like Gandalf, but all those vague hints such people always drop are that way because they're all just made up on the spot to string the rest of the party along with generic hints about great destinies and ancient prophecies and so forth. Done right, you could suck in readers who think they know what's going on because the book seems to be following the usual formula, but it isn't.

 

[diaglo]

the thing that annoys me about many fantasy novels.. is the characters never age or the story all happens in a short time frame...



plus the main characters never die by a lucky shot or errant swing of a friendly blade.

i would love a novel that had the main character killed in a battle by a misthrown catapult shot. and the good guys still win the day in the end.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I hate it when the main character has a zillion powers that haven't been seen in thousands of years (Egwene from WoT) or the main character has this huge prophecy hanging over their head (many fantasies).

the thing that annoys me about many fantasy novels.. is the characters never age or the story all happens in a short time frame...

plus the main characters never die by a lucky shot or errant swing of a friendly blade.

i would love a novel that had the main character killed in a battle by a misthrown catapult shot. and the good guys still win the day in the end.

Well, Flint dies in a somewhat similar way.

 

[diaglo]

Well, Flint dies in a somewhat similar way.

he dies of a heart attack.

and Sturm is killed by Kit.

but i wanted all of them dead. and the Heroes of the Lance are just that... Matyrs. real Heroes like Congressional Medal of Honor winners... posthumously...

 

[dreaded_beast]

plus the main characters never die by a lucky shot or errant swing of a friendly blade.

What about Tanis?

 

[Ourph]

The cliched plot of: Young orphan, who's really a king, is taken on a magical quest by a dizzy old man, who's really a mighty wizard to defeat the big evil dude and his unstoppable minions, as fortold by the prophecy. Along the way they join a group of miss-matched travellers including the spunky princess love interest (running away because she didn't want to marry the goofy/homely/evil/old noble with whom her parents were arranging a marriage), the gruff but loveable dwarf/barbarian, the mighty but tragically flawed warrior, the noble and perfect elf, the charming but roguish thief, the seemingly incompetant wizard apprentice who eventually becomes a great wizard, and the matronly old nurse-maid who keeps everyone in line. They are betrayed by one member of the party. Another member of the party (seemingly) dies, making the others resolve that much more to get the job done. The hero wins despite impossible odds, through his faith, honor, charm, kindness, bravery and other good qualities more so than through any actual skill or overt action taken. In the end, it's announced the hero's the King, and he can finally marry the princess.

Or any of the variations on that theme.

R.A.

But....but....I LIKE Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn!