drothgery said:I'd disagree with that one. If you're going use classic fantasy names for races, then they should fit the archetype (generally speaking; individual exceptions are okay, but they should clearly be the exception, not the rule), or at least be descended from people who did. Don't call your tall, thin, aloof, nature-loving race "dwarves" just to be contrary. By the same token, if you're going to use a race that conforms to a classic fantasy archetype, then you should use the classic name for it. Don't call your big, ugly, stupid race "trollocs" just to be contrary (yes, trollocs don't look exactly like orcs and are the result of a mad scientist's genetic engineering experiment that wasn't a complete success, but that's hardly important to the backstory of The Wheel of Time).
Scarbonac said:Deus ex machina.
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?
No one cared about the long, angst-ridden journey Bruce Willis's character went on to became such a badass before he finally showed up at the Nakatomi Tower in Die Hard.
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?
iblis said:Stampy-footed and vicious but cute and sexy yet ('lovably') annoying fiery-haired princesses.
hmm...
Weapons with overly cheesy (wince-worthy) names, too.
Ah, anything with an overly cheesy name.
So really my bane in a fantasy novel would be a vicious, cute, sexy, 'lovably' annoying, stampy-footed, fiery-haired princess called Willowblossom or Elfstar or whatever, wielding a hugely powerful awesome magical kewl legendary Piece O Death that goes by the name of Whisperdeath or some such.
Yeh. That'd do it.
Oh, too the cutesy wittle critters that waddle/paddle/flap/sproing/bound/etc. around for no other reason than to score 'cute points' with potential marks, ah readers that is.
I like that book, and I would not say the ethics are very relative. Westeros has a clear code of ethics for those of the knightly caste, and much of the book is about the people who cannot live up to them. Very few of the book are pure good or evil, but some are (Jon is pure good I think, Gregor pure evil). It is one of the things that make the book so interesting to me. It reminds me of the tales of King Arthur in many ways. Lancelot and Guinevere and all that.LizardWizard said:To these, I would add:
-Relative ethics. (George Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, an otherwise fine book)