D&D General D&D Archetypes that spread out to other settings and media

[Not a Decepticon]

I am confused at your resistance to this basic, obvious thing. Why don't you show us before and after and explain why you think D&D specifically created the "sword and board" fighter.

It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

 

[Tonguez]

It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

Thats because DnD is literally a chop suey of folklore and literary tropes, D&D didn’t create the ingredients of fantasy, it created the cooking system, labelled and measured the tropes, then handed out a cookbook, that lets the players supply the sauce and cook it to their own taste. The result is always recognisable, but never the same meal twice.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

You've presented no evidence that your purported "trope codifier" has codified jack. There are far more counterexamples than examples.