Staple Fantasy Races

[Roman]

What fantasy races do you think are the staple of the fantasy genre? By 'staple', I mean fantasy races that appear in a large proportion* of fantasy fiction and games. That means not appearing in just D&D, but across a broad spectrum of fantasy games/fiction.

*'Large proportion' is difficult to define. I wanted to put 'at least 50%', but I have not read much fantasy fiction or played all that many types of fantasy games, so I am not sure any races other than humans make it into 50% of fantasy fiction/games.

I would say the following are the staple fantasy races:

Humans (of course)

Elves
Dwarves

Orcs (possibly, though here I am not quite as certain)


Beyond that, I am much less sure about races such as goblins and so on.

What do you think?

 

[Dragonbait]

I would say gobbos are more common than orcs in fantasy stories and games.

Some more possibilities: trolls, ogres, giants, dragons

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Elves, dwarves, giants, ogres.

 

[painandgreed]

Centaurs make a good showing. However, they are ill suited for dungeons or cities.

 

[WayneLigon]

Almost everyone has some form of lizard/man race. Many systems, in basically copying D&D, have a halfling race.

Minotaurs show up in many games.
Centaurs (In Lace and Steel, they are a major non-human race).

 

[Jolly Giant]

Humans, elves, dwarves, goblins and various giants (trolls and ogres in particular) - definitely!

Orcs - probably. And also probably "the small humanoid", whether they're called hobbit, halfling, gnome or something else.

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Hmm, the name might change but some sort of orc/goblin type is pretty common.

Cat"folk" (Read: Catgirls) make a surprisingly strong showing in modern stuff given how rare such creatures were in ancient mythology.

I'd say dragons are probably the most common beastie of all the nonhuman races offhand.

 

[Turjan]

Humans, elves, dwarves, goblins and various giants (trolls and ogres in particular) - definitely!

That would be my answer, too .

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Humans are almost certainly the only ones who would top 50%. Wide swathes of fantasy don't have elves, dwarves or orcs. Sword and sorcery traditionally doesn't have any non-human protagonists, for example. Anime-style fantasy (including the wide swathe of games, both electronic and pen and paper) also usually excises them, although elves are moderately common and dwarves and orcs do occasionally show up. Most dark fantasy doesn't have any elves, dwarves or orcs, but I'm not sure where you draw the line between it and horror. Even some high/epic fantasy doesn't use them, either by changing their names or by ommiting them entirely (the Prydain Chronicles, for example).

I would say undead are probably the closest to universal in terms of non-human intelligences. They show up in almost every fantasy series that runs for more than a book/story or two, although there are exceptions (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell leaps to mind, as well as, IIRC, Roger Zelzany's Amber novels). At the very least, though, they put in appearances in all the major subgenres of fantasy, and in numbers.

Dragons are fairly common across the board, showing up in one form or another in pretty much every type of fantasy, but not as ubiquitous on a story to story basis as the undead.

Fey, or creatures much like them, are only slightly less common than the Tolkienesque races if you take the broader sweep of fantasy. If you see them as overlapping with elves, they do probably push elves to 50% or more.

Demons - by this I mean extradimensional supernatural horrors that are of an entirely different order of life, be they fallen angels, "alignment" exemplars, or prehuman Mythos entities - are a biggie if you add up all three types, since they're regulars of both sword & sorcery and high fantasy and show up with some regularity in fantasy that borders on horror.

 

[frankthedm]

'Perfect' race that came before the humans.

Mishappen wicked humaniods: Mutazoids, reavers, goblins or orcs.