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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5378045" data-attributes="member: 59082">It isn't the tropes themselves that get outworn, it is how they are used. A "trope" is basically analogous to "cliche," which is a kind of superficial variant on an archetype. We don't want to get rid of archetypes but we don't want our cliches/tropes (i.e. specific forms that archetypes take within a given context) to get old.Another form of trope which I haven't seen mentioned is the "changing an archetype for the sake of novelty or to distance oneself from another's version of said archetype." An example would be Gygaxian elves - you know, the ones that are 5' and basically pointy-eared lesser versions of Tolkien's elves. This is a trope that I'm glad to see dead and gone (at least with later editions of D&D). Related to this is "the old classic with a twist." This can be good but often it is just...silly. Like sea-faring dwarves or savage halfings or schizophrenic intelligent swords (OK, the last is kind of cool).In a sense I'm talking about two extremes: The first being the superficial cliche that offers nothing new or fresh and is basically a derivation of derivative material; the second is the cliche of difference-for-difference sake. Somewhere between the two is the archetype: a symbol that has many possible forms, but in order for it to come alive it needs to have a kind of depth and subtlety, and a connection to the universal.</blockquote>