Fantasy Clichés and how to Fix them
What are Fantasy Clichés?
Before we start, I want to talk about what fantasy clichés are. Fantasy clichés are tropes that are so common, you see them in nearly every fantasy book (or so it seems). A few of these examples are (and I am sure you have seen all of them a thousand times):
The Chosen One
The Secret/ Lost Heir to a Throne
The Prophecy
Damsel in Distress
Badass Characters who do not have any emotional side to them (this one is not exclusive to fantasy tropes, though)
The Evil Overlord
Magic Systems
Fantasy Creatures
Good wins against Evil
In this post I want to show you how you can change these fantasy clichés and create something unique and magical!
Also, before we start, did you know that I have a Patreon account now? Check it out if you want to support this blog, get early access and access to exclusive content!
Fantasy Clichés and their Problems
While there is nothing wrong with these tropes per se, some of them might become a little repetitive and boring. Especially if you do not do some more work on them. But don't worry, this post will show you what you can do to maybe change these tropes a little and make them more uniquely yours.
Fixing Fantasy Clichés
Here are some of the most commonly used fantasy clichés, as well as ideas on how to change them to make them more interesting:
The Chosen One:
We all know the trope of the chosen one. Some might love it, and some might hate it. I personally love this trope! But there are a few things that can be slightly annoying while reading it:
the chosen one literally does not have any skills they would need to fulfill such a prophecy: I don't know about you, but it is really annoying to me if I am supposed to root for a character if they have no skills. Especially if they literally do not have to do much to gain these skills afterwards?! Are you telling me that a random farmer who has never used a weapon before will win against the evil overlord, whom no one—not even the most skilled fighters and armies—could win against before? No. If you want to write a protagonist who is the chosen one, and you don't want them to have any previous skills, let them at least suffer through the process of getting these skills! Do they have to learn a magic ability? Make them train hard and suffer through the process! Make them doubt themselves; make them fail! And make them struggle in any fight they might get into. You might also want to make them fail in the end.
How to change it:
Possibility One: The Chosen One actually has some skills required:
You can also just decide to give your chosen one some or all of the skills they will need during their journey beforehand. Maybe they knew they were the chosen ones since they were small children? Maybe they were prepared for exactly this fight? Maybe they had to sacrifice a normal childhood and a normal life simply because everyone believed they would bring peace to the world or kingdom again? In this case, also consider what emotional, mental, and physical consequences that can have for your chosen one (are they constantly doubting their skills because there is so much pressure on them and they don't know if they are enough?) Maybe they have to constantly live in fear because people or enemies are trying to kill them in order to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy. Maybe they are slowly destroying their bodies and health because they just can't stop while the world is in danger. (Because they are the only hope left.)
Possibility Two: People declared the wrong person as the Chosen One:
Wow, that would hurt, right? Especially if you consider the situation described above, your “chosen one“ is already destroying their health (physical and emotional) to save the world. They have sacrificed so much already, and then suddenly they are told that all of this was for nothing. Ouch! But this is actually a quite reasonable possibility. Do you think any and every prophecy would be interpreted exactly the right way? Most definitely not. What would your character do in this situation? How would they react? Will they become another antagonist? Who will then be the “chosen one“? Is there even one? There are so many great questions to ask and so many things you can do with this premise!
The Prophecy:
I love a good prophecy! But with this trope, there can be some problems as well.
prophecy points to a chosen one who has no skills, but suddenly manages to win against an enemy no one else was able to (see above)
prophecy is straight forward and without any possibility to misinterpret
prophecy talks in riddles, but somehow everyone still manages to interpret it the right way
prophecy is believed by everyone
self-fulfilling prophecy
How to change it:
The prophecy is straight forward and without any possibility for misinterpretation:
This can sometimes work; don't get me wrong! But this post is about how to make these cliché fantasy tropes a little more interesting, so let's see what we can do: How about you have a prophecy that is straight forward, and normally there wouldn't be any possibility to misinterpret it, but:
Your prophecy is written in an old language; only a few people who can read it are left, but they do not understand the clear, culture-based statements that anyone else during the time of origin would have had no problem understanding. The meaning is kind of lost in time, and this leads to misinterpretations, even though the people who distribute the prophecy know the language.
Your prophecy is written in an old language and in an old form of scripture in this language. The few people who can still read it are struggling with recognizing the words and might accidentally read other things. Also, wouldn't it be hilarious to have a written prophecy that is written in such bad handwriting that people are really struggling to understand anything?
Your prophecy is written or told in a clear and straight-forward message, but people simply do not want to believe the content of the prophecy. Do they not like the chosen one? do they want it to end some other way?), so they subconsciously or consciously misinterpret the message of the prophecy, and over time the fact that it is a misinterpretation gets lost, and people believe it to be the true meaning of the prophecy.
Others want to be part of the prophecy and purposefully misinterpret it to become relevant to it. Two or more groups are starting to form, and all of them believe in a different interpretation of the prophecy.
2. The prophecy is written/ told in riddles. Instead of having only one recognized interpretation, these problems occur in your world:
Others want to be part of the prophecy and purposefully misinterpret it to become relevant to it. Two or more groups are starting to form, and all of them believe in a different interpretation of the prophecy.
People interpret the events and characters mentioned in the prophecy differently. Some might think the chosen one has already arrived; others might believe the current “chosen one“ is simply a fraud who is trying to fool everyone. How could this lead to problems and conflicts?
People actually chose the wrong Chosen One
People might completely misinterpret a prophecy for something good and then learn way too late that they were supporting something that was destined to destroy them.
3. The Self-fulfilling prophecy:
“One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it“ (Jean de La Fontaine)
I am a sucker for self-fulfilling prophecies! But what else could we do with a prophecy? What if a prophecy in your world can actually be stopped? Or delayed? Is killing the chosen one actively stopping your destiny from becoming reality, or will another chosen one rise, who will then fulfill the prophecy? Will the path you have to take change, but the end result stay the same? What happens if you can actually stop a prophecy from becoming reality by changing some details in your current reality?
Example: A prophecy about a lost heir is circling the streets of your kingdom. This heir is supposed to bring peace and justice to the kingdom, which is now being destroyed by the tyrannic king ruling it. But what if the announcement of this prophecy leads the current king to seek out the lost heir? Many people suffer; maybe your character doesn't get killed, but maybe this event changes who they are as a person. Will they stay as a fair and kind person, or will they change because of the pain they had to endure? Are they now trying to seek revenge? Maybe they will rise to the throne and defeat the current tyrant king—the prophecy was right in this aspect—but will they also be a kind and fair king to the kingdom? Will history repeat itself, and another chosen one has to take down the now-tyrant king, who was once destined to save the kingdom?
The Secret/ Lost Heir to the Throne:
Oh, another fantasy trope I am the biggest fan of! You're telling me someone has to rise up to defeat the current traitor on the throne to get back what is rightfully theirs? I love it! There are two different ways you can go about it:
the lost/ secret heir actually wants the throne. They have desperately been waiting for their chance to get it back. They have been preparing allies, soldiers, connections, so that when the time is right, they can fight for their throne.
or the lost/ secret heir does not know about their rights to the throne, and they also do not care. They don't want it. What could be a reason they change their mind?
Damsel in Distress:
Ah yeah, the notorious damsel in distress trope. This one is honestly my least favorite trope. I am more of a fan of badass couples who fight alongside each other instead of one having to save the other, but if it is your cup of tea, who am I to judge? Go for it! But if you do want to change the trope a little bit, try these things:
Switch the genders: make your male character into the damsel in distress, while the female character has to save him.
Create a character who does fight back and who isn't easily intimidated, but they simply do not have all of the skills to save themselves. But they surely will not make it easy for the kidnapper or enemy.
Switch the social status: maybe a knight isn't going to save the princess or prince. What if the princess or prince actually seeks out to free a knight, a farmer, a merchant, or a soldier? Why? What is their relationship? What do other people think about it?
Badass characters, who seem to not have any emotional side to them:
This part also plays into the fact that you should create realistic and multi-dimensional characters. If you are still struggling with this, read my blog post about how to create memorable and unique characters. Is it really realistic to have a character who is a total badass, but doesn't seem to have any emotions?
Even if you have a character who was trained into showing little to no emotions or to not let them influence their actions while being stuck in this situation, that doesn't mean they do not have any emotions! Maybe they don't like to show these emotions to others, but maybe another character sees them secretly crying at night. Maybe they have this one person with whom they allow themselves to be vulnerable? Maybe you can see a slight change in facial expressions when they hear about something horrible that has happened. My point is to show that even these characters still have emotions! Don't turn them into stone-cold, heartless characters!
Or maybe you have a character who is a total badass during battles and fights but also a total soft-hearted person with their own ways to cope with their emotions? A character is beating up monsters and enemies during the day, but in the evening they sit down next to the campfire and start journaling to process what happened during the day and the emotions they felt. Sounds lovely!
The Evil Overlord
Ah, yeah, who doesn't know them? A story needs an antagonist, and the most convenient choice is to introduce a villain who is purely evil. That's it. There is not much more to say about them. What are their goals? Their reasons? It doesn't matter, because they are evil! I will make a separate post about how to create convincing villains, because this trope has to go!
Magic Systems
A fantasy story without a magic system? Is that even possible? These two seem to be inseparable! I also love to use them in my stories. If you are interested in learning how to establish compelling and convincing magic systems for your fantasy book, go read my blog post about it! There is just too much to say about it, I can’t include it here as well.
Magical Creatures
There are a lot of magical creatures that seem to be a recurring theme in fantasy stories:
mermaids/ sirens
dragons
angels
fairies
vampires
and so many more
So if you want to be a little more unique, you can either a) change some aspects about these established magical creatures to make them more interesting, or b) create your own magical creatures to use in your story.
Good wins against Bad
Last but not least, the good wins against the bad. No matter how hopeless the situation looked, at the end there was a sudden turn of events that allowed the hero to win against the villain. While this is a nice way to finish a story, and I also do enjoy using it or reading it, I would love to read more stories in which this is simply not the case.
What about a story in which there is simply nothing your protagonist and their crew can do? Or a story in which they are doing great, but then a horrible mistake by your protagonist or their friends causes the villain to win? Devastating. But good, no? I would love to read more stories that end like this instead of stories in which the good side always wins, even if there is literally no reason for them to actually win.
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These were some of the fantasy tropes I see often, and some ideas on how you can make them a little bit more unique and interesting. I hope this post helped you in your writing journey! Follow me on Pinterest for more writing advice and check out my Patreon account. Also, if you’re searching for some recommendations when it comes to writing and reading, check out my Benable profile as well!
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