Fantasy trope
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Fantasy tropes are a specific type of literary tropes that occur in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, plot, and characterization have many common conventions, many of them having ultimately originated in myth and folklore. J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium (and in particular, The Lord of the Rings) for example, was inspired from a variety of different sources including Germanic, Finnish, Greek, Celtic and Slavic myths. Literary fantasy works operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh (a method that often generates new clichés).
There are many elements that show up throughout the fantasy genre in different guises. Worldbuilding in particular has many common conventions, as do, to a lesser extent, plot and characterization.
Many works of fantasy operate with these tropes; many others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over, for reasons from comic effect, to creating something fresh (a method that often generates new clichés), to objections to the effect of the old tropes.
Examples include the fight of good vs. evil, a Dark Lord, a hero on a quest, magic, an interest in Medievalism and The Ancient World and the presence of sentient "races".
See also
- Archetype
- Cliché
- Damsel in distress
- Role reversal
- Stereotype
- Stock character
- List of science fiction themes
