Three Clichés Common in Fantasy Novels That I Absolutely Hate

Yes. The title explains all. For this weeks post, I am going to rant about the clichés common in fantasy novels that I find are highly irritating. Oh boy this is gonna be fun!

Alright let’s get down to business.

Cliché #1: The Orphan

Taran from Chronicles of Prydain, Will from Ranger’s Apprentice, Rey from Star Wars (not a fantasy novel but I don’t care), Quentin from In the Hall of the Dragon King… need I go on?

This cliché is definitely the one that gets under my skin the most. I absolutely despise it! The hero grows up not knowing who his parents were. He constantly wants to find out. He was adopted by some kind people, or grew up in the streets. It feels like this cliché is used either to have a subplot of the main character wanting to find their parents (like Taran or Rey) or just to avoid having to write the parents into the story at all! But I’ll talk more about the parents a little later.

I get so frustrated when I’m reading a book, it talks about the main character, and then it says “He never knew his parents” or “Her uncle had told her from a young age what her mother had been like, and she wished she had known her” this makes me super angry. Every now and then people can make it the big subject in the book and make it really well done, but most of the time they do it just to…do it! Uuuuugh either put the parents in, explain logically why the main character never knew their parents and why their an orphan, or JUST DON’T EVEN TALK ABOUT THE PARENTS AT ALL!!

Okay, I had better move on before I explode. 😅

Cliché #2: The Twins

Okay, I have to say, this isn’t the wooooooorst cliché, and it doesn’t appear nearly as much as the orphan cliché does, but I still don’t exactly see why a lot of people make the main characters twins.

This cliché gets me more not because of the two main characters being twins itself, but more because I just don’t understand why they do it. I mean, having siblings as main characters is awesome! I enjoy seeing siblings share an adventure, but when their twins?…I just don’t understand.

Oh, and one other thing. They usually look exactly alike. And they’re a boy and a girl. Why. It’s always the same.

JUST CHANGE SOMETHING UP ALREADY PEOPLE!!!

Cliché #3: The Parents

Excuse me while I go and smash my head into a brick wall.

This cliché is possibly the most common, and probably frustrates me even more than the orphan cliché, because THIS CLICHÉ IS THE ONE THAT CAUSES THE ORPHAN TO BE AN ORPHAN IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!

What is this cliché you ask?

THIS CLICHÉ IS THE ONE WHERE THE PARENTS ARE DEAD WHEN THE STORY BEGINS AND THE KID IS ADOPTED AND HE NEVER REMEMBERS THEM!!!!

What confuses me the most about this cliché is because I don’t really see why people fall into it. It’s easy to write the parents into the story! Unless it actually furthers the plot or is a big point in the book, then why kill them?!?!?!

Another cliché about parents is that they come back later. WHY?! I don’t get it!!! You assume them dead, you get over it, and then they come back. That is just the worst. #PoAndHisDadInKungFuPanda3

Okay, I actually like Kung Fu Panda, but still, that cliché is in there. And I don’t like it.

Anyway, this was my rant about three clichés I find very commonly in fantasy novels and you know, other stories. And that is why I wanted to rant about them. But I’m done now. 🙃

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