Thursday, October 4, 2012

Epic Fantasy Tropes

There are many tropes associated with Epic Fantasy.  Here are some of them with added explanation (with examples from Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Time):
  • Everything is huge
If you've ever watched the Lord of the Rings movies, you've seen that many of the structures are massive.  The same thing applies to ancient cities in the Wheel of Time series.
  • Things happened in the past that blow "today" out of the water
The Age of Legends pretty much defines this one.
  • Cool groups of awesome warriors
There were the Rangers from Lord of the Rings and Aes Sedai, the Aiel, and the Seanchan from the Wheel of Time (to name a few).
  • Massive scope
The world is in peril, usually be some overlord who is the embodiment of evil.
  • An everyman protagonist
Lord of the Rings has Frodo, a feeble hobbit, and the Wheel of Time series has Rand al'Thor, a young man who seems to be completely normal.
  • Vastly different cultures
The Seafolk, The Game playing Cairhienins, Andorans, etc., the Wheel of time series is full of cultures.  The Lord of the Rings has the addition of several races' cultures.

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