BEST/WORST FANTASY TROPES! 

I really liked the editing more action and less gifs

...the quarantine may be affecting you a bit.

The Bulgarian was kinda bad

Well it was a fun video, also

I think lockdown is straining Daniel... though I love the vibe 😂

100%

Yes

Yea

Absolutely

And one of the best ones too

Daniel Greene has to get socks sponsor. Seriously.

He is good at promoting it.

Pretty sure my first Daniel Greene video watched was a green screen outfit. Green screen socks would be funny. (Though sock sponsors would be better.)

And the untied drawstring. I wondered when his pants were going to fall down.

@@DanMackison how sexual

Can we actually talk about this? What is he wearing?

@@guessmyname1246 clothing

@@thisisme4074 I... I have no rebuttal against that

@@guessmyname1246 r/technicallytrue? lol.

The angle which the vidoe was taken at is a bigger one. I thoiught he was slavsquatting for half the video then I realized it was jsut taken at a slightly odd angle.

Can you expect a lot from someone who may have missed all their executive management classes?

So the original King Arthur story?

Ben Wyatt and Ice Town

Sounds almost like the backstory to an actual good fantasy story.

But he isn't willing to abdicate. Starts turning his Kingdom into Fantasy North Korea. Inadvertently becomes the dark lord.

Haha, this had me cracking up.

I will always read these like I read Legolas in Fellowship of the Ring when they learn what it is the face in Moria: "A Balrog! Ai! Ai!" In two ways: like a goodfella going "Ayyyyuh..." but your response reads as it spells "Ayeeeeeh!" So that part of LotR was a head scratcher: was Legolas panicking? Or was he being all gangsta witty? Ayyyyuh.

YES

From a certain point of view...

My favourite part this is that the prophecy becomes 100% true: he was the chosen one to bring balance to the Force. The Force had too many lightside members and he worked to bring the balance.

@@captainsoda6590 he never failed to fulfill his destiny/job and he did it twice. lol

Not anymore buddy. Palpatine survived.

@@andrerobinson3233 This is literally my only problem with the sequels. They were average movies at best, but I didn't dislike them, even if they were disappointing. But then after messing up their own trilogy, they tried to fix it by damaging the originals? "The rise of skywalker" and it doesn't even have Anakin, Luke or the prophecy in any relevant scene? Kills off the actual Skywalkers (Because love??), brings back Palpatine, kills him in the worst possible way and makes his bloodline the only survivor? It was entertaining to watch, but damm, surely they ruined the series on purpose? Like some car insurance scheme, where they crashed their vehicle on purpose and hoped to get enough money to buy a new and completely different car. The whole trilogy is reminiscent of a creative writing project in highschool where somebody ran out of time and gave up.

That’s what I love about Harry as a Chosen One. He was one option for the prophecy. And he was only the one because Voldemort felt purebloods were the only ones who should survive, so Harry’s halfblood status caused him to be chosen. And I also love that Harry was never defined by that. All his actions were his choice, whether it was saving the stone or catching the heir of Slytherin. I like that Dumbledore makes Harry see he would always choose to fight Voldy, regardless of the prophecy.

@@janhavi1977 Exactly. What Lucky said.

I have a curious thought about the Chosen One trope. I'll just say that I'm quite new to the fantasy genre when it comes to novels, but has there been a story that uses the trope for the big bad evil? Like a prophecy that someone, somewhere is going to destroy everything and it's up to our "heroes" to find the person and stop the apocalypse. If this has already been done, I'd greatly appreciate it if you can share me the book's name. I just think this sort of way of doing the trope, gives a lot of potential for tension and moral decision making by people you would consider the traditional good and justice sort of characters y'know

@@xxrabbitsnipezxx5794 Yup :) try the Faithful and the Fallen. That series does have the "big bad is chosen to destroy the world" trope. And obviously Wheel of Time, where Rand is chosen not just to save the world, but also destroy it.

@@janhavi1977 Ahh I've heard a lot about the Wheel of Time (which isn't surprising considering who's channel we're on) but I didn't knew it had that aspect in Rand's prophecy. Interesting. Thanks a lot!

Alex Akard I hate resurrections where the character is changed like Gandalf or Eustace in Narnia

That's why Lady Stoneheart is so great. It's another piece of GRRM's great work with flipping tropes on their head

Resurrection sells.

@@lordblenkinsopp1537 I disagree, I feel GRRM is so obsessed with inverting tropes he ends up being incredibly predictable in that he will always do the opposite to whatever trope he approaches. Making him as formulaic as those tropes.

@@DaDunge not true. He's just unpredictable. He never do the opposite of things. I am sure when he finishes the series, you'll see how great he is and that he doesn't do the opposite of every trope. That's why it takes so much time for him to finish the series. Bottom line, you'll see in the next books why what you just said isn't the case at all.

Ah yes, the classic 'we never found the body' trope. Force the audience to mourn the character (as long as you put in the work to make them care), and then make them feel like the feelings are wasted in the next installment of the series.

I know, right! That's one of the main reasons I love GoT so much. I was just so shocked that so many MCs died. I loved it.

@@Jrdn357 Jon came back though.

@@saivamshi7740 Yeah, but that happened beyond season 4. And we don't talk about any seasons past that point.

@@kokorodaki4017 I have trust issues because of authors that do this! Haha

I really like that trope too- hiding the royalty. There is a series called the Chronicles of the Necromancer. It wasn’t exactly the creme de la creme of high fantasy but I thought that trope was done well enough.

I love secret identity stuff in general.

It can be okay, but I’ve seen one or two where it comes entirely out of left field as a deus ex machina at the very end.

@@skycastrum5803 I mean. That's every trope though. You can have any trope be done amazingly well or horribly wrong. They're tropes just because they're common themes/plot devices. The skill of the writer determines how its used

altoguy16499: Mostly true. It’s more than just a trope being overused that makes it good or bad. My post is an example of how this one might be used poorly. It’s sort of like all those things people are told to avoid in writing stories. They can be done, but they’re easy to screw up. Doesn’t mean a trope is bad, but there are pitfalls that need to be avoided (at least in this reader’s opinion).

Hay, a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do ;P

Same thought. No shame haha.

This! I heard "hidden royalty" and immediately thought about Captain Carrot. Who btw is subverted so well he's probably the only character of his type I wholeheartedly love ("hidden royalty" isn't the only trope he embodies that I hate after all).

If you go by real life examples, around 1/10 of the country would ve related by blood to nobility or royalty. Specially near the brothels.

@@arienrhod1 Not just Captain Carrot. Remember when the aristocracy found that Nobby was somehow distant royalty? "Vimes'd go spare!!"

@@malonemalo Right. According to genealogists, literally everyone in Europe today is associated with former royalty and Charlamagne is a common ancestor. Being a descendant of recent nobility is granted more, e.g. both of my parents come from ex-noble families.

Yes but he also manages to do it in a way that doesn't feel jarring. Also I would remind you that Neil Gaiman played that trope straigt with Stardust and made it work.

Need more Tetrarchs

now THAT'S a hot take! finaly somone said it

I mean, a monarchy is just a religious, hereditary dictatorship

@@mightycobalt3269 No, it is not.

T H I S

Watch Black Panther, the protagonist recognises the antagonist was correct, challenges the status quo and implements a less extreme version of their goals, it is **chef's kiss** the pinnacle of superhero films.

Or as an addendum to that, the villain actually making alot of sense and doing things rather pragmatically and backed by knowledge and wisdom... and then murdering a thousand virgins because god forbid we have any ambiguity over who we should be empathising with kill that monster! Then all his good points are promptly forgotten because they came from someone so eeeeeevil

@@barrylyndon5552 In general, trying to have a single villain be mostly sympathetic and still a total monster to maintain the black-and-white dichotomy tends to fail. I'm sure some author has done it, but all the examples that try tend to fall short of crossing the line between those two. No BBEG can order their underlings to commit genocide or destroy the world and still be sympathetic. It might work if they're someone turning to villainy to spite an even worse villain, but then they're not the villain of the story anymore... just a named minor antagonist. The moral event horizon is a thing, but to utilize it, the steps leading to that point have to make logical sense.

"I bought you from a whore for ten marks...she wanted 20 but I drive a hard bargain"- old wizard mentor

Humble, reliable, badass when needed. You can't go wrong with those traits.

@@hiredmuscle404 Awesome quote, First Law trilogy for those too lazy to look it up. The First Law books also give a great spin on the "surprise royalty" trope, related to the quote from above.

@@gottesurteil3201 I think a waiting excuse to smoke a pipe and tell people to sod off helps a bit too. Those same traits can make some really bland knights, retainers, butlers, even tradesmen, but something about adding in long hair and loud snoring just ensures a readable character.

Dude, I love Zed

his redemption was so good

On the flip side: *glares at GRRM's supposed plan for Jaime Lannister*

HONOUR

@@charlottetrinckvel2634 *Pelvic thrusts* HONOR! HONOR!

Tea

The relationship between Carrot, Vetinari, and Vimes really sells the subversion of the trope for me. "We both see that you're the King, but I'll stay ruling things and you stay a watchman." "On the condition we annoy my 'boss' by giving him more and more titles (that he hates because of his upbringing.)"

GNU Pratchett, also, i especially like how he writes carrot, the trope good guys (don´t) kill could be good if used right, there is this part in men at arms when Vimes remember a lesson about a good and evil man; "Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.” it´s kind of weird, beacuse later vimes refuse to kill, I believe this is because he sees himself as an evil man.

People should obey the law because it’s the law, not because Captain Carrot is good at being obeyed. 😁

i agree that Carrot is a great subversion but i think that there is another layer. Carrot would be by our standards awesome king but in the Ankh-Morpork he would be disaster bcs u need someone like Vetinari to keep everything balanced.

What I think is great about it, is it acknowledges both the mythic power and grace of Kingship, and the inherent flaw. Having a hero champion who can stand as a living symbol of the land, the law, and the realm, can unite people and inspire them to greatness if they are good. Of course after they die, if we just y'know follow the next one because you gotta have a king now, things can get real bad real fast. Carrot just decided to be one thing without having to worry about a legacy, good or bad.

And who is actually super suspicious when they're supposedly dressed like that to avoid suspicion. (This is also part of why I have a hard time taking the Assassin's Creed series seriously)

I can't think of many examples of this purely because my mind is still stuck on Strider

Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

@@neddles33 lol

Never read Assassin's Creed. So I can't speak to that. However.... No apologies I love Aragorn/Strider and always will. 😄

atomo capoeira I misread that as “Epic Gandalf SEX dance off” and I can never un-see that 🙈

@@HeatherReadIt :D

A WIZARD DID IT

ur right,also what i hate about fantasy school trope is all the authors just copy paste JK rowling with hogwart and the 4 houses,they never do something different with the setting or the students,its just found it rlly boring

I think "A deadly education" has an interesting take on magic school and chosen one. In case you want to try this trope again.

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@Moo-if1mzeven hogwarts isn’t really that unique. The 4 houses thing is the norm for like every school in England, even the colours are the same. Shame too, cuz fantasy schools could be really fun and unique.

would you mind explaining why you hate it?

agreed. it was one of my favorites as i was growing up

@@fremontstaples1752 silk_the_guide was my user name for ages, and I still have a Gmail account containing 'Drasnia' somewhere 😂 ah the memories

Yeah totally, I was too old when I read it, but knew it would be fantastic for younger readers.

I may or may not have based several D&D characters on silk....

@@fremontstaples1752 Brilliant 😂 It has made me so happy to hear from others who connected to those books and Prince Kheldar specifically haha

Oh my god YES, anger is a normal feeling to have, and I'm sick of writers treating it like it's some sort of crime to have it! It's like they're trying to say that if you're not happy 24/7 and ready to forgive them straight away then there's something wrong with you

Defeating a common enemy leads to peace is a good one to mention! It's super annoying and I like when a book takes a minute or two to explain how the "new order" is going to address long term peace between these groups that only got along for the purposes of getting rid of the 'big bad'.

Good list. I agree with demonization of anger. It's what you do with your emotions that makes a difference. Anger is a powerful driving force. tropes I hate: - the good guy can never kill no matter what the motivation or cost of leaving the bad guy alive - not showing an enemy death so they can come back later - resurrection - time travel (see resurrection) - only the main character can make any difference in the plot - comic relief is ONLY there for comic relief (an example of this done right, for once, is Sokka from The Last Airbender) - gaining power through sheer determination (see shounen manga) instead, power should be earned tropes I love: - found family - good prevailing over evil - intelligent protagonists who use wit over strength to win - magic

Love the replaceable chosen one trope. I have a writing idea that prophecies and destines are attached, but not intrinsic to a character and certain people can remove them and attach them to someone else, setting up an economy around buying and selling prophecies. Chosen one is a farmers kid? Secretly burn down his farm and then offer to buy his destiny, now you are the chosen one and he can go buy some food.

@@barrylyndon5552 that's such a cool idea. Please update us when you publish it

Donut Sandwich Shallan from Stormlight is a great example of that. She has some serious issues, like she makes really lame, corny jokes as a defense mechanism to deal with her tragic past.

@@janhavi1977 yeah, that's a great example! I know that it's been used before, I just wished I knew what the hell to call the damned trope other than some form of "Smiling Depression"

Donut Sandwich haha, how about the protagonist with a mask?

Yes, I love this!!

@@janhavi1977 Sure - and for most conversations I think people will get that. I found something online called a "Stepford Smiler" which is closer to what I mentioned with Umbridge... I'm just worried that it could be reduced to something a lot more cliched, like the double-crossing "I was actually working for the dark lord the whole time" kinda deal, hence why I would enjoy protagonists in that type of role rather than an antagonist

I have always liked the belgariad ... but I prefer his elenium series :D

I am currently reading Belgariad and it is on track to become my second or third favourite series, honestly.

I just could not get into the Belgariad, but the Elenium series absolutely sucked me in. I love grumpy old Sparhawk for some reason

The Elenium is the more interesting series, with more trope subversion. Especially the second half.

Could you give an example for pseudo-european medieval world building?

@@saivamshi7740 Song of Ice an Fire (Westeros), Lord of the Rings, The Kingkiller Chronicles, The Witcher etc.

@@Eliina552 I think the problem is that there is too much focus on pseudo-european world-building while there is too little focus on other "worlds". I love stories set in "fantasy europe", especially if they lean into the whole different nations and different cultures vibe. Yet I also really love more sprawling worlds filled with other influences, like Medieval China or Ancient Mesoamerica. I think we need more big worlds, that encompass both "pseudo-european" societies, but also a in-depth "pseudo-china" empire or a well-developed "pseudo-ethiopia".

WittyJackson I just finished that series and the way the author handled the Chosen One trope was really interesting! The characters were really good too, especially the supporting ones. My personal favorite being Veradis, he had a brilliant arc! I heard Gwynne’s sequel series is actually better though.

@@janhavi1977 I have just finished the second series and I can confirm it's just as good. Although I think my favourite from the first series, looking back, is still Maquin.

WittyJackson Oooh yes! Maquin and Fidele are so amazing! I’d say these characters are my top 3!

ohhh yes, this was done so well. idk if I was just entirely oblivious but it did take me some time to figure out who is the "good" chosen one

Armolass, Grimly and Paragorn are not happy...

Frodo is not a chosen one, seriously... Aragorn is not a real secret royalty, because everybody important knows who he is (including himself of course) and what he wants (at least in the books, because he is somewhat pathetic in the movie).

Seriously this is my favorite way to start my day

100% THIS!!!

In my experience nobody has a moral high ground, everybody lives for themselves. Sure not everybody is a Glokta but very rarely you'll find someone willing to sacrifice their comforts for others. So I guess moral grayness should refer to being selfish rather than outright jerk.

The trope speaks to the hearts of many readers/viewers. I agree in so much as I also enjoy a good boi (looking at you, Aang). However I cannot say that these morally white characters are anything when compared to the complexity of the greys. Just look at George RR Martins Jamie or Hound, or Miura’s Guts from Berserk. These characters tap into the primal darkness that lies within most people, and some people like me empathise with these characters more than the paragons of morality (I still love you tho Aang)

No character (who's not an archetipe of Absolute Evil) EVER believes it's doing evil things. Every evil done by a humanly evil is to achieve a "greater good" in that person's perspective, even when that greater good is a personal (egost) or sect (alignment) good. Morally gray characters in general not only have a kind of blured allignment but they also have a less orthodox praxis on their alignment: Either it's someone who perform "good deeds" outside of the evil-perspective good, or someone with no clear alignment that do both "good" and "evil" deeds towards characters. Even "good-aligned" characters' personality flaws, prejudices and unrepent mistakes can make them be seen as morally grey, which is the point of "why an social-justice-centered generation likes so much a morally gray character": Everyone can relate to a morally gray character because eveyone commits mistakes and misjudges (and is up to accept minor evils deeds for a greater good? -_-'). being universally just and flawless as the "good characters" usually are is impossible standarts and subjectively unrealistic, so unrelatable.

I think what happens is that most people like to read about morally grey characters who GROW AND LEARN and BECOME GOOD. Think Jaime Lannister (in the books), Zuko, Justin Foley on 13 Reasons Why (until the ending). I think people like morally grey characters because they’re usually well-written and complex and have a great arc (towards goodness). It becomes an issue when an author doesn’t redeem their character or ruins their arc in the end (again, Jaime in the show and Justin Foley).

So, basically, a villain.

Haku infinite haha yeah that’s true

@Haku infinite it's less like they intentionally did the secret royalty trope poorly, and more like they did Jon himself poorly. Jon had like, 3 lines in season 7 and 8, and they were "we need allies", "She muh Queen", and "I dun want it". Every time someone would bring up Jon's royalty, he would default to them like he was an NPC with limited dialogue options. And then they kinda just buried it under Mad Queen Dany in the final few episodes, concluded with everybody forgetting Jon was the rightful heir to the throne when it was time to choose a new ruler in favor of the omniscient plank of wood formerly known as Bran Stark.

@@danieldaw1778 That's the show. GRRM has done a fantastic job with the characters in the books.

We'll have to see what he does with it before we can say that. He's GRRM so I fully expect him to throw it under the bus for cheap shock value at earliest convenience.

Names with apostrophes in them... "K'rill told An'h'shektah about the Om'ergh of F'sah..." *closes book, never to return*

the glottal stop needs to die

@@Smo1k I hate that so much.

@@Smo1k *hastily covers up the few words I've constructed with apostrophes in*

“What’re ya buyin’?”

I love the moment in books sometimes when main characters finally meet up. I like seeing their impressions of each other especially. Good Answer.

True

I think his worked well because he was an almost unwanted chosen one. Like, he might save us, buuuut, we also might die. Also, he might go crazy and kill us.

@@vixision Yes, and that proves that you can take a tired trope and make it interesting. I remember Sanderson talked about that in one of his classes.

I agree. I love elves so much and always play them in video games if given the chance. I always enjoy when other races are added into the mix.

yeah, it's the 'world of hats' trope. Everyone from a people have to be exactly the same with the same interests and personality... except humans. That's what makes us special!!! *rolls eyes*

I'm on a tightrope with the Throne of Glass! I didn't like "A Court of Thorns and Roses" that much, but I'm curious with the Throne of Glass saga because some people really like it

@@ArthurHLI I haven't been able to find any of A Court of Thorns and Roses books, so can't really compare them. But I thoroughly enjoyed Throne of Glass saga, it's a high fantasy medieval setting that starts of low magic, and starts to add more depth to the world and the magical stuff builds up.

Those are both interesting premises. Good luck.

Sounds very interesting!

I would love to read your story, sounds really good !

this sounds really good! two strong female leads that don’t need to be chosen ones to be powerful, and the fact that they have the agency to decide to stop this dark lord is a really good motivator. my least favorite trope is when characters (especially main female characters since it’s more common for them) have no agency or desire to move the plot forward themselves and need someone else to do that for them. I hope writing goes well and I think your story sounds really cool!

the second story sounds so intriguing

Eddings is a great starter/primer to fantasy, but trying to read it once you're an experienced reader is not going to end well.

@@bruceh9780 It was one of the first if not the first one I read so I would probably agree, haven't read it in like 20 years so.

@@KerstinMamma I still have my complete Eddings collection in a box waiting for my kids to get old enough to read it.

Jag med men även då var den full med tropes och plot armor.

@@turtleanton6539 true but I was like 7 so what did I know.

I think the problem it's in the execution. Sometimes while making characters more relatable they end up justifying or excusing all the Bad things they've done, and it comes across as the author sending mixed signals. I see this a lot in YA

Reality is morally grey. Few instances in history can it truly be said an issue was black and white, and such stories have the risk of massively simplifying the themes/philosophy they try to portray.

@@aintnoslice3422 Even when it's fairly black and white alot of evil crap is still required. Take WW2 for example not ot many would argue for Germany. Dresden was still a shitty thing to do though.

I recently read The Broken Empire trilogy. This series skips the grey and goes all the way dark. The main protagonist is a very bad man. Yet the reader still finds oneself wanting him to win.

You can do it that way as long as his arc isn't about the magic system and that you slowly introduce the magic system to the reader so they aren't overwhelmed with the amount of information they have to remember.

@@Dekunutcase That's actually what I was planning for. I wanted to do a hard magic system that literally every character had access to which would give me the space to just seasons situations with explanation rather than info dump. His story is supposed to be a revenge arc not some chosen one story.

@@jonathandelange259 Sounds good to me. Hope you get it finished, edited and published :)

@@jonathandelange259 If you have a truly HARD magic system and don't break your own rules within it too often, then don't worry about power creep. Leverage the system against the spectacle of powerful character that reveals their deficits and flaws. This way, the system feels more complex, and your character much more vulnerable.

Farseer ain't what I'd consider assassin fantasy (despite the misleading book titles). It's more character/setting focused rather than stabby roof running centred.

@@KitchenSinkSoup But see, that's just the thing. The titles aren't misleading, people just have a predetermined idea of what constitutes an assassin story, as if a story about an assassin can't be character-driven. But in reality, that's what makes it one of the good ones.

@@fredwardandthebear3192 Fair point, kinda shows the main aspects of most assassin stories. Though Fitz doesn't really do to much assassinating to be fair.

@@KitchenSinkSoup Yet the main character is trained (read as grown up being continually groomed into becoming) and spends a lot of his time as an assassin. Just because the author avoids the worse pitfalls of the archetype, doesn't mean it's not an assassin protagonist.

@@KitchenSinkSoup He actually does. True, a lot of it is just referenced rather than being explicit, but he still spends a lot of time being the Royal Assassin, and even after he goes AWOL, he uses the skills he learned. Later trilogies might lead him away from that, but for at least that first trilogy, he is an assassin.

The Vlad books is Awesome. To be honest though, those aren't really assassin books. They are really just fantasy books that feature a character that has been known to do "work".

Too much Archer does not exist

Yeah you could probably call it a genre. Anime or not.

Most animes do take place in schools, which I hate, but that's their target audience.

Sacrificial death could definitely be considered a trope. Depending on your sense of ethics/morality, a character sacrificing themselves for someone they love or even just respect could be seen as cringy and overdone (thanks Jesus, ya hispter) or as a sign of ultimate loyalty and the greatest expression of that love (again, thanks Jesus). If the person is brought right back without a set up reason, then i could see it failing. At least in HP the stone is the necessary object for that to work. Sadly, i see it employed poorly more often than not. If someone sacrifices themselves, then they reeeeally should stay dead in the story. I think a lot of times authors just can't let go of a character.

Paul Schmidt: You make some very good points. I actually wasn’t thinking of the more direct premeditated sort of sacrifice. (Well, I did, but didn’t really distinguish between the two.) I was more thinking along the lines of “you go on ahead, I’ll hold the bridge” style sacrifices, or a character taking a bullet (arrow I suppose, since “fantasy”) for someone else. And I definitely wasn’t considering the whole “characters not staying dead” thing, as I figure it’s sort of a different subject. Such an easy way to ruin impact... Do you have any thoughts about how the two types of sacrifices differ? I think I might prefer more spontaneous sacrifice due to it seeming more connected to reality, where the other type usually requires some suspension of disbelief to make the sacrifice necessary.

Oh, i see. Hmm. I personally get turned off by characters that pull the self sacrifice card out of nowhere. If that character thinks they can make a difference long enough to save their friends, but has enough time to say a lengthy goodbye, it defeats the purpose in my eyes. I think the pacing of the scene would dictate a lot of the emotional impact of the sacrifice. If it's a split-second decision (like jumping in front of a projectile) then it feels more real. As for the premeditated kind, the balance between what the reader is told and what happens with the character can make or break the affect. As long as it is set up well or at least shown that the character knows what they are doing, it can work very well. Gandalf knows exactly what they're getting into down in Moria, which is why he tried to avoid it by going through the mountains. Once Frodo chooses to go that way, he accepts his possible fate. However, neither he (apparently) nor the reader knows that he will be resurrected. (note: i have not read LoTR, just seen the movies too much, so I may be misinformed but oh well. And yes, it is heresy and I should read it NAOW.) Gandalf's sacrifice saves them because he can deal with the Balrog, while the rest of the fellowship can deal with the orc/goblin shenanigans. He's sacrificing himself in a way that he knows will help the best. I don't have a bad example of this, but i'm sure they exist in excess. I hope any of that made sense lol tldr: both can work but it depends on the context of the story and the intention of the character. If it requires suspension of disbelief, you should probs go back and rework that plot point.

No ones pointing fingers at Tolkien for influencing modern fantasy.

"should be a permanent wardrobe fixture" ...and sponsored

😅 yes he does, I still really like him though!

@@janhavi1977 me too 😉

Rand is totally a reverse hipster... he was a "Chosen One" before it was lame.

A much better (imo, of course) series from Eddings was the Elenium (the one with Sparhawk the Pandion Knight). It had more of that morally grey stuff that seems to be all the rage these days. Still entertaining 30 years after its first printing.

Griffith from Berserk

@@ghostofsparta757 Holy cow I forgot about Berserk! Thanks!

I thought Mistborn's backstory

@リヴァ What is it called, is there somewhere I can read it? Nonhuman chosen one antagonist has already sold me

@リヴァ That's what I found, too. The closest thing is really any anime where the protag is a "villain," but that's not really what I'm looking for. Happy writing!