I'd add the Innocent Child races, such as Fuzzies from H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy or even the Ewoks from Star Wars. They just want to have fun and be good friends to the "Big Ones", even though they often get into mischief when left to their own devices while in a Big One's world.
There's an archetype i would call the liberated. They were until recently conquered or indentured, but they have gained their freedom. Their story would involve the challenges of finding their own place in the world. The Narn from Babylon 5 are an example.
Why does this not have more attention I know they are short descriptions but they are so good. For anyone who is trying to stretch any story or trying storytelling whatsoever it's more than great content
holy shit, I actually wrote an indentured parasite race. they are a part of a magic system in that world. creating the Vowbound, but most of their hosts die after 13 years because they aren't as "animalistic" as humans think they are and are quite sentient. I should get to writing that....
That’s awesome Logan! Write it! Huzzah! Since publishing this video I thought of another one. The Separated. A race that is separated from the rest of the known world by culture, distance, time, or dimension. Mixing the Gentle giants and the Separated would be very interesting. There’s that common trope of the gentle giant having a friend that’s a kid. Imagine the Separated Gentle Giant that is trying to get back to its friend. I think there’s something there. Let us know about your writing progress in the comments. Author Quest! Huzzah!
@@authorquest I'd argue the Jaffa's symbiote from Stargate counts, however there is the fact that it eventually matures into a Goa'uld who are conquerors. Though it might just be accurate in relation to Star Trek's Trill though they aren't indentured so much as they and their host blend mentally into a new being with each host. However the symbiote itself is "The Immortal" and thus long lived with a long past and expectantly long future.
I once thought of a race that I would classify as an endentured hive mind, which pretty much consists of human sized blind vampire mole rats, which live in ant-like colonies where there is one huge gross fleshy creature that's pretty much the queen figure of the colony. In my story the villain has figured out a way to control the "queens", and therefore pretty much use the whole colonies to its will, and they would serve as canon fodder as well. I doubt I will ever put the time into writing the story, so I'm just throwing it all here lol. Great channel!!
Well that sounds awesome. I imagine that would work really well with a macguffin that everyone is going after. Like some device, magic object, or biological hormone that the villain uses to control the queens. Write it Manu AM! Huzzah!
Honestly, Temeraire has The Immortal Might Steed Archtype. There dragons are sapient and bond with riders when they hatch. Usually they might never bond with another pilot, however they tend to be okay with bonding with the children of their riders and thus being way longer lived than humans you can get a dragon bonding with a family line. Another might be Dragon Riders of Pern, which plays with that a bit. Even in a few stranger ways, because there dragons are capable of manipulating time and space. So you can even get people that are men and women out of time, because they jumped into either the past or future along with a dragon that will eventually outlive them and may bond with another rider.
Fascinating! There’s always the bond. The Bond! I think that’s the trick with the Mighty Steed archetype. Pulling off the bond sells the Mighty Steed. I’ve never heard of Temeraire. Looking it up now! Huzzah!
@@authorquest You should, it is a story set during Napoleonic times, but also involves Dragons being an early air force that revolve around period accurate Navy. Edit: Also agreed. The bond ends up being a source of drama, tragedy, and also tons of characterization depending on how its used/its rules. One I really enjoyed were the Marat from Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. At first it feels kind of generic, a tribal society that bonds with animals, however that is just how they feel as antagonists and as the series goes on you get a feeling of them as a fully fleshed out and interesting character. You even learn a thing about their bonds that you wouldn't have assumed going in and that was just a really fun read to me.
there were rumors about a movie that never got made I wonder if Napoleon's release this year will have any consequence to Temeraire being more spoken about
Be careful with the ideas these archetypes represent, friend. Some, like "The Wild Ones" can get racist really fast. Anyways, good job. Just pay more attention
Oh absolutely! I think what’s brilliant about it is when we write about races the live off the land in stories in an eat or be eaten world, you can introduce a character that doesn’t come from that world to show its unique qualities. It’s not better or worse, simply different. Take Navi from Avatar, their way of living is eat or be eaten but wildly sophisticated. Another great book that uses this archetype the Transal Saga by Gary Paulson. Great book by the same guy who wrote Hatchet and it’s sequels. Huzzah!
i'm trying to use "generic" races to my fantasy, then add something new to them, so they will be both new and familiar at once, but due to how i'm used to generic stuff, my ideas seem to be too weird for me sometimes. i also like norse style, and i try to use it a bit in everything, but since it's not too widespread, it just makes me feel even more off about my races and factions...
Hmmm 🤔 cliches are often the bane of a storyteller. They make it impossible to make something new when something is over done, to the point that you can’t use the cliche without calling to mind the other stories that use it. Werewolves are a great example. It’s impossible to to use werewolves in a fresh way because they are to familiar in both new stories and old. Remember. Confidence! You are the storyteller and the story doesn’t sell itself. You do. Try leaning into the weird more and see what you find out on the other side. Try completely changing the appearance of one of your races, but keep their role the same. For instance, if you have elves, swap them out for humanoid turtles but keep their role in the story the same. Norse Turtle People is an interesting idea 💡 if not that try it in something else and let the Author Quest community know here in the comments. Huzzah!
@@authorquest yeah, having confidence is a hard thing for me... also i like more to give some slight changes in the appearances of races, and larger changes in how they live. my elves, the Alfrin as i call them, have bird legs and horns (horns are mandatory for me after the Dragon Prince XD). but the bigger change is that they are pretty much an imperial with strict hierarchy and military instead of the usual treehuggers or dark elevs. still good with magic tho. i guess the biggest change i made is that i completely replaced demons with a parasitic hive mind race, because i'm that type who is uncomfortable with having demons in my fantasy, but i kinda need an "antagonistic race/faction" which against people can stand together sometimes and set aside their problems with each other. anyways, thanks for the answer :)
What I'm doing, is taking generic race traits, and making an actual civilization with them, and giving the trait a reason to be there, dwarves, which I call dharakana, love digging, because they live in cold mountains and have to live in burrows for warmth, and they aren't exactly just short humans either, their body is humanoid, but they have an enlarged thick skull, with almost bovine facial features with enlarged ape like eyes and a more carnivorous Jaw, and a reddish brown skin color, at first they just had the enlarged skull and the skin color and looked human, but I decided to add the bovine facial features out of hate of stereotypical fantasy where all the species are just humans but pointy eared or green.
I think this list is a bit confused. It's got a mix of both different kinds of peoples (i.e. mostly just like humans but some small exaggeration or twist) and then concepts that are more like outlandish creatures that a setting could have. And in neither case does it feel complete. If I were to ask you which of these categories Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians or Ferangi would fall under... well, they aren't magical fey, they don't live under mountains, none of them are either massively larger than humans nor extraordinarily smaller and they don't have a hive mind, so would you say they are all exactly the same archetype with no distinction between them?
Woo! An amazing comment really got me to sit down and think about the content of the video and after reviewing it I would say not confused but just as intentional as when I made it. All stories with races always have a relatable human trait in them. Why? Because if they didn’t they wouldn’t have a function in a story that’s understandable or relatable to the reader. So yes all fantasy and sci-fi races are just real humans with small and large twists. Remember as I say in the video it’s not an exhaustive list. But to your point on the Star Trek alien species, Gene Roddenberry used the different species as a commentary on the different factions we have on earth ie Sweden, Australia, Britain, America, Japan. It’s more socially acceptable to say they are just aliens. So yes I would put them under the Everyday Folk. Check out Aristotles Predicables and taxonomy and how attributes of things are established. Predicables are shown as Genus, Species, Differences, Properties, and Accidents. For most of these I go for species and differences. For Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians and Ferangi, I would say they are different in their accidents, properties and differences. Also in episode 146 of Star Trek the next generation we find out that all those races you mention come from the same ancient race. But without getting into the nittygritty, don’t miss the value of this video as a tool for writing. They are archetypes in terms of common story elements but only arguably archetypes in terms of strict definition. I hope that makes sense. Huzzah!!
Never really thought about the natured archetype before. It was always there in the background, and probably sub-consciously inspired my ideas in the past. One of my more recent worldbuilding ideas for sci-fi is a bit like Horizon - Zero Dawn, but with machinery that tries to mimic real planes to blend in with the world around them. Things like an FA-18 Super Hornets' nest, or a collection of flying wing stingrays have come to mind at some point, and it probably came from the idea of unnatural nature in that archetype; something that we as the viewers know is not quite right, but what the fantasy world views as just another part of a weird, wonderful ecosystem.
@@authorquest Thank you! I actually am currently developing the concept. I'm also simultaneously writing a film idea for a world where the War to End all Wars actually was, and the United States split down the middle due to the Great Depression being worse and worse. End result was cyberpunk west, dieselpunk east. I should 100% use some of these archetypes to describe the two polar opposite societies.
Weird you put Myconids in 'hardy' rather than 'hive mind'. Same for the ewoks, given they're savages who eat anyone not part of their tribe, and, rather, used simple machines and fallen logs to brute force kinetic impact the enemy and then not being named 'wild ones'.
for me one of my story races, is Ascended mixed with cursed and immortal XP. their sort of a hybrid between ghouls, vampires and phoenixes-- looks like the moroi benefici, their beautiful humanoid at first glance creatures that live hundreds of years, they can only eat raw meat, they drink blood, and their known for having a lot of arrogance, the thing is though, they can also be very selfless, and thats where the bad comes into play. they, the Animigni, forged a pact with the Faerie king in order to gain protection from a demon prince, part of that though, was a curse-- the only way out of that curse is to die violently protecting someone, in which case they turn to dust. otherwise they either 'fall' becoming fire birds with no memory of their previous life, or they pass the viciously painful trial by fire and 'ascend' becoming true immortals existing separate from time- tied to a humanoid body that can be killed in a normal manor, however if their physical form dies, they are reborn again all memory intact and thus must live through countless lifes times unable to forget a single detail. ^they also have wings and the ability to modify perception of reality and thus hide their angel/bird wings. 2 of my characters are 'Ascended' animigni, and their the only members of their kind to survive that transformation, one of them is the king who made to pact with the fae, the other is his 19 year old son, whose been through hell already.
Heya! I really love your and your bro's videos. I would just like to say that you may be speaking a bit to fast sometimes, so it's a bit hard to follow if you're just listening :) Thank you for all your work!
Very cool video, especially about combining the archetpes. That's the coolest part of the video actually, although the setup where you described the actual archetypes was necessary for that part lol
Interesting take! I would disagree but I think that’s because I think of LOTR elves when Bilbo describes them as the ‘fair folk,’ however I would agree with you the twist on the fair folk has been flipped on its head a lot recently to make the fair folk scarier and more unpredictable. For some reason I think of Abeloth from Star Wars when I think of that take on the fair folk. Good talk! Huzzah!
@@MySerpentine Exactly. They are the older powerful Fae/Beings who meted out our fate out justice/Other dangerous beings that you did no want to mention by name, lest you get their attention, or risk anger/summon them. So The Fair Folk, The Kindly Ones. Similar would be dangerous beings, like the Devil, or certain monsters. Example: The Swedish word for Wolf = Varg/Ulf, but they were referred to things like Gråben (Greybone) so as to not summon them.
The immortal mighty steed? Pegasus was such a creature. He could also be considered ascended since he was the indestructible immortal hyper intelligent and super strong demigod son of Poseidon. And yes, for those who just caught that, it means Persius was the first cousin of a winged horse and before you think that's weird it's nothing compared to just how weird Greek mythology can really get.
@@authorquest Quite true. No matter what someone comes up with, someone else has either thought of it or at least considered something similar at some point in history. And yeah, Greek mythology is one of those things where when someone says truth is stranger than fiction you're like really? Let me introduce you to a little weirdo I like to call Zeus. lol
This was a very good video the content got the creative juices flowing. I'm just now getting back in to writing and d&d as well so I spend a lot of time trying to make new things for storys
Thanks Adam! I totally can. It’s very underused. It’s really prevalent in SciFi AI stories with machines gaining sentience for the first time. Like iRobot or Tron Legacy but the only fantasy one I know of off the top of my head is in CS Lewis’s the Magicians Nephew. I have been thinking about doing a video on this Archetype so keep an eye out! Huzzah!
What about a First-of-Their-Kind Colossal? A being born from the needs of the earth, meant to be a check on humanity, but without a companion. The lonely monster.
This is brilliant! Why has no one else talked about this, let alone combining them? Yes, most races we love and Revere are indeed combinations of a few of these but we don't often talk about it like that and I think it is a really fascinating to perform the exercise of combining ones that we have never seen before. Brilliant content!
Thank you DamienZshadow! Writing a good story is possible without reinventing the wheel. What I do is write the beats out on flash cards for each plot archetype and then order them in what makes sense and boom you get a complex story with multiple threads. Huzzah!
@@authorquest You take "work smarter not harder" to the next level. I will be applying this method to my existing races in my story to breathe more complexity and depth into them.
I guess you must be new or something, but I couldn't watch the whole video as interesting as it is. As the background music was too loud, and was too frenetic.
So just naming them without much explanation. what a great video, it's not like I could have googled these or anything and found way more in-depth understanding
Exactly 😉 keep an eye for more videos going farther in depth. Each one deserves its own video you know? Remember if we want this world to be a better place we want to be a part of the ‘better’ part of ‘better place’
oh wow, i accidentally made an immortal mighty steed. creatures that do die, but unless they are killed or choose to pass on are essentially immortal. and pass between owner to owner and value those owners greatly.
I love it! You should check out the Summoner Book Trilogy. It's kind of a mixture of How to Train Your Dragon and a similar kind of immortal mighty steed. It's by Taran Matharu who, if I'm not mistaken, originally posted his stories on Wattpad before getting published. A true Author's Quest. Huzzah!
@@authorquest oh yes the summoner series! I love that series actually. so much so the books have their own shelf. (they share it with a geology book but that's it) I enjoyed it enough to where I drew pictures of a bunch of different demons... I should upload those online. thank you for the recommendation though!
Constructs; Manufactured People Varying degrees of autonomy and Do I Have A Soul? Data from Star Trek, the Warforged in D&D, Shale (Dragon Age), the Geth (Mass Effect) and Bishop and David from the Alien/Prometheus universe
The Absurd; Disruptive, chaotic, demanding Often extremely powerful and with little or no accountability, their authority is typically bestowed upon themselves or else by an even greater, more esoteric force Q of the Q Continuum (Star Trek), the Cat in the Hat, Drop dead Fred, Genie in Disney's Aladdin, Gremlins
The Accursed, the Exiled, the Scorned Sometimes you have to Choose Your Side, sometimes you don't get the chance to Typically either punished "for the sins of the father", born or drawn into a blood feud, or have personally sworn to visit vengeance or justice upon another The Orcs and the Falmer in Elder Scrolls, Drow in D&D, X-Men's Morlocks, Romeo and Juliet?
The Mystics, the Zealots Exclusive, exotic, elitist or xenophobic Their purpose is to create context or pressure for your characters without giving spoilers to your readers Dark Crystal, Asari (Mass Effect), the Greybeards (Elder Scrolls), the Covenant (Halo)
The Precursors; They're All Gone Now The wonders they wrought might never be understood again, let alone replicated. Can we learn something from their wisdom? Or from their mistakes? Halo's Forerunners, Mass Effect's Protheans, Elder Scrolls' Dwemer, Prometheus' Engineers
So do you think the Aiel (Wheel of Tine) & Freeman (Dune) would go under the Otherworlder archetype? Excellent video. You did something really important here. Thank you.
You've confused race and cultural archetypes. A race can have different cultures within it. A race can have cultural tendencies but they are not the same thing.
In the story I'm writing, all the main characters are humans from the far future that are considered everyman people on their homeworlds, but they're otherworlders in the planet they end up on... And everybody on that planet is "the natured" + something else.
I’ve always known that there have been recurring patterns in fantasy races but I’ve never been able to put my finger on them and name them, thank you, your video was quite informative
Outstanding. The story is so multilayered and well thought out. Every time you think "this must be it," there's something more revealed that just blows your mind. Twist after twist, excellent worldbuilding and great characters, with a story that delves deep into the philosophy of how humans get along with each other (or rather don't). My favorite part is how no stone, anywhere in the story, is left unturned. You get all the answers you want, eventually.
Did I miss any Race Archetypes?
I got one. The Multipliers. Like the tribbles from Star Trek they multiply quickly and overwhelm.
Would you qualify a defenders as a race, like the antagonist to the conquerers?
There's the proud warrior race, like some versions of orcs, dragonborn from D&D, or klingons from Star Trek.
I'd add the Innocent Child races, such as Fuzzies from H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy or even the Ewoks from Star Wars. They just want to have fun and be good friends to the "Big Ones", even though they often get into mischief when left to their own devices while in a Big One's world.
There's an archetype i would call the liberated. They were until recently conquered or indentured, but they have gained their freedom. Their story would involve the challenges of finding their own place in the world. The Narn from Babylon 5 are an example.
That’s what i call underrated content
Thanks Piotr! New video coming soon!
I think Pegasus from Greek Mythology would classify as an Immortal Mighty Steed
I totally agree! Huzzah!
Why does this not have more attention I know they are short descriptions but they are so good.
For anyone who is trying to stretch any story or trying storytelling whatsoever it's more than great content
Thanks Roma for the compliment!
holy shit, I actually wrote an indentured parasite race. they are a part of a magic system in that world. creating the Vowbound, but most of their hosts die after 13 years because they aren't as "animalistic" as humans think they are and are quite sentient. I should get to writing that....
That’s awesome Logan! Write it! Huzzah! Since publishing this video I thought of another one. The Separated. A race that is separated from the rest of the known world by culture, distance, time, or dimension. Mixing the Gentle giants and the Separated would be very interesting. There’s that common trope of the gentle giant having a friend that’s a kid. Imagine the Separated Gentle Giant that is trying to get back to its friend. I think there’s something there. Let us know about your writing progress in the comments. Author Quest! Huzzah!
@@authorquest I'd argue the Jaffa's symbiote from Stargate counts, however there is the fact that it eventually matures into a Goa'uld who are conquerors. Though it might just be accurate in relation to Star Trek's Trill though they aren't indentured so much as they and their host blend mentally into a new being with each host. However the symbiote itself is "The Immortal" and thus long lived with a long past and expectantly long future.
I once thought of a race that I would classify as an endentured hive mind, which pretty much consists of human sized blind vampire mole rats, which live in ant-like colonies where there is one huge gross fleshy creature that's pretty much the queen figure of the colony. In my story the villain has figured out a way to control the "queens", and therefore pretty much use the whole colonies to its will, and they would serve as canon fodder as well.
I doubt I will ever put the time into writing the story, so I'm just throwing it all here lol. Great channel!!
Well that sounds awesome. I imagine that would work really well with a macguffin that everyone is going after. Like some device, magic object, or biological hormone that the villain uses to control the queens. Write it Manu AM! Huzzah!
So basically naked mole rats?
Honestly, Temeraire has The Immortal Might Steed Archtype. There dragons are sapient and bond with riders when they hatch. Usually they might never bond with another pilot, however they tend to be okay with bonding with the children of their riders and thus being way longer lived than humans you can get a dragon bonding with a family line.
Another might be Dragon Riders of Pern, which plays with that a bit. Even in a few stranger ways, because there dragons are capable of manipulating time and space. So you can even get people that are men and women out of time, because they jumped into either the past or future along with a dragon that will eventually outlive them and may bond with another rider.
Fascinating! There’s always the bond. The Bond! I think that’s the trick with the Mighty Steed archetype. Pulling off the bond sells the Mighty Steed. I’ve never heard of Temeraire. Looking it up now! Huzzah!
@@authorquest You should, it is a story set during Napoleonic times, but also involves Dragons being an early air force that revolve around period accurate Navy.
Edit: Also agreed. The bond ends up being a source of drama, tragedy, and also tons of characterization depending on how its used/its rules. One I really enjoyed were the Marat from Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. At first it feels kind of generic, a tribal society that bonds with animals, however that is just how they feel as antagonists and as the series goes on you get a feeling of them as a fully fleshed out and interesting character. You even learn a thing about their bonds that you wouldn't have assumed going in and that was just a really fun read to me.
I've heard good things about Temeraire! The books and the world sound really cool 👍👍
there were rumors about a movie that never got made
I wonder if Napoleon's release this year will have any consequence to Temeraire being more spoken about
Be careful with the ideas these archetypes represent, friend. Some, like "The Wild Ones" can get racist really fast.
Anyways, good job. Just pay more attention
Oh absolutely! I think what’s brilliant about it is when we write about races the live off the land in stories in an eat or be eaten world, you can introduce a character that doesn’t come from that world to show its unique qualities. It’s not better or worse, simply different. Take Navi from Avatar, their way of living is eat or be eaten but wildly sophisticated. Another great book that uses this archetype the Transal Saga by Gary Paulson. Great book by the same guy who wrote Hatchet and it’s sequels. Huzzah!
So I stumbled upon this video by accident and I wanted to say I think it's awesome and started sharing it amongst my DM/DND group
Thanks it’s great to hear!
i'm trying to use "generic" races to my fantasy, then add something new to them, so they will be both new and familiar at once, but due to how i'm used to generic stuff, my ideas seem to be too weird for me sometimes. i also like norse style, and i try to use it a bit in everything, but since it's not too widespread, it just makes me feel even more off about my races and factions...
Hmmm 🤔 cliches are often the bane of a storyteller. They make it impossible to make something new when something is over done, to the point that you can’t use the cliche without calling to mind the other stories that use it. Werewolves are a great example. It’s impossible to to use werewolves in a fresh way because they are to familiar in both new stories and old.
Remember. Confidence! You are the storyteller and the story doesn’t sell itself. You do. Try leaning into the weird more and see what you find out on the other side. Try completely changing the appearance of one of your races, but keep their role the same. For instance, if you have elves, swap them out for humanoid turtles but keep their role in the story the same. Norse Turtle People is an interesting idea 💡 if not that try it in something else and let the Author Quest community know here in the comments. Huzzah!
@@authorquest yeah, having confidence is a hard thing for me... also i like more to give some slight changes in the appearances of races, and larger changes in how they live. my elves, the Alfrin as i call them, have bird legs and horns (horns are mandatory for me after the Dragon Prince XD). but the bigger change is that they are pretty much an imperial with strict hierarchy and military instead of the usual treehuggers or dark elevs. still good with magic tho. i guess the biggest change i made is that i completely replaced demons with a parasitic hive mind race, because i'm that type who is uncomfortable with having demons in my fantasy, but i kinda need an "antagonistic race/faction" which against people can stand together sometimes and set aside their problems with each other. anyways, thanks for the answer :)
What I'm doing, is taking generic race traits, and making an actual civilization with them, and giving the trait a reason to be there, dwarves, which I call dharakana, love digging, because they live in cold mountains and have to live in burrows for warmth, and they aren't exactly just short humans either, their body is humanoid, but they have an enlarged thick skull, with almost bovine facial features with enlarged ape like eyes and a more carnivorous Jaw, and a reddish brown skin color, at first they just had the enlarged skull and the skin color and looked human, but I decided to add the bovine facial features out of hate of stereotypical fantasy where all the species are just humans but pointy eared or green.
I think this list is a bit confused. It's got a mix of both different kinds of peoples (i.e. mostly just like humans but some small exaggeration or twist) and then concepts that are more like outlandish creatures that a setting could have. And in neither case does it feel complete. If I were to ask you which of these categories Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians or Ferangi would fall under... well, they aren't magical fey, they don't live under mountains, none of them are either massively larger than humans nor extraordinarily smaller and they don't have a hive mind, so would you say they are all exactly the same archetype with no distinction between them?
Woo! An amazing comment really got me to sit down and think about the content of the video and after reviewing it I would say not confused but just as intentional as when I made it.
All stories with races always have a relatable human trait in them. Why? Because if they didn’t they wouldn’t have a function in a story that’s understandable or relatable to the reader. So yes all fantasy and sci-fi races are just real humans with small and large twists.
Remember as I say in the video it’s not an exhaustive list.
But to your point on the Star Trek alien species, Gene Roddenberry used the different species as a commentary on the different factions we have on earth ie Sweden, Australia, Britain, America, Japan. It’s more socially acceptable to say they are just aliens. So yes I would put them under the Everyday Folk.
Check out Aristotles Predicables and taxonomy and how attributes of things are established. Predicables are shown as Genus, Species, Differences, Properties, and Accidents. For most of these I go for species and differences. For Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians and Ferangi, I would say they are different in their accidents, properties and differences. Also in episode 146 of Star Trek the next generation we find out that all those races you mention come from the same ancient race.
But without getting into the nittygritty, don’t miss the value of this video as a tool for writing. They are archetypes in terms of common story elements but only arguably archetypes in terms of strict definition.
I hope that makes sense. Huzzah!!
Great list! When I finally (of course...) start writing I'll definitely draw inspiration from this list!
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Thanks Axel! Write it! Huzzah!
@@authorquest The problem is how. Ahhhh. But thanks for the encouragement!
Never really thought about the natured archetype before. It was always there in the background, and probably sub-consciously inspired my ideas in the past. One of my more recent worldbuilding ideas for sci-fi is a bit like Horizon - Zero Dawn, but with machinery that tries to mimic real planes to blend in with the world around them. Things like an FA-18 Super Hornets' nest, or a collection of flying wing stingrays have come to mind at some point, and it probably came from the idea of unnatural nature in that archetype; something that we as the viewers know is not quite right, but what the fantasy world views as just another part of a weird, wonderful ecosystem.
Woah 😳 that’s cool… write it! Huzzah!
@@authorquest Thank you! I actually am currently developing the concept. I'm also simultaneously writing a film idea for a world where the War to End all Wars actually was, and the United States split down the middle due to the Great Depression being worse and worse. End result was cyberpunk west, dieselpunk east. I should 100% use some of these archetypes to describe the two polar opposite societies.
Oh symbiots
So true! Their are definitely a parasite archetype or maybe 🤔 they are something different. Huzzah!
lol. I have a race that are 3 of these put together. Most of my other races have 1 or 2.
Weird you put Myconids in 'hardy' rather than 'hive mind'.
Same for the ewoks, given they're savages who eat anyone not part of their tribe, and, rather, used simple machines and fallen logs to brute force kinetic impact the enemy and then not being named 'wild ones'.
Good Input!
Hi Aidan!
Hi Aphrodite Lee!
for me one of my story races, is Ascended mixed with cursed and immortal XP. their sort of a hybrid between ghouls, vampires and phoenixes-- looks like the moroi benefici, their beautiful humanoid at first glance creatures that live hundreds of years, they can only eat raw meat, they drink blood, and their known for having a lot of arrogance, the thing is though, they can also be very selfless, and thats where the bad comes into play. they, the Animigni, forged a pact with the Faerie king in order to gain protection from a demon prince, part of that though, was a curse-- the only way out of that curse is to die violently protecting someone, in which case they turn to dust. otherwise they either 'fall' becoming fire birds with no memory of their previous life, or they pass the viciously painful trial by fire and 'ascend' becoming true immortals existing separate from time- tied to a humanoid body that can be killed in a normal manor, however if their physical form dies, they are reborn again all memory intact and thus must live through countless lifes times unable to forget a single detail.
^they also have wings and the ability to modify perception of reality and thus hide their angel/bird wings.
2 of my characters are 'Ascended' animigni, and their the only members of their kind to survive that transformation, one of them is the king who made to pact with the fae, the other is his 19 year old son, whose been through hell already.
Heya! I really love your and your bro's videos.
I would just like to say that you may be speaking a bit to fast sometimes, so it's a bit hard to follow if you're just listening :)
Thank you for all your work!
Hi Wolf! Thanks for the feedback!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
I'm not sure I'd call Ewoks small geniuses, being stone age annibals. Did you mean the Jawas?
Very cool video, especially about combining the archetpes. That's the coolest part of the video actually, although the setup where you described the actual archetypes was necessary for that part lol
Thanks Nathan! I am planning a video that is totally about using archetypes and calling back to this video and others.
New sub, love to find this kind of content while I do my world building 🗿👌
Welcome! I like this content too. More is on the way!
I wouldn't call the elf archetype Fair Folk. Fair Folk are a LOT scarier. Sort of extra-nasty Otherworlders.
Interesting take! I would disagree but I think that’s because I think of LOTR elves when Bilbo describes them as the ‘fair folk,’ however I would agree with you the twist on the fair folk has been flipped on its head a lot recently to make the fair folk scarier and more unpredictable. For some reason I think of Abeloth from Star Wars when I think of that take on the fair folk. Good talk! Huzzah!
@@authorquest The scary Fair Folk is the older concept, I believe. Even Tolkien's elves had a dark side, the really nasty ones just died out.
@@MySerpentine Exactly. They are the older powerful Fae/Beings who meted out our fate out justice/Other dangerous beings that you did no want to mention by name, lest you get their attention, or risk anger/summon them. So The Fair Folk, The Kindly Ones. Similar would be dangerous beings, like the Devil, or certain monsters.
Example: The Swedish word for Wolf = Varg/Ulf, but they were referred to things like Gråben (Greybone) so as to not summon them.
Fair cannon fodder?
That’d be interesting!
This is a very informative video, thank you
The immortal mighty steed? Pegasus was such a creature. He could also be considered ascended since he was the indestructible immortal hyper intelligent and super strong demigod son of Poseidon. And yes, for those who just caught that, it means Persius was the first cousin of a winged horse and before you think that's weird it's nothing compared to just how weird Greek mythology can really get.
Just goes to show there’s nothing original 😂 Archetypes are the real deal! Greek mythology does get pretty crazy. Huzzah!
@@authorquest Quite true. No matter what someone comes up with, someone else has either thought of it or at least considered something similar at some point in history. And yeah, Greek mythology is one of those things where when someone says truth is stranger than fiction you're like really? Let me introduce you to a little weirdo I like to call Zeus. lol
Kandras from Mistborn are somewhat of a hive mind
I love Mistborn! Kandras are also kind of an otherworlder too. Combinations!
This was a very good video the content got the creative juices flowing. I'm just now getting back in to writing and d&d as well so I spend a lot of time trying to make new things for storys
Huzzah! Write!
Great video, I really appreciated how you provided examples of these archetypes
You’re welcome!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
This is a sweet video!
Could you expand on the First of their kind archetype?
I find that very interesting.
Thanks Adam! I totally can. It’s very underused. It’s really prevalent in SciFi AI stories with machines gaining sentience for the first time. Like iRobot or Tron Legacy but the only fantasy one I know of off the top of my head is in CS Lewis’s the Magicians Nephew. I have been thinking about doing a video on this Archetype so keep an eye out! Huzzah!
9:53 So the Bendu, basically.
Yeah pretty much
What about a First-of-Their-Kind Colossal? A being born from the needs of the earth, meant to be a check on humanity, but without a companion. The lonely monster.
That would be pretty awesome 👏
This is brilliant! Why has no one else talked about this, let alone combining them? Yes, most races we love and Revere are indeed combinations of a few of these but we don't often talk about it like that and I think it is a really fascinating to perform the exercise of combining ones that we have never seen before. Brilliant content!
Thank you DamienZshadow! Writing a good story is possible without reinventing the wheel. What I do is write the beats out on flash cards for each plot archetype and then order them in what makes sense and boom you get a complex story with multiple threads. Huzzah!
@@authorquest You take "work smarter not harder" to the next level. I will be applying this method to my existing races in my story to breathe more complexity and depth into them.
I guess you must be new or something, but I couldn't watch the whole video as interesting as it is. As the background music was too loud, and was too frenetic.
Thanks for the feedback! Check out some of my latest videos. It’s come a long way in a year
I feel like Ascended Parasite wouldn't work. Or Mighty steed Parasite.
Or if you could make it work what would that look like 😳 an ascended parasite would be a horrifying but awesome villain
So just naming them without much explanation. what a great video, it's not like I could have googled these or anything and found way more in-depth understanding
Exactly 😉 keep an eye for more videos going farther in depth. Each one deserves its own video you know? Remember if we want this world to be a better place we want to be a part of the ‘better’ part of ‘better place’
"The Immortal + Mighty Steed" = the starship Enterprise.
That is amazing 🤩 I salute you. You are totally right
... No one talks about common tropes in fantasy?
What?
Yup!
oh wow, i accidentally made an immortal mighty steed. creatures that do die, but unless they are killed or choose to pass on are essentially immortal. and pass between owner to owner and value those owners greatly.
I love it! You should check out the Summoner Book Trilogy. It's kind of a mixture of How to Train Your Dragon and a similar kind of immortal mighty steed. It's by Taran Matharu who, if I'm not mistaken, originally posted his stories on Wattpad before getting published. A true Author's Quest. Huzzah!
@@authorquest oh yes the summoner series! I love that series actually. so much so the books have their own shelf. (they share it with a geology book but that's it) I enjoyed it enough to where I drew pictures of a bunch of different demons... I should upload those online.
thank you for the recommendation though!
I just struck Gold, I’m glad I didn’t go to sleep today lmao
Happy to help 😂
Mente colmena con corcel poderoso, podríamos tener una raza de mente colmena que sirve de montura para otras razas.
Indeed
You can all judge for yourselves whether these are more characters, cultures or races but here you go:
PS I really enjoyed this writing prompt! 👍👍
Constructs; Manufactured People
Varying degrees of autonomy and
Do I Have A Soul?
Data from Star Trek, the Warforged in D&D, Shale (Dragon Age), the Geth (Mass Effect) and Bishop and David from the Alien/Prometheus universe
The Absurd; Disruptive, chaotic, demanding
Often extremely powerful and with little or no accountability, their authority is typically bestowed upon themselves or else by an even greater, more esoteric force
Q of the Q Continuum (Star Trek), the Cat in the Hat, Drop dead Fred, Genie in Disney's Aladdin, Gremlins
The Accursed, the Exiled, the Scorned
Sometimes you have to Choose Your Side,
sometimes you don't get the chance to
Typically either punished "for the sins of the father", born or drawn into a blood feud, or have personally sworn to visit vengeance or justice upon another
The Orcs and the Falmer in Elder Scrolls, Drow in D&D, X-Men's Morlocks, Romeo and Juliet?
The Mystics, the Zealots
Exclusive, exotic, elitist or xenophobic
Their purpose is to create context or pressure for your characters without giving spoilers to your readers
Dark Crystal, Asari (Mass Effect), the Greybeards (Elder Scrolls), the Covenant (Halo)
The Precursors; They're All Gone Now
The wonders they wrought might never be understood again, let alone replicated. Can we learn something from their wisdom? Or from their mistakes?
Halo's Forerunners, Mass Effect's Protheans,
Elder Scrolls' Dwemer, Prometheus' Engineers
So do you think the Aiel (Wheel of Tine) & Freeman (Dune) would go under the Otherworlder archetype? Excellent video. You did something really important here. Thank you.
Whats good if ya want to max out ya strength stats
Colossal Celestial? Depends on what your Dungeon Master allows
The uruk hai are indentured and cannon fodder
True!
You've confused race and cultural archetypes. A race can have different cultures within it. A race can have cultural tendencies but they are not the same thing.
In the story I'm writing, all the main characters are humans from the far future that are considered everyman people on their homeworlds, but they're otherworlders in the planet they end up on... And everybody on that planet is "the natured" + something else.
I’ve always known that there have been recurring patterns in fantasy races but I’ve never been able to put my finger on them and name them, thank you, your video was quite informative
Thank you! Happy to help!! Anything that could have been better?
Without too many spoilers... anybody got an archetype they'd attach to titans or Eldians from Attack on Titan?
I have to admit I haven’t seen Attack on Titan 😬 Is it good?
Outstanding. The story is so multilayered and well thought out. Every time you think "this must be it," there's something more revealed that just blows your mind. Twist after twist, excellent worldbuilding and great characters, with a story that delves deep into the philosophy of how humans get along with each other (or rather don't). My favorite part is how no stone, anywhere in the story, is left unturned. You get all the answers you want, eventually.