To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/CapturedinWords . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription. What are your favorite and least favorite fantasy tropes??
You asked for good examples of sentient weapon and animal companion tropes. The both of them are included in the book The Blue Sword. Not gonna lie, I somtimes imagine myself holding Gonturan, lol.
One of my projects I’m starting to scope out :). Seems nuanced but taking a group of vastly different characters, having circumstances literally force them to have to cooperate (even if philosophically opposed) Can’t wait to further explore this
Timestamp and tier for each trope (you're welcome): 01) 2:11 The Chosen One Trope (mid B tier) 02) 3:18 The Dark Lord Trope (upper B tier) 03) 4:23 The Old Wise Mentor Trope (upper S tier) 04) 5:20 The Medieval Europe Setting Trope (upper C tier) 05) 6:55 The Ancient Artifacts Trope (upper A tier) 06) 7:59 The Ruins of a Dead Civilization Trope (upper A tier) 07) 8:35 The Secret Royalty Trope (upper D tier) 08) 9:26 The "Plot Armor" Trope (lower B tier) 09) 10:02 The "Farm Boy to Hero" Trope (lower C tier) 10) 10:53 The Remote Village Trope (lower B tier) 11) 12:10 The Eldritch Monstrosities / Cosmic Horror Trope (lower A tier) 12) 12:46 The Redemption Arc Trope (upper S tier) 13) 13:14 The Spiraling to Madness Trope (lower S tier) 14) 13:32 The Evil Minions Trope (mid C tier) 15) 14:05 The Miscommunication Trope (upper D tier) 16) 14:58 The Deus Ex Machina Trope (upper D tier) 17) 15:53 The Out-of-Retirement / The Veteran Soldier Trope (upper B tier) 18) 16:33 The Found Family Trope (mid S tier) 19) 17:08 The Crew Trope (mid S tier) 20) 17:57 The Magic School Trope (upper B tier) 21) 18:52 The Sentient Weapon Trope (mid A tier) 22) 19:23 The Magical Weapon or Item Trope (mid A tier) 23) 20:04 The Group of Antagonists Trope (lower A tier) 24) 20:44 The Animal Companion Trope (upper S tier) 25) 21:31 The Enemies to Lovers Trope (mid C tier) 26) 22:28 The Dark Creepy Forest Trope (mid B tier) 27) 23:13 The Reincarnation Cycle Trope (mid A tier) 28) 24:04 The Reluctant Hero Trope (mid B tier) 29) 24:47 The Quest Trope (upper C tier) 30) 25:26 The Fantasy Horror Trope (mid A tier) 31) 26:23 The Bard Trope (lower B tier) 32) 26:43 The Love Triangle Trope (mid D tier) 33) 27:28 The Damsel in Distress Trope (lower D tier) 34) 27:57 The "Not Like the Other Girls" / Strong Female Protagonist Trope (lower D tier) 35) 28:33 The Mercy to the Villain Trope (lower D tier) 36) 29:22 The Common Tolkienian Races Tope (mid C tier) 37) 30:02 The Sci-Fi Fantasy + Interconnected Universes Trope (mid S tier) 38) 30:50 The Magical City / The Floating City Trope (mid B tier) 39) 31:14 The Prophecy Trope (lower C tier) 40) 31:57 The Dragons Trope (mid S tier) 41) 32:12 The Insta-Love Trope (mid D tier) 42) 32:30 The Resurrection Trope (mid D tier) 43) 33:09 The Antagonist Turned Ally (lower S tier) 44) 33:36 The "Here Comes the Cavalry" Trope (lower S tier)
The dark lord trope is greatly executed in Mistborn, giving the Lord Ruler motivation beyond the trope itself, and making him such a good character. Especially if you've read the whole trilogy
Both gurren and mistborn are some of my highest rated stories I've experienced. The halfway point of gurren and the was the story deals with that spoiler point is amazing
Luke (the farmer trope) has become the fine line that separates the not that good tropes from the annoying-please-don't-use-them D tier tropes. He's like the guardian of the D tier.
I really love unreliable narration/grand reveal tropes when they are done well! Whether it's a character reversal like Jaime Lannister becoming POV, world building context like the Lord Ruler backstop reveal in Mistborn,or something more understated where it required multiple POV interpretations of a character or event to truly understand the full context... I love it!! 🤌❤
I love antagonist becomes ally. It can be done in so many ways, it doesn't require any transformation. Like Drizzt and Entreri teaming up to escape a situation. Like.. before, it was "oh no, how is Drizzt gonna deal with both Entreri and the other guys". Then it becomes "Oh. Oh those other guys are so screwed". They aren't friends, they don't even trust each other not to turn on them. But they respect each others skill, and are facing the same threat. So as the audience I can only feel hype
I also vivdly remember my first time reading the Eye of the World. I was 15 and we went on a seaside vacation and got sick, badly. I had to stay in bed for almost the whole vacation. And I read the book within few days. I clearly remember wishing being healed by One Power, like in the book
Greyhand from empire of the vampire is a great utilisation of the mentor trope. U don't have to like him, but he's the father figure the protagonist needed, and the one that has taught him all his skills
Here comes the cavalry is delicious. "Suddenly, the cavalry appeared" is not. Make us think the cavalry isn't coming, then make us cheer when they pour in at a gallop. Don't make us say, "Cavalry? What cavalry?!?!✌🖖
Nah, Medival europe is S Tier cuz of nostalgia alone. Yes, it's getting tiring and I want other cultures to be explored, but because of Medival Europe's heavy association with traditional fantasy, I can't get the imagery out of my heart
I know it's not in the book but when I think of the Calvary coming I always think of "Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east." In the Lord of the rings movies the battle raged and everything looked lost and bam here comes Gandolf, and an absolute unit of an army 😂.
I hate the idea that you can't do anything Tolkien did without "copying him". He didn't invent any of this stuff (except maybe hobbits). He just made use of them.
You know what's top tier....your production of all your videos! They are so well made. I love your animations, the artwork, the titles, your set, audiovisuals etc. Keep up the great work.
One of my favorite trope is the underdog trope. Think Naturo, Daenerys... There's just something so amazing about seeing the character growth of an underdog character. It's not so much about becoming the hero but more about proving others wrong.
Man, I love tropes that are done well! For me, I think it has to do with the feeling of familiarity and the connection to past experiences where I've had awesome story-experiences. You mention a lot of great trope examples! I love the Found Family and The Crew tropes -- reminds me of what I love the most about Final Fantasy especially. Sentient weapons is something I'd definetly like to try writing about. :) There's more tropes in your list that I like, but I'd especially like to mention the Dark Creepy Forest trope a bit -- I actually used that in one of my latest UA-cam stories called "Thorns of Callousness" without even realizing it was a trope to begin with! :P I had never heard about it before you mentioned it :D Thank you so much for this video, you definitively have a returning subscriber here! ^_^
Animal companions is one of my favorite tropes too. I love Storm and Shield from Faithful and the Fallen. My first encounter with this trope was How to Train your Dragon (the books). Hiccup's pet Toothless (in the books) is often a selfish, immature, lazy, whiny pain in the butt but he is so adorable and loyal to him.
Faithful and the fallen is one of my favorite chosen one and animal companion stories. Corban and Storm are so well written and 100% worth bumping to the top of your tbr
My favorite mentor character is Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho. She is old, smol, and very cranky. All great traits in a mentor, in my book. And I appreciate that she actively fought alongside the protagonists, with her own range of interesting abilities, instead of just being a background or support character.
An additional trope I really like is characters assuming a false identity (usually to mingle with the upper class) as seen in the Gentleman Bastards Series, or The Final Empire. But Wise Mentor, Here Comes the Cavalry and Redemption Arc are probably my top three favourite tropes.
A mentor that I like is Nevyn from the Deverry Cycle. I love the fact that he knows people from there previous lives and gives them advice in to help them no repeat the same error/overcome their same pitfalls.
As I argued on Daniel Greene's video on this topic, I disagree with your assessment of the farmboy trope. And you partially mentioned why, you mentioned how most people were farmers back in the day, and that's part of why I like the farm boy, if you want a realistic setting with a fantasy rags to riches story, the farm boy is the obvious starting point, as 95% of people in pre-industrial world were farmers unless your magic system spells out a way to create tons of food (which to be fair many do) having your hero start out on a farm is basically a must I'll also add that we definitely haven't seen enough farm girl to hero stories
I will read anything with a tight crew!! Sanderson does that best for me. I also like how Sanderson’s characters are always leaning. Especially Kelsier. Dude didn’t stand up straight once. 😄
Bringing back characters CAN work, it's not done well often, but especially in the cosmere where there is a legit reason it works, and it's not over done, works super well. There's one, where if you know you know, and they're such a huge piece of the universe now that without them, things would be vastly VASTLY different, and not for the better.
I have only seen the secret royal trope done well once and it was in the Cinder series. That actually made sense why she didn't know about it, and why it was super plot relevant by the 4th book
I wish a trope that was more explored (Im not familiar with many fantasy books) is the main character not being the hero or chosen one, but the mentor or uniter that facilitates to the story’s hero.
I don’t know how to call this trope, maybe “the end is the beginning”. It’s when the character goes for a long journey, just to find out in the end that what he was looking for (a treasure, an answer, whatever…) was just at his starting point (in his hometown, in his backyard… you get the idea). I just hate it… it makes the whole journey pointless and we normally get the lame escuse that “at least the characters learned something in the journey”.
Yess!!! Yess!!! We want strong characters who happen to be female which is the most naturally way of presenting it and not beaten over the head by saying I’m a strong female
I think your story can either be strengthened by a prophecy or entirely destroyed. as the owl house says, "if you wait for some prophecy to tell you your special, you'll spend your whole life waiting" I think that's something to remember, that you don't NEED to be told your special, but that you recognize yourself as a person who is deserving. also, though, id say the prophecy done right would be in Percy Jackson. I know, I know. but! the thing they did well with that is that it isn't some earth shattering thing, but more of an inconvenience. its like a casual guide, a nudge in the right direction, and it isn't ancient or "foretold in the ancient murals." its just a thing they made after they figured out WHO was special. idk though
I’m probably beating a dead horse, but I honestly believe there is no such thing as a bad trope. Or a good one for that matter. Tropes more or less just exist and it’s up to the author to use them in a satisfying way. I personally despise Love Triangles for instance, but even though I’ve rarely seen them done well it’s not impossible that someone could write a compelling, entertaining, and even enjoyable one
Jay, I would love some content on the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. They are extremely underrated and SO original. The world is one of the most unique out there (east asian inspired but done right), the characters well written, and the scale epic. Easily the best fantasy I've read in the past few years and possibly ever. Even if you don't make videos on them, I highly recommend giving them a read.
Sparing the villain should be a common occurrence as soon as politic is involved. You wish you could eviscerate the slaver-lord you have fought for so long, but if you do so you will cause a war between the empire and the kingdom. Or you need the support of the merchant guild anyway, or whatever. The protagonist not being able to destroy an antagonist because he needs him is a good trope IMHO. Jack Vance has a superb example in the last book of the Tschai cycle. The hero COULD kill the villain, but he CAN'T if he wants to escape the planet. Of course, it makes the villain death much more liberating when it finally happen.
I haven't read enough fantasy to know if HEIST is a big trope. Everyone has a specialized talent to help with stealing an object, person, etc. As cliched as that trope is, I absolutely love it and can't get enough of it.
You are the first person I have ever heard mention Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind. I am 43, and I watched the animated movie as a kid. Loved it then and had a VERY hard time finding it as an adult. I'm a sucker for most of these tropes......when it's done well. I will hate any of them if they aren't done well. "Here comes the cavalry" is probably my favorite though.
Assuming a pre-modern setting of any sort, your starting character options are: farmboy (90% of populace) artisan/merchant (5% of populace) servant or noble, urchin or criminal. So that's not a very good basis for complaint. Also, you should realize that a farmer doesn't just tend crops or animals; there are dozens of skills they have to do. Basically, between him and his family, they do everything that is necessary to sustain life, including but not limited to the aforementioned crops AND animals (all of which are very involved in themselves) building things, fighting predators, preparing all sorts of foods in various preservative ways, creating clothing, containers, clearing land etc. Each of these things is extremely involved in a pre-industrial setting. People who are not farmers are only able to do other things due to the surplus efforts of farmers.
A series that's just getting started by hit's almost all of your fav tropes (the crew, sci-fi elements, animal companion, magical floating city, sentient weapons (kind of), ally, and more) is Magicfall by Maxwell Alexander Drake and Marie Mullany.
I find the fact we consider Roach an animal companion very funny because it’s literally any horse, like literally any horse, most of the time it’s not even a good horse either. The only special thing about Roach is that it’s Geralt’s, it’s hilarious to think about.
Thanks Jay! This is such a great list! I agree secret royal and miscommunication is so lame ha. Btw if you have time, please may I ask what are your fave found family fantasy books? I’m deciding on my next read and was going to do mistborn, the first wheel of time or memory sorrow and thorn but I’m open to others too. So many great recs from your videos! Thanks again!
Awesome video! I agree with most all of this. As far as magical weapons story recs go, I am currently releasing a web serial featuring a sentient weapon and its so much fun to write! One of my favorite tropes as well
I like when the mentor humbles their apprentice, or when the mentor turned out to be evil all along - the House of Night series does that, but the story has too many book and has a lot more miss's than hits, I read it when I was a teenager and never finished it, but it was so mind blowing when Neferet turned out to be the main villain, it was such a nice plot twist 😭
The tropes that drives me nuts are the girl whose JUST imperfect enough to be perfect. i.e That one hair that always gets in her face that she has to push behind her ear, she bites her lip when she thinks etc. HUGE eye roll from me every time. Also, the best friends since childhood and then they realize they're in love. GIMME A BREAK. It's been done to death...let it die.
Interestingly enough the main character in the revenant story which was based on real life, spared the person who left him for dead. In the movie they change it for Hollywood climax reasons.
My issue with secret royalty is that it suggests that if the king/queen just abandons their country/province for 2-3 decades people will be totally willing to just accept them as ruler again
anyway here's me trying to connect these tropes to my favorite webseries [and soon to be book series], Epithet Erased. [Small context: Epithets are rare powers based on a single word. Soup would give soup powers for example. People with Epithets are inscribed, while those without Epithets are mundies.] Ancient Artifact - During season 1, there's a cool little artifact called the Arsene Amulet. It was created by an inscribed with the Epithet "Copycat". He forged the Arsene Amulet to retain his powers and imbued his epithet into it. This would allow the user of the amulet to steal someone's Epithet. Epithet Erased. Haha. Yeah that's basically some info not really mentioned in the show. Evil Minions - Kinda. Giovanni's boys are his silly little minions. The main character [Molly] actually becomes one of his minions in episode 2. Two of Giovanni's boys have a crush on him. One is Crusher, he was named that for obvious reasons, and Spike, who is the only girl minion before Molly joins. Giovanni also really cares for his boys. Here's a silly little example of him interacting with Molly: --- “Rejoice! For you are about to witness the first appearance of the world’s soon-to-be greatest supervillain! I am DARKNESS! . . . I am DESPAIR! I AM . . . VINCENT MURDER!!!” said Giovanni Potage wearing a stupid outfit. “Boss!” Molly cried, “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! We need your help!” Giovanni’s over-the-top pose melted away to parental concern in an instant. He was hoping that she might compliment him on his cool new costume, but this was way more important. “What’s wrong, Bear Trap?” “We found a beach body!” “A beach body!?” Giovanni hopped down and took a look at Rick. “Whoa, Bear Trap! You killed a guy!? . . . Little villains grow up so fast.” He went to wipe a tear from his eye and bonked his finger into the visor on his catcher’s mask. “Ow.” --- Found Family - Pretty darn important part of episodes 1-4. It could mostly be Molly and Giovanni, but giovanni and all of his boys fit it. Molly is Giovanni's #1 minion. There's so many scenes that are just so,,, ifjifjpdhdihsdgjsd- THE SCENE WHERE MOLLY IS HAVING A PANIC ATTACK [because Sylvie used his nightmare fuel power, which makes someones worst fear reality,,, molly has pyrophobia, so there was fire-] AND GIOVANNI TRIES TO GET HER AWAY FROM THE FIRE, AND WHEN THEY'RE AWAY FROM IT, HE HUGS HER AND OH MY OGDJDSJFISPJFSF [Found family makes me scream] AND THE ENDING OF PRISON OF PLASTIC. I CRIED. I CRIED AT THE ENDING, AND THE ILLUSTRATION OF GIOVANNI COMFORTING MOLLY WHILE SHE'S CRYING??? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA- Animal Companion - ...Technically. Rick gets turned into a chameleon in chapter 2, and stays like that til the end of chapter 7. Dragon - Graham. He's a smores dragon. Giant dragon the size of a skyscraper made of smores. There's also countries. Taiga Country, Deepwood Country, Desert Country, Ocean Country, Island Country, and Australia. There's also races, so ill just put what characters look like. we got Taiga Race - Light-skinned with light hair. Deepwood Race - Dark skin and hair. Desert Race - Tanned skin and grey hair from birth. Ocean Race - Dark skin and bright hair colored like poisonous sea creatures. Island Race/Seaside Race - Can be found everywhere and have a variety of appearances, but many of them have plain, dark hair. Australian - Some say that these “Australian” people have whiskers and rodent-like appearances, but few have seen an Australian and lived to tell the tale…
Have you read Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga? His series deep dives into detailed POVs for diverse cultures (western, eastern and alien) and across worlds. Of particular note: the first trilogy of the Riftwar Saga starting with “Magician” and after that the Empire Trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts occurring concurrently to Magician but following a different characters compelling story and culture.
Don’t have any trope to add, but if you’re wanting some good eldritch fantasy horror, check out Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan. The magic system literally leans into eldritch horror, and it’s fantastic. Also, for animal companions, I love Bully Boy from the Blacktongue Thief, by Christopher Beuhlman.
Jay, if you want a fantasy with COSMIC HORROR you NEED to give Gunmetal Gods a try! It’s so good I have no qualms telling a busy booktuber what they need to read 😉
I love legendary named weapons. Not necessarily magical or artifacts in and of themselves, but with a lore and history to them. Anduril from LOTR, Vindication from Mistborn Era 2, Heron Mark Blades from WOT, etc. Also, the “DGAF peripheral antagonist” that’s a wildcard character relentlessly pursuing their own agenda and causing chaos to all other factions. They’re usually super interesting characters because of their unique personal philosophies and disregard for all other laws and standards. Gollum 👌🏻
One of my fave is Gladiator trope- (hero is arrested or beaten in battle and captured and has to fight their way out/survive prison brawls or as a gladiator) ex: gladiator movie, kaladin from stormlight, Maquin from the faithful and the fallen, Mia corvere from nevernight…
The Calvary showing up to win the battle of helms deep feels good for a reason and isn’t a Deus Ex Machina. Why? Because we know Gandalf is out there, we know he shows up PRECISELY when he means to(😂) and it’s already established that Gandalf is seeking aid for Rohan so we’re sitting there and many of us are think “wait where’s Gandalf? THERE HE IS!” So when a convenient army shows up to save the day it’s great when it’s ESTABLISHED and foreshadowed that this will happen, and the steps for the Calvary showing up are laid. Deus ex machina feels so bad because its help coming from absolutely NOWHERE. It’s a random convenient event that shouldn’t have happened but somehow does.
personally i think the best secret royality that i have read is probably Garion/ Belgarion from the belgariad, because it is relevant (also incorporating the farm boy to hero) but if you also read the prequals of Begarath & Polgara's lives it seems even more relevant.
My examples for most of these tropes. Chosen One: Neo from the Matrix Series Dark Lord: Skynet from Terminator Series Mentor: Professor X from Marvel Comics Vague Middle Age European Setting: Black Knight Magical Artefacts: Rabbit's Foot from Mission Impossible 3 Ruins of Dead Civilization: -- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Secret Royalty: The Princess Diaries Plot Armor: James Bond Farmboy to Hero: Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/ Skywalkers from Star Wars Remote Village: Star Wars: A New Hope/ Star Wars: The Force Awakens Cosmic Horror: Stranger Things Series Redemption Arc: Loki from Loki Series Spiral into Madness: Twoface from The Dark Knight Evil Minions: Henchman James Bond Series Miscommunication: Martel and Riggs from Lethal Weapon. Deus Ex Machina: Artic Water in The Water Boy Veteran Soldier: Unforgiven Found Family: The Avengers Crew: Ocean's Eleven Magic School: Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Sentient Weapons: T-1000 from Terminator Series Antagonist Group: Hydra: Captain America Series Animal Companion: Dogmeat from Fallout Series Enemies to Lovers: Catwoman from Batman Series Creepy Forest - All Forest are creepy at night this is a universal fact. (The Village) Reincarnated Hero: Link from Legend of Zelda Series Reluctant Hero: Constantine The Quest: Galaxy Quest Fantasy Horror: The Thing Bard/ Storyteller: -- Love Triangle: Harry Osborn - Peter Parker - Mary Jane Watson Damsel: Lois Lane Strong Female sans Character: Mercy: Batman Tolkeinism: -- Interconnected Universes: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once Magical Cities: Elysium Prophecy: Interstellar Dragons: Reign of Fire/ Godzilla Resurrection: William Cage from Edge of Tomorrow Ally: Furina de Fontaine from Genshin Impact
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What are your favorite and least favorite fantasy tropes??
You asked for good examples of sentient weapon and animal companion tropes. The both of them are included in the book The Blue Sword. Not gonna lie, I somtimes imagine myself holding Gonturan, lol.
My favorite trope is the heroes journey & the chosen one. My favorite mentor character was jiraiya from naruto.
@@turbokid8719 That's another good one! Jiraiya the Pervy Sage is an awesome mentor too haha
@@heatherkline6766 Wow I've never heard of this book, will definitely check it out! Thanks for the recommendation!
@@CapturedInWords The author is Robin McKinley fyi...
I really like the "fellowship" trope, seeing a bunch of unlikely friends banding together will never not be wonderful
Love that trope too!
Yeah my favorite & best by my opinion because it was my first fantasy was the hobbit Bilbo was awesome.
One of my projects I’m starting to scope out :). Seems nuanced but taking a group of vastly different characters, having circumstances literally force them to have to cooperate (even if philosophically opposed)
Can’t wait to further explore this
It's one of my faves ❤ it makes up the main themes of my current story!
I love how The Wheel of Time is so much of a landmark that it ticks a considerable part of these tropes.
It helps that it's a billion words long =P
Timestamp and tier for each trope (you're welcome):
01) 2:11 The Chosen One Trope (mid B tier)
02) 3:18 The Dark Lord Trope (upper B tier)
03) 4:23 The Old Wise Mentor Trope (upper S tier)
04) 5:20 The Medieval Europe Setting Trope (upper C tier)
05) 6:55 The Ancient Artifacts Trope (upper A tier)
06) 7:59 The Ruins of a Dead Civilization Trope (upper A tier)
07) 8:35 The Secret Royalty Trope (upper D tier)
08) 9:26 The "Plot Armor" Trope (lower B tier)
09) 10:02 The "Farm Boy to Hero" Trope (lower C tier)
10) 10:53 The Remote Village Trope (lower B tier)
11) 12:10 The Eldritch Monstrosities / Cosmic Horror Trope (lower A tier)
12) 12:46 The Redemption Arc Trope (upper S tier)
13) 13:14 The Spiraling to Madness Trope (lower S tier)
14) 13:32 The Evil Minions Trope (mid C tier)
15) 14:05 The Miscommunication Trope (upper D tier)
16) 14:58 The Deus Ex Machina Trope (upper D tier)
17) 15:53 The Out-of-Retirement / The Veteran Soldier Trope (upper B tier)
18) 16:33 The Found Family Trope (mid S tier)
19) 17:08 The Crew Trope (mid S tier)
20) 17:57 The Magic School Trope (upper B tier)
21) 18:52 The Sentient Weapon Trope (mid A tier)
22) 19:23 The Magical Weapon or Item Trope (mid A tier)
23) 20:04 The Group of Antagonists Trope (lower A tier)
24) 20:44 The Animal Companion Trope (upper S tier)
25) 21:31 The Enemies to Lovers Trope (mid C tier)
26) 22:28 The Dark Creepy Forest Trope (mid B tier)
27) 23:13 The Reincarnation Cycle Trope (mid A tier)
28) 24:04 The Reluctant Hero Trope (mid B tier)
29) 24:47 The Quest Trope (upper C tier)
30) 25:26 The Fantasy Horror Trope (mid A tier)
31) 26:23 The Bard Trope (lower B tier)
32) 26:43 The Love Triangle Trope (mid D tier)
33) 27:28 The Damsel in Distress Trope (lower D tier)
34) 27:57 The "Not Like the Other Girls" / Strong Female Protagonist Trope (lower D tier)
35) 28:33 The Mercy to the Villain Trope (lower D tier)
36) 29:22 The Common Tolkienian Races Tope (mid C tier)
37) 30:02 The Sci-Fi Fantasy + Interconnected Universes Trope (mid S tier)
38) 30:50 The Magical City / The Floating City Trope (mid B tier)
39) 31:14 The Prophecy Trope (lower C tier)
40) 31:57 The Dragons Trope (mid S tier)
41) 32:12 The Insta-Love Trope (mid D tier)
42) 32:30 The Resurrection Trope (mid D tier)
43) 33:09 The Antagonist Turned Ally (lower S tier)
44) 33:36 The "Here Comes the Cavalry" Trope (lower S tier)
Wow thanks for doing this!
@@CapturedInWords Anytime! Thanks for the awesome content
The dark lord trope is greatly executed in Mistborn, giving the Lord Ruler motivation beyond the trope itself, and making him such a good character. Especially if you've read the whole trilogy
100% agree!
Though is very similar to the gurren lagann villian
Both gurren and mistborn are some of my highest rated stories I've experienced. The halfway point of gurren and the was the story deals with that spoiler point is amazing
The L.R. is so hard to rate right? We get so little of him as a person. We know so much but also so little
Luke (the farmer trope) has become the fine line that separates the not that good tropes from the annoying-please-don't-use-them D tier tropes.
He's like the guardian of the D tier.
Before They are Hanged does a great job of putting a fresh take on the “epic quest” trope. Highly recommend The First Law Trilogy.
Great example! I love first law!
If by fresh take, you mean idiotic subversion then sure. Very fresh.
I really love unreliable narration/grand reveal tropes when they are done well!
Whether it's a character reversal like Jaime Lannister becoming POV, world building context like the Lord Ruler backstop reveal in Mistborn,or something more understated where it required multiple POV interpretations of a character or event to truly understand the full context... I love it!! 🤌❤
A Song of Ice and Fire has the best example of animal companions. Direwolves and Dragons.
Drizzt?
drizzt and guenhwyvar is one of my favorites!
ASOIAF is definitely a good example!
How about the dæmons from His Dark Materials? They’re literally the characters’ souls as talking animals outside their bodies.
I love antagonist becomes ally. It can be done in so many ways, it doesn't require any transformation.
Like Drizzt and Entreri teaming up to escape a situation. Like.. before, it was "oh no, how is Drizzt gonna deal with both Entreri and the other guys".
Then it becomes "Oh. Oh those other guys are so screwed".
They aren't friends, they don't even trust each other not to turn on them. But they respect each others skill, and are facing the same threat. So as the audience I can only feel hype
I also vivdly remember my first time reading the Eye of the World. I was 15 and we went on a seaside vacation and got sick, badly. I had to stay in bed for almost the whole vacation. And I read the book within few days. I clearly remember wishing being healed by One Power, like in the book
Greyhand from empire of the vampire is a great utilisation of the mentor trope. U don't have to like him, but he's the father figure the protagonist needed, and the one that has taught him all his skills
The here comes the cavalry trope is always exciting. So so good.
Definitely one of my favorite!
Here comes the cavalry is delicious. "Suddenly, the cavalry appeared" is not. Make us think the cavalry isn't coming, then make us cheer when they pour in at a gallop. Don't make us say, "Cavalry? What cavalry?!?!✌🖖
Nah, Medival europe is S Tier cuz of nostalgia alone. Yes, it's getting tiring and I want other cultures to be explored, but because of Medival Europe's heavy association with traditional fantasy, I can't get the imagery out of my heart
Same. Im from India and still medieval Europe is one of my favourite settings in fantasy. Probably the most favourite
I am right there with you.
I know it's not in the book but when I think of the Calvary coming I always think of "Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east." In the Lord of the rings movies the battle raged and everything looked lost and bam here comes Gandolf, and an absolute unit of an army 😂.
I hate the idea that you can't do anything Tolkien did without "copying him". He didn't invent any of this stuff (except maybe hobbits). He just made use of them.
Ruin from the cosmere is a really good example of cosmic horror. Especially in secret history!
You know what's top tier....your production of all your videos! They are so well made. I love your animations, the artwork, the titles, your set, audiovisuals etc. Keep up the great work.
Tier lists are my favorite booktube trope (I totally used the term correctly)
One of my favorite trope is the underdog trope. Think Naturo, Daenerys... There's just something so amazing about seeing the character growth of an underdog character. It's not so much about becoming the hero but more about proving others wrong.
Man, I love tropes that are done well! For me, I think it has to do with the feeling of familiarity and the connection to past experiences where I've had awesome story-experiences.
You mention a lot of great trope examples!
I love the Found Family and The Crew tropes -- reminds me of what I love the most about Final Fantasy especially.
Sentient weapons is something I'd definetly like to try writing about. :)
There's more tropes in your list that I like, but I'd especially like to mention the Dark Creepy Forest trope a bit -- I actually used that in one of my latest UA-cam stories called "Thorns of Callousness" without even realizing it was a trope to begin with! :P I had never heard about it before you mentioned it :D
Thank you so much for this video, you definitively have a returning subscriber here! ^_^
Animal companions is one of my favorite tropes too. I love Storm and Shield from Faithful and the Fallen. My first encounter with this trope was How to Train your Dragon (the books). Hiccup's pet Toothless (in the books) is often a selfish, immature, lazy, whiny pain in the butt but he is so adorable and loyal to him.
Faithful and the fallen is one of my favorite chosen one and animal companion stories. Corban and Storm are so well written and 100% worth bumping to the top of your tbr
30:01 that's not a trope, that's a genre!
My favorite mentor character is elodin from NOTW, rlly well written character, and has the perfect amount of mystery
My favorite mentor character is Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho. She is old, smol, and very cranky. All great traits in a mentor, in my book. And I appreciate that she actively fought alongside the protagonists, with her own range of interesting abilities, instead of just being a background or support character.
Was ecstatic to hear you mention Brom in your list of mentors. One of my favorite characters in fantasy, even though the books weren't the greatest
An additional trope I really like is characters assuming a false identity (usually to mingle with the upper class) as seen in the Gentleman Bastards Series, or The Final Empire.
But Wise Mentor, Here Comes the Cavalry and Redemption Arc are probably my top three favourite tropes.
Have you read red rising?
@@lindonArelius Yes, I have :). I completely forgot to include Red Rising as an example 😅
A mentor that I like is Nevyn from the Deverry Cycle. I love the fact that he knows people from there previous lives and gives them advice in to help them no repeat the same error/overcome their same pitfalls.
Seeing the cover for Deltora Quest unlocked a memory long forgotten. Thanks for that.
As I argued on Daniel Greene's video on this topic, I disagree with your assessment of the farmboy trope. And you partially mentioned why, you mentioned how most people were farmers back in the day, and that's part of why I like the farm boy, if you want a realistic setting with a fantasy rags to riches story, the farm boy is the obvious starting point, as 95% of people in pre-industrial world were farmers unless your magic system spells out a way to create tons of food (which to be fair many do) having your hero start out on a farm is basically a must
I'll also add that we definitely haven't seen enough farm girl to hero stories
My favorite trope is the extended disarmament.
I will read anything with a tight crew!! Sanderson does that best for me. I also like how Sanderson’s characters are always leaning. Especially Kelsier. Dude didn’t stand up straight once. 😄
Bringing back characters CAN work, it's not done well often, but especially in the cosmere where there is a legit reason it works, and it's not over done, works super well. There's one, where if you know you know, and they're such a huge piece of the universe now that without them, things would be vastly VASTLY different, and not for the better.
I have only seen the secret royal trope done well once and it was in the Cinder series. That actually made sense why she didn't know about it, and why it was super plot relevant by the 4th book
Perdido Street Station and Tigana mention made my day! Thanks!
I wish a trope that was more explored (Im not familiar with many fantasy books) is the main character not being the hero or chosen one, but the mentor or uniter that facilitates to the story’s hero.
When it comes to sentient weapons, my favorite example would have to be the zanpakuto in the anime Bleach.
Damn, you used the Lady as a dark lord example, no one ever talks about the Black company :(
Well done my friend :)
The Black company is very underrated!
Love seeing your growth in everything! Awesome channel with awesome videos.
I don’t know how to call this trope, maybe “the end is the beginning”. It’s when the character goes for a long journey, just to find out in the end that what he was looking for (a treasure, an answer, whatever…) was just at his starting point (in his hometown, in his backyard… you get the idea). I just hate it… it makes the whole journey pointless and we normally get the lame escuse that “at least the characters learned something in the journey”.
Yess!!! Yess!!! We want strong characters who happen to be female which is the most naturally way of presenting it and not beaten over the head by saying I’m a strong female
I also love Veteran Soldier and The Crew. Thus, I very much liked Kings of the Wyld.
I think your story can either be strengthened by a prophecy or entirely destroyed. as the owl house says, "if you wait for some prophecy to tell you your special, you'll spend your whole life waiting" I think that's something to remember, that you don't NEED to be told your special, but that you recognize yourself as a person who is deserving. also, though, id say the prophecy done right would be in Percy Jackson. I know, I know. but! the thing they did well with that is that it isn't some earth shattering thing, but more of an inconvenience. its like a casual guide, a nudge in the right direction, and it isn't ancient or "foretold in the ancient murals." its just a thing they made after they figured out WHO was special. idk though
Megamind did the "I'm not really dead" trope so well!
I’m probably beating a dead horse, but I honestly believe there is no such thing as a bad trope. Or a good one for that matter. Tropes more or less just exist and it’s up to the author to use them in a satisfying way. I personally despise Love Triangles for instance, but even though I’ve rarely seen them done well it’s not impossible that someone could write a compelling, entertaining, and even enjoyable one
Miscommunication done well = King’s Dark Tidings
Tetra from LoZ: Windwaker is a good example of secret royalty done right
Jay, I would love some content on the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. They are extremely underrated and SO original. The world is one of the most unique out there (east asian inspired but done right), the characters well written, and the scale epic. Easily the best fantasy I've read in the past few years and possibly ever. Even if you don't make videos on them, I highly recommend giving them a read.
Plot Armor goes hand in hand with Mary Sue. I also can't believe you even mentioned Sword of Truth.
Sparing the villain should be a common occurrence as soon as politic is involved. You wish you could eviscerate the slaver-lord you have fought for so long, but if you do so you will cause a war between the empire and the kingdom. Or you need the support of the merchant guild anyway, or whatever. The protagonist not being able to destroy an antagonist because he needs him is a good trope IMHO. Jack Vance has a superb example in the last book of the Tschai cycle. The hero COULD kill the villain, but he CAN'T if he wants to escape the planet.
Of course, it makes the villain death much more liberating when it finally happen.
Grizzled veteran trope is a favourite. Usually convinced to stop drinking and help the protagonist by an old comrade
I love that trope as well!
I haven't read enough fantasy to know if HEIST is a big trope. Everyone has a specialized talent to help with stealing an object, person, etc. As cliched as that trope is, I absolutely love it and can't get enough of it.
Where is part 2 of Wise Man's Fear? I bought you a coffee for the first and will buy another one for part 2
You are the first person I have ever heard mention Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind. I am 43, and I watched the animated movie as a kid. Loved it then and had a VERY hard time finding it as an adult. I'm a sucker for most of these tropes......when it's done well. I will hate any of them if they aren't done well. "Here comes the cavalry" is probably my favorite though.
Does anyone know the name of the series pictured at 9:35?
It's a videogame called Pathfinder Kingmaker
Awesome vid man. If you could use three books and three trope’s to describe you’re own book, which would it be?
my two favorites have got to be the fellowship, artifact and the accidental hero tropes, like in eragon where he accidentally finds saphira’s egg
Magical weapons--'Need' from Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
Animal companion--Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
Favorite trope: Redemption arc
Least Favorite trope: Miscommunication
Very fun video, thanks for putting the time into this.
The “Plot Armor” trope is the reason why I’m drawn so heavily to grimdark fantasy.
Oh, that’s your favorite character?
Well they’re dead now.
Best animal companion books: Jane Lindskold's Through Wolf's Eyes and follow up series
Assuming a pre-modern setting of any sort, your starting character options are: farmboy (90% of populace) artisan/merchant (5% of populace) servant or noble, urchin or criminal. So that's not a very good basis for complaint. Also, you should realize that a farmer doesn't just tend crops or animals; there are dozens of skills they have to do. Basically, between him and his family, they do everything that is necessary to sustain life, including but not limited to the aforementioned crops AND animals (all of which are very involved in themselves) building things, fighting predators, preparing all sorts of foods in various preservative ways, creating clothing, containers, clearing land etc. Each of these things is extremely involved in a pre-industrial setting. People who are not farmers are only able to do other things due to the surplus efforts of farmers.
One of the most popular fiction books ever is based around the resurrection trope, so I think it can definitely be done right.
A series that's just getting started by hit's almost all of your fav tropes (the crew, sci-fi elements, animal companion, magical floating city, sentient weapons (kind of), ally, and more) is Magicfall by Maxwell Alexander Drake and Marie Mullany.
Thanks! I'll definitely need to check it out!
Great video. Love the art pieces at 6:59 and 12:20, does anyone by chance know what they are called and who they are from.
I find the fact we consider Roach an animal companion very funny because it’s literally any horse, like literally any horse, most of the time it’s not even a good horse either. The only special thing about Roach is that it’s Geralt’s, it’s hilarious to think about.
Thanks Jay! This is such a great list! I agree secret royal and miscommunication is so lame ha. Btw if you have time, please may I ask what are your fave found family fantasy books? I’m deciding on my next read and was going to do mistborn, the first wheel of time or memory sorrow and thorn but I’m open to others too. So many great recs from your videos! Thanks again!
Mouse from the Dresden Files is one of my favorite animal companions. Doesn't show up until a few books in though.
Faithful and the Fallen has an amazing use of the chosen one trope!!!
Love me ruins, animal companions, and sentient weapons; can't get enough! HATE love triangles, no no no, please and thank you, no.
We definitely agree on those! :D
My favourite mentors would be Gandalf (LoTR), Moiraine (WoT), Jirayja (Naruto), Ouki (Kingdom), Iroh (Avatar) and LittleFinger (ASoIaF).
Love all those! Well besides Ouki, I haven't read Kingdom yet but I'd like to get to it as I hear it's really great
Awesome video! I agree with most all of this. As far as magical weapons story recs go, I am currently releasing a web serial featuring a sentient weapon and its so much fun to write! One of my favorite tropes as well
I like when the mentor humbles their apprentice, or when the mentor turned out to be evil all along - the House of Night series does that, but the story has too many book and has a lot more miss's than hits, I read it when I was a teenager and never finished it, but it was so mind blowing when Neferet turned out to be the main villain, it was such a nice plot twist 😭
Oh god I forgot about Deltora until you brought it up. I have the entire Quest, Shadowlands, and Dragons of series...God those were so good.
I love all the Deltora books! I have all 3 of the series as well and it's probably my favorite childhood series. They still hold up pretty good too!
I’ll never get tired of generic medieval Europe, I can watch the trashiest isekai as long as it has that setting, it’s just so cozy
A little too much hatred for resurrection from someone who just claimed he loves reincarnation.
The tropes that drives me nuts are the girl whose JUST imperfect enough to be perfect. i.e That one hair that always gets in her face that she has to push behind her ear, she bites her lip when she thinks etc. HUGE eye roll from me every time.
Also, the best friends since childhood and then they realize they're in love. GIMME A BREAK. It's been done to death...let it die.
“The Cavalry is Here” is one of my favourite tropes
Interestingly enough the main character in the revenant story which was based on real life, spared the person who left him for dead. In the movie they change it for Hollywood climax reasons.
My issue with secret royalty is that it suggests that if the king/queen just abandons their country/province for 2-3 decades people will be totally willing to just accept them as ruler again
anyway here's me trying to connect these tropes to my favorite webseries [and soon to be book series], Epithet Erased. [Small context: Epithets are rare powers based on a single word. Soup would give soup powers for example. People with Epithets are inscribed, while those without Epithets are mundies.]
Ancient Artifact - During season 1, there's a cool little artifact called the Arsene Amulet. It was created by an inscribed with the Epithet "Copycat". He forged the Arsene Amulet to retain his powers and imbued his epithet into it. This would allow the user of the amulet to steal someone's Epithet. Epithet Erased. Haha. Yeah that's basically some info not really mentioned in the show.
Evil Minions - Kinda. Giovanni's boys are his silly little minions. The main character [Molly] actually becomes one of his minions in episode 2. Two of Giovanni's boys have a crush on him. One is Crusher, he was named that for obvious reasons, and Spike, who is the only girl minion before Molly joins. Giovanni also really cares for his boys. Here's a silly little example of him interacting with Molly:
---
“Rejoice! For you are about to witness the first appearance of the world’s soon-to-be greatest supervillain! I am DARKNESS! . . . I am DESPAIR! I AM . . . VINCENT MURDER!!!” said Giovanni Potage wearing a stupid outfit.
“Boss!” Molly cried, “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! We need your help!”
Giovanni’s over-the-top pose melted away to parental concern in an instant. He was hoping that she might compliment him on his cool new costume, but this was way more important.
“What’s wrong, Bear Trap?”
“We found a beach body!”
“A beach body!?” Giovanni hopped down and took a look at Rick. “Whoa, Bear Trap! You killed a guy!? . . . Little villains grow up so fast.” He went to wipe a tear from his eye and bonked his finger into the visor on his catcher’s mask. “Ow.”
---
Found Family - Pretty darn important part of episodes 1-4. It could mostly be Molly and Giovanni, but giovanni and all of his boys fit it. Molly is Giovanni's #1 minion. There's so many scenes that are just so,,, ifjifjpdhdihsdgjsd- THE SCENE WHERE MOLLY IS HAVING A PANIC ATTACK [because Sylvie used his nightmare fuel power, which makes someones worst fear reality,,, molly has pyrophobia, so there was fire-] AND GIOVANNI TRIES TO GET HER AWAY FROM THE FIRE, AND WHEN THEY'RE AWAY FROM IT, HE HUGS HER AND OH MY OGDJDSJFISPJFSF [Found family makes me scream] AND THE ENDING OF PRISON OF PLASTIC. I CRIED. I CRIED AT THE ENDING, AND THE ILLUSTRATION OF GIOVANNI COMFORTING MOLLY WHILE SHE'S CRYING??? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
Animal Companion - ...Technically. Rick gets turned into a chameleon in chapter 2, and stays like that til the end of chapter 7.
Dragon - Graham. He's a smores dragon. Giant dragon the size of a skyscraper made of smores.
There's also countries. Taiga Country, Deepwood Country, Desert Country, Ocean Country, Island Country, and Australia.
There's also races, so ill just put what characters look like.
we got
Taiga Race - Light-skinned with light hair.
Deepwood Race - Dark skin and hair.
Desert Race - Tanned skin and grey hair from birth.
Ocean Race - Dark skin and bright hair colored like poisonous sea creatures.
Island Race/Seaside Race - Can be found everywhere and have a variety of appearances, but many of them have plain, dark hair.
Australian - Some say that these “Australian” people have whiskers and rodent-like appearances, but few have seen an Australian and lived to tell the tale…
Sympathetic antagonists is something I mostly see in anime, and I'd like to see in more stories.
Have you read Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga? His series deep dives into detailed POVs for diverse cultures (western, eastern and alien) and across worlds. Of particular note: the first trilogy of the Riftwar Saga starting with “Magician” and after that the Empire Trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts occurring concurrently to Magician but following a different characters compelling story and culture.
Don’t have any trope to add, but if you’re wanting some good eldritch fantasy horror, check out Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan. The magic system literally leans into eldritch horror, and it’s fantastic.
Also, for animal companions, I love Bully Boy from the Blacktongue Thief, by Christopher Beuhlman.
Thanks for the recommendations!! :)
Deltora Quest! I haven't thought about that series in yeeeears, that was one of the first fantasy series I read
Jay, if you want a fantasy with COSMIC HORROR you NEED to give Gunmetal Gods a try! It’s so good I have no qualms telling a busy booktuber what they need to read 😉
Gunmetal Gods has been on my list to get to for a while now! I definitely want to get to it soon, thanks for the rec! 😀
My favourite mentor character is Kelsier from Mistborn. He's just a great character who also happens to be a mentor. He's not just a trope.
Sword of summer by Rick Riordan has sentient weapon. Also Magi the labyrinth of magic has worldbuilding inspired by Middle Eastern culture.
Jezal from first law is a good twist on the “secret royalty” trope maybe even my favorite example of it
Ahh you're right, Jezal is a really great twist on that trope! I love his arc, and Abercrombie is really good at subverting our expectations
I love legendary named weapons. Not necessarily magical or artifacts in and of themselves, but with a lore and history to them. Anduril from LOTR, Vindication from Mistborn Era 2, Heron Mark Blades from WOT, etc.
Also, the “DGAF peripheral antagonist” that’s a wildcard character relentlessly pursuing their own agenda and causing chaos to all other factions. They’re usually super interesting characters because of their unique personal philosophies and disregard for all other laws and standards. Gollum 👌🏻
Yesss I love the legendary named weapons as well. Also chaotic antagonists like that are super interesting!
you might like the Destiny Cycle series. it's a high-fantasy setting with a a refreshing twist in that it's based entirely on chinese mythology
Another last place for Damsel in Distress, I need to write more to make it more common, I want for it to make a come back
The Swords series by Fred Saberhagen is an excellent example of Magical weapons
wohooo there was a mention of six of crows, I'm getting my grishaverse crumbs
One of my fave is Gladiator trope- (hero is arrested or beaten in battle and captured and has to fight their way out/survive prison brawls or as a gladiator) ex: gladiator movie, kaladin from stormlight, Maquin from the faithful and the fallen, Mia corvere from nevernight…
The Calvary showing up to win the battle of helms deep feels good for a reason and isn’t a Deus Ex Machina. Why? Because we know Gandalf is out there, we know he shows up PRECISELY when he means to(😂) and it’s already established that Gandalf is seeking aid for Rohan so we’re sitting there and many of us are think “wait where’s Gandalf? THERE HE IS!” So when a convenient army shows up to save the day it’s great when it’s ESTABLISHED and foreshadowed that this will happen, and the steps for the Calvary showing up are laid. Deus ex machina feels so bad because its help coming from absolutely NOWHERE. It’s a random convenient event that shouldn’t have happened but somehow does.
personally i think the best secret royality that i have read is probably Garion/ Belgarion from the belgariad, because it is relevant (also incorporating the farm boy to hero) but if you also read the prequals of Begarath & Polgara's lives it seems even more relevant.
A great dark lord trope that’s done well and differently is Jacqueline Carey’s “The Sundering,” series.
My examples for most of these tropes.
Chosen One: Neo from the Matrix Series
Dark Lord: Skynet from Terminator Series
Mentor: Professor X from Marvel Comics
Vague Middle Age European Setting: Black Knight
Magical Artefacts: Rabbit's Foot from Mission Impossible 3
Ruins of Dead Civilization: -- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Secret Royalty: The Princess Diaries
Plot Armor: James Bond
Farmboy to Hero: Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/ Skywalkers from Star Wars
Remote Village: Star Wars: A New Hope/ Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Cosmic Horror: Stranger Things Series
Redemption Arc: Loki from Loki Series
Spiral into Madness: Twoface from The Dark Knight
Evil Minions: Henchman James Bond Series
Miscommunication: Martel and Riggs from Lethal Weapon.
Deus Ex Machina: Artic Water in The Water Boy
Veteran Soldier: Unforgiven
Found Family: The Avengers
Crew: Ocean's Eleven
Magic School: Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.
Sentient Weapons: T-1000 from Terminator Series
Antagonist Group: Hydra: Captain America Series
Animal Companion: Dogmeat from Fallout Series
Enemies to Lovers: Catwoman from Batman Series
Creepy Forest - All Forest are creepy at night this is a universal fact. (The Village)
Reincarnated Hero: Link from Legend of Zelda Series
Reluctant Hero: Constantine
The Quest: Galaxy Quest
Fantasy Horror: The Thing
Bard/ Storyteller: --
Love Triangle: Harry Osborn - Peter Parker - Mary Jane Watson
Damsel: Lois Lane
Strong Female sans Character:
Mercy: Batman
Tolkeinism: --
Interconnected Universes: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
Magical Cities: Elysium
Prophecy: Interstellar
Dragons: Reign of Fire/ Godzilla
Resurrection: William Cage from Edge of Tomorrow
Ally: Furina de Fontaine from Genshin Impact