Confession: I Like Fantasy Tropes-What are your favorites/least favorites?

LLTisdel

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I often read articles or watch videos that bring up the ever-present fantasy tropes (such as Chosen Ones, Mcguffins, Evil Empire etc.) Sometimes they deconstruct the methods and popularity behind certain tropes, other times they argue against them ("Don't do it! It's cliche! It's been done!").

Personally, I love fantasy tropes. How an author handles the trope and makes it unique to their story matters the most to me (not just avoiding tropes or trying to subvert everything). The truth is that tropes work, sell, and people like them. That being said, the author must bring something new to each fantasy trope and choose *some* tropes to eliminate or ignore-to make the story fresh and exciting (and of course, solid/interesting characters.)

So bring on the Chosen Ones, Mcguffins, Evil Empires, and dragons! Just show me how DIFFERENT these tropes can be. That being said, here are my TOP 5 Favorite Tropes and Top 5 Least Favorite Fantasy Tropes:

Favorites
1. McGuffins-Fun as long as it is interesting and a new idea.
2. Evil Empires-Sometimes you just need an Evil Empire. I know some readers are sick of them, but I think they're fun, warts and all.
3. Prophecy- Some people love it, some people hate it. I like to try to decode the prophecy or enjoy looking back on the phrophecy after a story is done. It's interesting to see what happens when prophecy fails or is misinterpreted.
4. Village Taverns- A fantasy or RPG without a tavern scene is dead to me. (With some exceptions.)
5. "A rag-tag band of adventurers who don’t get along have to team up to save the world and along the way discover that they really do like each other."

Least Favorites
1. Elves- Aside from Tolkien's work, I generally don't like elves in fantasy (as they tend to be, well, Tolkien elves). I like elves when the world-building calls for it, it's clearly *not*Tolkien, and that the presence of the elves is important. (Not just...fantasy!! Must add elves!!)
2. Apostrophes. I never liked the random apostrophes. I think it clutters a story.
3. Race/Country Monotony- All elves are wise woodsy folk. All characters from X country have the same thoughts, goals, and personality. While some similarities and shared values are to be expected, race/country monotony can get boring pretty fast. (And isn't realistic.)
4. Older Character=Dead Mentor Character- Older people can have more roles than being a dead mentor...I like seeing senior citizen characters active in the story and treated with respect and good character development. This is one of the many reasons I love Miyazaki movies. Older characters have a variety of roles, personalities, and are always treated respectfully (by the author).
5. No Female Friends- Female-Female friendships seem to be lacking in fantasy. Two female characters are usually rivals, dislike each other, or are related. There are plenty of male friendships in fantasy, but female friendships are lacking (or seem to be).


Of course, I can enjoy a fantasy story with trope overuse/cliches as long as the characters are interesting and fun. Characters are the most important element to me. For example, The Belgariad pretty much uses every fantasy trope or cliche known to man, but the characters are a good time.
 
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BethS

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Hmm. I wouldn't have thought a McGuffin was a fantasy trope in particular, but maybe fantasies have overused it? Trying now to think of a fantasy that has a McGuffin. Well, other than a story I wrote a few years back. :greenie But I didn't do it on purpose. It just showed up.

Just off the top of my head, I'm not sure I could come up with five of each category, but fwiw--

Faves--

Wizarding (or other speciality) School. I doubt I'll ever write one of those myself, but I liked it in Harry Potter and The Name of the Wind. And probably some others I can't now recall.

Secret Kin, which can include a child or sibling (bonus points for twins), a parent, a grandparent, etc. I have unabashedly used this in my own work.

The Strong Commander/King/Queen, etc. who rejects his or her role and sides with the Commoners. Or conversely, the Commoner who finds him or herself thrust into greatness.

Forbidden Love, though that's certainly not limited to fantasy.

The Honorable Warrior, who will not compromise the Code at any cost.

The Wise Child, if done well. And a whole lot depends on that.

Not Faves--

Adventuring groups. Or at least, not the sort of adventuring group where there's a magic-user and a fighter and a thief and a mysterious stranger.... And if they all meet in a tavern at the beginning of the story, it's curtains. The Lord of the Rings is the great and only exception to this.

I probably have more Not Faves, but will have to come back later.
 
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Kjbartolotta

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Offhand,

Favorite:

Sealed Evil in a Can. 'Cause where else you gonna put evil, and how else is it gonna get out?

Path of Inspiration. Can't get enough of it, even when it's sorta dumb. Though I do get annoyed at unrealistic and overly cynical depictions of religion.

Deadly Decadent Court. Because yeah!

Any nobility trope. Honestly, any of them. Not ashamed to admit I like reading about nobles and aristocrats.

Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom & Awesome McCoolname. I spent a lot of time thinking up stories that make use of these, and have a very intense backlog of them to work through.


Least Favorites:

Fantasy Races. Yes, ALL fantasy races, all tropes relating to them. I'm a pretty chill guy IRL, but if I lived in a fantasy world with elves and hobbits and such, I'd be an utter monster. Which leads me to...

Can't Argue With Elves. Hard to argue with someone who smells their lilac-scented farts all day. But I wouldn't even bother talking to them.

Evil Empire. I can bend on this one, but handled badly it can get very annoying.

Any monolithic Asian or Islamic fantasy counterpart cultures. Fine if it's done well, sometimes will even read the book if it's done badly. But I'm just as liable to throw the book at the wall than finish it.

Sandersonian Magic- Very much a personal annoyance, some people like it and I'm fine with that. But not for me, IMHO magic that behaves like science is science.

This is super-fun! Might update later as I think of these, and thanks for the great thread idea!
 

Harlequin

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I won't even beta-read something with elves in (sorry, elf lovers), and absolutely wouldn't pay cash for a fantasy book containing them.

I also can't abide fake-ugly fantasy women. By which I mean women who are supposedly unattractive because they're too slender or something (sigh) and never brush their hair or wear dresses (eye roll). Also they're clumsy, except in combat. How about, fck off.


Otherwise... I generally do like cliches if done well. Robin Hobb deals in cliches done well--takes basic stuff and polishes to shin. I still like coming of age and underdog stories.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I won't even beta-read something with elves in (sorry, elf lovers), and absolutely wouldn't pay cash for a fantasy book containing them.

Dang! I thought I felt strongly about this. :)

Curiously, I rather enjoyed the elves in Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, and the Witcher. Maybe something about being games, I'm less picky, though I did really like the elfy depiction of them.
 

Curlz

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Wow, I was struggling to make five! Most of tropes actually live in the grey area in between, me thinks.


Favs :e2cheer:
1. Evil Empire - always reliable to stirr up stuff
2. Magic Potions - here's one I prepared earlier! Just effortless plotting.
3. The Dark And Mysterious Woods - characters must go through woods and meet creatures. It's obligatory.
4. Orks - they are just cute. Boo!
5. Quests - find the magic thingamabob.


Not really care much about :e2chain:
1.Prophesies - they all tend to be kinda samey
2.Elves - sorry, booooriiiing.
3.Wizards - I keep imagining them with pointy hats and I tend to giggle when they show up.
4.The Treacherous Second In Command Who Controls The King - bleh, annoying.
5.Dragons - too cartoonish.

:e2dance:
 

Harlequin

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Dragon Age came out some time ago, and I was less grouchy then.

But also all the elves were impoverished/enslaved, which serves them right for being elves >.> Naturally I played a human and screwed the elves over at every opportunity.

Also... I don't exactly have oodles of choice when it comes to decent isometric RPGs. I mean, they do get made, but not in spades. Not the way shooters do.
 

Kjbartolotta

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You are cracking me up this morning, Harl. Believe it or not, elves are my favorite fantasy species next to humans. Well, no, I'd kick it with orcs. But otherwise, it only gets more acrimonious from there. And 'our x's our different' should be 'our x's are not appearing in this story'.

Thought of another trope I love: The Necrocracy. The villains in two story ideas, the heroes in one other.
 

CathleenT

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Hmm...Tropes I like:


Abused child overcomes background and helps save the day. There are a lot of abuse survivors out there, and they need hope.

Dragons: Seriously, what's not to like? Although riding them seems to be McCaffrey's thing.

North American/European setting: Hey, this is my cultural heritage and the sort of thing that made me fall in love with fantasy in the first place.

Fairy tales.

Good vs. evil.



Tropes I dislike:

I hate, hate, HATE the chosen one. I want people to choose themselves.

Forbidden love. Depends on why it's forbidden, but I don't want to read another adultery story ever. Books hit the wall on this one.

King Arthur and Robin Hood have been done to death.

Orcs seem to belong to Tolkien.

And fairy tale retellings that completely subvert the point of the tale. I loved the originals. Fine, change the setting and update the characters, but don't take away the very things that made these stories endure.
 

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I'm fond of dragons. I have been ever since I was a kid. I also like wise beasts (intelligent animals that can communicate telepathically with people). I also like fantasy set in pre-industrial cultures (not really medieval, though), and magic that selectively solves some of the problems that come from living in a pre-industrial culture (like the real-world lack of control over fertility and people having no knowledge of sanitation) without pushing things over into an industrial age. I like reading and writing about societies where monotheism never took over unilaterally (so they wouldn't mirror European social development in the middle ages and beyond).

However, I also like imagining and examining how these small differences might impact society in a larger way.

And I'm a sucker for romantic arcs with happy, or at least optimistic endings. I also like bittersweet endings, however. It kind of depends on what the story needs. Sex? Bring it on, as long as it's well written and makes sense for the story and characters.

As for tropes that are harder sells for me? I'm kind of bored with prophecies, unless there's an interesting twist. Non-human humanoids, like elves and dwarves (or any story where the protagonist's race is somehow possessed of white hair), are a hard sell. Especially when they are based on Tolkien (or D&D tropes) with the serial numbers filed off and are presented as monolithic and are a substitute for human diversity in stories. I'm also somewhat put off with flawlessly beautiful female protagonists (especially with eyes of an unusual color that are constantly mentioned), unless the flawless beauty is actually relevant to the plot in an important way. Normal-looking people can have adventures and find love too. So can (gasp) ones that are considered ugly.
 
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Harlequin

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I loved Tolkien's elves, but I'm less keen on the imitations.

It does feel different, having them in games. Maybe I expect games to be a bit lazier/safer with their worldbuilding? I don't know.


Re flawlessly beautiful women... I read a book recently (The Just City, Jo Walton, time travelling Athena sets up Plato's Republic and teleports in philosophers from across the ages...)

It had lots of problems as a narrative, but one of the things I liked about it was the female protagonist, who was genuinely ugly. The thing is, she didn't give a shit because she was also a lean mean philosophising machine. It didn't hold her back, and she even seduced a god (sort of).
 

ambmae

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What a fun thread! I love that everyone has different opinions. It proves how subjective writing is.
mmmmk, tropes I LOVE:

chosen one/special powers/different and magical in some way
Typical mythical creatures: dragons, faeries, mermaids, etc.
European setting (not that I don't love other settings too)
Fairytale retellings - Lunar Chronicles is my favorite series right now (that's a couple of years after reading it)
Needing to save the world - raise those stakes!

Tropes I hate:
Teenagers/kids that everyone listens to (since when does that actually happen?)
Gorgeous lead characters
Long drawn out make out scenes
Girls that can't make up their minds - Do I love him? Or do I love him?
Characters that make decisions contrary to their character just to move the plot along - k, probably not so much a trope as poor writing, but it drives me nuts!
 

Kjbartolotta

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RE: Elves, because I can't let it go, I'm actually totally good with Fair Folk, of the Holly Black variety.
 

ManWithTheMetalArm

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Favs! :hooray:
Dragons- I fucking LOVE dragons! There's so many things you can do with them! Are they intelligent? Can they speak human languages or do they communicate through some other means? Can they shapeshift? Can you ride them? Will they let you ride them? Do they even like humans/mortals? The possibilities are endless!
Mythical creatures- Like dragons, there's a ton of interesting things you can do with mythical creatures. If I had to pick one mythical creature I like the most, next to dragons, it's mermaids/mermen/fish-people of all kinds.
Fantasy Races- As you can probably tell, I like using typical fantasy tropes and trying to do something interesting with them. Fantasy races can be really fun when subverted, but even when they're not, there's usually something interesting about them (Like the Sin'dorai/Blood Elves from WoW.)
Magic- To me, it isn't fantasy without magic. There's nothing like watching a couple wizards sling fireballs at each other! :D
The good and noble ruler- Contrary to popular belief, not all dictatorships/autocracies are evil. If a ruler is nice and friendly, then their subjects will be content, and a content populace will never rebel.

KILL IT WITH FIRE! :mob:
Monolithic Races/Ethnic Groups/Religious Groups- We all know these ones: "All elves are stuck up and snooty", "All orcs are stupid and violent", "All [insert ethnic/religious group here] are [insert stereotype here]". Now, if this is being used to poke fun at the trope, then I can usually accept it, but if it's being played out seriously, then it can jolly well fuck off.
Evil Empires- Stop copying Nazi Germany, guys! I know fascists have the become the stock villains for a reason (Nazis are dicks, after all), but by this point, we've seen it all.
Teenagers that are smarter/more emotionally stable than the adults- Let's be honest, teenagers don't have the best grasp on things. Their understanding of things such as politics, strategy, and religious belief isn't very good, mainly because they still have much to learn and have yet to fully grow up. Their emotions are often not in the most stable positions either, since their bodies are still developing, and anyone who's gone through high school knows that hormones can wreak havoc on their emotions. If I had to choose between the hormonal teenager who mopes and sulks about their many issues and the adult who works to improve their situation and works to fix their emotional problems instead of sulking, I'm gonna go with the adult.
"Pruve Yer' Wurth!"- We all know this, the ancient powers/gods/whatever won't give our protag the magical villain removing McGuffin until they've proven their sodding worth with a bunch of side quests while the big bad continues to wreak havoc across the land. And of course, the protag never throws down their weapons and goes, "Do you want this fucker dead or not?!"
 

Lakey

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I love this thread to bits and I'm not even a fantasy reader. You folks are all wonderful with your analysis of what makes the tropes fun or unfun. Love it!
 

Brightdreamer

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I'll take a swing at listing a few:

Loves:
Dragons - Yes to dragons! So long as they're dragons and not surrogate puppies (good, evil, intelligent, beastly, friendly, standoffish - there has to be something dragonish about them... an admittedly nebulous concept, but, like porn, I know it when I see it), you're far more likely to hook me into at least reading your blurb with a dragon than almost anything else in fantasy. As has been mentioned, there are many ways to do them and make them interesting.
Griffins - They run a close second to dragons in my list of Most Wonderful Fantasy Beings Ever. For a while, they experienced a surge in popularity, possibly due to inclusion in video games, but they're still not as common, and there's still much to be done with them. (Personally, I keep trying to figure out how to use the heraldic concepts of griffins in a story: technically, the winged griffins were considered female and ones with spikes coming out of their shoulders, possibly indicating light rays - personal uneducated guess - were males, but I've never found an explanation. I thought it would be an interesting version of sexual dimorphism for a fantasy species, but haven't found a tale in which to use it.)
Tweaked Tropes - If there's a Chosen One, have them bust their leg so Jill Sidekick has to step up. If there's a prophecy, make a typo.

Hates:
Tolkien and/or D&D knock-offs - These are the stories that give fantasy a bad name, cookie-cutter "if it's fantasy, there must be taverns, 'halflings,' and orcs on a Quest through pseudo-Renfaire Europe" stuff. Overplayed, and too often used without actual thought or research or anything. Bleh.
Elves and faerie races that are just humans with sparkles or pointy ears - Traditionally, there was a reason Fae weren't to be messed with, and couldn't ever really be mistaken for humans without "glamour" magic. They weren't people, and weren't supposed to think quite like people, or act quite like people, or even consider humans as significantly different than animals (if perhaps more fun to toy with.)
Monolithic cultures - Mentioned before, worth mentioning again, especially when it comes down to the old, cringeworthy stereotypes of white pseudo-Europeans as the good guys (or at least the most advanced and powerful guys.) It's just lazy writing.
Unimaginative retellings - I can appreciate the deep and influential roots of King Arthur and fairy tales, but the latter especially need some serious sprucing up to appeal to me, and the former is almost as overused as the knee-jerk Tolkien "homage." Do not invoke names like Merlin and Pendragon and figure the rest of the story can just fly by on reputation alone.
Precocious, cutesy kids - Extends far beyond fantasy, but I'm sick of "cute" kids stealing spotlights, uttering childishly wise things, and otherwise not acting at all like real kids.
Unhealthy relationships portrayed as true love - He hits her, he belittles her, he cheats on her... She emasculates him, "oops"es him into marriage, says "no" to mean "yes" or "yes" to mean "no"... but really, they're made for each other and supposedly live happily ever after, especially after one sells out their ideas and dreams for the sake of the relationship. Not cool.
 

BethS

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Just thought of another Not A Fave:

Evil possession. I do not want to read about some evil being taking over the body of a person, particularly if it happens to good characters and the evil being makes them do awful things to people they love. And if the villain is going to be evil, let him or her be evil because of that's who they are, not because something possessed them and made them do it. The Mad-Eye Moody subplot in Harry Potter definitely falls in this category, and wow, did I hate it when the truth was revealed.

Close kin to this is the plot where characters are forced to do bad or immoral things because someone is blackmailing them.
 
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ULTRAGOTHA

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Wizarding (or other speciality) School. I doubt I'll ever write one of those myself, but I liked it in Harry Potter and The Name of the Wind. And probably some others I can't now recall.

Have you read Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones?


5. No Female Friends- Female-Female friendships seem to be lacking in fantasy. Two female characters are usually rivals, dislike each other, or are related. There are plenty of male friendships in fantasy, but female friendships are lacking (or seem to be).

Have you read the Steerswoman books by Rosemary Kierstein. One of the best female friendships I've ever read.

Girls that can't make up their minds - Do I love him? Or do I love him?
Characters that make decisions contrary to their character just to move the plot along - k, probably not so much a trope as poor writing, but it drives me nuts!

Oh, two of my top hates, too! Gah!


My #1 fave is Fantasy of Manners. Give me all the Regency with magic!
 

Marian Perera

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Oh, where do I start?

1. Intelligent, powerful dragons who have no greater goal in life than to hang out with humans and let humans ride them as if they were big, scaly, fire-breathing ponies. Bonus points if the humans in question are whiny or bratty teenagers.

Subversion : A Game of Thrones. Dany sacrificed a lot for those dragons. She earned the ride.

2. Poorly developed fantasy races e.g. the writer falls back on the LotR movies, or simply hasn't made these characters distinguishable from humans who can do magic, who have pointy ears, etc.

Or fantasy races who have no real existence outside of providing a colorful backdrop for human experiences, e.g. the heroine visits ancient and beautiful elves, whose magic is slowly fading from the world, and she gets upset about this. But there's no indication that the elves are doing anything about their problem. They've read the script, so they know their role in the story is to look beautiful and tragic so the heroine will be fired up to save them.

Subversion : Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies.

3. The MC is backed into a corner. How can she possibly get out of this? Why, she discovers a power she didn't have before, or uses a power the reader didn't know about beforehand! Or some other deus ex machina occurs.

I remember rolling my eyes at a scene in one of Rosemary Edghill's Twelve Treasures books where the MC is hard-pressed in a fight when suddenly his daughter appears with a sword. The daughter who hasn't even been born yet. Turns out she took a "Time River" and traveled into the past to save him. Once that's done, she tells him what he's supposed to name her, then sails back to the future and out of the story.

3. Villain is the hero's father. Or the hero is an orphan, so you know his father is going to be Someone Significant.

4. Women are very powerful magic-wise, unless they're menstruating or if they're raped. Bonus points if rape permanently destroys their power, or their minds, or both.

5. Speaking of rape, this is used as a way to show how evil the bad guys are. Ditto for child molestation.

6. Women who save it for the right man are good. Women who have sex for other reasons are... not. There's a novel where the villainness, plotting her evil schemes, tells her boy toy that he should make do without her for the time being. So he starts pleasuring himself, looking upset as he does so, and this is all presented as evidence of her depravity. My review included the line, "Telling a teenaged boy to masturbate... that's just cruel."

7. Characters go through so much hell (beating, starving, mutilation, etc) that they should be dead from injuries and infections, or traumatized to the point of being unable to function. Instead, they survive with a few scars at most, and sometimes heal without medical treatment.

8. Prophecies that spell out what's going to happen, and the author doesn't twist or subvert this in any way.
 

Marian Perera

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Now for some of my favorites! In no particular order...

1. There's a price to be paid for magic. Lawrence Watt-Evans does this very well in his Ethshar novels - wizardry requires spell components; witchcraft takes physical energy; warlock magic is drawn from the mysterious Source in the north, but once warlocks become powerful enough, the Source summons them north and they're never seen again.

2. Animal companions act like animals at least part of the time, rather than being loyal obedient servants/sidekicks 24/7.

3. Unusual and effective worldbuilding. This one gets me every time. I'll even read books where the plot and characters are somewhat lacking, if the worldbuilding is good enough.

4. Characters who are competent at their jobs, whether that job is castle guard or Evil Overlord.

5. Princesses or young ladies who accept the fact that their parents are going to arrange their betrothals, and who behave in a mature and intelligent way about this.

6. Realistic consequences to foolish or poorly-thought-out decisions. In other words, the hero doesn't get a free pass because he's the hero.
 

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OMG, the Elf-hate is so amusing. Mostly because they tend to annoy the crap out of me. I do agree that elves work better in games, though. Because fantasy RPGs need to give the player variety (in the player character and/or enemies they fight). Different races are a great way to do that. Aesthetics, mechanics, how the world sees you. It's all there. Also, shout out to the best elves ever in Divinity: Original Sin 2. Those elves eat the flesh of the living and the dead to absorb their thoughts and memories.

Anyway, my faves:

- Evil Empire (especially when we get to see its inner workings)
- Fae, but only when they are enigmatic, tricksy sorts that will end you if you mess with them
- Bad guy is related to the good guy
- Dragons!
- Rescue missions. Obviously the classical "damsel in distress" is annoying as hell, but I love seeing characters in distress. And the daring rescue attempt. I know this isn't limited to fantasy, but fantasy has a lot of it.


Least faves:

- Strictly enforced, stereotypical gender roles. Especially when you have a woman who just wants to fight and doesn't want to be a lady, but she can't because of society or some crap.
- Monolithic races/cultures.
- Prophesies. And Chosen Ones as they tend to be related.
- Magic users who seem to forget they can use magic when the plot demands it.
 

Marian Perera

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Strictly enforced, stereotypical gender roles. Especially when you have a woman who just wants to fight and doesn't want to be a lady, but she can't because of society or some crap.

I also hate it if this woman then mocks other women who like embroidery or want to stay at home with their kids. Because that's so weak and girly. It reminds me of Arya in Game of Thrones saying "Most girls are idiots", because how can we tell she's cool and badass if she doesn't put other girls down?