As you may have guessed from the existence of this blog, I enjoy writing. And, since I'm a writer (of sorts), I also enjoy reading - especially medieval fantasy. Not just books, either; there are hidden gems in the online roleplaying community, too.
Unfortunately, medieval fantasy seems to be one of those poor genres that attracts newbies and terrible writers like flies.
There are certain character types that have me screaming at my computer screen and, now that I've (hopefully) attracted your attention, I'm going to vent the pent-up rage of years uncounted.
Of course, there's no sense in ranting without suggesting a better way of doing things: I'll also be sure to suggest how these terrible, terrible characters can be redeemed.
There will always be exceptions to these, though - a good writer can pull off almost anything.
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Terrible Character Type the First: Elves = Humans x 10
Explanation: Elves tend to run rampant in medieval fantasy stories. Sadly, they're all exactly the same kind of elves: badly copy-pasted from J.R.R. Tolkien's famous trilogy. It's the same with most elves one finds in roleplays, and it has begun to wear.
You see, most writers treat elves as a sort of "Humans 2.0". They can do anything and everything better than humans, simply because of their race. It's taken as read that they were born with a bow in their hands, and they're usually faster, stronger, tougher and stronger than humans, too. This worked in "Lord of the Rings" because Tolkien's elves mostly keep to themselves, and though they have untold power, they rarely make use of it to meddle in the outside world.
In other books, though (such as the "Inheritance" trilogy), elves run amok, waving their bows and swords and whatnot. The mystery of them is stripped away, and you are told exactly how much better at things they are than humans. It doesn't talk about years and years, an elf's long lifetime, full of training - they can just do things, with no explanation other than "We're elves, baby!"
Redemption: The only way I can see of redeeming these characters is to rip off Tolkien completely (which I don't recommend). Failing that, at least give some indication that they've been working to hone their skills.
Terrible Character Type the Second: Twinsies!
Explanation: I mostly only see this in roleplays, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. A lot of new roleplayers create twin characters, and this almost never turns out well. Either they turn into two copies of the same character, or they're stereotypically 'opposites'. When people make a set of twins, they have to divide their attention between the two characters, which means that they have that much less attention to give to the personalities. Most twin characters are one-dimensional: a list of generic traits and not much else. They often act in tandem, which just compounds the problem.
Redemption: Work hard to develop separate personalities. Maybe even make them fraternal twins, rather than identical. Create two complete characters - not just a pair of empty shells.
Terrible Character Type the Third: Free-range princess
Explanation: I don't have a problem with princesses in general. Really, I don't - some of my favorite characters are of royal lineage! No, the ones that really get my goat are the 'free spirits'. Rebels to the core, these princesses hate their privileged status, hate that they can have everything they want and more, and they hate that princes are lining up at the door to meet them. They wish they'd been born to lead the 'free' lives of peasant maidens, who get to marry men much older than themselves and work themselves into an early grave. These princesses tend to think that it's unfair that they have to do princessy things, such as dancing or courting, when they could be out riding around and swordfighting and whatnot.
It's not just their attitude that annoys (though, really, they're nothing but typical teens times ten), but the very fact that they've had reason to develop such an outlook on life. Being a princess should, logically, be the only lifestyle they know - they would have been raised to see marriage as a duty, a business arrangement. Raised to the somewhat confined life a princess leads. When would they have had an opportunity to realize 'Hey, wait, I think I'm being oppressed'?
Redemption: This character type might work if the young lady had had a lot more freedom in her early years, to provide some contrast. It would work even better if the character managed not to rebel at every turn, but kept their feelings hidden as long as they could.
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Those are all the character types that come to mind right now. Go ahead and comment if you have any suggestions.
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