14 Popular Tropes in Fantasy Novels

1. The Tavern Scene: Many fantasy novels contain a scene set in a tavern. Usually so that the main character can do some sort of reflection or learn crucial information from the bar keep. Taverns also tend to be a place for the main character to rest up and heal from injuries they sustained in previous scenes.

2. The Rebellion: The hero of the story will commonly drag a large group of unnamed and poorly trained peasants into some sort of rebellion. They tend to die in droves, which the hero will barely acknowledge or care about. Dying for a noble cause is apparently always a sacrifice worth making no matter what that peasants situation may be.

3. Fake Marriages: Often times two people who usually come from royalty will agree to a marriage of convenience. They’ll spend time together and commonly fall in love. Sometimes this marriage will have an enemies to lovers plot line, due to that being a wildly popular thing to do in modern fiction.

4. The Big Speech: Usually this occurs during the previously mention rebellion. The hero will have some sort of big speech to rally their troops and overcome the enemy. These speeches tend to contain aphorisms, metaphors, and callbacks. I’ve personally never seen a story where the big speech doesn’t properly motivate the troops to fight with all their might.

5. Elves and Dwarves = Cats and Dogs: Dwarves tend to be short, grumpy, and masculine in most stories. Whereas Elves tend to be more feminine, tall, and annoying/prissy. One things for sure is that these two races are never able to play well together, but always seem to wind up being allies. Elf and Dwarf relations tend to be beloved stories for readers.

6. A Wisecracking Sidekick: What’s a good fantasy novel without some sort of sassy sidekick by the heroes side? These sidekicks tend to be some sort of actor or singer, are always kind of a pain in the heroes ass, but are beloved nonetheless. Many readers will label this sassy sidekick as their favourite character in the novel.

7. Hidden Identity: Some royal subject pretending to be a peasant is a common trope in fantasy novels. An identity that tends to be revealed when they encounter court based politics and need to navigate their way through the fantasy justice system. This trope can make for a great twist within a novel.

8. The Once and Future King: This trope is where some sort of legendary hero will disappear for a prolonged period of time. They always seem to show up at the last minute when needed most and save the day.

9. A Mediaeval Stasis: The vibe always tends to be mediaeval within a fantasy novel. The architecture, weaponry, and sense of fashion never seem to evolve or change. Even in flashbacks and portraits the technology and type of attire worn is always the same. This is a popular trope, but I’d personally enjoy a fantasy story that displays evolution of a society across time.

10. Evil Overlord: There always seems to be some sort of tyrant hellbent on world domination. They tend to be slim with dark features and are commonly popular subjects for fan art.

11. The Quest: There’s always a quest for the hero of the story to go on. Heroes are always required to travel across many lands to defeat an army, overthrow a dictator, find a treasure, or lead a rebellion. Quests are an essential part of any fantasy novel and readers will be expecting a good one.

12. The Anti-Hero: This type of hero has become extra popular recently especially in the superhero genre. They might steal candy from a baby, but they’ll also save the world from annihilation if the price is right.

13. The Orphaned Hero: This tends to leave a lot of room for plot twists and explains why the hero is willing to take extreme measures. Extreme things happened to them early on in life so it makes sense that they’re willing to do something which would seem insane to a normal person. Many people who grew up without proper parents also have an easy time relating to an orphaned hero.

14. The Reluctant Hero: These heroes never choose the hero life, the hero life chooses them. They’ll start off either cowardly or lazy, but then wind up in the position of a hero out of necessity. People who are competent at jobs that suck tend to relate well to this type of hero.