A trope is a familiar pattern that readers recognise: the reluctant hero, the wise mentor, the dark lord in his tower. Tropes are not clichés by default. They are shortcuts that set up expectations, and a story can satisfy those expectations, delay them or overturn them. Knowing the common ones helps readers name what they love, and helps writers make deliberate choices. This list is grouped by the part of a story each trope belongs to.
Heroes and companions
The chosen one
A prophecy or birthright marks an ordinary person for an extraordinary fate. Readers expect reluctance, training and a final confrontation. Twists include a wrong prophecy, a chosen one who refuses, or a hero who was never chosen at all.
The farm boy (or kitchen girl) who leaves home
A modest beginning makes the world large by contrast. Tad Williams’ The Dragonbone Chair begins with a castle kitchen boy. Our list of books like The Lord of the Rings has more.
The wise mentor
An older guide teaches the hero, then is usually removed so the hero must stand alone. The tension lies in what the mentor knows and does not say.
The found family
Strangers become a family through shared hardship or simple kindness. It is at the heart of much cozy fantasy.
The morally grey rogue
A thief, mercenary or assassin with a code. Readers expect charm, a hidden past and a moment where the code is tested.
Villains and powers
The dark lord
A distant, almost abstract evil that threatens everything. Many modern writers humanise the villain or give the evil a structural form instead: an empire, a famine, a lie everyone believes.
The evil empire
A vast state that conquers and erases. Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana, in which a conquered people’s name is magically erased from memory, is a remarkable variation.
The magic with a price
Power always costs something. This is less a trope than a rule of good fantasy; our magic system ideas offers twelve versions.
True names
Knowing something’s real name grants power over it. Ursula K. Le Guin made it the foundation of Earthsea.
Places
The tavern where it all begins
Adventurers meet, rumours are shared, a hooded stranger sits in the corner. Give yours a proper sign with our tavern name generator.
The enchanted forest
A wood with its own will, where the normal rules fail. Naomi Novik’s Uprooted makes the forest itself the antagonist.
The portal to another world
A wardrobe, a wall, a door that should not be there. We wrote a whole essay on why we keep opening impossible doors.
The impossible building
A house larger inside than out, a library without end. See books like Piranesi for the best of them.
The dragon’s hoard
A great beast guarding gold. The interesting question is usually what the dragon wants besides treasure. Name yours with the dragon name generator.
Plots and structures
The quest
A journey to find, deliver or destroy an object. The object matters less than how the travellers change on the road.
The tournament or school
A contained setting with rivals, rules and tests. Readers expect a ranking, a cheating rival and a final trial.
The lost heir
Someone ordinary is secretly royal. Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor twists it: the heir is known, unwanted and utterly unprepared.
Enemies to lovers
Two people on opposite sides slowly fall in love. It is the engine of much romantic fantasy, and its pleasure lies in the slowness.
The last of their kind
A creature or person whose people have vanished. Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn is the classic, discussed in our standalone fantasy list.
Using tropes well
Pick the tropes your story depends on and write down what a reader will expect from each. Then decide, deliberately, which expectations you will meet in full. Readers forgive a familiar pattern done with care far more easily than a twist that feels like a trick. For the rest of the process, see how to write a fantasy novel.