List of SFF Clichés

This is one of my favourites and there's an infinite number of variations...

"... a sombre little town in the haunted hills of the Welsh Border Country. Sunless, secretive and going quietly to seed in the shadows of its gruesome past... until Max Goff, music tycoon... and his modern mystics believe that they can tap into Crybbe's hidden powers... the power it releases in ever darkening shades of evil..."
 
Whenever the characters of a story perform magical activities in front of ordinary people's eyes, without anyone noticing, it's always "explained" away with "They see only what they want to see".
 
The heroine is kidnapped by the bad guy. Instead of raping and/or killing her outright, he forces her to put on an evening gown, negligee, or some other revealing outfit. He either forces her to join his harem or sit through an awkward, candlit dinner with him.

After she escapes there will be no time to change, and she will have to wear the ridiculous get-up through the rest of the story. If it's a fancy dress she's wearing, the bottom portion of it will be ripped off for some reason before the story ends.
 
But that's not a cliche limted to SFF, e.g. it's precisely what happens in Thomas Harris's 'Hannibal'.

Thing is, just because something is regarded as a cliche in SFF doesn't mean it isn't true. The stungun has been a cliched weapon in SF for years, but tell that to anyone who'e been zapped by a taser.
 
No matter how big the world is or how sprawling the metropolis the same old people will keep cropping up again and again and in the most unlikely of places. No matter that our hero / heroine has just spent a year crossing continent after continent, by the purest of chances they will still run into thier mate / enemy who miraculously just happens to have found themselves a new job and life five thousand miles away. Often, as chance may have it, it's more than one person even. Our hero travells miles and miles and finds himself continuosly running into his mates.
 
Neal Asher said:
The daft thing is, Jackokent, that happens in reality too. How many times I've been on holiday thousands of miles away from home and run into someone I know. Small world and all that.
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I agree, but they don't tend to be the holders of that single bit of info or that one impliment that you just so happen to need to save the world.:)
 
The loner human, most often an ex-warrior, through feats of arms/physical/mental trials becomes a adopted alien. Who, of course, is the only one who can stop the impending war between the races.
 
magic is either as easy as breathing or comes with a terrible cost attatched.

kings are iether haughty or bumbling, never 'normal'.

queens may be beautiful, matronly or manipulative.

Sci Fi names are usually normal names spelt strangely; Alixsannndra, Stive, Jawn. OR simply add an X, Z or apostrophe anywhere you please for a fantasy name.

Saddle sores will be mentioned the first time the hero gets off his new horse, but will be gone by the next morning and NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN...

It doesn't matter if the sky is purple, there are fourteen moons or a great world dragon, the food and plantlife is Terran or always enough like Earth stuff to be understandable (Feist/Wurt's 'Servant' books are full of it)

Animals must always have either three or six legs.

Alien races are 'haughty', or 'warlike' or peaceful'.

Cooking is frequently mentioned during any fantasy quest, laundry never is.

Banking doesn't change from planet to planet.

~8~ I read too much!~*~
 
HappyHippo said:
Alien races are 'haughty', or 'warlike' or peaceful'.
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Well, unless they're just like us, they'd have to appear to be something other than normal from our perspective, closer to one end or the other of some spectrum that we perceive ourselves in the middle of.

The intriguing thing is that it would mean we'd seem abnormal in some way to them...
 
This is a fantastic thread!
I can't think of anything to add, just emphasize the cliche of a reluctant hero who comes from some small town as an orphan, fights all odds to save the world against some evil dude with the help from his bumbling sidesick, beautiful girl/handsome dude and wise, old man.
 
Delvo said:
Well, unless they're just like us, they'd have to appear to be something other than normal from our perspective, closer to one end or the other of some spectrum that we perceive ourselves in the middle of.

The intriguing thing is that it would mean we'd seem abnormal in some way to them...
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oooh, good point.

I'm not sure if it's a cliche, but why are dwarves always miners, or at the very least subterranean? Is it a height thing?
 
How about Good vs. Evil > Good and Evil are inextricably mixed up in each other > Hero absorbing both good and evil into himself and "canceling the equation/debt" to save the world?
 
The hero or heroine dies right in front of us and then miraculously after a bit of pleading or a majic word, or someone noticing that they are wearing the vest of enlightenment, they just suddenly get better. They don't even seem to have a headache afterwards.
 
Here's one I've been noticing lately (sorry if someone already mentioned):

Wispy and thin heroine who weighs perhaps 90 lbs and stands a mere 5'5" just so happens to be a master swordswoman/martial artist, and she can kick the butt of any 6'8" man weighing 250 lbs of pure muscle. Because she knows kung-fu or whatever, and is faster than the man. :rolleyes:
 
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