Young Writers Society

*Thought this also belonged here, even though it is in my blog*

So, I had a little something in my blog about how I think centaurs are the coolest fantasy race ever. In the comments for it, someone said that fantasy as a genre is “overdrawn on Tolkienesque creatures”. And, as I thought about it, I have to admit that this is a rather true statement.

Elves kind of get a free pass, since they were being used in fantasy prior to Tolkien, mostly in the form of the “little people” and the fae. Not entirely the same, but close enough.

However, in this post-LOTR era of fantasy, elves absolutely dominate the field as the top non-human race. And they’re a far cry from how they were portrayed before. Instead of being pretty malevolent and uncaring little tricksters, they can be stereotyped as a beautiful, fading race almost every single time. The only place I can really think of where I have seen this done differently is in anything related to D&D and a book by R.A. Salvatore called The Demon Awakes. World of Warcraft may also be different, but I haven’t played it yet, so I wouldn’t know.

As a side note, I advocate the use of “post-LOTR” in the fantasy genre. Tolkien really changed how things were done in it. Limyaael said it best in one of her rants: go read Lovecraft or Lord Dunsany and know that they were once considered fantasy. You’ll be shocked at the differences.

So, it’s been pretty established that elves are significantly overused in fantasy as of this modern day. So, how about orcs? Well, they are primarily Tolkien’s own invention as they exist in their present form. There is evidence that the word was used to describe monsters before him, but he gave us orcs as we know them, and he was the first to do so.

I dislike the idea of orcs. I really do. I’ll tolerate them in Tolkien as a one time thing, but that’s about it. For one, orcs seem to almost always be a chaotically evil race. Every single time. And this baffles me. What made them to be this way? Tolkien at least said that they were essentially very corrupted elves, but everyone else doesn’t bother with that. Need a threat? Marauding band of orcs will do just nicely. And I’m not just talking about orcs as they are known by name. You can shove a pair of horns on it and call it something else, but it’s still in essence an orc.

But, as soon as I start ragging on Paolini, I have to give him some credit. His Urgals are essentially orcs by another name, as I just stated. For the first book they behave as orcs usually do. But, in the second or third book, I forget specifically which, there is a part where Eragon, the protagonist, must go a distance with a Kull, an elite Urgal warrior. During this section there is quite a bit of a chance to empathize with the Urgals. I was quite surprised and pleased to see it, and thought that it was the best part of whichever book it was in. It is the sole example that I have seen so far of orcs, or orc-like creatures, being different from the traditional Tolkienesque mold, and I liked it.

So, what else is on the list? Dwarves. These guys are even more unoriginal in works than the other two. I’ll give them a bit of leeway on that point though, since most of the traditional things about dwarves, living underground, being short, being good with metal and stone, come from Scandinavian myths in the first place. So, there’s some basis there.

But seriously. Are all dwarves really gruff? That’s almost as bad a transgression as having all orcs be chaotically evil.

In fact, a lot of the problem with these fantasy races doesn’t lie with using them in the first place. It lies with the fact that, when people use them, they just make them a “One Hat Race”. This means that they make the elves the “pure and good race”, the orcs the “evil race”, and the dwarves the “gruff but mostly good race”. Not even Tolkien did that all the way. True, his orcs were always evil. But his elves and dwarves were pretty diverse. In the Silmarillion I can think of a father and a son in the elves who acted pretty atypically for the common ideal of elves and caused the downfall of an entire elvish city for pretty selfish reasons. And at the end of The Lord of the Rings, Gimli the dwarf sails off with Legolas for Valinor, again a fairly atypical thing for one of his race to do. Tolkien at least attempted to have characterization in his individual members of his races. It doesn’t really seem like anyone else does.

So maybe my gripe isn’t with the fact that a lot of fantasy races are used over and over again. Okay, actually part of my gripe is with that fact. But I could get over it if the individuals of these races were more like individuals. Instead they’re all the same and it’s boring.

And, what’s the problem with using different things anyway? I’ve already mentioned centaurs, but lets step beyond that, even though I don’t want to (author obsession, ignore). What about satyrs? Has anyone ever done a race of satyrs? You don’t have to make them like the Greek ones. Make them half reptile instead of half goat. Have them dwell up in the mountains or something and build them up as a culture.

Or nymphs. This gets kind of close to elves, but I think it could be pulled off anyway. How about a race of people who are tied to individual trees for survival? No one has done that, as far as I know. There’s quite a bit of potential there.

Dragons are kind of overdone too, but that’s only as monsters, not as a race in their own. Has anyone ever done a dragon city? Like, shown us a city designed by dragons, built by dragons, and inhabited by dragons with no human influence whatsoever? That sounds cool to me already. Instead of making them tied to people, have them not need people to survive and really show it. No more dragon riders.

Those are just three examples. But you can do so much with them. That’s the thing I think. Most people think anything other than the norm is weird. That might be true, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work. Someone told me how they had an idea for a cameltaur (like it sounds, centaur, but with the body of a camel instead of a horse). I told them to go ahead and make something of it. You never know how something will turn out until you try it.

What I guess I am trying to say is that people need to be a bit more open about what is included in a fantasy work. After all, this is fantasy! Nearly anything is possible in this genre if thought about enough. So go for it. Write fantasy stories with something just outside of the norm as a race. See what happens.

I dare you.

I'm not an expert on fantasy species or anything but I think the satyrs with serpent tails has been done, they're called nagas. I haven't seen them around that much though, mostly I just remember one artist on DA or some such who really liked them and in passing elsewhere.

The nymphs tied to a tree thing has, I think, been done too. In the Belgariad and the Mallorean by David Eddings he has the dryads, essentially tree nymphs, and while I don't think they are tied specifically to a tree they are still linked to them.

Still, nice little post. The city by dragons would be interesting... The only problem that comes to mind when I think about that it their size, but we can always make them smaller. If they're smaller it would be silly to ride them around too... Hmm...

It's something to think on. Thanks for this!

What annoys me about fantasy races is indeed the whole 'one hat' thing. You have these ancient, mystical races - but then the entire race is only able to express a single, limited personality, and are only able to experience a select number of emotions.

They're basically emotionally-retarded humans that look a little funny.

And once this has been established, all members of the race have to act like this. All the dwarves have to be gruff, all the orcs have to aggressive, etc. So the entire race basically becomes a living stereotype of itself.

I actually completely dislike the use of fantasy races as such. A lot of it is for the reasons you mentioned, but also because writers seem to think they have to include them, thinking it's some sort of commandment of fantasy fiction. Unless they're done in a clever way (social commentary, discrimination, or so on) I get very frustrated by fantasy races.

The as-promised longer reply! (Short(ish) reply found here)

Limyaael has done a post titled "escaping Tolkien cliches" that can be summed up as: "Tolkien had a reason for everything he did. Get rid of that reason, and you have dry cliches." All of the cliches that are attributed to Tolkien come from a lack of thought; not wanting to reach past what defined fantasy (because, if you look at it, there wasn't really a set genre for fantasy before Tolkien) into the rest of the myth that gets dropped by the wayside. These mythologies include some different aspects of Scandinavian myth, like dark elves (Tolkien used light elves) or the remaining mythologies of the world. Another mythology that gets used enough of Celtic; at least in the evil-creatures sense (they did have a race like that; I forget the name, but they were to undermine the race of gods on the throne). There can also be a touch of Greek myth, in the story-structure and the semi-divine heros (Who still had faults, and were often tragic, but that has been forgotten from the original myths and Tolkien)

Other than the fear of going past what people have established as "fantasy" (honestly, how many fantasy books have you read where there isn't a Tolkien cliche, yet that's all you think about when "fantasy" is brought to mention?) there's also the lack of thought involved. Considering most of the Western world is Christian, you can really match up the common races with some place in Christian doctrine. Elves= a race of beings who are "perfect" and "pure good." Orcs= devils (This can bring in using devils for this reason, if orcs aren't used. Although that's off-topic so I won't get into that) and Western dragons also fit into this category, thanks to St. George. Not too sure where dwarves fit into this, but they're probably on the evil side as well. From your description, they sound a bit like how the Jews were portrayed in the times leading up to Tolkien.

Strip away any logic behind these stereotypes, that Tolkien had, and you're really left wanting more. "One hat races" as you put them. One set of fantasy races I saw did this painfully clear. In Dragonkeeper Chronicles, there are seven "high races" and seven "low races." These are, obviously, to mark those who follow the god of the world and the dark power of the world. If a high race is working for the dark force, they look dead. There's some forgiveness in some of the low races working for the god, but it's a really obvious segregation.

And, dragons. The joys of them. Western dragons were done well in Dragonkeeper Chronicles (I like and dislike those books). There were "minor dragons" who were cat-sized and served rolls, such as light, healing, music, laughter, ect (there was a laughter dragon in one of the books. He was hilarious xD) There were dragons who were used for riding, and dragons used for transportation. Then, there were "meech dragons" who looked almost human (minus reptilian skin and sharper than normal nails, plus a slight duex ex machina of being geniuses in all forms [physical, mental, emotional]) and they did actually have a city where no humans lived. I didn't read up to that part, the morals got too thick in the story, but it was mentioned.

One thing that bugs me is the lack of Eastern dragons. They have some very rich mythology, and can play an alternative to the "wise old mentor" roll. In Chinese mythology, writing was given to the first emperor by a dragon. They also controlled water and look very different than their Western counterparts, to the point they can be called something other than "dragon." (From somebody who has attempted to describe an Eastern dragon, let me tell you they'd be easier to describe if that were the case!)

There's also so many more places to pull from, like non-Western mythologies and even Native mythologies. Instead of taking the beliefs of witches/pagans in Europe and putting a modern spin on them, take the Native mythology where every animal spirit is a god in their own right, and they each have a roll based on their characteristics and way they live? Or, have a half-man, half-bird fly across the skies [Garuda, Hindu myth]?

And I just have to cut in right here and say that Nagas are not half-snake. They are snakes with multiple heads.

Even if you want to use a common creature, say, fairies (not Tolkien, but still rather common and cliched. Even the "dark fairies" that are springing up now are getting cliched). One look at non-Western mythology shows an alternative to a fairy practically everywhere! Asparas, from Hindu myth, distract scholars with charms so they don't learn things the gods don't want them to know. That's a plot just waiting to happen. I don't have a list of mythologies with fairy-like creatures offhand, but they're in The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference. By just doing a little bit of digging/thinking, then you can get maybe a whole new plot and certainly a new feel. Since you're not bound to what people think of, say, elves, you have more room to experiment.

All it really takes to break out of the mold is just a little bit of hunting, and a little bit of thinking.

FourteenthTarget> When I said "reptilian satyrs", I was envisioning something bipedal. So, instead of a goat's lower half, say the lower half of small theropod dinosaur or something similar.

I have wanted to read the Belgariad, but have not gotten around to it. *Puts it on Amazon wish list*

Sureal> Completely agree with your statement of "living stereotype". It's like portraying all of a certain human race the same way. And we all know how well that goes.

Firestarter>I'll agree that non-human races aren't necessary at all in fantasy. But, I do have a partiality towards them anyways.

Rosey Unicorn> Good points all the way through. I especially like the idea of the laughter dragon. xD

I am totally showing Toast this... mwhahaha. That'll teach HER!

Snoink, who is Toast and what are you trying to teach her?

June is Toast, and Toast thinks that Snoink's idea of evil swans is just a little bit out there (this may stem from the fact that June loves swans and cannot possibly think of one as evil). Nevertheless, this does prove that Snoink's originality is pretty awesome... but swans are still cute things to Toast.

That's right, a little more ingenuity in fantasy is wanting.

A brief look at the skeletons for some of the races:

1)Wise, noble, pure, ancient Ones
2)Humans (apart from the fact that they help relate, their imperfections and never-say-die spirit is making our entire species one big cliche)
3)Earthy creatures (could be gruff, could be in-sync with nature)
4)The Evil Ones (who are always in hordes and die by the hundreds when the protag. unleashes his Ultimate Weapon upon them)--variation: the Wretched Ones, the Tricksters, the Minions of Chaos (who surprisingly have ordered ranks).
5)Spirits (Good and bad, but always with ambiguous intentions like maintaining the balance)
6)Those Who Consort With the Spirits: magicians, wizards, whatever (not a race but definitely an outburst of the human want to control everything)--variation: soothsayer, oracle, Wise One (seriously, time and space just bow to these guys)--opposites: Those Who Do Not Interfere: Because they're knowledge of things tells them to lay back and watch the show, until of course Mr. Protag says otherwise.
And miscellaneous monsters that hold some utility for the protag and care nothing for themselves. Not to mention abominations like the Dark One and Dark Lord that still keep popping up in print.

'Fantasy archetypes', maybe. The reason they're around is because they worked. Fantasy has a way of explaining things and giving purpose which is lacking in real life. These races all have a part to play in that purpose which often centres around one person, making the reader feel special as well. What needs to be done is to find new archetypes. Lessening the mystical importance of the protag. is perhaps a bad idea. Spreading it makes the fabric too thin. Rosey has a very essential point-- the mythologies of so many civilisations has only been part of sociology and psychology. Mainstreaming them is important (also, it's 'apsaras' and nagas have just about become anything reptilian though it simply means 'snake'- another name mainstreamed like 'avatar').

So fantasy writers have any easy ticket to history- create beings that are fundamentally different from the others and yet maintain the illusion of purpose. Jeez, fantasy needs a saviour.

I don't tend to use many fantasy races in my writing. Like Jack said, it tends to frustrate me.

The one thing that bothers me about fantasy races most is the tendency to exempt them from inspection, labeling them as mostly evil, mostly good, mostly heartless or mostly something else. Some writers can pull this off wonderfully, but so many can't and I think it's a pitfall for younger writers to assume that is how it should be.

I think it all depends on what the story calls for. If it's not appropriate for the story, then it shouldn't be there. It's just as wrong to assume that you have to adhere to stereotypical fantasy races as it is to assume that you need to include unique fantasy races to make your story interesting. If the fantasy race, unique or not, works, then, by all means, include it. But it all depends on what the story requires.

I usually don't do fantasy races exactly for the "One Hat Race" reasons. Not to mention I find elves and dwarves and the lot unspeakably boring. If you want variety in cultures, then why not aim for variety in human cultures? Goodness knows there's a huge amount of purely human cultures on this planet.

If I have a nonhuman race in a fantasy, usually I make it one so completely distinct from humans that they can't conceive even of civilization on the same level. Such as having sentient whales who don't see the need to settle down in cities because they'd rather wander in their strange watery fairyland, and a race with a strong tribe/herd mentality in which the members undergo sex changes over their lifetimes. I based them more on biology than mythology, which is one way to go with fantasy races as well.

A lot of this applies to sci fi too, though. Which is strange because I have no aversion to creating different species for sci fi. Maybe because it's easier to get away with more unusual ones (a friend of mine and I were discuss methane-based robots on a methane planet, using lots of horrible science to justify it). Not to mention my pathetic fondness for first contact stories. The story I'm working the hell out of right now (I did post it on this site, a while back) has interspecies relations as a centerpiece, and I'm certainly working hard to avoid the "Planet of Hats" trope, but it's difficult because of length constraints and the first person protagonist's limited view.

Centaurs will forever be awesome, of course.

Sadly it is the good stories that are original that rarely get popular, afterall, anything vampire is hot right now. Originality is often crushed by those who want slight twists and predictable outcomes, whether or not the story is actually any good.

So yes, go ahead and write differently, but unless you got Apple as your publisher I doubt it will ever rise above the tons of drek filling the bookshelves.

Nymphs tied to trees for survival - Didn't C.S Lewis do that?
Dragons in a city - that was done by Ian Irvine, though they were called Lyrinx.

~ Durrance

One thing I've noticed is that in a lot of fantasy worlds, the ordinary, non-magical animals, are all ripped directly from Earth. Rarely do I see an author make their own animals, and a made-up animal that isn't a terrifying predator (like Wargs) is almost non-existent. What about electric blue snails with wings?

As for the sentient races, yes, I either like to make my own or have none at all.