#Dragon and Unicorn Trope

[timelordian-disaster-126]

Something a lil different, some new original characters of mine that have been cooking in my head for a few days 👀

ALSO, HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE!

New trope is dropping now because I said so, Dragon and Unicorn trope.

Can I explain this trope? Yes and no, am I going to? No, I wanna see what people make of it 👀

Their names are Eira (the fair haired one) and Noma (the short haired one) <3

I'll add more information to this and repost it when I get more proper research done for them! I've ALWAYS wanted to make more historically accurate characters, and I honestly adore the concept of these 2 sm-

Lemme know what you guys think!

[shadowpuppetteer]

So a while back we were re-watching "The Last Unicorn" when my sister pointed out that in the beginning, Amalthea was still walking like a unicorn! Wait, what, rewind that.

She was! The way she moved her ankles and feet like hooves.

Later she turns her forehead first when Haggard walks toward her.

This was so cool to see the animators consider this character is a UNICORN IN THE SHAPE OF A WOMAN, so she moves her human body like a unicorn!

Great detail work/acting from the animation team! Here's to the "Monster Turned Into a Human Trope"

Ariel from the Little Mermaid tring to figure out legs.

Sisu from Raya and The Last Dragon crawling around all over the place.

Finally, the irony of Demona, a gargoyle who hates humans, taking to being human like a fish to water.

[supersumc]

Do you have an account on TV Tropes?

Yes! In fact, I started the Cassette Beasts Awesome Music page and have put a few tropes on 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel!

[greater-than-the-sword]

Seeing the trailer for Millie Bobby Brown's new movie makes me wonder if I've ever actually seen or heard of the "knight rescues damsel from dragon" trope played completely straight before, or if that's something of a dead unicorn trope.

I realize there's the classic "Saint George and the Dragon," but even in that case the princess was never bodily in any danger, it was the kingdom and the lands which were beset and the princess acted more as a diplomat hiring him on behalf of her country.

Perhaps the trope originator is the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda? You have the princess chained up to be offered to a (sea) dragon for the purpose of a ritual sacrifice, so it's not like the dragon really "kidnapped" her, and it's missing any mention of a tower, but it ticks more boxes than any I can think of

[runaeveena]

Your dashboard if you were in a d&d fantasy world still involved in fictional erotica discourse

🦄feywildwildwild Follow

is anyone else tired of humans being the default race to pair up with monstrous races in smut? like no wonder Tinker & Claw didn't get any traction outside of TomePlane

🪶 eagledust4ever Follow

tinker and claw was mid and written by a gnome sexologist and are we still calling non humanoids "monstrous"? in 186PD no less?

🕰️ gnomepologist

so now the eagledust shipper (and fake auran language scholar) is going to preach to us 🙄 some of us dont want to read about humans laying eggs every third month

🪶 eagledust4ever Follow

way to avoid the issue and maintain your humanoidcentric elitism but sure lets argue about kinks on tomeblr

🍆 troll-schlong

all of you shut up humans are sluts and im a motherfucking m-m-m-monster

345 Notes

🌧️ hau-iratxoa-besterik-ez-da-euskaraz Follow

just saw someone on TomePlane argue that a dragonborn and a dragon having sex would be considered incest AND beastiality

🗝️ crypt-princess Follow

💀💀💀 not every dragon was part of the Great Hatching and most dragonborn know who our lineage derives from

and since when are dragons BEASTS!?

☘️ celest-ial Follow

you should see what else people on TomePlane call beastiality

🦨 ancientskeleton

we are not bringing back the druid debate sylvanus help me

11,008 Notes

🩵 faerieee-imagines2 Follow

imagine you've been capture by an evil sorcerer and he puts you in a glass jar that's filled with firemoss which is so comfy but its making you so warm so you have to undress and as you remove each item you realize the sorcerer has been watching you and now you're blushing and its maki g you even warmer and soon youll be completely naked and vulnerable to whatever the sorcerer wants you for

121 Notes

🌠 crownofstars

cant believe i got called a freak for hooking up with a Slaad at the Unicorn's Underhorn

🕯️andersfirelight Follow

they're literally abominations??

🌠 crownofstars

and? ribbit ribbit bitch 🐸 you write Age of Light rpf

75 Notes

🦹mage-ocracy Follow

wow this farmer nobody has become such a handsome paladin with a chiseled chest after i threw his family into a lava pit years ago

🦹mage-ocracy Follow

waaahahaha you have fallen for my trap *casts spell of get horny* *spell hits the mirror which reflects back onto me* *my throbbing boner slices through the ropes holding the paladin* waaaahaa

14,283 Notes

🦚 faeynadaughter Follow

honestly im glad humans are the main target for erotica because elves have been sexualized for far too long

🍯treebarkhookhandwagondoor

part of the halfling sexual liberation movement was to embrace sexualizsation because we were treated as undesirables under the Valief'taur Period that now its weird to see elves suddenly turn face and claim that sexualizing anyone is bad

🪡 scç-writer

ugh honestly and especially now that elves are using Glindeloomstalk's talking points as if theyre here to "uplift" us from eroticism when halflings have known for years how he was a purity kinkster

3,119 Notes

🌠 crownofstars

this is now a slaad fucker blog

20 Notes

⚔️ rangerdick

oooo "humans are too sexualized" ooo "elf pussy is boring now" once again everyone forgets about orcs being treated like the walking cock with hands in books and irl

⚓riilée Follow

isnt orcish religion about fucking and sucking to take over the world

⚔️ rangerdick

you wish you could suck me off

🧜🏼‍♀️ tritonitistitties Follow

ranger dick don't you post daily dick pics

⚔️ rangerdick

i also post hole but no one seems to notice those wonder why that is

🐓the-walking-cock-with-hands Follow

i noticed

⚔️ rangerdick

hold me and fuck me would you

21,447 Notes

🦁king-killa Follow

Everyone you have to read this new book! It's total trope subversion where the dwarf is pansexual and the orc is asexual!

🍺 i-fuck-hags

wow someone should write a play about this

[lola-theshowgrl]

Book Review: “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle

5/5

*

Like many people, I watched the Rankin/Bass animated film of "The Last Unicorn" when I was a child, and honestly it became a very core part of the person I became. My persistent infatuation with the fantasy genre can be led very directly back to this, along with "The Flight of Dragons" and "The Hobbit", all of which I loved so desperately that I would watch the films over and over until I drove the rest of my family mad with it.

This, however, is the first time I've ever read this book, and I wasn't sure what to expect. The film holds such a special place in my heart, there was a part of me that was worried I could find myself disappointed, that it was likely written for children and I was therefore too old now to appreciate the story. It might not have that element of nostalgia and magic that I associated with the animation, and the characters and setting might seem dull and worn by comparison, or somehow ruined and tarnished by revisiting my old friends in a different medium.

Much like Patrick Rothfuss, I don't care for introductions in a book. I don't usually read them, but because he wrote it and I have a huge appreciation for him as a writer and storyteller, I decided to see what he had to say. I'm so glad I did take those extra few minutes, because this author who I've never met (and likely will never meet) reached out to me, proverbially patted my shoulder, and addressed all of my concerns with great enthusiasm and kindness. Now with a renewed spark of interest and far less fear, I dove into the book proper.

The book is beautiful.

The nostalgia was there, echoes of the film I loved so much as a child, but even better. Magic seeped from the pages like golden honey, sweet and shining, and a treat to be savoured and devoured all at once. There were so many nods to the fantasy genre, to tropes and trends, to well-loved characters, to oft-revisited stories and situations. It was bright and beautiful, but dark and horrifying at the same time, a tighrope of skill and craft that has left me dizzy for most of the day since I finished it.

And the prose, my goodness! I've never read such stunning, lyrical prose! It made me want to never write again. It made me want to stop what I was doing immediately to write as much as possible, as many stories as I could come up with, as quickly as I might manage. It made me want to go back through my paperback copy, highlight all my favourite passages and scribble all my thoughts, slanted and small and spidery, into the margins. It made me want to scream into a pillow.

"The words marched out of his mouth like soldiers, their steps echoing with power as they crossed the dark air."

If you're someone who writes, or wants to write, trust me when I tell you that this book is required reading. I want to give a copy to every aspiring novelist I know. Perhaps some will find it not to their taste - all the "kill your darlings" types who want stories to be cut to the quick, kept short and snappy, and who make caustic jokes about how much Tolkien wrote about trees in "The Lord of the Rings". It won't be for everyone. But, if you love magic, fairytales, folklore, and fantasy, this book is for you. It truly is. It's for everyone with a sorrow in their heart that they have never seen a real unicorn.

Read it. Trust me.

[chappellcastiel]

Things in merlin fics I love

Dragon lord Merlin that has more effects than just controlling dragons. Behavior wise more so though not physically.

magic sensitive Arthur/magic loves Arthur.

kinda adds to the last one but, even though I only see it once when the unicorn from s1e11 and Arthur are bonded. Percival’s family that were killed were his daughter’s so he’s really good with kids or anytime the knights are good with kids really.

Leon having a sister .

When Merlin ,Arthur ,and the knights have to confront ghost of their past. Something like the tears of uther pendragon.

Anytime Arthur and hunith interact.

Painter Arthur.

platonic besties Arthur and Gwen.

knight Gwen.

snowball fights/swimming in lakes etc anytime they can just act like friends and hang out.

hugshugshugshugshugs. I just love hugs and would love to see them more.

Flower crowns. Love to see it. Either when Merlin magics one’s up for Arthur or Arthur is surprisingly good at making them so he gives on to Merlin.

When ygraine has more family that loves Arthur and don’t blame Arthur. (Every time this happens their dead but still.)

Arthur Reuniting with his dead love ones fics.

kidnapped Arthur. One of my favorite tropes especially when Merlin snaps looking for him🙏🏽

[zuppizup]

How would you feel if we learn in later seasons (fingers crossed) that the dragons can shape shift (like dragons in other lore) into humans or elf's to hide in plain sight?

And for my real question, how would this affect Soren and his unmatched charisma with the Dragon Queen or any of the other dragons that he's rizzed up?

I’ve been thinking about this ask a lot, and, you know, I kinda like my dragons being dragons? I can see the appeal of shape shifting creatures (be they dragons, unicorns, etc) but I like the additional complication and interest that comes from try to relate to someone who’s so vastly different from you, be it in size and/or lifespan.

For example, Sol Regem sees humans as lesser beings for what are probably many reasons. The fact they can’t do primal magic would appear to be his major issue, but he was pretty dismissive of Karim too, so I imagine part of the condescension might also come from the fact humans and elves likely seem small and insignificant to someone as long lived and powerful as an archdragon.

Which is part of what I like about the relationship Zubeia has with the dragang. She refers to Ezran as Zym’s brother, implying an incredibly deep connection between them, but also with her.

I do really like the friendship between Soren and Zubeia (and hey, if people ship them, go for your life) but again, what I find interesting about their dynamic is their incredible differences and I guess shape shifting dragons would remove that and make them a bit less interesting to me, though I can see the appeal of that particular trope.

[colosseumbred]

PLEIADES GROUP PROMPTS ! they'll be split out by different categories (kingdoms, magic, bestiary), just to give you multiple routes to play in. send me a word from the below and i'll make a starter based off of it. please specify muse if i'm a multi-muse blog. if you want it the other way around, just add a reverse to the message.

LYSAIN

POISON → our muses come across a beautiful plant, but it might be poisonous. it's up to us to decipher if it can be picked or not.

HALLUCINATION → my muse just snapped out of a very deep illusion cast by a sorcerer. yours is the first they see upon waking.

LOST → my muse swore that they saw a beautiful library in this spot earlier, but now they can't find it. can your muse help or is it the blind leading the blind?

VARLINNIS

EXPLORE → our muses are exploring part of the untouched old lands of varlinnis. will they get lost in the moment or get too spooked?

ASH → our muses find something buried in the ashes. a beautiful and ornate book. what secrets lie within and how will they use it?

GLAMOUR → our muses are lying about their identity. using the fact that this kingdom is a fresh start. fake dating trope anyone?

RITRINC

DIP → our muses take advantage of the beautiful and large body of water that spans throughout part of the kingdom. time to skinny dip.

BOUQUET → my muse has collected a couple of beautiful (and safe) flowers and they decide to give it to your muse when they see them next.

HEALING → my muse was severely injured in a battle and is currently in a medic's tent recovering, yours is either healing them or coming to visit.

VISSAI

DRAGONS → our muses come face to face with one of the dragons. what's their reaction? bonus points if one of them is a dragonrider, they can be showing theirs off.

ARENA → our muses are in one of the largest arenas ever. time to start sparring. why not take advantage of the old lands?

VIEW → our muses just hiked up to the top of a mountain. now they're able to sit back and enjoy the beautiful view.

CHASQUE

CAVES → our muses are exploring the caves together. they're probably lost, but at least the company is good.

ETERNAL NIGHT → suddenly our muses are engulfed in a lot of darkness. mine starts to freak out and seeks yours out to comfort them.

CRYSTALS → our muses stumble upon a beautiful bunch of crystals and mine tries to take some for your muse.

UMORIA

WHISPERS → our muses start to heart whispers coming from the tree. they stop for a moment to see if they understand.

DARE → your muse dares mine to go into the swampland where people seem to be transported out of if they're not magical.

LEGEND → my muse is telling yours a scary story or old myth about the land. they're sitting around a campfire at night.

FERANTHOR

WALL → our muses reach the wall and mine jokes that they should just stay here forever. really, they just wanted the exercise.

UNKNOWN → our muses venture out pass the wall and start to explore what could be out there. their life is really in danger now.

MONSTER → our muses just saw something breeze by them and it looked like a creature. mine is quick to jump into hunting mode.

NON KINGDOM RELATED

POTION → our muses take a potion together and it starts to make them extremely hot or thirsty. they have to look for a cure together.

GARGOYLE → my muses accidentally activates a gargoyle and now our muses are being hunted down together, forced to hide.

UNICORN → our muses are looking for a unicorn together, but soon enough forget everything (unicorn magic) and just wander around together.

FEAST → our muses are together in some grand feast. lots of wine and tasty food is being had, so they start chatting each other up.

THRONE ROOM → our muses are the last ones left in a throne room, it suddenly feels like an intimate space now that it's empty.

TREATY → our muses are from different kingdoms and trying to see how they can each benefit from working together.

WAR → our muses are from different kingdoms and tend to be a bit competitive, trying to one up each other in the conversation.

SPARRING → our muses are sparring together and things start getting hot and heavy.

HORSE RIDING → my muses picks yours up on the way into town, offering them a ride on their house.

[guardwyrm]

hello nonhuman community, what odd pair do you and your partner make, if they’re nonhuman as well? my mate is a kitsune/fox spirit, and it makes for a pretty metal pairing, especially when i draw us looking badass in art LOL. she’s also a unicorn, so the like dragon/unicorn trope is perfect for us and i love it . some art i’ve done of us

[timelordian-disaster-126]

Guys, my hyperfixation has officially shifted to historically accurate medevial dragons and unicorns- forgive me, Lord, for I am about to get creative 👁👄👁

[aerkame]

Okay, hear me out, I know this is cheesy, but I just love this 2am thought (yes, it is actually 2am rn and I'm not exactly thinking straight)...do not take this seriously. Maybe. IDK if it sounds nice enough I might write it

But imagine a combination of fairytale tropes and a happy-ish ending (depending on how the villain wants things to go). There's a dark and evil lord taking over the lands in this medieval fantasy world. His army is growing by the day and no matter how hard other kingdoms try, their best knights never return when sent out to destroy him. Everything is seemingly over for the world...that is until an unknown knight in white armor, riding a strong and noble unicorn shows up and begins to unravel each plan that the dark lord has made, saving hundreds of lives.(I love the idea of old medieval unicorns, they sound kind of badass, also unicorns only let themselves be ridden by pure maidens with kind hearts apparently).

The white knight is often seen helping those that are vulnerable and defeating the generals of the dark lord but never killing them. Not a single drop of blood is shed when the white knight is around, infuriating the dark lord so much that he goes out in his own black armor to put a stop to this white knight.

The dark lord then pulls a Bowser move and kidnaps princess Peach the white knight after discovering who she really is inside. He kinda likes it, this is a nice feeling that will totally not cause him issues in the future... :)

Anyways, white knight escapes, dark lord goes oh snap I just lost my queen, and chaos happens.

They then end up fighting, the white knight not really wanting to do this, but hey, what can do you about this situation y'know? Another antagonist suddenly appears, it's some jealous and zealous golden knight that's upset the white knight is doing a good job at preventing death for everyone and he stabs the white knight fatally in hopes of fighting the dark lord himself but he gets got by the dark lord's pet dragon instead.

Cut to a Snow White or Disney princess-esc scene of the white knight without the helmet laying in a cozy bed and the dark lord kisses her to bring her back to life somehow because love works like that.

IDK how it would go after that though, depends how evil the dark lord actually is. His greatest enemy is bed-ridden and unable to fight and there's no one to stop him or his army now. So really, he could do what he wants at that point.

[fungalittleweirdo]

Villain Rise Mikey Thoughts: Part One

i have already written so much for this one, this is part one of my storyline for a villain mikey au !! i genuinely just spewed thoughts out here, i will continue with a part two eventually <3

i'm making up my own villain mikey as i go because i am craving.

the abandoned at birth trope is a little overdone imo, i love it when i read it for the other turtles but mikey deserves something unique

he felt a little different compared to his brothers, not because he was the youngest... he just felt different.

three year old mikey genuinely didn't want to hurt his brothers, not after he practically launched raph at high speeds toward a wall trying to get a jupiter jim toy out of his hand.

he ran away after that, guilt eating at him for some time until he forgot, then he found the hidden city.

he finds baron draxum and realises he's his other dad, which made the screws already loose in his head rattle a little bit.

draxum trains mikey in the mystic arts safely so that he doesn't hurt himself, which was very loving and tender on his part.

mikey deserved an attentive father, that was something draxum realised when mikey told him what he could remember about splinter.

even though mikey was raised in a decent environment, draxum still wanted to destroy the human race and that warped mikey's thoughts and actions a little bit.

this especially affected his views on getting what he wanted whenever he did, he definitely is a youngest child at heart.

he would start being a delinquent in the hidden city, running away from the police if they caught him loitering or tagging places.

then he moved on to stealing.

coins, unicorns, jewellery, mystic trinkets, you name it.

he used his mystic portals to steal and hoard like a dragon.

while draxum was proud, he created mikey for something bigger than petty thievery, mikey was destined for something greater.

draxum told eleven year old mikey about going back topside, and he did just that, enduring homelessness for a brief period of time before getting a small apartment from all the money he pickpocketed in the financial district of manhattan.

he hated being among humans, seeing their lives as minuscule and pointless– but he never let it show, he always had the mask of a sweetheart.

he witnessed his first murder and for the first time in a while, he wasn't bored.

mikey wondered about upping the ante to his criminal lifestyle, he was growing bored of stealing and he completed his father's training, what kind of human could defend against him ?

he only started with nobodies, people who would be forgotten within a week.

it got his blood pumping, adrenaline coursing through his veins. he liked it.

but killing "undesirables" meant little to no money, and mikey has to pay rent. he lives in the bronx after all.

villain mikey likes the thrill of the hunt, he started hunting down drunk people after they leave the bar, sometimes even sober ones just getting off a late shift at work.

it was when he crossed paths with yokai capturing humans that he found interest in keeping one as a pet.

he moves to brooklyn at thirteen to go back to tagging graffiti, sometimes in the oddest of places.

that was around the time his brothers interrupted draxum's experiment and released the oozequitos to new york.

he captured a large sum of oozequitos to give back to his dad, but there were still others that decided to breed and persist.

mikey has no real motive for what he's doing, he's doing what his father asked of him and he wants to appease him, but he regularly has his doubts.

then when draxum teams up with the foot clan, that's when he really questions his dad, if the dark armour is worth all the risks he's taking.

mikey meets big mama and realises she's behind the human trafficking, then asks her if he could have a pet human of his own.

she scoffs and tells him to capture one himself, no kin of draxum should get meddled with her business (after all that happened with the other turtles, if mikey's the one with draxum she's not taking any chances for a temper tantrum)

even though villain mikey's a spoiled brat, he also recognises that if he wants a job done right, he has to do it himself.

mikey moves back to the hidden city to nurse draxum back to health after the dark armour drained his life force.

he finally comes across his brothers again and thinks they're amateur idiots.

he's a bit of a bastard, ignoring his brothers and continuing to do what he does for fun (graffiti, stealing, offing innocents).

a couple years pass and the krang invasion happens.

he put aside his differences with his brothers just for this, he still cares because these are the turtles he was created with, even though their dad is kind of whack compared to draxum (mikey really does love his dad).

mikey suddenly unlocks his ninpo and he's the greatest mystic warrior of his timeline, junior finds it weird he's not with his brothers.

leo explains to junior mikey's not one of them despite his assistance, he's not family.

even though mikey physically turned out fine post-krang, it sickened him seeing his brothers losing to some pesky alien creatures.

the way the krang biomatter clung onto raph, leo, and donnie pissed him off.

it unlocked something wrathful and hideous within him, wiping out the krang and sending their tech back to the prison dimension.

it was a miracle when his three brothers snapped out of their krang possession and they snapped him out of the mystic altered state he was in, golden-eyed and chains lifting the technodrome back into the prison dimension.

even though villain mikey is a lot more skilled in his mystic abilities from years of training under draxum, it took a lot out of him to make a portal that big.

he passed out and his brothers, casey, april, and splinter were beside him when he woke up, but he was so annoyed.

he didn't want to wake up to these assholes.

mikey could barely walk, but floating out meant overexerting himself, so pushing everyone out of the way to get back to draxum it is.

post-krang, he suffers a lot of paranoia and anxiety, almost too much to the point where he chains up draxum when accidentally going into the mystic state.

draxum tells him to go to the market, get some herbs to calm down.

he accidentally comes across a dispensary in the market, getting a few strains and asking if he could have it in the form of tea, since he sees a few yokai smoking the herbs.

he's told he could bake them, that's when he gets interested in baking.

[rpmemesbyarat]

I think there tends to be a perception that any work of fiction more than a few decades old is going to be riddled with cliches as well as full of horrifically outdated societal ideals. And I’m not going to say that’s completely incorrect, but it’s also not the case for many works either, including some of the most famous and formative ones.

For instance, let’s take fantasy.

The film “Willow” came out in 1988. It looks like it’s just going to be a straight Chosen One story. The evil queen is killing all the baby girls in the land looking for the one with the super special birthmark who is destined to defeat her, but the fated baby is smuggled away from her clutches just in time, and is found floating down a riverbank. I thought I was going to watch her grow up, discover her destiny and probably some special powers or swordfighting abilities she beats two-dimensional sexist boys with, and journey to heroically slay the queen in an epic showdown. But nope. She’s not named Willow, and she’s not the protagonist, and none of that happens.

The lead, Willow, is the father of the children who find her. They’re little people, and all played by actual little people. So right off the bat, we’ve got a disabled protagonist played by a disabled actor, and he encounters a lot of prejudice for it outside his village. He’s also unusual in that he’s a married father with kids, not some young attached swashbuckler/prince/pirate/etc. He very much WANTS to be a great sorcerer, but shows no actual magic talent. However, he is good at sleight of hand, such as his “diseappearing pig” trick. . . which ends up being his trump card at the climax with which he tricks the evil queen. But that’s just a distraction; the person who has a super badass magical fight with the evil queen isn’t him OR the baby, it’s an elderly sorceress he meets along the way who has beef with her. So the two absolute powerhouses of the movie who go head to head are two WOMEN, and not sexualized ones either. Granted, it’s hard to get more cliche than “evil sorceress queen” but her throwing down with the old crone was VERY unexpected for me! And the other lead female character is the queen’s badass daughter, a powerful fighter who begins on her side but sides with the heroes by the end.

But it’s not the old lady who defeats the queen either; she defeats herself when she tries to kill the baby, setting up a ritual to do so. When Willow tricks her into thinking he made the baby disappear and she moves towards him, she accidentally completes said ritual, causing it to destroy her as the target instead. At not one point in all of this did that baby ever show ANY magical powers or inclination of a special destiny; none of this would have happened if the queen hadn’t believed in this prophecy, for which there really was no proof, and acted accordingly. . . which is a piece of advice I’ve seen many a writer give for how to do the “Chosen One” trope well. And again, this movie was in 1988, predating all these writing blogs and advice channels. And what’s more, Willow doesn’t get real magic in the nick of time, there’s no Deus Ex Machina, he uses his own cleverness and the stage tricks he WORKED for. I really loved that. Again, it’s like something a modern writing blog would say they would totally love to see happen sometime!

The Last Unicorn film came out in 1982, but the novel was written in 1968. And yet, it averts a great many cliches about fantasy and gender in fantasy. The lead is female, and her motive has nothing to do with men. She has agency and takes action, and is very strong while not needing to make a big deal out of being “not like other girls” to do it (though she is definitely NOT like other girls, as she’s a unicorn in human form!) for this strength. We see her fend off a harpy, fight back against the Red Bull, and it’s mentioned she’s killed dragons before as well. Plus, she comes back in the sequel “Two Hearts” to finish off a griffin. Yet at no point is she an obnoxious edgy girlboss who shits on feminity; she’s in fact very feminine if she’s anything. And she does fall in love with a man, and this does have a big impact on her, but he’s not what her quest is about, and she in fact has to choose to give up being with him to complete that quest, and leaves him entirely at the end.

She also passes the Bechdel test; she talks with the witchy Mommy Fortuna who kidnaps her, trying to persuade her to free another female monster, the aforementioned harpy. And while she talk to her woman friend Molly about her love interest, their most iconic conversation is their first, and very feminist one, in which Molly angrily sobs demanding to know why the unicorn only came to her now, when she is no longer the innocent young maiden that unicorns are SUPPOSED to come to, but instead a haggard middle-aged woman who has been living with the leader of a bunch of bandits in the woods. Definitely not a demure virgin like the mythos say unicorns love. And yet, implicitly, the unicorn does not care.

And, of course, the unicorn saves herself at the end, and all the other unicorns in the world. It never presents itself as a feminist story, and I don’t think it was intended as such, but it sure qualifies in a number of categories.

For the final example, there’s The Lord of the Rings, written in the mid-50s. I actually haven’t read this series. But what I can comment on is something that was pointed out by someone on Tumblr (alas, I cannot remember the URL) that what so many of Tolkien’s imitators get wrong is they think that Aragorn is the protagonist, and make their Aragorn rip-off be so, but that actually the protagonist was Frodo, the literal little guy, the humblest of creatures, with no magic or fighting skills, and that this was the point. And I think that’s really interesting, that the father of modern fantasy and all its cliches, actually averted this cliche; it was only his many copycats that made it one.

These works were not, of course, perfect in other ways. There’s nary a scrap of POC or LGBT rep to be found in them that I know of. But they’re also far from cliche-storms in which every character is a cardboard cutout stock type and which every plot point is easily predicted either.

So, what is my point to this post?

It’s that older works are worth reading, or watching. Especially the genre-defining ones. These are some of the most famous, most far-reaching works of the fantasy genre in modern times, and that’s because they were GOOD. It’s not even about the box-checking aspect either; The Last Unicorn is heart-breakingly beautiful writing with a story and lines that make me more emotional than any other work ever has, book and film. Willow is a jolly good watch. The Lord of the Rings…ok, I’ll level with you, I just couldn’t get into it, that’s why I didn’t read it, but its significance to the fantasy genre is undeniable, and just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it isn’t worth YOU giving it a shot. But so many people are just so sure that anything from before 2000 must be unoriginal, problematic garbage, and that’s reductive as well.

Besides the fact you’re missing out on things you might enjoy, reading within your genre is especially essential if you plan to WRITE in it, in my opinion. Whether this is fantasy, romance, sci-fi, horror, or something else, it is WORTH reading the masters. It is also worth familiarizing yourself with what’s ACTUALLY cliche, and what’s a DEAD UNICORN TROPE—I’ve read waaaay too many people who wrote what they clearly THOUGHT were very clever satires, but the things they were making fun of were never actually that prevalent in the genre to begin with, people just THOUGHT they were (ex: How many stories out there are there REALLY of princesses being rescued by dragons? Actually very few. But everyone lampshades it and references it and so on!) So it’s also worth reading what’s been done before if your plan is to parody, or satire, or deconstruct, or just do something new—that way, what you write will actually BE something new, instead of the eleven millionth author who thinks their protagonist is SO UNIQUE because they are a GIRL who FIGHTS omg!!

A lot of writers, both professional and aspiring, fear consuming work within their own genre, worried that they will be subconsciously influenced by it. They want their work to be wholly original, from their own imagination entirely. While I respect their choice, I also disagree that being inspired from other works is a bad thing. Inspiration doesn’t mean a direct copy. Indeed, I think people should in general stop stressing whether their work is a perfect unique snowflake untouched by any outside influence. All of us are influenced by something or other. And that’s fine. Every great work that you love was influenced by something else, consciously or subconsciously. Can you imagine if Neil Gaiman had decided NOT to write American Gods, and his own depictions of Odin and Loki, because he was a fan of Thor comics as a child (it’s what got him into actual Norse mythology!) and was worried that Jack Kirby’s version of the gods would influence his own? Ridiculous! Heck, I think it’s good to be inspired! To get ideas from other things! You just have to make them your own! And if there’s one thing that humans are goshdarn good at, it’s putting our own new spin on something we heard! That’s been how storytelling has worked since it begun!

And heck, why stop at reading the greats? Read the obscures and the flops! Read the worst shit in the genre! See what NOT to do, and think how you could do it better, and get the grain of a story from that! Get ideas from works in the genre that are forgotten or under-known! Use ideas from these that so many others have slept on, and expand them! For instance, look at the vampires of Paul Feval rather than Stoker or Le Fanu, for instance—if THEY had been the major media influences for Hollywood’s vampires, what would our modern depictions of these creatures be like? Use that as a jumping point for YOUR take on them!

Anyway, that’s all. I’m going to go watch The Dark Crystal now.

[ninadove]

Ok, I'll bite, what is "The Miraculous Tales of Chat Noir"?

Yesss I love this one! Thank you! 🖤🐈‍⬛

As you may recall, Chat Noir got his hero name from a storybook Emilie read him as a child. This fic is an attempt at recreating the storybook in question, while of course exploring characters from canon.

My favourite part is that it has a very, very passive-aggressive narrator, who is very, very aware of the tropes:

“My love,” he announced, “I believe I have found the answer to your woes. You wish for a friend, but tremble at the thought of the cruelty of man. You wish for a companion that will be pure of heart, free of any passions, and as entirely devoted to you as I am.”

“My beautiful husband, this is certainly true,” the wife said, dreamily. “But I do not believe there is a single soul in this kingdom that fits this description, apart from your own.”

“My love, you are giving me too much credit. Such souls are everywhere around us: they watch over the sapphire skies; they follow you along as you trail the path to the forest; they hide in magnificent caves and under the humblest of pebbles. Animals, beloved, are better people than people themselves; and so, it stands to reason than the only person worthy of your affection is, in fact, not a person. Name any creature you would like by your side, as big or tiny as you want, as dangerous or rare as you desire; your wish is my command; there are no lengths I would not go to to see you smile again.”

The wife agreed that it was a wonderful idea, because her husband’s ideas were always wonderful; but, like many heroines before her, she was too virtuous, too humble to ask for a dragon, for a unicorn or for a phoenix. Instead, she interrogated her heart, searching for the perfect companion.

“My beautiful husband, I ask only one thing of you. I want my new friend to be just like me: curious, but attached to its home; graceful, but protective.”

“What you want, beloved, is a cat,” the husband said, for he was well-traveled and had met many creatures in his younger years. “A cat will curl up by your feet in winter; a cat will laze next to you in the sun; a cat will stand on the rooftop in the darkest of nights, protecting you against nefarious spirits. I shall find you the most beautiful cat there is, as beautiful and perfect as you are; and it will keep your heart warm, when I am unable to do so.”

And so, it was agreed that the husband would find his bride the prettiest, the smartest, the most perfect cat in existence.

Totally normal behaviour, and not a metaphor for anything. This is fine. Everything is fine.

[ignus-moth]

ok so i was thinking about the trope of being sorted into different groups and stuff in media, (those dystopia books, fantasy based on element stuff, the owl house, guilds/classes in games, harry potter) and… what the hell do the houses in harry potter do except draw the line between good and bad?? putting a kid not doing so well with a bunch of other kids that are bullies or not doing so well IS A BAD IDEA

you know what would have been way more interesting?

HOUSES BASED ON THE WAND CORES

unicorn, dragon, pheonix (common, uncommon, rare). but that is only 3, so maybe add in kraken scales (id add that between uncommon and rare) or something so it’s four.

SO harry can still be special boy, phoenix core, but there should be drawbacks and different pros and cons of the cores so it’s not super unbalanced.

Unicorn cores maybe have a better time with aim and control, and as such is good with spells that are ranged or need precision. However the precision means powerful spells are more difficult to cast and requires more practice. Maybe they take an extra class about how to learn and practice spells specifically for unicorn cores.

Dragon cores are more powerful in short bursts, like explosions and such, so prolonged spells are more difficult so require more attention and endurance. The short explosions of energy means they are better for straight combat. The easiest to get used to, despite being the second most common. They have a class for practicing spell endurance.

Kraken cores work best when manipulating large physical objects and mass. Levitation, moving things around, and manipulating shape is easiest. Manipulating anything organic is much more difficult to learn, but ultimately easier. Manipulating the mind is just as hard as usual. Has an extra class about healing, as they are the best healers.

Phoenix cores are incredibly difficult to use, not just skill-wise but mentally. The core stores magic the best but humans are squishy and can’t take that magic very well. It is more powerful but, if used too much, can seriously damage the brain with concussion-like symptoms. It is easiest to loose control with this core and hurt people, so they have a few extra classes on how to control this. Phoenix core spell casters must see a doctor and therapist once a month, and again if there is any incident.