Today marks the first of a new series of posts I’m calling the ‘A-Z of Fantasy‘. Each post (roughly each fortnight) will be inspired by a different letter… and there are no other rules!
I can think of many fantasy tropes beginning with A: apprentice, amulet, angst, armour, ale, armies…
But in my view ADVENTURE truly epitomizes the fantasy genre. It lies at the heart of so many fantasy stories, especially some of the early classics such as those from Eddings and Feist — and of course Tolkien. As a teenager immersed in these fantasy worlds, I participated in those adventures, experienced the wonder of discovering new places and people alongside the characters. Even when the going gets dark, the thrill of the adventure remains.
Adventure: An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.
Many fantasy stories today are still founded on an adventure, but perhaps fewer than a decade or two ago, as the genre has broadened and diversified considerably. But I think there’ll always be a place for good adventure fantasy!
Archer: One who shoots with a bow and arrow
The ARCHER is one of the quintessential warriors in fantasy and, tired old trope or not, I wouldn’t be without one! Who can ever forget Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies? And there are myriad other legendary archers scattered throughout the various tomes in every fantasy library. Even The Hunger Games’ Katniss is a renowned archer.
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In addition, some of my favourite fantasy characters whose names start with ‘A’ are: Artagel, Arutha, Ammar, Althea…
What have I missed? Please let me know your favourite fantasy things/books/characters/authors beginning with ‘A’ so I can clop myself on the head for forgetting — or else be introduced to something new and wondrous.
Image credits: www.fromoldbooks.org and fantasyartdesign.com
E V Gregory 
I like your new series! Adventure is a great one to kick it off, too. I’m not very familiar with the fantasy genre so I’ve got nothing to offer in the way of authors, books, etc. but I can say my one of my favorite fantasy-type characters are Alchemists. I love the way you can work them into a story and have them create almost anything based on scientific concepts and ideas.
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Alchemists are a great addition to the list! Thanks, Tami.
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Fun idea! I’m drawing a complete blank when it comes to fantastical things/characters/tropes beginning with A, but this series reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones’ alphabetically arranged Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Have you come across it?
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I keep hearing about the Tough Guide and it’s on my Amazon wish list, but I have never actually seen a copy. I really want it — perhaps I ought just bite the bullet and buy a copy! It may help me with inspiration for this series. 😀 Thanks, Rabia.
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I think Archmages are a pretty good one. So are Assassins. I’m sure there are some others, but they elude me for the moment.
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Yeah I thought of Archmage, but there’s also mage, which starts with ‘m’. Hmmm. Totally forgot Assassin though! Doh!
How could there be fantasy without assassins? Thanks, Mike.
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Glad to be of service 🙂
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I loved Legolas as the archer and how about Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Great idea for a blog series, by the way 🙂
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Yes, Aslan is definitely an iconic fantasy character – well picked up. And what woman doesn’t love Legolas?! 🙂
Thanks, Kim. I’ve been thinking about this series for a while, gathering ideas… I think it will be fun.
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Great idea! I’m with you in that archers are awesome (hmm, unintended alliteration). I have a love hate relationship with the fantasy genre. I think it’s amazing and has so much scope, but then again so much of the stuff out there is cliche, tired and really really boring. But there are so many chances to do something new and exciting with the format. That said, I do love a medieval fantasy setting; so you’ll never hear me complaining that a story has knights, swords, chainmail, castles, queens & kings, empires and so on!
You could throw in Anthropomorphism, seeing as so much of fantasy (such as Aslan, mentioned by Kim, the Ents in LOTR, the Cheshire Cat etc) use animals as the basis for fantasy characters (how many books have you read featuring cat people, or lizardmen, etc?).
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Yes, anthropomorphism is another great one! (Although the number of talking cats in fantasy does my head in…)
I know what you mean about cliched fantasy. There’s a lot of mediocre books out there — but those which are diamonds really shine. I guess what I’d like to do with this series is explore what we love and what we don’t. Should be fun, I hope. 🙂
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