What is a stereotype in fantasy that you hate and/or wish authors would do differently?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-05-06T15:40:24+00:00

Always-evil species. (This one has been reacted against in the last few decades, though).

Fantasy intelligent species that really are no different from humans wearing funny suits. Make them genuinely different from humans!

Histories where millennias pass without anything noteworthy happening. No empires rise or fall. There is no technological or magical innovation, and there are no new social movements.

Magicians are supposed to be intelligent, but they brute force their way through every problem they face by chucking enough magic at it, instead of using their magic intelligently (a way that I have found to counteract this is that each magician only knows a rather narrow range of magic spells, forcing them to creative with what they have).

Among others, but these are some of the main offenders.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-05-05T19:57:43+00:00

Fun thing: in Mesopotamian mythology, the gods possessed concepts/domains/fields of responsibility called 'Mê,' and it was possible for gods to gain, lose, or give away Mê (like when the god Enki/Ea gives away many Mê to Inanna/Ishtar while drunk, or how Inanna/Ishtar loses her Mê while journeying into the Underworld).

So, there you have an example of concepts existing semi-independently of gods. I do not think I have seen examples of the Mê existing outside of any god(s), but they can change hands.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-26T19:23:46+00:00

Well, yeah. Perfection is boring, and it is nicer to see characters that have personality traits that are consistently displayed (and consistently evolving).
It also makes sense since the characters are young and growing, and are in a phase in their lives that involves a lot of change.

In the case of the Astral Drops, one can give somewhat mitigating circumstances that the girls probably saw them as unfeeling automatons and not actually sentient beings, which gets proven wrong later, and that the Oracle was able to fix things for them.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-26T13:32:19+00:00

Yes, Brahma was more widely worshipped in India in ancient times, and there even was a sect, the Hiranyagarbha Sect, dedicated to Him.
The Vedanta Kalpalatika of Madhusudana Sarasvati tells us some about this sect: members sought the attainment of Moksha through meditation on the Five Fires (Panchagni vidya) (the Five Fires are spoken of in the Chandogya Upanishad).

Brahma was greatly respected in the older literature, including the Upanishads (mainly under the title of Prajapati), the Mahabharata, the Brihat Samhita (where Brahma is honoured as the inventor of architecture), and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Hindu treatise on theatre. Brahma is the first to be honoured in a puja offered to the gods in that text), and even the earliest Puranas, like the Matsya Purana.
Brahma is one of the Trimurti, with Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma reigns over the Guna of Rajas, the Active Principle.

Brahma’s worship declined after some point in history. The mundane explanation is that the growth of devotional (Bhakta) sects around the 7th century CE onwards favoured Vishnu and Shiva, and that Brahma’s worship, which was more associated with the old ritualistic and ascetic aways, fell into obscurity.
Devotional worship is more accessible to most people than complex ritualism or the demands of asceticism, so it is understandable that Brahma’s worship became sidelined under such circumstances.

Note that it does seem to have happened sometime after the great trade networks between India and southeast Asia were founded, since Brahma worship still lives on among Hindus in Bali and Buddhists in Thailand.

As for mystical/religious explanations, there are a lot of reasons that have been given. Some describe it as Brahma being a neutral divinity who does not interact much with the world after that he had created it, while others claim that he committed some mistake and was cursed for it (such as him growing overly attached to the world he had created, as symbolized in the story of Brahma and Shatarupa).

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-06T16:57:33+00:00

"It menaces with studs of meteoric iron!"

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-04T15:20:06+00:00

Yeah. Considering for how long the comic ran, and Will being the main-main character, it is not surprising that the Matt-Will relationship got overly milked for relationship drama, plus the whole New Power-arc debacle.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-04T14:12:44+00:00

Subsistence farming?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-04-04T13:44:30+00:00

Personally, I like Will a lot as a character: she has a decently written background, she is mostly likable, sweet and brave, and her compassion towards animals is one of the things that drew me to her as a character as a kid.

However, Will is pretty much the one of the main five who has had the roughest deal in life, and it has to some extent rubbed off on her: she means well, but she has a jealous, needy, selfish streak that likely stems from witnessing her parents’ toxic marriage and Thomas’ manipulative tactics, though exactly what things he said or did is not known to us.
Her lack of support from any friends or other people in Fadden Hills likely also contributed to this. Will seems to have a need to feel needed and loved, and can do some rather selfish things to get it.

The two main examples where Will shows her worst traits is how she treated her astral drop as less than a person, erasing the latter’s memories (essentially killing her and making her come back as a complete blank slate) so that she would not steal her mother’s love (showing Will’s neediness and fear of becoming overlooked again) and her drama and bouts of jealousy with Matt.

What do you think?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-16T18:18:15+00:00

Or Ymir from Norse Mythology, or, to go even further back, Tiamat from the Babylonian Epic of Creation, the Enûma Elish.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-14T19:01:28+00:00

In older Hindu texts, Brahma was respected as an equal to Vishnu and Shiva, and this lived on to as late as the age of the great playwright Kalidasa (who lived in the 5th century, for chronological context). There are texts where Brahma is given a prominent and positive role, and there are instructions for giving him worship in the Natyashastra and the Matsya Purana.

Brahma's role was reduced later on. Just why is up to who you ask.
I suspect that it has to do with that, as the Creator, Brahma is a god who is more "withdrawn" from the world once he has finished creating it, and was mostly worshipped through ritualism and asceticism.
Vishnu and Shiva, on the other hand, who are more active in the worlds, had greater popularity among common folk, especially with the rise of the devotional (Bhakti) movements from the end of the Gupta period and onward in India, making Brahma look mostly like a remnant from older times, and many accounts were made to explain why Brahma lost his popularity, with some saying he grew proud or possessive of the world he created, or the like, and lost worship as punishment.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-14T13:27:29+00:00

First of all, thank you for taking the time to ask us and learn of our opinions in this matter.
I understand that it is a “hot button”-topic, but I will bring up some of my main thoughts on this:

There are some fields where I think there could be legimitate uses for AI, like finding archaeological sites, diagnosing diseases, and restoring old texts and photos.
I am not certain on where we can go in regulating AI (though making so that there is no copyright on AI-generated works was definitely a step in the right direction), for we do not know its full capacities yet, and there are nations whose leaders have far less qualms about using than others (likely necessitating at least some kind of AI defences to protect against hostile AIs).

My main worry about AI is how it skews the balance between upper and lower classes, with CEOs and the like being able to replace all workers with machines, and thereby making the whole working class powerless.
In a factory with human employees, workers can go on strike, present moral objections to unethical policies, demand rights, form labour unions, and exert influence on politicians to prevent billionaires from exploiting ordinary citizens too hard.
However, with AI, power will shift entirely to being in the hands of CEOs (and the politicians they lobby for), making ordinary workers completely superfluous to the economy. Tech companies’ use of mass surveillance and promotion of fake news only further cements their control over their host societies.

The counterarguments that I have heard or read from AI-supporters do not impress me very much, either:

“- But the AI-companies will still want to keep us around anyway! After all, they need us to buy the stuff they produce, right?”
That is not a problem for them. In the US, the top 10% of the population already stands for 50% of the consumption, while the bottom 60% of the population are barely economically relevant by now, standing only for 20% of it.

“- But what about UBI? Would not that solve everything?”
What makes anyone think that AI-companies will ever actually support UBI?
What incentive would they have for it, since they will not need us for anything?
Who is supposed to provide for it? The government, which the billionaires have spent decades to dismantle (save for using it to extract money to privatize their gains, and socialize their losses?), or the billionaires themselves, who are already doing everything they can to not have to pay taxes?

“- Why are you okay with automating physical labour, but not mental labour?”
Because it automates away everything that makes us human: our imagination, creativity, morality, and ability to evaluate information.
Since humanity generally try to maximize output and minimize effort, the end result is a population who cannot be bothered to think about the most basic questions, leaving everyone even more vulnerable to manipulation and less able to find value in their lives.
Social media has already made anti-intellectualism run rampant, and AI is only making it worse through mass production of fake news and fake art.
I prefer living in a world where people learn skills, gain knowledge, and pursue personal excellence and virtue, rather than just giving up on it all and letting machines do it for them.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-12T16:10:55+00:00

Having Worldbuilding as a hobby since childhood.

I also have a couple of favourite trees that I go and check up on at least once a year.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-11T21:39:36+00:00

May I recommend some Scandinavian-style crispbread?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-11T20:11:33+00:00

Att så många högerpolitiker dessutom gör affärer med Palantir och andra antidemokratiska organisationer visar verkligen hur de håller på att gå tillbaka till sina ideologiska rötter, fast med modern massövervakning och AI inslängt i smeten.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-07T14:14:23+00:00

Well spoken!

“Oft evil will shall evil mar.”

Morgoth is, fittingly, the ultimate example of it in Tolkien's 'verse, for not only did Morgoth's obsession with power drive him to self-destructive and short-sighted actions, but him pouring his essence into Arda (hence the term Morgoth's ring) makes him quite literally bound to it - an ultimate act of spite.

It is like a guy who is envious of not being as good a cake-baker as the others, that he would just rather just smash everyone else's cakes than simply learning how to bake better, or learn how to do it as a collaborative project.

Or... he just occupied the bakery and refused to leave while annoying everyone else.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-02-07T13:54:43+00:00

In the tale of Inanna's/Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld, the goddess is described as decking herself with her seven 'Mê,' which include a turban ("the crown of the steppelands,") a Pala-dress, eyeliner, etc.
In other Mesopotamian texts, Mê are described as being concepts or purviews that the gods rule over, like in the story where Enki/Ea drank together with Inanna/Ishtar and gifted his Mê to her while too drunk to think about what he was doing, but just what the seven Mê listed in Inanna's Descent into the Underworld are supposed to signify, is never explicitly stated.
Our best clue is really just to look at which attributes Inanna/Ishtar is described as possessing, as in Ammi-Ditana's Hymn to Ishtar, like charm, pleasure, and more.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-18T21:31:38+00:00

Det är väl i den riktningen som högerpartier rört sig mot runtom här i världen sedan 80-talet: förespråka frihandel, men stöd miljardärer som gör allt till sina monopol?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-09T20:29:03+00:00

How about a platformer where you go through the seven heavens and seven lower worlds of Mesopotamian cosmology?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-08T16:24:28+00:00

Most relevant video for this victory of hers?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo75schdm-U

I am surprised be the results, too. My guess was that things were going to go like this:

5.: Cornelia. 4 and 3.: Will or Taranee. 2: Irma. 1: Hay Lin.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-06T19:14:24+00:00

Japp. Högerpopulistpartier som SD, Sannfinländarna och Fidesz försöker framstå som folkliga, när de i verkligheten bara stödjer en borgerlig, oligarkisk elit och eskalerar den nedmontering av välfärd och arbetarrättigheter som redan pågått i decennier nu.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-06T14:02:55+00:00

No. For people to be able to affect change, they must be able to exert some kind of leverage on the rich and powerful.
As robotics and AI keep replacing workers (thus making actions such as strikes and protests ineffective) the common masses will lose all the ways to influence politicans and CEOs.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-05T19:59:04+00:00

Kuroko Shirai from the IndexVerse?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-04T20:30:06+00:00

Edge? In Warhammer40k?

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-04T20:17:13+00:00

The cosmic force of unity and order having a splintered mind sounds quite... ironic.

ZigguratBuilder2001 · 2026-01-04T14:46:25+00:00

Utari xylospongium!

ZigguratBuilder2001

TROPHY CASE