Gear Grinding: Fantasy races.

Welcome to the first post in a series I’m calling Gear Grinding! It’s a bunch of posts where I’ll rant about all the little things that irritate me in storytelling. In other words, this is a soapbox for me to stand on!

Today’s rant: Fantasy races!

So, first off I’ll need to define what I’m talking about. I define fantasy races as sapient humanoid creatures that are civilized, that is works within the bounds of a society. Some traditional examples include: Elves, Dwarves, hobbits, beastmen, and so on.

Now that we know what I mean about ‘fantasy races’ I’ll plant my flag. By and large, I hate fantasy races. They are so often tacked to stories as if checking off a box to qualify a story as ‘proper fantasy.’ Now, don’t get me wrong, when these races are done well they handle their objective with aplomb. But, so often these creatures are shoe-horned into a story for no other reason than to confirm the stereotypes with the genre.

What is the objective in putting a fantastic race in a story? In the best scenario these people can be used as a counter-point to humans to show the inherent differences between the alien other and humanity. When the focus of a story is about essential human experiences, a fantasy race can be used to show how important things like family, love, forgiveness, and so on are to humanity. This only works when the fantasy race shows a marked lack of a core human asset. However, so often I find that when a story has a elf or dwarf they are merely shorthand for an aloof person, or surly midget.

So, if an elf appears in a story, a deft storyteller should focus on their fundamental difference from humans; which is not their long ears, gaunt physiques, or fine hair, these things are merely signs to identify them. No, their fundamental difference is an elf’s incredible lifespan. The important human aspect they should underscore is human mortality, and the need to leave a mark on society while we yet live, to struggle in the face of our death.

Sounds pretty heavy, right? Think about the stories you’ve read or seen or played featuring elves, and recall how many times the writers actually delve into the topic of mortality. In The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, Tolkien deftly tackles this topic and talks about how, to Arwen, love is more important than immortality.

However, a great number of stories do not approach this topic earnestly when they include elves in their narratives. They merely point at the fact there are pretty people with pointy ears and say, ‘Well done, I’ve made good fantasy.’ The Goblin Slayer light novel series for example, uses the character Elf Archer for nothing else than her excellent archery and long ears (that same series is guilty of many other missteps but that’s a discussion for a different time).

Here is where I take my stand. If you put a fantasy race in your story, you must use them to underscore some fundamental human experience. Do not add your beast-men or robots to your story to fulfill some genre obligation. If I find a pointless dwarf or under-defined other race, it’ll instantly sour my opinion and may make me put the book down. And while this is my option, I’ll wager there are a number of other people in my cadre, too.

So, writer beware!