Tired, overused fantasy tropes you won’t find in Cursed Mage

Cursed Mage defies the fantasy tropes and clichés that dominate the genre. So if you don’t want to keep reading the same damn story, check it out.

Fantasy is a genre full of magic, myth, and mystery. But let’s be honest. It’s also full of tired, overused tropes.

You know the ones. You’ve seen them a thousand times. And if you’re an author writing something original, chances are you’ve already had your work misrepresented by someone (or something) trying to boil it down to a generic checklist.

In my case, that “someone” was AI, which I admittedly use as an occasional writing assistant – except for actually writing my books, for obvious reasons.

Even after uploading the full manuscript of Cursed Mage, earlier summaries tried to wedge it into the same old tropes that plague mass-market fantasy.

So let’s break down the fantasy clichés I actively avoided, or at least turned them into my own.

TROPE 1: The “Chosen One”

The cliché: A teenager discovers they’re The One—the only person who can save the world, prophesied in some ancient scroll no one questioned until now. They’re given powers they didn’t earn and immediately become central to a global conflict.

Why it’s tired: It flattens character development, and stakes vanish when fate guarantees survival.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija’s nominally chosen, and she earns every inch of her magical ability through study, observation, and discipline. Her powers are dangerous, and as a rare Maalivahti, she fits the chosen one trope, but indirectly. That said, her fate’s not sealed.

TROPE 2: The Wise Mentor

The cliché: An old man (usually bearded – Albus Dumbledore, Obi-Wan Kenobi) who exists only to train the hero, then die or disappear so the hero can “come into their own.”

Why it’s tired: It’s a shortcut. A way to offload exposition and skip actual struggle.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija has no single mentor. She learns through experimentation, cautious observation, and occasional training under older characters. Later in the series, adults around her are often obstacles—manipulators or gatekeepers, not guides. That’s basically Astray Mage in a nutshell.

TROPE 3: The Hogwarts Clone

The cliché: A magical school complete with houses, rivals, secret passageways, and epic duels in candlelit halls.

Why it’s tired: It’s been done—especially since 1997. And it’s often used as a crutch to pad weak worldbuilding.

What Cursed Mage actually does: While Kaija attends a university, Fenn is not a magical castle fantasy clone. There is a castle involved, and one that teaches elemental magic. But there’s much more to this castle than meets the eye, something that’s apparent to anyone who reads Cursed Mage’s prequel, Deceived Mage.

TROPE 4: The Token Outcast

The cliché: The protagonist is “different,” mocked or marginalized because of their magic, heritage, gender, etc., only to later be revealed as the most powerful of all.

Why it’s tired: It replaces real tension with identity drama and virtue signals. Honestly, if I see this trope, I scoff and find something else to read.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija doesn’t walk into town and get bullied by mean girls or professors. She’s smart, respected, and aware of her surroundings. The conflict is ideological and metaphysical, not high school drama. She’s not “the oppressed minority” trope in magical form. She’s a competent, observant Mage trying to navigate a corrupt system.

TROPE 5: The Dead Parents = Superpowers

The cliché: The hero’s parents die in Chapter One, and suddenly they’re “destined” for magical greatness.

Why it’s tired: It’s a lazy shorthand for “depth.” Instead of exploring grief, it’s used as a plot coupon.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija’s father dies before the actual story begins and her mother’s been dead for a while, but that grief is a slow undercurrent, not a shortcut to power. Her interest in rune magic, which is not the magical system in the book, started long before. If anything, there’s a trace of a connection between Kaija’s rune magic and the actual magical system.

TROPE 6: Emotion = Magic

The cliché: Magic is strongest when the character is crying, screaming, or facing overwhelming emotional trauma.

Why it’s tired: It implies that emotional outbursts are the only path to strength—no discipline required.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija’s magic is controlled, intellectual, and rooted in ritual. She draws from Nordic runes (differently than she had earlier in the book), elemental theory, and careful visualization. Her power comes from preparation, not breakdowns.

TROPE 7: The Identity Checklist

The cliché: Protagonists are shoehorned into whatever identity quota is trending—race, gender, sexuality—you get the gist. This might be the most annoying trope out there.

Why it’s tired: It turns characters into symbols instead of people, reducing agency to demographic stats.

What Cursed Mage actually does: Kaija isn’t a checklist. Her culture, background, and relationships bake into the worldbuilding. They’re not retrofitted for social approval. Her struggles are rooted in power, secrecy, and truth, not progressive morality plays. I mean, I am a lowercase ‘l’ libertarian.

Do you really think I’m even remotely interested in virtue signaling and racial quotas? Okay, I hear some screaming Mina Hirai. But to be real, I always pictured Mina as East Asian.

WHY THIS MATTERS

If you’re writing something original, don’t be surprised when outside forces—reviewers, marketers, or even AI—try to map it back to the same old tropes. Even if your book contains none, or bits and pieces of them.

I didn’t write Cursed Mage to check boxes or appease genre expectations. I wrote it to tell the story of a smart, observant young woman who uncovers dangerous truths and wields hidden power in a world that punishes awareness of the actual magical system at play.

So if you’re a reader looking for something deeper than genre paint-by-numbers, or an author tired of being reduced to what sells at Comic-Con, you’re not alone. Some of us are done with tropes. We’re writing stories that don’t fit the mold, and never should.

If you don’t like it, go read something else. But if you’re sick of checking boxes and virtue signaling, and just want to read a damn book that don’t preach to audiences, check out Cursed Mage.