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Fantasy Fiction Authors 'Have a Type'

Gloranthan

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Dec 4, 2022
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Well over six foot, very muscular but with long enough limbs to avoid the 'human fireplug' look, black hair (not a real thing, it's just dark brunette IRL), with blue eyes that are pale enough to border on grey. And he's kind of a nice guy, smart, but doesn't take guff from anyone, no matter their power or rank. He's good looking, beardless, but MACHO without being overbearing.
Who is this mysterious hero? Tarzan, Kull, Conan, Aragorn, Superman, Batman, and probably about 234,000 chararacters I've not named. Sherlock is a bit less buff but he could be their kin, too. And Sherlock is strong. He straightened a bent fire poker, which is much harder than bending it. I would not fight that man.
Has anyone else noticed this? I've read somewhere that this was a stereotype as far back as the Bronze Age.
Heck, Wold Newton by Philip Jose Farmer bases half its plausibility by insisting that all these jacked, tall, grey-eyed brunettes are related.
I have to admit, it has infected my mind. When I write fiction the protagonist is usually the body double of Aragorn.
And, while his hair color is in dispute, my homeboy Legolegs was part Sindarin, and I see him as a brunette.
Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind.
Could be the darkness, but this is the closest we get to a description of Legolas' hair, so I'm going with that. Even though his daddy Thranduil was a blonde.
 
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My dear Gloranthan, though the world (in such times as these) would repudiate it is one big stereotype, nonetheless...it is.
The absence of stereotype is so far the minority it leaves me agog if and whenever I find it.
 
Fantasy fiction authors have a type. His name is Henry Cavill.

😁😇🥰

And yes I speak from experience because I've fancast that man in so many things including at least one of my novel WIPs.

Could be the darkness, but this is the closest we get to a description of Legolas' hair, so I'm going with that. Even though his daddy Thranduil was a blonde.
My dear friend we agree on so many things but Orlando Bloom did not wear the long blonde wig to utter perfection just to have you promote a brunette Legolas. 🤣 then again that is a pro-vote for the movies and I am not starting a mess over that here.
 

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