I have a few:
- Chosen ones, fate, destiny, &c. When you get down to it, a story with these themes is one where a single person or handful of people is ontologically, cosmically better and more important than everyone else. It’s eerily similar to that right-wing meme about how “most people are just NPCs” (though I disliked the trope before that meme ever took off).
- Way too much importance being given to bloodlines by the narrative (note, this is different from them being given importance by characters or societies in the story).
- All of the good characters are handsome and beautiful, while all of the evil characters are ugly and disfigured (with the possible exception of a femme fatale or two).
- Races that are inherently, unchangeably evil down to the last individual regardless of upbringing, society, or material circumstances.
I agree with all of those with the possible exception of the third. I get why it’s annoying but in a narrative it’s a useful tool to keep good and evil clearly distinct.
I hate stories where the line between good and evil is constantly blurred and the bad guy turns out to be simply “misguided” or where we simply ignore the crimes of the MC 'cause they’re the MC so it’s ok
there are ways to make the good guys heroic without falling into race science
I said nothing about race
mOrRaLlY gReY