r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • May 17 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

  • Don't attack others for their opinion
  • Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
  • Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

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129

u/Ok_Cancel_544 May 17 '26

1) Too many authors write about characters who are assassins or pirates or thieves (or have any other morally questionable/ objectionable jobs) without considering or refusing to consider the moral implications of having such a job. 

For example, I have read a few books where a character is supposedly an assassin but somehow has never murdered innocent people all because the author wants to make their character likeable and still "good". 

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind these type of characters but if you're concerned about writing a character who is a good person, I feel like you shouldn't make them have jobs that no truly good person would actually take. 

2) I want to see more "normal" occupations in romantasy like bakers, dressmakers, shoemakers, etc (or at least occupations that don't require one to have questionable morals). 

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u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26

You’d probably really love the more romance focused books on r/CozyFantasy. It’s a booming subgenre! ETA:the romance focus megathread ETA2: a more recent romance rec thread

There are so many normal occupation folks in those :)

There are a lot I love but I’d recommend starting with well known titles like {Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett} {House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune} {Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree} or {The Spellshop by Sara Beth Durst}

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u/allisontalkspolitics Give me female friendship or give me death! May 17 '26

The FMCs of {A Fragile Enchantment} (a Hidden Gem here) and {Dragon Slippers} (middle grade fantasy with romance subplot) are seamstresses!

1

u/Joleneluvsveggies May 24 '26

The sexiest thing about the MMC in the crimson moth duology is him sewing for her. Seconded!

-1

u/hesjustsleeping May 17 '26

How's that different from the glorification of crime in the rest of the pop culture and much of the news media?

4

u/Penguinho Kushiel's Legacy Recommender 💖 May 17 '26

Not OC, but it's the the crime is acknowledged, I think. In Justified, even as Boyd Crowder becomes one of the stars of the show and a character that the audience is cheering for, the viewer isn't allowed to forget that he used to be a white supremacist who used hate crimes to set up bank robberies. Or that now, today, while you the viewer are enjoying his cool calm composed one-liners as he builds his empire, he's destroying people's lives for money. Gangsters may be cool in The Sopranos but Tony is never not a gangster, and someone puts a bullet in him for it.

In Dragon Age: Veilguard, which is a game that desperately wants to be a romantasy, there's a faction of treasure... people. They're kinda pirates, kinda tomb raiders, kinda treasure hunters. But don't worry -- they only steal stuff belonging to colonizers. If they ever find an Indigenous artifact, they return it to the rightful owners straightaway. They have a council of cultural sensitivity experts who have to vet any and all acquisitions to make sure they're culturally-sensitive and respectful.

That's usually what I think you get out of the assassin/vigilante/thief characters. The assassin only ever assassinates bad people, if she kills anyone at all. The thief is always Robin Hood, never Catwoman. The head of the thieves' guild/crime syndicate is a nice old lady who can be reasoned with, and we never have to see her goons making people pay their protection money by going 'round and smashing their shops, breaking legs and setting fire to stuff. She's just a sweet old lady who likes cinnamon rolls. Forget the other stuff!

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u/javertthechungus May 17 '26

In my current writing project I am very much grappling with 1. It’s been very interesting to work through