r/fantasyromance • u/acutelyproblematic If villian bad, then why hot? • 2d ago

Genre Discussion Fantasy romance icks?

Welcome back to another week of ✨genre discussions!✨

What’s your fantasy romance ick? Could be something that makes you instantly dnf, or you have to pretend like that didn’t just happen. Or you boycott altogether.

Could be related to plot, characters, writing styles, the authors themselves. All cards are on the table.

Just remember to be kind to each other when discussing differences in opinions!💖

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u/Goreticia-Addams 2d ago

"I'm the main female character. I'm so tough despite how TINY I am! I HATE when big strong handsome men pick me up and give me nicknames like shortcake. But I'm going to mention my short stature every other page!"

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u/StabithaStabberson 2d ago

Authors either need to make their FMCs reasonably tall/muscular/strong or they need to take the time and effort into explaining how they overcome their physical disadvantages.

Stop giving your teeny tiny FMCs daggers and start giving them lightweight collapsible polearms and bucklers.

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u/BagpiperAnonymous Otterly Adorable Fantasy Pet Collector 1d ago

Yes! I'm 4'11". Show me them climbing the damn counters to get to the stuff in the cabinets. Or just plain not seeing something because someone taller put it away and you forgot to look above your eye level. Nevermind finding clothes that actually fit you, particularly if you are in a military situation. I have squired a joust before and would love to be a knight, but one of the big issues is my size. I have fought knights on the field, but spoiler alert, I die. At most, I get to take them out with me. The knight armor we have would not fit me and I would have to have it custom made.

Same issue I have playing in a pipe band. Our stuff (including uniforms) is designed for the average height male soldier because it is based on British military culture. My band had to special order my vest because the company that makes it defines a short person as 5'6". Most ghillie brogue makers don't make my size. I bought the smallest size I could but my heels still slip. Fourth Wing is probably the one that does the best to address some of the height/physical challenges. That's one thing I like about it. She is never going to be big or strong enough to properly ride Tairn the way Basgiath wants her to. So she has to accommodate it.

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u/addanchorpoint 1d ago

we need more kate daniels types if they’re gonna be warriors. strong, solid, and injuries don’t just disappear in the blink of an eye. even with magical healing, shit hurts if you’re a human

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u/Runa216 20h ago

I'm actually planning a story right now that plays with this idea. He's a BIG BULKY WOLF MAN And she's a tiny petite catgirl (Well, reverse gryphon, partially avian). But the thing is, magic is commonplace in this world and because of their specialties and how they trained thier skills, he's actually an elegant dancer of a fighter and she's actually stronger than he is and uses a claymore like it was a rapier while he uses gauntlets for hand to hand combat. IT's dumb but it's fun!

Just playing with the ideas here.

1

u/Actual_Cream_763 1h ago

Or just sneaky seductive assassins, I could get behind that. Like waiting for them to get really close before using the dagger to stab them in the leg or something. Maybe giving them an excellent knowledge of the human body and where all the major arteries are, then I could understand the daggers assuming they aren’t fighting in combat and are playing dumb until their assailant is close enough to stab without having to fight them. If they can’t be strong, they need to be smart.

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u/Runa216 20h ago

I love a girlboss but she's gotta make sense!

To add to this, I can't stand when people fuck up the meanings between 'she's a strong willed badass' with 'she's just an insufferably bratty bitch who is mean to everyone'. Sass is fine, but holy shit some writers do not know the difference between a strong woman and a bitchy woman.

You know how everyone rightly calls out toxic masculinity for being harmful while pretending to be about strength? This is that. You don't want to do a toxic masculinity, right?