One Hundred Fantasy Clichés That Really Need To Rest In Peace

#15: The Brooder Always Dies

In many fantasy related media there exists a character archetype known as The Brooder. A Brooder is a character that never feels completely inside their own skin for an important reason. Usually the reason has to do with a tragic backstory or being exiled from home, something this character in particular internally takes in. This type of pain causes the character to be distant from others or to be an overall jerk. They are almost always not team players and will usually need convincing from the main character to even lift a finger. The Brooder is a popular choice for writers because it gives them a foil for the main character to conflict with, create the ever so popular anti-hero, and have a more complex character.

While The Brooder archetype itself is a pretty clever one, what writers will do with the character is cliché. The general consensus for characters that do not like to follow the rules, like the Brooder, for any personal reason at all is to kill them off. Authors think this a poetic send off of a character wrapped forever in tangles of pain. If the character goes out fighting to save a friend or even the main character, this is seen as a "great" way to end their tale. Whoever gets the killing blow either somehow finds peace deep within themselves or will strangely feel like their home was with the main cast the entire time. Although doing this seems clever, in reality it is a cheap way to write off a character. Worse, since it is so "poetic" many authors have made this issue a cliché by being copycats and killing off the same type of character book after book. It annoys readers highly, especially since The Brooder usually ends up being a fan favorite.

An example of a Brooder killed off wrongly is Hollyleaf, the intelligent half Clan cat from the Warriors series of books. She was a fan favorite for her struggles with accepting that their birth was against the very Warrior Code (laws for all clans in the books to follow). Hollyleaf ended up killing a character who knew the truth called Ashfur out of the shock, as well as announcing her status at a gathering of all four clans to get it off of her chest. Feeling like vermin, Hollyleaf fled underground into a system of tunnels for years afterwards, turning her into a Brooder character. Her story was a complex one that readers could find themselves connecting to. After all, we have all felt lost at one time in our lives. However, the character was treated poorly by the writers right at the last second of the main series when she died protecting a cat she barely even knew. As the cliché goes with these types of characters, Hollyleaf finally "felt at home" because of her impeding death, one that should have never happened in the first place. It hurt the series and destroyed any potential the character had to grow further from her experiences.

Brooder deaths at all costs should be prevented to kill the argument that doing so would be poetic. Instead of finding peace through death, have the character find it through the support of the main cast. Through their journey, a connection could be created with the cast in multiple unique ways. The Brooder could form a friendship with a character in similar circumstances, whose kindness gives them a sense of belonging. Having their life saved also could be a good, but not as strong way to fix the cliché. There is even the option to have the character get a nonfatal injury in battle, just to reach this realization. Really, the potential substitutes are endless.

A great example of a Brooder who does not die to find a place of belonging is Lapis Lazuli, a character from the TV show Steven Universe. She was also the reason why I wanted to bring up this cliché, due to how different her character's path ended up compared to so many others similar to her. An exiled and forgotten gem from Homeworld, Lapis is forced to stay on Earth as the one place she can survive in. Distant from most of the main cast, her development comes from a friendship with the main character Steven as well as taking up residence in a farm with fellow gem Peridot. Although her tale is not finished yet, Lapis has found more belonging without the need to die. Earth will become a home to her and slowly but surely, Lapis Lazuli will break the character archetype.