History Main / FantasyGunControl

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': There have been no guns seen in the comic as the only nation likely to have them in the setting is isolationist and the characters traversed through a corner of it prior to the story's start rather than during the comic, though there are constructs with [[{{Magitek}} pymaric]] weapons that blast things similarly to guns but without a physical projectile. In addition bows and arrows are only really used for hunting, while Saw Shooters are a popular weapon with the criminal element.

Notably, despite also relying on gunpowder, fireworks are notably exempt from this rule.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and its sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are an interesting case. Guns don't appear, although by the second series technology has progressed to not just cars, radios, and skyscrapers, but [[spoiler:biplanes, plasma cutters, and even ''MiniMecha'']]. Yet, non-benders are still stuck with primitive muscle-powered weapons. Fans usually try to dismiss this with the excuse that rudimentary early firearms wouldn't have stood a chance against powerful [[ElementalPowers benders]], especially the [[ExtraOredinary metal-benders]], though this completely ignores that benders are a tiny minority of the population and even early guns would be an objective improvement over the spears, swords, bows, and catapults that the bulk of the troops use. Most likely, the humans of the Avatar world just happened to never think of it. However, gunpowder and other explosives are quite prevalent and used in both war and terrorism. One cannon is even seen as early as the first series, albeit as a one-off. In the final season of ''Korra'', [[spoiler:Kuvira's [[FantasticNuke spirit energy]] WaveMotionGun]] bears great resemblance to a real-life railway cannon, and is referred to as such. Most "cannons" seen in both series are more channeling devices for benders than true independent weapons.

Something to note is that this primarily applies to fantasy set in the typical MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, with castles, swords, knights, and so on. Often these works will have many hallmarks of the Late Middle Ages or early modern period, but deliberately exclude guns. UrbanFantasy tends to have no problem mixing guns and vampires, witches, wizards, etc., since that form of {{Fantasy}} tends to use the modern world as we know it. The same goes for ScienceFantasy, where the intent is to MixAndMatch things like laser guns and spells. More horror-oriented fantasy works also tend to avert it -- if werewolves and vampires are featured, {{Silver Bullet}}s are likely to be used. When it comes to {{Fairy Tale}}s, the trope is absent. Occasionally, a MageMarksman would use guns in conjunction with magic, or as a catalyst for casting spells.

* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'': Justified and sometimes averted. Most big-name supernaturals are by nature immune to mundane weaponry, and most competent mages can walk off normally fatal bullet wounds without issue, so most don't bother simply because what they already have is usually more effective and destructive. However, a sufficiently specialized mage ''can'' make firearms into situational but effective weapons, as seen with [[Anime/FateZero Kiritsugu Emiya]] and [[Literature/FateApocrypha Kairi Sisigou]], who combined magitech guns with high explosives and more magic. ''Literature/FateZero'''s Berserker [[spoiler: Sir Lancelot]] also possessed the ability to make any weapon he held supernatural and thus effective, allowing him to utilize a stolen fighter plane against other Servants effectively, though tellingly despite the firing of multiple machine guns and a missile, he didn't manage to achieve anything with it except destroying Gilgamesh's flying boat, a crash Gilgamesh himself was uninjured by.

In RealLife, the Chinese first pioneered the use of gunpowder for warfare in the 10th century. By the late 13th century, they had developed metal cannons. By the 14th century, they as well as the Europeans and other peoples like Indians were making significant use of cannons, handcannons, and other firearms in their armies (for example, [[https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004393301/BP000004.xml the first recorded use of cannons in Europe was 1326]], and the English famously used organ guns alongside their famous longbows at the 1346 battle of Crecy). By the early 15th century significant quantities of the infantry (especially those meant to defend static positions) were carrying handcannons (China being the largest user; 10% of professional Ming troops in the 1380s had some kind of gunpowder weapon) and full cannons had almost completely replaced traditional artillery (with smaller variants like swivel guns also being commonly mounted on forts and ships), meaning the popular view of gunpowder as a post-medieval invention is incorrect. It in fact played a decisive role in some of the most famous medieval conflicts such as the Hundred Years' War, the Hussite Wars, and the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars. In fact, the popular image of a knight wearing full plate armor - itself a 15th-century invention - actually came well after gunpowder weapons became common. The Europeans invented the arquebus and improved the cannon to fire cast iron balls in the mid-15th century, and from there, the technology spread and improved even more rapidly. By end of the 16th century, 1 in every 2 soldiers on European battlefields wielded a firearm (arquebus, musket, carbine, or pistol) as his primary weapon. Fantasy Gun Control shows up most often in fantasy (hence the name) but can appear in any genre.

* ''Series/ShadowAndBone'' [[AvertedTrope averts]] this. The [[RedshirtArmy Ravkan First Army]] wields rifles, Jesper is a [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] par excellence, and in one scene, two [[TheWitchHunter Drüskelle]] make use of a [[MoreDakka water-cooled machine gun]] against Ravkan infantry.

* Played straight for the most part in ''LightNovel/AvestaOfBlackAndWhite'' with the exception of Zurvan who makes use of firearms. The interesting bit is that while firearms do exist aplenty within the setting, hardly anyone uses them as they are seen as crude weapons without skill or soul. As a result, Zurvan is seen as something of a heretic.

* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'': Justified and sometimes averted. Most big-name supernaturals are by nature immune to mundane weaponry, and most competent mages can walk off normally fatal bullet wounds without issue, so most don't bother simply because what they already have is usually more effective and destructive. However, a sufficiently specialized mage ''can'' make firearms into situational but effective weapons, as seen with [[Anime/FateZero Kiritsugu Emiya]] and [[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Kairi Sisigou]], who combined magitech guns with high explosives and more magic. ''LightNovel/FateZero'''s Berserker [[spoiler: Sir Lancelot]] also possessed the ability to make any weapon he held supernatural and thus effective, allowing him to utilize a stolen fighter plane against other Servants effectively, though tellingly despite the firing of multiple machine guns and a missile, he didn't manage to achieve anything with it except destroying Gilgamesh's flying boat, a crash Gilgamesh himself was uninjured by.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' strict gun control is worldwide thanks to the Gun Devil, which was created by a wave of gun-related crimes that inspired fear that strengthens devils, and whose massive body count only served to heighten fear of guns (and devils) even more. In the aftermath, strict gun control policies and media manipulation was enacted to remove guns from public thought in order to restrain its power. Even then, contracting with the Gun Devil still allows one to get guns, [[spoiler:though this is a lie, as most guns, supernatural or no, are now used by governments for state-sponsored violence, while using the Gun Devil as a scapegoat.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': As a crossover between two series: ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' and ''Kuroinu'', it is expected that this trope would be applied unevenly. Obviously, guns and trick weapons that shoot bullets are present in the ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' 'verse, and only three characters (all hunters, of course) have these under their possession: Kyril, Hugh, and Soren. Other than that, the ''Kuroinu'' 'verse, assumed to be a standard MedievalEuropeanFantasy, seem to indicate that no original guns and cannons exist in the [[WorldBuilding setting]], provided that they are not from ''VideoGame/BloodBorne''. To elaborate, none of the populace or soldiery is shown using firearms of any kind, and there is no indication as to whether there is any firearm or even gunpowder production in the land.
** Curiously, there is evidence showing that people from Eostia '''actually know''' what a firearm is, which [[ZigZaggingTrope further complicates matters]]. This is best illustrated in the remastered version, where Vera, one of Alicia's subordinates, is able to identify that Kyril has a ''pistol'' holstered at his side, while describing his other firearm[[note]]the Hunter's Blunderbuss[[/note]] as "one much like a ''musket'' save for its ''barrel''", which looks more like a cannon. Vault, in one occasion, internally narrates how Kyril uses his ''firearms'' to take down orc war chiefs in one shot. Both examples indicate that terms related to guns (pistol, musket, barrel, firearms) are NOT a foreign concept -- certain people, if not all, from the ''Kuroinu'' 'verse have some degree of knowledge on the nature of firearms. More importantly, there has never been a single character that have shown to be confused or weirded out when they see someone wielding a gun instead of other "typical" ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, or magic staffs. In fact, one certain character, Klaus (aka Claudia's husband), has shown interest in replicating the mechanism of Kyril's pistol[[note]]it's a very trivial issue, not a major plot point, but still[[/note]]!

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Averted in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimorium_Verum The Grimorium Verum]], which contains a spell for protecting the caster against firearms.
* More or less averted in history. The medieval formula for gunpowder had been written two centuries before the Catholic Church officially acknowledged the existence of witches. Furthermore, the use of the handgonne, matchlock, wheellock, and flintlock did nothing to stop occultists from penning grimoires well into the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. In the minds of many during these periods, both magic and firearms were a part of daily life.
** A similar situation happened in the Japanese "Middle Ages" of the Sengoku Jidia (which lasted from 1467-1617 CE). It is a common myth, spouted in stories like ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', that Samurai rejected firearms and viewed them as dishonorable weapons. However, the Samurai armies embraced the arequebus when it was brought over by the Portuguese, using it in conjunction with spears to form pseudo-Pike and Shot tactics. By the time of Japan's invasion of Korea in 1592, around a fourth of the Japanese invasion force was equipped with guns.
* "Common knowledge" about the Middle Ages would cause most people to expect guns would proliferate only in Western Europe at first, but this was untrue already in the late Middle Ages. Among ranged weapons, firearms became almost as characteristic of the era as bows and crossbows. Even a more remote country like Ireland saw firearm usage in the 15th century. The various countries of Central Europe were increasingly adopting firearms since the start of the same century. One of the biggest instigators was the time of the Hussite Wars, when handheld firearm usage [[JustForPun exploded]] and spread through the region like wildfire, becoming a mainstay in many different armies for the first time (rather than an occasional curiosity). During the second half of the 15th century, the Kingdom of Hungary was one of the first European countries to outfit large parts of the infantrymen in its royal army with matchlock handgonnes and early arquebuses as standard issue, for specifically trained gunners, which wasn't really common yet in Europe, even with handheld firearm usage on 15th-century battlefields. Matthias I Corvinus learned from the proliferation of firearms during the Hussite Wars and in their aftermath (he fought in the latter with his relatives as a young man), and wanted to make sure Hungary would get its hands on the latest toys and field them in intimidating numbers. Every ''fourth'' soldier in the Black Army had an arquebus in the infantry, an unusual ratio by the standards of the time. Hungary's late 15th century [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Army_of_Hungary Black Army]] was also one of the first examples of a traditional European royal army adopting traits of the standing army model that would come to dominate in the early modern era.
[[/folder]]

* ''Webcomic/AtArmsLength'': True for the most part, as most of the magical beings prefer bladed or wooden weapons, or use magical-based spells and projectiles for attacks. Still averted in a few cases, such as Ginger, [[http://atarmslength.smackjeeves.com/comics/1327703/games-monsters-play-59/ who packs a WWI-era Colt M1911]], as well as an unseen minotaur who was mentioned by Sheila to have been carrying a .44 Magnum when they encountered him.

** A similar situation happened in the Japanese "Middle Ages" of the Sengoku Jidia (which lasted from 1467-1617 CE). It is a common myth, spouted in stories like ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', that Samurai rejected firearms and viewed them as dishonorable weapons. However, the Samurai armies embraced the arequebus when it was brought over by the Portuguese, using it in conjunction with spears to form pseudo-Pike and Shot tactics. By the time of Japan's invasion of Korea in 1592, around a fourth of the Japanese invasion force used were equipped with guns.

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'':
** Guns make an appearance on occasion being essentially an equalizer between nobles who use magic and plebs who cannot though only a few well-trained musketeers are ever seen using them.
** There's a Vietnam-era rocket launcher and a WWII-era Zero fighter aircraft appear in the first season. Being from Earth the natives don't know how they work. Colbert learns how to make gasoline for the plane and the fact that the Zero fighter still has ammunition in the second season suggests that SOMEONE learned to make bullets. A Howitzer appears in Season 3.
** Gunpowder weaponry are more prominent in the light novels, which isn't a surprise since they are based in [[FantasyCounterpartCulture magical 16th century Europe]].
** During his time in the army Guiche was tasked with using magic to [[MundaneUtility keep matchlocks dry in humid condition]], and flying airships are armed with heavy cannons.
** The elves have even more advanced armaments.
* ''Literature/{{Gate}}'': The basic premise is modern army versus fantasy armies, and just how screwed the latter are in the face of rapid-firing guns. The only time the army even considers giving guns to the locals is when they work together to take out a dragon; The difference in tech is so alien to the locals they see them only in a Freudian light.
* ''LightNovel/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'': There aren't guns in this world, not because they don't know how to make them (cannons from the Victorian era exist), but because due to how magic works, bullets are simply not as useful as enchanted arrows or spears -- the amount of enchantment you can put on an object is directly related to its size and weight, and weaponry enchantment is nigh-required to break through defensive enchantment, so bullets, despite being fast, are too light to cause damage against foes.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' guns exist, but due to RolePlayingGame mechanics acting like laws of physics the damage a gun does is determined by the [[GamingStatTropes stats]] of the gun's wielder rather than the velocity and mass of the bullets. This means that guns are no better in a fight than bows and arrows, and there's only one country where anyone bothers to use guns.

** It can also be argued that the necessity of guns dropped due to the difference in how battles are fought in the setting; in the Naruto universe, combat tends to be more focused on the utilization of Ninjutsu, prioritizing speed and stealth rather than firepower and direct confrontation. Guns, while still as effective as you can expect against people, are notoriously loud and therefore very much ''not'' weapons of stealth, making them of no use to a Ninjutsu user, especially when there are ranged weapons, such as kunai, which are much more in line with the ninja way. While they may make small appearances here and there, guns in the Naruto universe are a bit of a square peg for a round hole and thus unfit for use in large-scale ninja-based warfare and therefore are pretty rare to find being utilized in combat.

-->-- The description for the '''Deadeye''' weapon, ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''[[note]]Cannons exist in the game's {{fantasy}} setting, but this is the game's only known mention of handheld firearms.[[/note]]

-->--The description for the '''Deadeye''' weapon, ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''[[note]]Cannons exist in the game's {{fantasy}} setting, but this is the game's only known mention of handheld firearms.[[/note]]

In RealLife, the Chinese first pioneered the use of gunpowder for warfare in the 10th century. By the late 13th century, they had developed metal cannons. By the 14th century, they as well as the Europeans and other peoples like Indians were making significant use of cannons, handcannons, and other firearms in their armies (for example, [[https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004393301/BP000004.xml the first recorded use of cannons in Europe was 1326]], and the English famously used organ guns alongside their famous longbows at the 1346 battle of Crecy). By the early 15th century significant quantities of the infantry (especially those meant to defend static positions) were carrying handcannons (China being the largest user; 10% of professional Ming troops in the 1380s had some kind of gunpowder weapon) and full cannons had almost completely replaced traditional artillery (with smaller variants like swivel guns also being commonly mounted on forts and ships), meaning the popular view of gunpowder as a post-medieval invention is incorrect. It in fact played a decisive role in some of the most famous medieval conflicts such as the Hundred Years War, the Hussite Wars, and the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars. In fact, the popular image of a knight wearing full plate armor - itself a 15th century invention - actually came well after gunpowder weapons became common. The Europeans invented the arquebus and improved the cannon to fire cast iron balls in the mid-15th century, and from there, the technology spread and improved even more rapidly. By end of the 16th century, 1 in every 2 soldiers on European battlefields wielded a firearm (arquebus, musket, carbine, or pistol) as his primary weapon. Fantasy Gun Control shows up most often in fantasy (hence the name) but can appear in any genre.

** On one hand, just about all armies and navies make extensive use of cannons, to the point where the objective of the first raid that Griffith makes Guts participate in is to set the enemy camp’s gunpowder stockpile on fire. Young mechanical prodigy Rickert is able to cobble together an ArmCannon for Guts using parts that Godo had lying around the shop—which can fire a roughly billiard ball-sized cannonball for massive damage against monsters—and later produces goodies for Guts or himself such as mini bombs and a shoulder-fired rocket launcher. The giant Grunbeld also has a personal cannon built into his shield.
** The big caveat that makes the trope still present is that so far the aforementioned one-off gadgets are the only personal firearms we’ve seen at all. The conventional design of an arquebus or pistol doesn’t exist anywhere. Instead, massed archery continues to dominate in battle alongside field artillery. It kind of makes sense in-universe because arrows and crossbow bolts are frequently shown to [[ArmorIsUseless pierce plate armor]]. On top of that, Guts and Rickert have AutomaticCrossbows, and two-shot crossbows are fairly widespread, whereas every gun we’ve seen is single-shot. Based on these factors, a firearm might not be considered worthwhile unless it's a {{BFG}} that can inflict heavy damage with each shot.
* Taken to an extreme in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', forget about not having gunpowder. Despite having technology that looks to be 14th Century and later, the soldiers of that island don't even have bows or crossbows! To hit Yoma from a distance, they rely on tossing spears and the occasional throwing knife. The only archer that appeared in the series, is the [[EldritchAbomination Abyssal One]] Isley, and his "bow and arrows" were organic extensions growing out of his hand. Near the end of the series, bows do show up in the hands of a militia but for about a few panels.
* ''Manga/{{Drifters}}'' actually uses this as a plot point. The eponymous Drifters, being sucked from various ages and times in our world, range from those used to fighting with nothing but swords and arrows, to the Wild Bunch (with six-shooters and an early Gatling gun) and a Japanese Zero pilot. The world they're dumped in, however, is roughly around the same era of advancement as 1100's Europe, with no real machinery and firearms being a near-complete unknown. One of UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga's first tasks is to get large supplies of sulphur and charcoal and to start the creation of a saltpeter pit for gunpowder, and practically creams himself when he sees how far ahead of muskets the Wild Bunch's firearms are. The Drifters are explicitly changing the rate of technological expansion at a breakneck pace every time they're brought in, and it's even stated directly by the guy who summons them that it's one of their primary purposes -- to force the world to advance well beyond the pace it normally would.

* Justified in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''. [[TheFederation The TSAB]] specifically outlaws the use of mass based weaponry in its territories in favor of [[AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe far less lethal]] magic based weapons due to the destruction wrought by [=WMDs=] during the days of Ancient Belka. That said, traditional firearms do exist in areas outside of the TSAB's jurisdiction.

* ''ComicBook/{{Necrophim}}'': Guns are simply impractical because gunpowder spontaneously explodes when brought near a furnace. In prog 1665, one of Astaroth's lieutenants recruits five real-life firearms engineers to develops guns that will function correctly in FireAndBrimstoneHell.

* ''Literature/FightingFantasy'', despite it's setting in a medieval-era fantasy world, occasionally averts this with the player being given access to flintlock pistols.
** ''Literature/HowlOfTheWerewolf'' is set in Mauristania, a land loosely inspired by medieval Bavaria, and you can obtain a flintlock pistol either from a Headless Horseman or from your werebeast hunter ally, Van Ricten. You can also obtain {{Silver Bullet}}s to be used against various werebeasts.
** In ''Literature/{{Magehunter}}'' you're the titular character who hunts, well, mages (hostile ones). As such, one of your default weapon is your trusty pistol, used to execute mages before they can complete their spells, also invoking TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'' Most civilians carry low-tech weapons like swords and crossbows even though cartridge firearms don't rely on electricity. This is explained as guns being illegal for civilians to own, which is graphically demonstrated on a rebel who get caught by the militia for illegally possessing guns in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E2ChainedHeat Episode 2]]. However, that doesn't explain why militia members, who are allowed to have guns, only use muskets. Could be explained by most of the modern ammunition being used up during the intervening 15 years. Musket balls are probably easier to manufacture with primitive technology. This theory is verified by [[Recap/RevolutionS1E3NoQuarter Episode 3]], with Jeremy mentioning that pre-blackout ammunition was a rare commodity and that copper jackets and smokeless powder were beyond at least the Monroe Republic's manufacturing capabilities.

* "Common knowledge" about the Middle Ages would cause most people to expect guns would proliferate only in Western Europe at first, but this was untrue already in the late Middle Ages. Among ranged weapons, firearms became almost as characteristic of the era as bows and crossbows. Even a more remote country like Ireland saw firearm usage in the 15th century. The various countries of Central Europe were increasingly adopting firearms since the start of the same century. One of the biggest instigators was the time of the Hussite Wars, when handheld firearm usage [[JustForPun exploded]] and spread through the region like wildfire, becoming a mainstay in many different armies for the first time (rather than an occasional curiosity). During the second half of the 15th century, the Kingdom of Hungary was one of the first European countries to outfit large parts of the infantrymen in its royal army with matchlock handgonnes and early arquebuses as standard issue, for specifically trained gunners, which wasn't really common yet in Europe, even with handheld firearm usage on 15th-century battlefields. Matthias I Corvinus learnt from the proliferation of firearms during the Hussite Wars and in their aftermath (he fought in the latter with his relatives as a young man), and wanted to make sure Hungary would get its hands on the latest toys and field them in intimidating numbers. Every ''fourth'' soldier in the Black Army had an arquebus in the infantry, an unusual ratio by the standards of the time. Hungary's late 15th century [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Army_of_Hungary Black Army]] was also one of the first examples of a traditional European royal army adopting traits of the standing army model that would come to dominate in the early modern era.

->''The weapon of the fearsome lone bandit, Rymek Luke, it is unique in that it is designed to fire small metal rounds instead of more traditional projectiles.''

In RealLife, the Chinese first pioneered the use of gunpowder for warfare in the 10th century. By the 14th century, they as well as the Europeans and other peoples were making significant use of cannons, handcannons, and other firearms in their armies (for example, the English used organ guns alongside their famous longbows at the 1346 battle of Crecy). By the early 15th century significant quantities of the infantry (especially those meant to defend static positions) were carrying handcannons (China being the largest user; 10% of professional Ming troops in the 1380s had some kind of gunpowder weapon) and full cannons had almost completely replaced traditional artillery (with smaller variants like swivel guns also being commonly mounted on forts and ships), meaning the popular view of gunpowder as a post-medieval invention is incorrect. It in fact played a decisive role in some of the most famous medieval conflicts such as the Hundred Years War, the Hussite Wars, and the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars. In fact, the popular image of a knight wearing full plate armor - itself a 15th century invention - actually came well after gunpowder weapons became common. The Europeans invented the arquebus and improved the cannon to fire cast iron balls in the mid-15th century, and from there, the technology spread and improved even more rapidly. By end of the 16th century, 1 in every 2 soldiers on European battlefields wielded a firearm (arquebus, musket, carbine, or pistol) as his primary weapon. Fantasy Gun Control shows up most often in fantasy (hence the name) but can appear in any genre.

In RealLife, the Chinese first pioneered the use of gunpowder for warfare in the 10th century. By the 14th century, they as well as the Europeans and other peoples were making significant use of cannons, handcannons, and other firearms in their armies (for example, the English used organ guns alongside their famous longbows at the 1346 battle of Crecy). By the early 15th century significant quantities of the infantry (especially those meant to defend static positions) were carrying handcannons and full cannons had almost completely replaced traditional artillery, meaning the popular view of gunpowder as a post-medieval invention is incorrect. In fact, the popular image of a knight wearing full plate armor - itself a 15th century invention - actually came well after gunpowder weapons became common. The Europeans invented the arquebus and improved the cannon to fire cast iron balls in the mid-15th century, and from there, the technology spread and improved rapidly. By end of the 16th century, 1 in every 2 soldiers on European battlefields wielded a firearm (arquebus, musket, carbine, or pistol) as his primary weapon. Fantasy Gun Control shows up most often in fantasy (hence the name) but can appear in any genre.