Given their appealing nature, cetaceans frequently feature in fiction in a number of ways. Listed below are common tropes associated with dolphins and whales. Please list examples on the appropriate trope page, not on this page. Despite the name, Space Whale Aesop does not belong here.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Marine Biology: Cetaceans depicted unrealistically due to poor research or narrative convenience.
- Blown Upward by a Blowhole: When cetacean blowholes are portrayed as much stronger than they are in real life.
- Cartoon Whale: Depictions of whales as squared-off, blocky animals with a small tail on their backsides.
- Devious Dolphins: Dolphins portrayed as amoral, evil or otherwise unpleasant creatures.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Dolphins portrayed as cheerful, playful and innocent creatures.
- Heroic Dolphin: Dolphins portrayed as heroic creatures who help and protect those in need.
- Monster Whale: Whales as gigantic sea monsters who swallow ships and people whole.
- Sapient Cetaceans: Cetaceans often tend to be sapient, fully intelligent creatures in fiction.
- Space Whale: When Space Is an Ocean, it's common for enormous whales or whale-like creatures to be found living in the depths of the cosmos.
- Tailfin Walking: Dolphins, porpoises, or whales walking upright on their tailfins.
