GastonRabbit
MOD
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#27: Oct 25th 2022 at 10:27:27 PM
Calling in favor of redirecting to Title Tropes. I'll go ahead and do that.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#28: Oct 25th 2022 at 10:53:31 PM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Archiving the wick check and locking up:
Wick check for Mad-Lib Fantasy Title. Since there's only 51 wicks, all of them will be checked.
Index, Haiku, JFF, etc. 5/51, 10%
- Genre Title Grab Bag
- Title Tropes: A title made of only awesome-sounding words that have become clichés.
- Haiku.Mad Lib Fantasy Title
- Laconic.Mad Lib Fantasy Title
- SoYouWantTo.Name A Work: Different genres of stories follow different naming conventions. That's why there are specific Mad Lib Fantasy Titles which may not work for, say a Dom Com.
Zero-Context Examples and random potholes 27/51, 53%
- Gory Deadly Overkill Title of Fatal Death: Compare the Mad Lib Thriller Title and the Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- MacGuffin Title: A Sub-Trope of Mad-Lib Fantasy Title and Super-Trope of Character Name and the Noun Phrase.
- Mad Lib Thriller Title: The Mad-Lib Fantasy Title is another genre's version of this, but while the Fantasy title is likely to have specific words in it, it's not necessarily a three-part formula.
- Meaningless Meaningful Words: For naming conventions that rely on this trope, see Mad-Lib Fantasy Title and Word Salad Title
- Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: For awe-inspiring subtitles, see Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- The Legend of X: Often overlaps with Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- The Title Saga: May be part of a Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- Word Purée Title: In some cases, may overlap with Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- Word Salad Title: Mentioned twice in the description, in consecutive paragraphs. Why?
- See also Mad-Lib Fantasy Title.
- Mad Lib Thriller and Fantasy Titles follow a set of rules that may or may not be this.
- Literature.Dragonriders Of Pern: Just the trope name
- Literature.Kamigawa Cycle: Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa.
- Literature.Symphony Of Ages: Not the title of the series itself, but the individual novels very much so. Which novels and how?
- Literature.The Crescent Moon Kingdoms: Just the trope name
- Memes.Twitch Plays Pokemon Season 2: Somehow, the chat managed to catch a Talonflame and name it "Talonflame 2". Naturally, many sequel-themed jokes ensued, with some prominent examples being Talonflame 2: Revenge of the Brave Birds and Talonflame 2: The Movie: The Game.
- Music.Dragon Force: Throughout their lyrics, not to mention the band name itself.
- Roleplay.Cirque Mystique: The "Mystique" in Cirque MYSTIQUE. Since when was 'mystique' a generic fantasy word?
- Roleplay.Skylessia: A large number of RP threads have names of this nature. Such as...?
- Roleplay.Syrellia: Borderline with the roleplay (it's named after the city, the country is never even mentioned once), but the Episode and Chapter titles count. It would be easier to list the titles that don't include any of the words on the page. Justified in that this roleplay was styled in the fashion of High Fantasy. "It'd be easier to list what doesn't count as this" is not context.
- Roleplay.The Sky Tides: Just the trope name
- TabletopGame.Changeling The Lost: Just like the other World of Darkness gamelines.
- VideoGame.Broken Sword: Just the trope name
- VideoGame.Dark Cloud: Just the trope name
- VideoGame.OMGWTFOTL: Odious Manly Genuflection With Terrible Fury: Only True Lamentation
- VideoGame.Sonic Storybook Series: Both games. Sonic & The: insert fantasy title right here.
- Tales of Legendia: Just the trope name
- VisualNovel.Hiiro No Kakera: English translation of the title is Scarlet Fragment. Needs more context. How does this make it generic fantasy?
- WhateleyUniverse.Tropes J To Z: Quest of the Underage Taoist Needs more context. How does this make it generic fantasy?
Correct use 10/51, 20%
- The Quest: More RPGs, Adventure Games, and Action Adventures than you can count.
- Many with the name "Quest" in the title. Usually, accurate.
- Work Info Title: Both types are common in fantasy, as a Mad-Lib Fantasy Title may contain words like "Song" or "Tale".
- Literature.Lone Wolf:
- A good number of the book titles for the main series:
- Magical elements: Flight from the Dark, Fire on the Water, Shadow on the Sand, The Masters of Darkness, The Deathlord of Ixia
- Fantasy locations: The Caverns of Kalte, The Chasm of Doom, The Kingdoms of Terror, Castle Death, The Jungle of Horrors, The Cauldron of Fear, The Dungeons of Torgar
- Dramatic events: The Darke Crusade, Rune War
- Time and space: The Prisoners of Time
- Supernatural creatures: Dawn of the Dragons
- Mystical concepts: The Curse of Naar
- World of Lone Wolf tends to have two-fer titles: Grey Star the Wizard (time and class), The Forbidden City (location), Beyond the Nightmare Gate (location and mystical concept), War of the Wizards (dramatic event and class).
- A good number of the book titles for the main series:
- Literature.The Chronicles Of Narnia: Most likely the Trope Maker for all the later fantasy series that include "Chronicles" in their title. The books themselves also count, with their titles' invocations of such stock fantasy elements as "Magician," "Prince," "Battle," "Dawn", and so on.
- Literature.The Shadowhunter Chronicles: The main novel series all follow the format of "The [Dramatic Adjective] [Noun]" — Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, Dark Artifices, and so on. I guess?
- Morrowind.Tropes M To R:
- The Elder Scrolls surtitle, per series tradition. It was originally chosen for Arena because "it sounded cool" and it wasn't until later that the devs decided what an Elder Scroll actually is in-universe.
- The title of the Bloodmoon expansion mixes an "emotionally charged" word (Blood) with "time and space" word (Moon).
- Quotes.Giver Of Lame Names: I've learned since then that, generally speaking, it's a good idea to avoid "moon" in a fantasy title: there are probably more moons in a row of fantasy novels than in a busload of drunken frat boys.
- Series.Face Off: Almost literally in the season 8 finale, where the contestants had to create a team of 4 characters, then grab words off a board and assemble them into the title. This created the relatively straightforward "The Fortress" and "Spirits of Eden", but also the bizarre "Paradise Reckoning." I guess?
- TheElderScrolls.Tropes M: The series title. In fact, according to a former developer, "The Elder Scrolls" was chosen as a surtitle to Arena simply because "it sounded cool". It wasn't until later that the devs decided what an Elder Scroll actually is in-universe. The individual game titles avert it, instead being One Word Titles following The Place titling convention (with a few Subversions), using in-universe locations.
- WarriorCats.Tropes H To M: It would take much less time to list the books that don't apply to this trope. Warriors is full of mystical stuff (such as Bluestar's Prophecy or Mistystar's Omen), metafictional stuff (like Firestar's Quest), and vague time-and-space stuff (Eclipse, Moonrise, etc). I guess? Just having time and space words doesn't a generic fantasy title make though, especially since the those titles are single words
Complaining 4/51, 8%
- Franchise.Fire Emblem: Try typing Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light with a straight face. It's not easy.
- Literature.The Dark Tower: The "Dark" in The Dark Tower is not the most inventive of descriptors, although it is certainly evocative.
- Website.Turkey City Lexicon: Pushbutton Words: Words used to evoke a cheap emotional response without engaging the intellect or the critical faculties. Commonly found in story titles, they include such bits of bogus lyricism as "star," "dance," "dream," "song," "tears" and "poet," cliches calculated to render the SF audience misty-eyed and tender-hearted. What does this have to do with fantasy story titles?
- WordSaladTitle.Square Enix: Infinite Undiscovery. When one faux-profound word-concoction isn't enough, why not make it infinite? Since when was 'infinite' a generic fantasy word?
Aversions 1/51, 2%
- Literature.Malazan Book Of The Fallen: Steven Erikson tends to avoid this by using more descriptive and specific titles: Memories of Ice, The Bonehunters, Dust of Dreams (though that one falls into the mystical concepts territory). He does seem fond of the '<blank> of <blank>' construction, though.
Misuse 4/51, 8%
- Never Trust a Title: Warrior Cats usually averts this, generally having titles that are either vaguely ominous (Dark River, Forest of Secrets) or Mad Lib Fantasy Titles (Bluestar's Prophecy, The Last Hope). 'Bluestar' is a character name, not a fantasy thing, and 'last hope' is a preexisting phrase
- Literature.The Riftwar Cycle: Since The Riftwar Saga, most of the titles have fallen into a pattern of BLANK of a/the BLANK BLANK. (i.e. Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, etc.) This is The X of Y
- Literature.The Spiderwick Chronicles: The title of each chapter. "In which [something related to the fey activity of this chapter]" This is In Which a Trope Is Described
- VideoGame.Runes Of Magic: "Chapter I" in this virtual world's lifespan was "Runes of Magic: Rise of the Demon Lord." Chapter II is "Runes of Magic: The Elven Prophecy." The third chapter is "Runes of Magic: The Elder Kingdoms." , and the fourth chapter is "Lands of Despair". This is The X of Y
Trope Repair Shop:
Mad-Lib Fantasy Title
23rd Oct '22 3:01:23 PM
Crown Description:
Mad Lib Fantasy Title is frequently misused, and it's been questioned whether it's tropeworthy to begin with. What should be done with it?
Total posts: 28
I added an option for redirecting to Title Tropes because that slipped my mind when I made the crowner. I bumped the ATT query in case anyone would prefer it over the current top option (disambiguating).
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.