Instant Unique Powers, No Effort Required
It seems impossible to open a fantasy book these days and encounter a character who is not Special. This means not just Chosen Ones, but the characters who are somehow different in a glamorous way. No fantasy protagonist, it seems, is devoid of either supernatural ancestry, or the ability to acquire unprecedented superpowers at a whim.
On some level, this is part of what makes the genre work. We expect characters in fantasy to have lives that are intertwined with their environment, and that often means they get all kinds of cool magical or sci-fi powers. But at the same time, there is no requirement that the protagonist have some unique gift or never-before-seen power. It's different if the the protagonist has gained a special skill through their own effort and worked hard to become amazingly good. There are also stories in which the protagonist is born with a superpower but must struggle to use it or to control it ( Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra are series which do this extremely well). The key is that the protagonist has to earn their awesomeness, rather than having awesome powers above and beyond the norm for their world handed to them effortlessly.
I find the Special-by-lineage protagonists particularly problematic, because the implication is that no ordinary person could elevate themselves by a combination of opportunity, luck and hard work. The protagonist gets their cool abilities because someone in their family tree got busy with an elf, angel, faerie, or what-have-you*, or worse, because someone in their family had a roll in the hay with royalty (because obviously no dirty commoners could have courage or leadership skills or magic or any other desirable attributes all by themselves).
I'm not saying you need to take away the traits that give your character their extra dose of awesome. But think about making them work for it-- having their powers come with a steep price, or having to work hard to control them, for example. Or have the characters learn a cool skill all by themselves, without the benefit of supernatural ancestry or just plain inborn uniqueness.
*Notice the emphasis on pretty creatures-- we need more half-giants or half-trolls running around.
On some level, this is part of what makes the genre work. We expect characters in fantasy to have lives that are intertwined with their environment, and that often means they get all kinds of cool magical or sci-fi powers. But at the same time, there is no requirement that the protagonist have some unique gift or never-before-seen power. It's different if the the protagonist has gained a special skill through their own effort and worked hard to become amazingly good. There are also stories in which the protagonist is born with a superpower but must struggle to use it or to control it ( Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra are series which do this extremely well). The key is that the protagonist has to earn their awesomeness, rather than having awesome powers above and beyond the norm for their world handed to them effortlessly.
I find the Special-by-lineage protagonists particularly problematic, because the implication is that no ordinary person could elevate themselves by a combination of opportunity, luck and hard work. The protagonist gets their cool abilities because someone in their family tree got busy with an elf, angel, faerie, or what-have-you*, or worse, because someone in their family had a roll in the hay with royalty (because obviously no dirty commoners could have courage or leadership skills or magic or any other desirable attributes all by themselves).
I'm not saying you need to take away the traits that give your character their extra dose of awesome. But think about making them work for it-- having their powers come with a steep price, or having to work hard to control them, for example. Or have the characters learn a cool skill all by themselves, without the benefit of supernatural ancestry or just plain inborn uniqueness.
*Notice the emphasis on pretty creatures-- we need more half-giants or half-trolls running around.
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