Mythical Cliche Classifcation Chart

This is a page of epic/legend/mythology cliches and their classification, according to how I think of all of this. Note I present this as neutral and do not side with any opinions about the reality of any of this, (e.g. I don't actually believe there's a soul or something that "goes on" after death).

Big Beast with Tentacles ~ Any creature with many appendages and which seems to be a threat to civilization falls into this category. Many legends are told about them, and in modern day stories they are elusive, whereas in ancient times they came write out, like the Hydra Hercules had to defeat.

Everlasting Life ~ Everlasting life is the ability to live forever. However, it is not immortality, which is a common misconception. Those with the potential to life forever can in fact die if they get into a freak-accident, but assuming no freak-accidents and proper safety, they will not die of old age or "natural" causes.

Hooded Cult ~ The hooded cult is the cult in any movie or book that wears robes and holds candles simply to look forbidding and scary, regardless of how much power they actually have. Members of hooded cults rarely laugh or tell jokes, because, you know, that would ruin the entire feel of the movie scene they're in, and the actors wouldn't get their paychecks. (Most Hooded Cults are founded by disgruntled comedians who were booed at their stand-up routines and therefore decided to take out their anger by making a secret society bent on taking over the world.)

Immortality ~ Immortality is defined as the inability to die, by whatever imaginable means. By definition, the idea of immortality always subsists upon the idea of a soul independent from the body, as certain events that would completely destroy the physical body never quite manage to destroy the "individual", (a.k.a. the soul behind the individual).

Jokester ~ The Jokester is the protagonist who is neither a villain nor a hero, but occasionally performs heroic actions and then acts blasé about the whole thing so they won't be held to the same standard as a hero. Like Loki teasing Thor in Norse mythology, the Jokester often makes a mockery of higher powers and authorities and exposes rightful hypocrisy, eliciting much hatred from those whose jimmies have been rustled.

The bad jokesters get kicks out of being bad and doing bad things, whereas the good jokesters always have a soft spot, and in fact are capable of great empathy when that soft spot is touched, (perhaps by falling in love or something like that).

Red and Black = Evil ~ Perhaps the most noticeable in modern day movies and comics about villains, is that their color scheme is almost always red and black, (search up "evil" in Google images and you'll see those are pretty much the only colors that come up). I like ancient mythology better because villains and heroes didn't really differ on the outside too much, and that's much closer to real life.

While we're on the topic of horror cliches, here are a few more things that seem overused: blackened or bleeding eyes, little girls in white dresses that are in fact psycho-killers, lullaby music, jump scares and screamers, awful screeching violin music, Mr.Nice Guy turns into bad actor then stalker then killer on the LifetimeTM channel, black ooze, green ooze, red ooze, blue ooze, any type of ooze, glowing red eyes, skull and crossbones, etc..., to name a few.

The Chosen One ~ In stories, "The Chosen One" is the hero that was seemingly meant to be, and is always awkward and clumsy at first but soon rises to the top in a Hollywood-worthy demonstration of self-esteem building and personal challenges, as well as finding love along the way. (Basically the plot of Karate Kid in a single sentence.)

Common abilities of the chosen one is the ability to solve problems that no one else around them is able to solve because they are in fact omnipotent geniuses with latent superpowers that disguise themselves as incompetent people; finding themselves able to defeat super-villains without much training; and despite the odds, staying alive even when the chances of living through all they've been through is extremely low.

The Temptation ~ The temptation in a story is that which tempts the main character to be evil, and is the history-forking point at which the main character must decide to either follow the easy path and give in to evil, or stand up for their beliefs and do the right thing. This is what I call the "complex temptation", as it often involves a wayward ex-friend or family member, and therefore is harder to resist. The "simple temptation" in a myth is something that the main character is not emotionally attached to but may still prove difficult to go away from, like the prospect of a million dollars by a complete stranger, or like the Sirens in Greek mythology.

The Very Very Powerful Object ~ The very very powerful object is the object to rule all other objects, (e.g. "the ring to rule them all"), and often finds itself in the hands of villains and heroes, the latter inevitably losing it every time a new plot twist must be introduced. Often, in movies the very very powerful object is rarely seen displaying it's full power, but is instead caressed like a fluffy cat and held near the camera for half of the movie just to convince us that, yes, so-and-so has got the very very powerful object, and that is indeed a bad thing.