Note:  You guys are geniuses for finding all of these unique fantasy clichés.  I did not even know about half of the clichés you guys commented being a thing beforehand!  Thank you guys all so much!  If you have any clichés that you feel I should cover, just DM me or put it right in the easy to see comment's section.  You will definitely be credited fully for your contribution towards this editorial.  For this fantasy cliché, I would deeply like to thank NeoHerondale for pointing it out for me.  They are a great fantasy writer themselves, with great Harry Potter fan fiction and even their own original stories.  Please, go check them out!  Now where was I...

  If there is one cliché that most of us, including myself, are suckers to, it is the forbidden romance.  Even if you are not a huge romance fan in general, the idea behind the cliché is what will draw you in.  The main character, almost always a nice person, falls madly in love with a villainous character.  If the character is not a villain, they are from another country, have different beliefs, or are not supposed to be in love for the job they have.  Any variant of this though is still a forbidden romance.  Their love is not allowed in the circumstances both characters are in.  This creates a nice trickle of external conflict and internal conflict, something readers are easily attracted to.  Despite the odds you want them to end up together.  Even if you have seen the same plot a million times before, the same feelings radiate off of you.  The forbidden romance cliché is like microwaveable pizza.  It may not be as good as homemade pizza, but boy do you enjoy it every time you eat it.  (I credit this simile to my mom's boyfriend, who says a similar statement when talking about the prequels of Star Wars.)

  Regardless, forbidden love is still a completely overused cliché.  In fact it is so popular that even major fantasy series have used it.  Such fantasy series include Warriors, Lord of the Rings, and pretty much all manga.  It is a trope that even expert writers cannot escape!

  So, what is the solution to a cliché that is so overused yet so appealing at the same time?  Well, how do you flesh out a normally stereotypical character?  You do so by expanding their characterization to include characters flaws, introduce them to a completely new environment, fuse other types of character tropes into the one, and maybe add a tidbit of yourself in them.  A similar logic can go towards the forbidden love trope.  We do not have to get rid of it completely.  All that needs to happen is that they need to become less expected and fleshed out to the point where it almost feels real.  Expanding past the set expectations for this cliché is the true solution.

  There is however no excuse to use it all of the time though.  Only use it when you are absolutely sure it is going to help expand the story to an even more enjoyable level.  We can only have so many microwaveable pizzas before they start to lose their appeal on us.