Most used fantasy cliches?

[Ouroboros]

Good map. By the way did anybody else notice on a middle earth map that the misty mountains and Mordor seen as a whole make a kind of fork? (with Mordor being the stingy part - because the deeeeevil lives there obviously-) I saw that yesterday but maybe I was tired.

Anyway I got another fantasy cliche, that I really hate, that is the "teenager-being-transported-to-a-magical-world-thing". (Think Narnia, Fionavar etc...) A cliché, and often just plain bad writing I think.

Were they teenagers in Narnia? I thought they were younger then that.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Were they teenagers in Narnia? I thought they were younger then that.

And in Fionavar they sure were older.

[Jon AS]

If a river is travelling between two highland regions then it's travelling the path of least resistance that it has travelled for millions of years. This could be due to a natural valley between the two regions (possibly an area of high glaciation, or just two seperate mountain ranges) or the river has eroded the softest rock in the area. In the northern reaches of Anduin the three mountain ranges are the Misty Mountains, Grey Mountains and the Mountains of Mirkwood, so surely the path of least resistance would be roughly south-easterly?

I've had a look at a physical map of Germany and it appears that pretty much all of southern Germany is fairly mountainous so the Rhine will have to pass by other highland areas to reach the flatter north and then the sea.

The Ural Mountains are the most similar to LOTR's Misty Mountains and it doesn't have a river running paralell to it from south to north and if there is anything running vaguely parallel to the mountain range then it's because that's the quickest route downhill.

I'm still not sure what the issue is here (and do only rivers and mountain ranges that have a north-sout orientation count?). Anduin has its source(s) in the Grey Mountains and flows south. From the same area the Forest River flows south-east through Mirkwood to Esgaroth and on to the Sea of Rhûn. Doesn't that imply that the area between the two rivers is not the quickest route downhill? Anduin continues its journey between Misty Mountains and Mirkwood, and the Mountains of Mirkwood, Dol Guldur and the Emyn Muil seem to indicate that the eastern area is rather hilly. When the river curves eastwards it is because the much higher White Mountains force it in that direction until the mountains of Mordor force it back on a southern course again. Then it curves even farther westwards because that is the quickes route to the sea.

Again, no geologist but is that so terribly implausible?

Looking at the map of Middle Earth, the only river that strikes me as truly odd is the northern tributary of the Lhûn. By all rights that one should flow north into the Ice Bay of Forochel.

But later on I'll dig out my old Atlas of Middle Earth to see if there is any mention of the implausibility of the geography in there.;)

[Arthmail]

I'm not sure if this has been covered, but evil animals. Wolves, ravens, crows, dung beetles, and hairless cats.

Lame. Why does the MASTER have to use animals, and why are all of the animals of that type evil?