Fantasy Tropes about Pagans/Witches that you're tired of?

[Lionrhod]

I started a similar thread in the pagan section of a writer's website I belong to, but thought I'd also post that question here.
Well number 1 for me would probably be seeing male witches referred to as either "warlocks" or "wizards."

Besides that, I'm tired of nearly every book about witches revolving around Samhain. I purposely set Dark Moon Gates at Beltaine just because I was sick of everything been Samhain/Halloween oriented. I didn't originally plan to make my story a series, but since it seems to be turning out that way, I'm glad I have Litha, Lammas and Mabon to get through before we finally get to Samhain.

Salem. Argh! Why does most every writer with a witch character think their MC needs to be able to trace their character back to Salem?

[Sarah]

I started a similar thread in the pagan section of a writer's website I belong to, but thought I'd also post that question here.
Well number 1 for me would probably be seeing male witches referred to as either "warlocks" or "wizards."

Besides that, I'm tired of nearly every book about witches revolving around Samhain. I purposely set Dark Moon Gates at Beltaine just because I was sick of everything been Samhain/Halloween oriented. I didn't originally plan to make my story a series, but since it seems to be turning out that way, I'm glad I have Litha, Lammas and Mabon to get through before we finally get to Samhain.

Salem. Argh! Why does most every writer with a witch character think their MC needs to be able to trace their character back to Salem?

 
That we all belive that millions of people were burned as witches in "The Burning Times"

That we think Robert Graves's The White Goddess is at all historical or reliable

That we all follow the Maiden/Mother/Crone thing

[Materialist]

I started a similar thread in the pagan section of a writer's website I belong to, but thought I'd also post that question here.

That witches are immortal, or near so. In the Halloweentown movies, Granny Campbell was like a thousand years old. In the Dresden Files books, wizards can live for centuries. Why is that, exactly? What kind of biological quirk causes this longevity to happen? Never made sense to me.

[mlr52]

That witches are immortal, or near so. In the Halloweentown movies, Granny Campbell was like a thousand years old. In the Dresden Files books, wizards can live for centuries. Why is that, exactly? What kind of biological quirk causes this longevity to happen? Never made sense to me.

 
Biological? I always thought it was a by product of using the magic, that produced long life.

In the comicbook Dr. Strange long life, and no children, was part of the cost of his weilding the magic.  In Babylon 5, reference is mad by the old one that, the choices of the races was long life for a few, or a short life for many.  Lord of the Rings long life is given by the rings of power.

[Nightwind]

I started a similar thread in the pagan section of a writer's website I belong to, but thought I'd also post that question here.
Well number 1 for me would probably be seeing male witches referred to as either "warlocks" or "wizards."

Besides that, I'm tired of nearly every book about witches revolving around Samhain. I purposely set Dark Moon Gates at Beltaine just because I was sick of everything been Samhain/Halloween oriented. I didn't originally plan to make my story a series, but since it seems to be turning out that way, I'm glad I have Litha, Lammas and Mabon to get through before we finally get to Samhain.

Salem. Argh! Why does most every writer with a witch character think their MC needs to be able to trace their character back to Salem?

 

I'm kind of confused about this one, do you mean in Fantasy novels or just people who live in their own little fantasy world?

[Sophia C]

I started a similar thread in the pagan section of a writer's website I belong to, but thought I'd also post that question here.
Well number 1 for me would probably be seeing male witches referred to as either "warlocks" or "wizards."

Besides that, I'm tired of nearly every book about witches revolving around Samhain. I purposely set Dark Moon Gates at Beltaine just because I was sick of everything been Samhain/Halloween oriented. I didn't originally plan to make my story a series, but since it seems to be turning out that way, I'm glad I have Litha, Lammas and Mabon to get through before we finally get to Samhain.

Salem. Argh! Why does most every writer with a witch character think their MC needs to be able to trace their character back to Salem?

 
I think most fantasy tropes about witches are adorable, personally. I was just watching 'Room on the Broom', an animation about a witch with a cat and a dog and a frog and a bird and they all go flying around on a fantastic broom, and also there's an adventure. I don't think it makes people believe that real witches fly on brooms. I enjoy the fantasy depictions of witches in all kinds of fantasy writing/media - Oz/Wicked, Narnia, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, modern depictions of fairytales like Once Upon a Time - you name it, it's all a lot of fun. In all of these things, witches have fairytale-supernatural powers. I think most people understand that that's not how we think magic actually works. Mostly because most people are not stupid.

[Raincloud]

I purposely set Dark Moon Gates at Beltaine just because I was sick of everything been Samhain/Halloween oriented.

Welcome to my life in the Southern Hemisphere with Americans and Brits plastering 'Happy Samhain EVERYONE' all over facebook whilst we celebrate Beltaine.

And also having to deal with pagans here who bitch and whine when we ask why they are celebrating Halloween at Beltaine? (Please note they aren't celebrating winter here during the summer).

They are talking about creating a Beltaine-o'ween to keep everyone happy here.

(Please note I was abused on facebook for simply asking how we could meld the two. I was called a fundie simply for asking).

Yay, for local Aussie pagan scene ...full of idiots!

So........ yeah Beltaine is very linked to Samhaine for me, whether I like it or not.

[Materialist]

Biological? I always thought it was a by product of using the magic, that produced long life.

In the books I have read, and the Halloweentown moveis, magic is solely hereditary, therefore, a product of one's genes-BUT, these same stories say that if such a person renounces magic, like a bad habit, they become mere mortals, which makes even less sense, because genes just don't evaporate away.

[Materialist]

Welcome to my life in the Southern Hemisphere with Americans and Brits plastering 'Happy Samhain EVERYONE' all over facebook whilst we celebrate Beltaine.

And also having to deal with pagans here who bitch and whine when we ask why they are celebrating Halloween at Beltaine? (Please note they aren't celebrating winter here during the summer).

Oh, I hear ya. A religion that claims to reverence nature, and promotes festivals celebrating the seasons- but only if they conform to European environments! It irks me.

[yewberry]

Oh, I hear ya. A religion that claims to reverence nature, and promotes festivals celebrating the seasons- but only if they conform to European environments! It irks me.

 
Which brings up a peeve of mine:  all witches are white and women.  I'd love to see a little more diversity in films especially.

Brina

[Allec]

Re: Fantasy Tropes about Pagans/Witches that you're tired of?

 
I'm tired of how people think that every pagan practices Wiccan or the Wheel of the Year.
Or that every Witch follows the Wiccan Rede.
Or that everyone who practices magic or something resembling magic is a witch.