Fantasy Tropes with no basis in Medieval History

[ravells]

There is a very interesting Reddit thread here:

What common medieval fantasy tropes have little-to-no basis in real medieval European history? : AskHistorians

[Bogie]

Thanks for the info, very interesting.

[Pineapple]

Thanks for posting.

I will say a lot of it boils down to, "Yes, that sometimes happened, but it wasn't particularly common." Frankly, I think that's to be expected. Fantasy stories aren't really expected to depict every day life for the rural peasant in the 12th century, they're supposed to tell extraordinary stories.

Edit: There's also not much in the way of sources cited, unless I just missed them.

[Damage_Inc89]

Here's a Cracked article from about a year ago that I read once. It doesn't discuss fantasy, but general misconceptions about the entire medieval period.

Myths About the Middle Ages - Cracked.com

[Turanil]

Very interesting. BTW: I also learned that gun silencers do not exist...

[Midgardsormr]

I think you may have been misled. SilencerCo Suppressors ? SilencerCo. Firearm Suppressors

[jtougas]

I think much is made of the fact that most of what we consider "medieval" fantasy is far more made up than reality. I'm slightly confused by this considering that (for example) if there were a "peasant farmer" character class in your favorite RPG, would you want to play it? (DM)" you have to go bale by hand and take it to the barn....roll a d20 to see if you succeed...." I'm all for "accuracy" but IMO it's called Fantasy for a reason....

[Damage_Inc89]

Very interesting. BTW: I also learned that gun silencers do not exist...

I think you may have been misled. SilencerCo Suppressors ? SilencerCo. Firearm Suppressors

Not that it's particularly relevant to medieval fantasy tropes, but what I think he meant was that although suppressors do obviously exist, they're just that: "suppressors," and the gun may make less noise, but it's never "silent" like you would see in TV/film.

[Turanil]

I'm slightly confused by this considering that (for example) if there were a "peasant farmer" character class in your favorite RPG, would you want to play it? (DM)" you have to go bale by hand and take it to the barn....roll a d20 to see if you succeed...." I'm all for "accuracy" but IMO it's called Fantasy for a reason....

It all depends on how said class is being designed. If (in D&D terms) it's a Commoner class with d4 hit-points, very poor BAB/ThAC0 progression, and only skills in farming: yes, nobody will ever want to play it.

But now, consider that during the 15th century all peasants in England had to learn to use a bow and accompany their lords on the battlefield. So they your basic peasant can become an archer class, in addition to having skills in farming. Then, add to this skills for living/surviving in the wilderness and such, and you can get a decent class that some people might want to play.

[jtougas]

It all depends on how said class is being designed. If (in D&D terms) it's a Commoner class with d4 hit-points, very poor BAB/ThAC0 progression, and only skills in farming: yes, nobody will ever want to play it.

But now, consider that during the 15th century all peasants in England had to learn to use a bow and accompany their lords on the battlefield. So they your basic peasant can become an archer class, in addition to having skills in farming. Then, add to this skills for living/surviving in the wilderness and such, and you can get a decent class that some people might want to play.

This is very true. I probably should have put more thought into my response