Pet peeves (beware some RotE spoilers)

[Albertosaurus Rex]

What things anoy you when they occur in a story? These are mine. They don't necessarily completely preclude my enjoyment of the story, but they do irk me when I happen across them.

Intelligent dragons

Now this might surprise you a bit, considering that Robin Hobb's RotE books involve this quite heavily. But the idea of an intelligent dragon just doesn't make sense to me. They're big, clawed, flying and often fire-breathing beasts. Why would they need to be able to hold a conversation? Have you ever seen The Land Before Time? No, not one of those lousy sequels, the original movie. Okay, remember Sharptooth? Now imagine that guy with wings. That's what a dragon should be.

Artificial blood for vampires

Or animal blood, or anything else than human blood straight from the source. Once again, I've enjoyed stories that used this. George R. R. Martin's excellent Fevre Dream revolves around a vampire trying to develop artificial blood. Angel from the Buffyverse is able to subsist on animal blood, although it is hinted that it doesn't taste as good to him. This trope, however, detracts from the real horror of vampirism: the need to prey on humans.

"If you kill him, you will be just like him"

Our hero finally has the horrible villain he has been fighting the entire story at his mercy, prepares to kill him... and then his friends implore him not to, because this would be bad somehow. One of the most ridiculous examples in recent memory comes from the film X-Men: First Class.

Spoiler

Erik, the young Magneto, is about the kill Shaw, and Charles Xavier acts like this is something horrible. Shaw, in case you haven't seen this movie, is a former nazi camp doctor who later almost succeeded in manipulating the USA and the Soviets into nuclear warfare and on a more personal note: killed Erik's mother. How is getting rid of that guy a bad thing? To my delight, Erik actually did go through with it.