I have a few:
- Chosen ones, fate, destiny, &c. When you get down to it, a story with these themes is one where a single person or handful of people is ontologically, cosmically better and more important than everyone else. It's eerily similar to that right-wing meme about how "most people are just NPCs" (though I disliked the trope before that meme ever took off).
- Way too much importance being given to bloodlines by the narrative (note, this is different from them being given importance by characters or societies in the story).
- All of the good characters are handsome and beautiful, while all of the evil characters are ugly and disfigured (with the possible exception of a femme fatale or two).
- Races that are inherently, unchangeably evil down to the last individual regardless of upbringing, society, or material circumstances.
That sounds neat. But also reminds me of a related peeve: Where non-monogamy is depicted, it's always like a group. A throuple.
In real life, I'm dating a woman. She has a wife. I am not dating her wife. I am friendly with her wife, but that's it. My date is also dating another man. We're friendly. We talk about video games. But we're not a thing together.
The polycule looks something like this. I know there's more people further removed from me, but I don't know them well (or in some cases at all). That's okay.
L ? B N T - ? | | | | | C - S - Me - A - E - R | | ? ? | ?
Non-monogamy doesn't have to be a triangle. There's a reason "polycule" is a really good pun.
I don't know if this has been depicted in media other than like niche fanfiction.
Not nearly so detailed, but Sing For the Coming of the Longest Night is a great little fantasy story about two metamours that have to go rescue their mutual partner from a magical realm.
This looks perfect, and my library has a copy. Adding it to my to-read list.
You're absolutely right. I wouldn't mind seeing it explored in fiction and fantasy in particular, which seems to me like the perfect genre to explore those dynamics. The only other story I can think that does it also features a sort of throuple, though the two women have a more sisterly relationship while both are in a romantic relationship only with the male (the Honorverse series)
I hope with queerness and non-heteronormativity becoming more "mainstream" (well, talked about more openly outside of niche spaces) that we'll start to see more of an exploration of what being poly means