I’ve only recently become aware of a trope in fiction that I have long enjoyed without knowing it was a thing.
I absolutely love Competence Porn.
And I like it in more than just the novels I read. I often find myself on YouTube, watching diverse people complete projects like cleaning up overgrown yards, building houses with nothing but a machete, or weaving beads into stunning jewelry.
What is Competence Porn?
Competence Porn is a narrative trope that showcases characters’ exceptional skills, expertise, or competence in their respective fields.
The YouTube videos I watch show people being very good at what they do, building amazing things, displaying endless energy and ingenuity.
In fantasy, this often shows up via characters with extraordinary abilities–magical, martial, or intellectual–who demonstrate mastery in their endeavors.
These characters usually excel beyond the norm, beating massive challenges and obstacles.
I personally love watching characters with fantastic skills do their thing.
Not Quite Master/Apprentice, though
The master/apprentice trope is incredibly common in fantasy—often, authors use it because it’s a useful way of explaining a magic system or the fantasy world’s culture, etc., to the reader without looking like the author is info-dumping.
All the information about the magic or the world setting emerges, instead, as “lessons” that the apprentice must learn.
Often the apprentice ends up being the biggest, greatest or most amazing wizard/mage/warrior/whatever. Frequently, they were destined or prophesied to be that ultimate person.
Watching them at the end of the book or series, demonstrating their skills, is a type of competence porn…but it doesn’t quite match up with seeing someone who is already amazing at their craft/professional, taking on challenges head-on and making it look easy.
Here’s some of my favourite from fantasy
The Lord of the Rings has half a dozen characters who are the biggest and greatest at what they do, and the most obvious of these are the characters in the Fellowship of the Ring. Aragorn is a ruthless fighter, for example. And Legolas (particularly in the movies) is brilliant at using externalities to defeat the enemy.
But there is competence porn throughout the book, including the utopian Lothlórien, where everything is perfected, including the pillows the Fellowship sleep upon.
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper–who has just been named as the 40th Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association –SFWA—includes some low key, competent characters, too.
Merriman, who also goes by other names, is one of them, but the most interesting character who is good at his job is Will, introduced in the second book. I’ll avoid spoilers and merely say that I love watching him dip into the special abilities he has as an Old One, and use them to defeat the enemy; juxtaposed with his “human” life as a ten-year-old boy.
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series has many competent characters. A good example in this series is right in the first few chapters, when the reader is introduced to F’lar, who is the ideal dragon rider in every aspect, and of course finds the perfect candidate to become a queen rider.
What’s your favorite fantasy competence porn?
Do you love watching characters excel at their work?
Share with everyone in comments so we can check it out, too.
Taylen