Tough Traveling: Independence Battles

“Tough Traveling” is a weekly Thursday feature created by Nathan at Review Barn where participants make a new list each week based on The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. This hilarious little book cheerfully pokes fun at the most prevalent tropes in fantasy. All are welcome to take part, and there is a link up over at his site. Join in any time!

This week’s trope is INDEPENDENCE BATTLES:

The good fight.  Casting off the chains of tyranny!  No one in fantasyland refuses the call of the good fight.  And what fight is more important in fantasyland than FREEDOM?

I’ll admit this topic seemed daunting at first (I didn’t want to use all the obvious picks) but I came up with a few good ones in the end. Somehow I’m not surprised that special young women seem to feature prominently in most of these epic battles for freedom…

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson  The fight against the tyrannical Lord Ruler and his Steel Ministry has been a long time coming. With thousands living in poverty and still more in slavery, there’s much unrest and little freedom in the Final Empire. But when the legendary Kelsier teams up with the gifted young Vin, an Independence Battle inevitably brews.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins The violent and politically charged Hunger Games must be stopped. The opulence and corruption of the Capitol must be stopped. President Snow must be stopped. And what better figurehead for the resistance movement than Katniss Everdeen?

Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce The Raka, the indigenous peoples of the Copper Isles, have too long been forced into servitude by the white Luarin invaders. With the help of the old and the young, military strategists and lost princesses, the Raka will live free…or die trying.

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling While the Battle for Hogwarts (and he last great battle for independence in the series) doesn’t take place until the seventh book, Harry is pretty much always fighting an Independence Battle. Wake up, wizarding world! The Dark Lord is among you and his Death Eaters are returned! Get your wands ready and brush up on your ‘expelliarmus’ cause you’re gonna need it.