While it's definitely PRESENT in Lord of the Rings, one could argue Frodo himself is a subversion of it. Giving the ring to someone powerful would almost inevitably result in corrupting them and (depending on just how powerful they were) would just make a new big bad. Hobbits work as ring bearers explicitly because they're not "special".

[–] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Bilbo is rich and Frodo is a nepobaby.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

The Hobbit, then.

[–] nik9000@programming.dev 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I've been listening to the Andy Serkis reading it lately. First experience since I was a kid. It's surprisingly nuanced for something so old and so baked into the popular culture. It's kind of amazing how flattened my memory of it from childhood is.

Dune as well. And Snowcrash too

[–] Vedlt@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Dunno if Dune fits.

https://lemmy.world/comment/10775685

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Snow Crash is satire, though. And not exactly high fantasy.