I hate most cliches. Sometimes they're used really well and really enhance the story, but most times they suck 
#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!
I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.
#4
I wasn't really dead/I got out just in time
Alot of times, a character dies early on and then inexplicably reappears. For example when Cecil and co. fight the Giant of Babel in Final Fantasy IV. Many characters died in various ways, and yet they all return piloting Dwarf-made tanks to help Cecil and the surviving cast. If it can be properly explained, all good and well, but several of them were quite clearly dead.
#3
Hidden powers
Also, a lot of times a character has unexplainable powers that never surfaced before. This, as with most other cliches, can be incredible plot devices (Dresden's sudden ability to use Hellfire and understand hundreds of languages in the Dresden Files, Eragon being a Dragon Rider, etc.), but many times it feels tacked on at the last minute and poorly explained.
#2
The good guys win... again
The good guys almost always win it seems like. They hardly ever get their asses kicked and just barely scrape by. They're never totally defeated. The world never crashes down. Can't the evil guys have a chance?
And, the #1 ultimate cliche that makes me the maddest...
#1
Human/Elf relations
It always makes me mad whenever a human hero ends up with an Elf woman. I just do not know why but it bugs the hell out of me when (insert human hero) ends up with (insert elf princess here). It seems in every fantasy novel I read, the human hero inevitably lands a raven-haired, pointy-eared princess. Can't the human end up with, I don't know, ANOTHER HUMAN for a change?

#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!
I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.
#4
I wasn't really dead/I got out just in time
Alot of times, a character dies early on and then inexplicably reappears. For example when Cecil and co. fight the Giant of Babel in Final Fantasy IV. Many characters died in various ways, and yet they all return piloting Dwarf-made tanks to help Cecil and the surviving cast. If it can be properly explained, all good and well, but several of them were quite clearly dead.
#3
Hidden powers
Also, a lot of times a character has unexplainable powers that never surfaced before. This, as with most other cliches, can be incredible plot devices (Dresden's sudden ability to use Hellfire and understand hundreds of languages in the Dresden Files, Eragon being a Dragon Rider, etc.), but many times it feels tacked on at the last minute and poorly explained.
#2
The good guys win... again
The good guys almost always win it seems like. They hardly ever get their asses kicked and just barely scrape by. They're never totally defeated. The world never crashes down. Can't the evil guys have a chance?

And, the #1 ultimate cliche that makes me the maddest...
#1
Human/Elf relations
It always makes me mad whenever a human hero ends up with an Elf woman. I just do not know why but it bugs the hell out of me when (insert human hero) ends up with (insert elf princess here). It seems in every fantasy novel I read, the human hero inevitably lands a raven-haired, pointy-eared princess. Can't the human end up with, I don't know, ANOTHER HUMAN for a change?
