Part of the reason that fantasy fiction so rarely contains permanently disabled characters or characters with chronic conditions, especially those who need caregiving, is because it may be believed by some to undermine the freedom and capability of the main character. Traditionally, protagonists in fantasy fiction are supposed to be heroic and independent and not rely overly on others.

Dependency and Heroism in Fantasy Fiuction

While the need for completion of a problem and a cyclical story might lead to "cure" narratives, this means that most disabilities in fantasy fiction texts are actually temporary conditions/ injuries. Protagonists with permanent disabilities or chronic pain conditions are quite rare in the fantasy genre.

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As fantasy fiction is often crafted with the aim of encountering or witnessing the amazing, wonderful, or magical, often times works in the fantasy genre will focus on the character transforming, gaining some power, changing fate, etc. Unfortunately, this may often include an ableist narrative in which the protagonist or another character is magically healed of a particular disability by the close of the work, though there are some deviations from this.

Disability in Fantasy Fiction

Cheyne, R. (2019). Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction. Liverpool University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvsn3pp7

Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction

Part of the reason that this pattern of ableist rhetoric involving a "cure" is so regularly repeated has to do with the fact that fantasy fiction is what writer Brian Attebery calls a "genre of structural completeness". This means that the problem that is originally presented at the start of the hook or inciting incident of a novel must be resolved in a traditional fashion according to the expectations of most readers since fantasy is framed as a genre of comfortable formula.

Fantasy Fiction as a Genre of Structural Completeness

The Regularity of Disability in Fantasy Fiction

Often times madness and chronic conditions, especially those associated with headaches, migraines, ocular sensitivities, and other head-centered conditions are associated with magical ability in the genre. This is somewhat similar to the literary archetype of the blind man who can see into the future- the concept is that the condition or madness  is not necessarily bad as it is accompanied by a magical or wondrous talent.

Disability and Magical Ability in Fantasy

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is widely discussed among literary and disability scholars looking specifically at the sheer number of disabled characters compared with other fantasy series. Many scholars, such as Pascal Massie and Lauryn Mayer, argue that Martin's series forces readers to acknowledge the frequency and importance of disabled in the real world by creating a plethora of disabled characters whose disabilities are topics of discussion in the novels themselves. 

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