A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. There is a wide range of stock characters, covering people of various ages, social classes and demeanors. Archetypal characters are regarded by some audiences or reviewers as simplistic cookie-cutter characters, targeted for parody and criticized as clichés. However, the presence of a particular array of stock characters is a key component of many genres, and they often help to identify that genre or subgenre. For example, a story with the stock characters of a knight-errant and a witch is probably a fairy tale or fantasy.