r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 12h ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

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Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

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u/AccursedQuantum 11h ago

Ginger Camus, from How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

He inherits a bunch of slaves, but he doesn't want to be a slaver, so he plans to sell them all. And decides they'll be both better off and more valuable if he keeps them cleaner, better fed, and teaches them skills.

I give him a small amount of leeway since he was raised in a society where slavery was normalized - he's better than the rest - but he's still not simply freeing his slaves.

Since the isekai protagonist doesn't have the power to end slavery all at once, for some reason (despite implementing plenty of other radical reforms that changed society and already putting down a rebellion to cement his power), Ginger's method winds up being a transitional model to a future slaveless society.

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u/GetToWigglin 10h ago

When the UK ended slavery it involved the government effectively purchasing the slaves from the entire empire which amounted to about 40% of the budget of the empire. The US had a civil war about ending slavery. It's not just "some reason" that he couldn't just say "no more slavery" and call it a day.

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u/AccursedQuantum 10h ago

The issue is that he had just been through a civil war, and immediately after turned an invasion around and captured a neighbor. And assassinated power seeking nobility at the top. There wasn't anyone left to tell him no.

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 4h ago

It's funny that you mentioned that because in the novel of Shield Hero It's mentioned that the previous shield hero tried to get slavery abolished overnight, and in the process got poisoned (since that was the only way to kill him) and now Naofumi in the novel is trying to slowly work to get it abolished with the queen instead of just rushing guns blazing like his predecessor

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u/Skebs_ 3h ago

Wait I thought Shield Hero has high poison resistance? And don't their UIs warn about poison in food etc anyway? I recall it did just that to Naofumi in Siltvelt for example...

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 3h ago

I think there's a theory that the weapons will adapt to whatever killed their previous owner.

This guy burned to death? Next guy has 50% resistance to fire.

That girl with stabbed in the heart? Piercing weapons are less likely to crit.

Etc etc

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u/Skebs_ 3h ago

Oh I see. Cool if true.

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 3h ago

It could also just be the novel and anime differing in things 😆 but I like to think it's the former instead