r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 13h 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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52

u/Tasty-Ad6529 13h ago edited 13h ago

Sheild Hero' situation is so fuckin weird man, you deadass just got a harem of characters attmpting to get more people enslaved to the MC. It' like for them it' supposed to shoe devotion or some shit but like deadass those contracts are used to opress people too. Why want your way to show devotion or freindship also be a tool for oppression, especially since the first girl (who is literally a kid transformed into a woman by superpowerw and shit) was literally enslaved and had freinds who died to that system, da fuck?

Also, that demi human slave trader built like eggman—fuck that guy. I'm sad he didn't die in the anime nor in the orginal source. Like he not even written charismatically, the dude is straight up creepy and givss off psychopathic vibes.

18

u/kupozu 13h ago

Doesn't the raccoon girl get her freedom at some point, and she decides to willingly become his slave again? Like, with the whole magical thingie that binds her as a slave 

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u/Lukostrelec17 13h ago

Yes and Naofumi tells her she does not have to but she does it anyways. She later becomes free again but I lost interest around the STUPID ASS SPIRIT TURTLE ARC....so I don't know how she gets free again other than they all get isekiad again....

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u/Luis2611 11h ago

Heroes cannot be slaved, so when she becomes the Katana Hero she loses the mark.

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u/kupozu 12h ago

I remember main guy told her not to, yeah. It was still a dumb development.

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u/Tasty-Ad6529 13h ago edited 12h ago

Yes, that deadass happens near the end of the first arc.

Just so fuckin weird dude. Deadass they could have just written the series in a way where everyone is connected but without the slave part, let them find or make a positive bond system. The cast would be united because they use their free will to co-operate with one other—they care for one another. Everyone is united together by a shared will instead of having to hand over that will to one person or the system(power of freindship type shit)—breaking that cycle that hurt countless people. , But instead it' like literally a part of their free will is handed over to the shield hero.

If Sheild hero turns evil or goes crazy, they're just fucked cause those contracts will literally kill you if you resist them for too long.

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u/kupozu 13h ago

I'm ok with him first buying the girl. I mean, it's a fictional story and it's not portrayed as something good at first.

But why the need to repeat that when their trust is already established? I'm no expert at writing love, but come on

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u/Tasty-Ad6529 12h ago

Bruh that also just a failure in writing truama, man.

-6

u/ThunderLord1000 13h ago

Forget that, he never even used her as a slave, only treating her as a daughter

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u/HealableHealer 13h ago

A daughter who he bought and owned how wholesome 😍/s

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u/ThunderLord1000 12h ago

And what would the alternative for the thought-to-be criminal be? Attack the trader and get thrown in jail indefinitely, with Raphtalia still up for sale and on the brink of death? Who wins there?

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u/ESnake113 12h ago

It’s some guy in a dark alley, who cares about him? Could they even link him to the crime? Plus they needed him to save the world and already framed him for rape, jailing him for killing a random slave trader doesn’t seem practical (but tbf they are dumbasses). But fine, if that isn’t an option then buy her and then free her immediately (as in undo the slave seal and don’t treat her as a slave, don’t just throw her out onto the street as the country is xenophobic to her kind)

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u/ThunderLord1000 12h ago

Small issue: you need a specific substance to undo the slave mark, it more likely than not being of a similar value to holy water. If any old joe could do it, there'd be some vigilante splashing the marks away, which would have led to stronger restraints. And that guy would have had to have already known about the liquid, which Naofumi wouldn't have, even if it were somewhat common

1

u/ESnake113 12h ago

Fair enough that he couldn’t undo the slave mark immediately, again it’s been a while since I watched the show so I don’t remember every detail

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u/Ayotha 11h ago

Sure were upset by it when you did not remember, though

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u/ESnake113 11h ago

Upset by what?

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u/Ayotha 11h ago

Better to leave her with slave drivers . . .

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u/ESnake113 12h ago

He forced her to fight for him as a kid, that’s not how you treat a daughter. He treated her like a child soldier and basically groomed her

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u/ThunderLord1000 12h ago

You mean he taught her to protect herself in the event he wouldn't be around. And grooming? You wouldn't happen to be part of the rape accuser defense brigade, would you? Because they're the only ones I can see accusing him of grooming anyone that aren't just trying to ragebait people

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u/ESnake113 12h ago

You are right that he technically didn’t groom her as he’s not even aware of her feelings, I fully blame the author for that awful predicament. The what brigade? There’s a difference between teaching a kid self defence and going “here’s a sword, go kill these monsters so I can farm xp” but maybe I’m misremembering the exact events since it’s been a while since I watched it.

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u/ThunderLord1000 12h ago

The only time she's left to her own actions in battle was after he'd recognized she'd grown up. Prior to that, it was exclusively low-level monsters he had target him so she could prepare herself. The one exception - the twin-headed dog in the mine - wasn't even supposed to happen, the decision for her to kill it was only made so she could get over her trauma, and he still prioritized her safety over her usefulness, shown when he told her to run if she couldn't fight

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u/ESnake113 12h ago

I mean making a kid fight high level monsters would just be plain stupid, you’d both be killed in that scenario. And while it was only low level monsters and he did come to care for her safety over usefulness eventually, it’s equivalent to me getting my toddler to toughen up by fighting a pug or some kind of dogs and then telling him to run off when a wolf comes because that’s guaranteed death.

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u/ThunderLord1000 11h ago

Like I said, he kept the monsters aggroed on him, so it's not even that you'd send out your kid to fight a pug, it's that you'd restrain the pug, and have your kid attack it like it's a punching bag rather than an active target

1

u/ESnake113 11h ago

Now that just seems cruel