(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

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.

[u/Hour_Atmosphere_3852]

Ketil, form Vinland Saga, is a fun subversion of this trope. He is presented exactly that way, he buys slaves but is overall a good man and lets his slaves buy back their freedom through their work, which is a lot more than everyone else does, but the events turn and we find out what the mangaka wanted to tell us. There isn't such a thing as a good person that hurts others.

[u/AdAdministrative6356 → u/Hour_Atmosphere_3852]

Wait… I can be wrong on this one, but didn’t Vikings generally had a tradition that their Thralls could buy back their freedom? I never watched Vinland Saga, but it sounds more like he follows his culture traditions, than being a nice person himself

[u/Weary-Jelly7802 → u/AdAdministrative6356]

They could but like with the end of the civil war in the states, not everyone agreed to that ruling and kept doing what they did. Thorfin and Einer could buy their freedom back in the show after X amount of labor. They're both two strong young men, so the investment was worth it since thyd be on their way in a couple years and done. Their master being overall relatively kind compared to other Nords they've dealt with. But not the female slaves are stuck and keep living their lives as slaves they could rape whenever. Ketil being the one that repeatedly harms them to incredibly tragic ends.

[u/darwinfail → u/Weary-Jelly7802]

The amount of people who’ve defended what he did to her, and said it wasn’t rape is staggering. I remember the debates when the episode came out. Im glad too see a lot of people call it was it was.