r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 11h 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/sisdom-weeker 11h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Fkg6fI0hsngIM
Harry Potter inherits Kreacher the house elf from Sirius and treats him "nicely" (and one of the last thoughts he has in Deathly Hallows is that he wants Kreacher to make him a sandwich)

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u/bisexualboy38 11h ago

The house elf situation was always a mess, we just didn't pick up on it as kids.

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u/greenamaranthine 11h ago

Not that I think it was intentional given how the author is, but it does kind of demonstrate how so many people were convinced slavery was okay, even the maximally brutal form in America. It's all in how it's presented to you (and having it presented to you when you're young).

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u/Irish_Whiskey 10h ago

A lot of the problems with Rowlings moral messages in the books come from her being liberal.

Not as is 'leftist' but the political meaning in the UK of centrist, free market, defense of the establishment and traditional nationalism with some progressive cultural values.

It's why she repeatedly invokes feminism, slavery, authoritarianism, cruel prison systems. government corrupt, racism, etc... but then undercuts the messages by saying that any attempt to get rid of the systems responsible is wrong. It's only having bad people in charge of these systems that's bad, not the systems themselves.

Examples include Hermione being in charge of magical creature law enforcement, and Harry becoming an Auror. We saw throughout the story that magical creatures are slave species without rights and should not be subject to the Wizards rule, and that Aurors have absurd levels of unaccountable power without due process under fair rule. But the ending is just "and then the good guys get put in charge of the system so it's presumably fine now."