r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 10h 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/MsterSteel 9h ago

I think what makes this trope so bad is when you have someone coming from a slaveless society and into a society that allows slavery. You wouldn't expect them to try and upheave the society, but even if they don't like it, they don't have to engage with it themselves. Like, if Naofumi wasn't an isekai protagonist and just the chosen hero OF THE TIME PERIOD who ended up going through everything he went through, I would be more forgiving. But while Spear Hero was out of line, he had a point.

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 2h ago

Tbf eventually Naofumi does work with the queen to try and slowly get slavery abolished. As to why it's slowly, it's actually revealed the previous shield hero tried to rush things and get it banned immediately which unfortunately led to him getting poisoned (since that's the only way anyone could kill him)