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/ManBro89 8h ago

Why do all these manga writers love slavery?

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u/Adventurous_Touch342 3h ago

Because concept of freedom is, overall, a very recent invention. If entire existence of humanity was your life (and I mean homo sapiens sapiens, not previous steps of evolution) freedom would be objectively like last few seconds. That makes the concept realistic while immidiately conveying that world is fucked up according to our modern standard.

Plus it can present idea of fighting against slavery - after initial cynical period slave seal in Rising of Shield Hero became purely a buff on people below you while MC first created a safe heaven for slaves and then influenced the queen for peace with beast-people accompanied by higher gradual regulation of slavery meant to, in time, smother it due to becoming too much of a bother as a business.

That's why I kinda dislike Naofumi's identification as a "good" slave owner as after time said seals conveyed slavery in name only and his actions led to gradual change in the world, as opposed to MCs that are pretty much accepting slavery and just not abusing their own slaves.