A Returner's Magic Should Be Special - Vol. 1 Ch. 33
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Yup, that sounds like a perfectly sound political strategy. Destroy all the commoners. Can't see any possible negative repercussions from that.
I know feudal societies aren't too terribly advanced politically, but you would imagine that during the life he led after he was (probably) adopted to a related noble house, he would have learned that commoners are the necessary cornerstones of wealth for landlords and other gentry, and without them, nothing actually functions. Like, I don't expect a political treatise out of these works, but a little more reasonable motivation than, "Commoners are evil because they killed my dad and so I should kill all of them" would be nice.
Petty reasons like pride work better for that, because as awful as they are, they are at least emotionally logical. "I don't want any peasants in my social class because I'm better than them and I'll undercut every opportunity they have to change the status quo to keep it that way" makes more sense than literally destroying the base upon which the feudal system, and therefore the characters own position and status, are built upon. An even better idea for the cause of the rift could be a Jacobin-inspired insurrection in a neighboring country, which could result in much more heightened tension and fear between nobles and commoners, which can be developed in a number of useful ways. In particular, the nobles would have a valid reason to fear commoners as a class in that case, sharing stories of the equivalent of the Terrors, even if the individual commoner they are speaking to hasn't displayed any revolutionary tendencies. As it is, there was a failed revolution, the nobles apparently stomped the rebels, but continue to be fearful jackholes who are bent on making sure the peasantry rises up again.
The way the noble/commoner conflict has been portrayed so far has been disappointing. Like most incarnations of this trope, it takes the lazy approach of simply assuming the commoners are the good guys and the audience will by default sympathize with them (for multiple reasons; they are the viewpoint characters; they are usually explicitly confirmed to be; the nobles are immediately and nearly universally portrayed as brutal monsters; a sense of democratic equality unsuited to the time period on the part of the readers; etc) with very little argument made as to the causes of this conflict or any possible solutions other than... well, murder of all the nobles. Which kinda proves their point, non?
I know feudal societies aren't too terribly advanced politically, but you would imagine that during the life he led after he was (probably) adopted to a related noble house, he would have learned that commoners are the necessary cornerstones of wealth for landlords and other gentry, and without them, nothing actually functions. Like, I don't expect a political treatise out of these works, but a little more reasonable motivation than, "Commoners are evil because they killed my dad and so I should kill all of them" would be nice.
Petty reasons like pride work better for that, because as awful as they are, they are at least emotionally logical. "I don't want any peasants in my social class because I'm better than them and I'll undercut every opportunity they have to change the status quo to keep it that way" makes more sense than literally destroying the base upon which the feudal system, and therefore the characters own position and status, are built upon. An even better idea for the cause of the rift could be a Jacobin-inspired insurrection in a neighboring country, which could result in much more heightened tension and fear between nobles and commoners, which can be developed in a number of useful ways. In particular, the nobles would have a valid reason to fear commoners as a class in that case, sharing stories of the equivalent of the Terrors, even if the individual commoner they are speaking to hasn't displayed any revolutionary tendencies. As it is, there was a failed revolution, the nobles apparently stomped the rebels, but continue to be fearful jackholes who are bent on making sure the peasantry rises up again.
The way the noble/commoner conflict has been portrayed so far has been disappointing. Like most incarnations of this trope, it takes the lazy approach of simply assuming the commoners are the good guys and the audience will by default sympathize with them (for multiple reasons; they are the viewpoint characters; they are usually explicitly confirmed to be; the nobles are immediately and nearly universally portrayed as brutal monsters; a sense of democratic equality unsuited to the time period on the part of the readers; etc) with very little argument made as to the causes of this conflict or any possible solutions other than... well, murder of all the nobles. Which kinda proves their point, non?
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If you talk about power and fame then how is it logical?? If you want to deduce all the reasoning then it somehow vaguely comes to strength and you're weak...
@Endominus I actually kind of like it, but that's probably because I'm looking at that aspect of the story through the lense of The Cycle of Nations.
It makes a lot of sense to me if I compare it to the "weak people create hard times" segment, and place the timeline of this story about 2/3rds of the way through that process.
I also see elements of the French Revolution in it, with the major difference being that the nobles crushed the first rebellion.
It makes a lot of sense to me if I compare it to the "weak people create hard times" segment, and place the timeline of this story about 2/3rds of the way through that process.
I also see elements of the French Revolution in it, with the major difference being that the nobles crushed the first rebellion.
@Endominus i think you're misunderstanding whats happening. his father/family was killed in an uprising and now he's either possessed by his father or he snapped and went full psycho.
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Meh, just your usual noble/young master obnoxiously evil and pridefull antagonist, even if the author is desperatly trying to give him a justification he just act, talk and appear as the usual mono dimensional templaty evil villain...
I hope the antagonists of this story won't be all like that, but for the moment no variation at all in the formula : male noble = obnoxious asshole.
I hope the antagonists of this story won't be all like that, but for the moment no variation at all in the formula : male noble = obnoxious asshole.
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i really hope that the whole skeleton thingy is not just a metaphor for donovan's grudge.
otherwise the author would make him look like an irrational idiot and he really shouldn't be with the education he should've received.
you could make the argument that his views get a bit distorted by his current agitation, but that'd be really iffy as an explanation.
otherwise the author would make him look like an irrational idiot and he really shouldn't be with the education he should've received.
you could make the argument that his views get a bit distorted by his current agitation, but that'd be really iffy as an explanation.
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Psychotic characters are the least interesting types of characters. That is because they are nolonger characters, but more like forces of nature. If a flock of ravenous wyverns are coming to devour a village, or if psycho-san is bent on destroying said village, neither aggressor is very interesting. There's nothing to learn or understand about them. That they want to come and destroy the village is all the reader needs to know. There's no larger ends, the destruction IS the point.
Now noble-san here seems to be possessed in some manner (in memory, or psychically/magically) so that may provide something interesting. But his reflexive 'Burn them all' point of view is utterly banal.
Riffing off @Endominus, a good noble should be looking at commoners/serfs, as a resource. At worst is should be something like treating the commoners in a manner of a farmer treating his horses/oxen. Some adult should have noticed his 'Burn them all' attitude and addressed it in the past 10? years.
Now noble-san here seems to be possessed in some manner (in memory, or psychically/magically) so that may provide something interesting. But his reflexive 'Burn them all' point of view is utterly banal.
Riffing off @Endominus, a good noble should be looking at commoners/serfs, as a resource. At worst is should be something like treating the commoners in a manner of a farmer treating his horses/oxen. Some adult should have noticed his 'Burn them all' attitude and addressed it in the past 10? years.
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@silverden
No, I understand that. I'm commenting on the author's decisions regarding character motivations (also, the other nobles don't really have any better reasons for their classism either), which is why the suggestions I gave had more to do with the wider setting rather than choices these characters have made. Honestly, the "He's doing it because he's CRAZY!" plot is even worse. It entirely removes the agency of the antagonist and any emotional impact their viewpoint could have because they no longer have a viewpoint; they're just the pegs in the script filling the hole labelled "insert villain here." That's why I hated The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker. A crazy person with no plan or no discernible, logical motivations and desires is not a villain, they're an obstacle. They're like the tornado or whatever in a disaster movie.
Possession is even worse than just being psycho.
I'll admit that some of this is just fatigue with this type of antagonist. It sometimes feels like almost every fantasy novel and manga has someone like this, as if the audience needs constant affirmation that nobles/elites were totally always evil, you guys, and feudalism was super bad, and the hero is a great guy for opposing it. It's a bad idea now, sure, but it had a function in its time more elaborate than keeping the peasantry down. While I'm by no means a political scientist and welcome any corrections, to my knowledge it's hard for other forms of government to run without advancements in communications technology like a reliable postal service or the telegram to facilitate remote governance and coordination.
Of course, magic might help with that, but so damnably few authors take the time to world-build and decide what actual effects something as powerful and versatile as magic actually has on their world. The best example of that happening, that springs immediately to mind at least, is Avatar: the Last Airbender, where you could see the effects these powers had on societies and cities.
No, I understand that. I'm commenting on the author's decisions regarding character motivations (also, the other nobles don't really have any better reasons for their classism either), which is why the suggestions I gave had more to do with the wider setting rather than choices these characters have made. Honestly, the "He's doing it because he's CRAZY!" plot is even worse. It entirely removes the agency of the antagonist and any emotional impact their viewpoint could have because they no longer have a viewpoint; they're just the pegs in the script filling the hole labelled "insert villain here." That's why I hated The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker. A crazy person with no plan or no discernible, logical motivations and desires is not a villain, they're an obstacle. They're like the tornado or whatever in a disaster movie.
Possession is even worse than just being psycho.
I'll admit that some of this is just fatigue with this type of antagonist. It sometimes feels like almost every fantasy novel and manga has someone like this, as if the audience needs constant affirmation that nobles/elites were totally always evil, you guys, and feudalism was super bad, and the hero is a great guy for opposing it. It's a bad idea now, sure, but it had a function in its time more elaborate than keeping the peasantry down. While I'm by no means a political scientist and welcome any corrections, to my knowledge it's hard for other forms of government to run without advancements in communications technology like a reliable postal service or the telegram to facilitate remote governance and coordination.
Of course, magic might help with that, but so damnably few authors take the time to world-build and decide what actual effects something as powerful and versatile as magic actually has on their world. The best example of that happening, that springs immediately to mind at least, is Avatar: the Last Airbender, where you could see the effects these powers had on societies and cities.
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So he is using magical tools to overpower Romantica. Well, that's fair, given that this is a shadow world training exercise and they are required to kill each other by any means possible. But how does this show, that nobles are the better...humans? mages? Better in what hindsight? Better in spending money? As far as I understood it, Romantica could have used that blingbling herself, would she have accepted it.
So beating her with better weapons only proves, that he's a rich kid, I guess? She would have bested him, from the looks of it.
Well, you might defeat her this way and win the completion (that would be alright), but sonny, you did only prove, that you couldn't handle her. The nobles of that world are pathetic.
So beating her with better weapons only proves, that he's a rich kid, I guess? She would have bested him, from the looks of it.
Well, you might defeat her this way and win the completion (that would be alright), but sonny, you did only prove, that you couldn't handle her. The nobles of that world are pathetic.
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I believe it is meant the other way around: It might not be an attempt to create a character with a relatable grunge, that fails to relate, because he sadly is mono dimensional, but to create a mono dimensional templaty evil villain on purpose, that spits out horrible nonsense, to show, that even such people might have a good reason to have become this way. Something only the readers can see, but not his peers.
Non the less, that guy is a walking cliche and I can't root for him, nor even feel for him. Just put him into a jacked and let some good doctors threat him.
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For every noble there must be a whole bunch of commoners to keep the society running. If the commoners are destroyed, it means a majority of the nobles must be demoted to form a new commoner pool. Looking at that dude, the difference between nobles and commoners is the lack of wits among the nobles.
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chapter 34 is out on meraki's website.
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>commoners
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Noo not Romantica - I hope she goes primal on this dude. Pram is about to go hyper, Desir is about to get even more serios. Sun got deep psychological trauma
