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pruneunfair · 3 months ago

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Tropes in manhwa are awful yet people still defend them

I'm in a bad mood right now so what better way to release all that pent up anger by ranting on what can ruin a good story.

1: Slavery being inserted only for cheap plot and slaves being demonized as obsessive/greedy monsters for "not knowing their place"

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to insert slavery in your story AS LONG as it's not just cheap plot to make your MC look "better" by buying from a single to all of the slaves because let me tell you this: there is no such thing as a good slave owner, you cannot morally own another human being. A lot of manhwa like to have slavery be a part of their plot completely ignoring that just because the MC goes "wow this is terrible" doesn't make them a good person after they buy a slave.

Remarried empress does this with its villian Rashta by pushing the notion that she's being greedy for not wanting to stay in poverty so Navier won't suffer because apparently a slave wanting what the silver spoon mouthed nobles were born into is so terrible not to mention they justify slave owners and slavery in general as a punishment for criminals (neglecting the fact that children can be sold by their parents)

The villainess has fun again justifies a child slave being bought by the lead and he becomes an obsessive shouta love interest, fans continously justify by using the ancient lolicon excuse "he may look young but he's actually 99182823 years old!"

In divorcing my tyrant husband, Robelia buys 30 slaves and the only 2 that consistently show up have no other personality other then "we love you FL we will worship you till the end of time!"

There's a damn manhwa out there literally called the order of slave breeding and even when a story tries to do this correctly such as VADTD with Penelope being portrayed as a bad person for what she did to Eckles, fans have been so deluded by the idea that FL's buying slaves is "girlboss" that they think Eckles should be grateful to be Penelopes "pet"

2: ML's murdering innocent people after one guy hurts the FL

I already made a specific post about it before and I'll say it again: all this does is make your male lead/father figure look like a horrific monster. While you could say it's because its a medieval kingdom (objectively that is true that they would do this) manhwa and OI is the same place where despite in those times taking a mistress was considered normal they still view it as cheating and "how could you pick that slut when you have such a perfect wife!? 🤬" in most stories. So yes, modern morality is still inserted within these tropes. While I can get it's a way to show that the man in questions loves the FL so much he's willing to go to such lengths to protect her I think just mutilating the guy that actually did the sin would be enough because try imagining yourself as a faithful servant who was amazing at your job getting brutally slaughtered by the Emperor because your boss attacked his daughter or lover.

Into the light once again does this with Aishas dad murdering all the relatives and close friends of a count that tried to kill Ysis and Aisha, Aisha doesn't seem to care despite being in a situation where she was wrongfully executed in her past life.

Remarried empress does this too. After Navier is nearly killed by Krista's brother, Heinrey tortures and kills the dad and slaughters the servants of the zemensias. I can't remember if he also murdered the remaining family members but I wouldn't put it past him.

3: protagonist centered morality

Protagonist centered morality is the biggest indicator that a piece of media is dealing with a mary sue FL. Whatever the protagonist says is right is immediately morally correct. This is actually used to justify the last 2 examples with "it was for the FL!" Things like slavery, murder, workplace abuse, union busting, pedophilia, and being a POS to your loved ones are all justified if the protagonist finds a cheap way to justify it and you HAVE to agree with her because her backstory is very tragic 🥺. Protagonist centered morality also ruins the chance for good characters since the FL herself never has to grow as a person so she stays the same exact thing as she was just with more enablers and random characters will be treated as villains even if they aren't actually wrong about being suspicious of the Protagonist or calling out her behavior. It twists the narrative in such incomprehensible ways that you don't even know what your reading anymore. I can't even list all of the manhwas that do this given how many there actually are so I'll just list some that are at least self aware there Protagonist is awful/morally grey or isn't even a bad person but they still have flaws that can be pointed out

Villains are destined to die

My in laws are obsessed with me

Not sew wicked step mom

Depths of malice

The villainess turns the hourglass

Beware of the villainess.

4: villains being dumbed down to make the lead look smarter

This is unfortunately another common staple often used as a quick way to make the FL look smart and witty but is that really hard to look smarter when everyone else around you is an idiot? Not only does the FL not have to put in actual effort to best her enemies but you just start to pity the villain for basically being a punching bag. Dimwitted villains aren't always bad in fact they can be some of those most entertaining characters no matter much they lose but that only works when they are meant to be seen as a goofy character that your not supposed to take seriously. Villains that are written as extremely childish and stupid but your still supposed to treat them as serious antagonists on the other hand are just annoying since you wonder how the protagonist even got killed by them in the first life if they're so stupid.

Isabella de Mare while admitly having a good reason for being dumbed down (she's a teenager in the 2nd life so it's reasonable she wouldnt be as smart as her adult counterpart) is still a joke of a villainess who keeps flipping back and fourth from a snot nosed whiny brat to a mastermind only at convenient opportunities when the plot needs conflict.

Mielle from the villainess turns the hourglass was first portrayed as extremely conniving as she arranged for Arias downfall in the shadows but in the second life she fails at every scheme she has even though she has Emma and Isis to help her out.

Ragibach is a literal demon possessing the body of another woman with the goal of setting demons loose on the word to start another human vs demon war and she succeeded in that the first time, the devastation was all there so clearly she has to be a formidable antagonist right? Well no, she's another case of being dumbed down further and further so Keira can succeed and while they do understand some plot holes such as Ludwig not trusting her as much in the second life it doesn't change the drastic character change from evil genius to bumbling idiot.

In short: dumbing down your villains so your lead can look smarter is essentially going to give the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb vs a coughing baby.

5: feminine women being demonized as basic "other girls" sluts

Okay this one isn't nearly as terrible as the others on this list because we all love the good old "a demon makes itself look beautiful to deceive humans" kind of villain, in fact as you probably know by me by now, white lotuses are my favorite kinds of character and even in media outside of manhwa I always find myself drawn to angelic villains but it seems like this is less of that and more of "Oh those are all the other girls who just want a man to save them, look at how much better my badass rich boss babe is for working for herself while taking all of their men at the time 😎" in manhwa. As soon as a traditionally feminine girl shows up, comments are already calling her a two faced bitch and half the time protagonist is already skeptical of her. This is the opposite of what being a feminist really is, a real feminist wouldn't be putting down other women just because they dress with more pink with bows and skirts and while I do think for most manhwa this is unintentional I do wish that we could have more characters like Psyche, Helena, Athy, and Jennette that prove that being overly feminine doesn't make you a backpedal on feminism. This doesn't make the badass or sexy fl's bad either, it just means they can co-exist.

An angelic villain should be treated as evil for being a well calculated schemer, not because they have a light colored color scheme

6: toxic relationships being romanticized as good

You know for a large community that claims to be about girl code a good chunk sure likes to look the other way when it comes to toxic relationships as long as the abuser is "hot" and theres always the terrible excuse such as "he has trauma!" Or "he doesn't know how to show his love normally!" No just no we aren't doing that here. Cry or better yet beg has this problem with not only the narrative claiming that Matthias graping Layla is okay because she actually loves him and doesn't know it but a large part of the fanbase also defends it, the same goes with try begging, a manhwa written by Solche who also wrote cry or better yet beg and once again despite Leon being an abuser everyone's ready to justify his actions because he's just a soft little boy who ends up falling in love with Grace awww 😍 (what the hell?) Everyones all about not justifying abusers because they had a sad past until it's the "sexy" male leads with daddy issues.

7: maid slapping

This shit isn't asserting your dominance as a boss bitch it's just work place abuse. This trope has gotten so out of hand of being justified by narratives and readers that there is an entire webtoon called this isekai maid is forming a union that's all about criticizing twisted manhwa tropes that get brushed off with maid absuer being at the biggest one. It's funny because a lot of people complain that Isekai maid union villainizes the nobles too much but they never ask the same questions when a OI is demonizing maids as greedy and lazy in order to deserve a beating. This doesn't just stop at hands either it can escalate to threats of mutilation just to assert dominice which is absolutely sick. Most of the time these leads used to be office workers or terminally ill patients, they know how terrible it is to be treated like garbage by their superiors yet they continue to absue every maid who isn't getting on their knees for them. Most maids in real history would not mistreat a noble even if they were the most hated in the house and even if they did they'd be fired without a letter of recommendation so why can't the FL's just fire the rude maid if they care about dignity so much because I'm pretty sure getting violent with a maid isn't very dignified either.

8: disgusting age gaps

Very similar to #6 but in this case while the ML/FL isn't a cruel monster to their partner it doesn't change the fact that grooming and pedophilia is still a crime worthy of life in prison. You'd think "oh no way, this can't be justified can it?" You'd be wrong. Now I belong to house of Castillo thankfully has a larger fanbase of people who think that a relationship between a girl who got groomed by her knight is bad but in cases like into the light once again a lot of people like to say "Well Aisha is technically 28 so it's fine!" When it really isn't since Aisha is still mentally 14. Taming my ex husbands mad dog is another one that does this with Reinhardt grooming a 16 year old boy and its apparently meant to be "cute".

9: claiming a character as unattractive yet giving them a perfect body and appreance

I just think this is a major cop-out since there's time where they want to make a realistic story yet also wanting a fantasy fufilment. I don't think its a coincidence that the only woman in tears of a withered flower that yout supposed to support is a Victoria's secret model body type. Even though she's meant to be an overworked exhausted 33 year old woman being mocked for losing her beauty she sure as hell isn't drawn that way, the only other women around hae soo are all women with smaller boob's and in general more common body types that are either classed as stupid or jealous that Hae soo is so beautiful that all the attractive men want her

how about we don't pit all the women against each other for once? And let's especially not villainize other women because their jealous they could never be have large boob's and tiny arms+waist at the same time?

10: the commoner protagonist actually being a noble rich person all along

Look I know most of us had loved those "the hated child is the lost princess" GLMM but we need to drop it because it's kinda disappointing that the nobody who had to work their way to the top is actually a secret magical princess who had royal blood in them all along. While I did think the villainess turns the hourglass was a pretty decent read I was super disappointed finding out that Aria was of noble descent all along. I liked seeing a commoner protagonist for once and it really felt like it was critiquing the idea that all commoners and poor people who want nice things like the nobility are greedy animals. Something similar can also happen with certain saintess manhwas that decide to twist itself into "the villainess was the true saintess all along!" And I'm just sitting here thinking "well there goes the hope that you didn't need the super duper rare power to be a strong character"

I feel way better now after writing all this.

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isa-ghost · 4 months ago

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Hardcore Deities: Worship Style

ENDER KING

Represents darkness, infinity, the cold, greed, overidulgence, power, tenacity, ego, stubbornness, abandonment, hubris, & catastrophe, among other things.

Offerings are pretty easy to guess. Obsidian (both kinds), amethyst, End crystals, shulker boxes, chorus fruit, endstone, anything & everything End basically. Also takes offerings in the form of riches like diamonds, emeralds, gold, etc. Honestly hoarding anything, especially of value, works for him. Just collect something obsessively.

He's a wrathful and selfish god, always hungry for more, infinitely insatiable. He cares little to none about his followers, their lives and limbs mean nothing to him compared to his desires and materialistic goods.

Examples of devotional acts to him mostly boil down to hoarding and self-centered acts. Always put yourself first, always value what you can gain over anything else, money is power, everything has a price.

He has no servants, he has no people. The Endermen forsake him after the Endlantis calamity. Ender King can control them, but they do not voluntarily bow to him.

He's disgraced by the other gods for his attempted (or successful) thieving of their domains. Worshiping him is considered by most to be taboo.

BLAZE EMPRESS

Represents fire, heat, intellect, wisdom, loyalty, strength, honor, righteousness, ferocity, protection, & courage, among other things.

Offerings are also pretty easy to guess. Blaze rods, gold, flint & steel, lava buckets, torchflowers, orange tulips, anything from any of the Nether biomes & mobs, candles, stews, & honey.

She's a bold and stern, but still very loving goddess. She's a no-bullshit kinda gal. She cares deeply for her people and the ones she loves, ready at all times to do anything for them. She is strict but endlessly proud of her followers.

Examples of devotional acts for her include fighting for what you believe in, activism, acquiring knowledge & new skills, learning anything PVP, soaking in hot water (lava if you're a species that can handle that), brewing potions, repairing broken Nether portals, riding Striders, protecting your loved ones & what you care about, cooking on a campfire, and meditating.

Unlike most of the deities, Blaze Empress has two demigod servants, He & She! They have a fraction of her power and an unbreakable degree of her trust.

ROSE

Represents nature, prosperity, love, generosity, beauty, fertility, rebirth, creativity, discovery, balance, the seasons (especially Spring) & animal husbandry, among other things. Like Blaze Empress, she also represents protection.

Offerings include anything & everything natural! Plants, mob drops (wool, beeswax, etc), candles, food (LOVES crops & berries!), paintings. Honestly, if it comes from nature or you made it with love, she'll take it! Her favorites are flowers and berries though.

She's absolutely overflowing with love for most things (really what little ire she has is reserved for Ender King). She's bubbly, kind, patient, and very forgiving. But like the nature she commands, she has a terrifying and cruel streak for those that earn or deserve it. You do NOT want to be on the receiving end of it.

Examples of devotional acts include walking in nature, planting flowers or crops, farming, animal husbandry, research, creating art/music, writing, exploring, and self-care.

She's frequently one of the first deities to reach out to mortals. If it weren't for Goddess of Death, she'd be considered the most social deity in the Hardcore World.

OCEAN OVERLORD

Represents the ocean & all it's life, leisure, fun, easy-goingness, patience, abundance, and flexibility, among other things.

Offerings include anything from the ocean (he LOVES nautilus shells!), beach-going items, prismarine, seafood, snack foods, and whatever nonsense you can get from fishing. There's also a running joke among his followers that he likes offerings of edibles & weed.

As chill as chill can be, Ocean Overlord can be so laid back that it may cause trouble for himself, his followers, or others. But he means well! Due to this, he's considered air-headed by many (ironic for a man made of water), but make no mistake: he can be as sharp as a sword. When he wants to be!

Examples of devotional acts include swimming, surfing, sunbathing, fishing, sailing, scuba diving, lounging on the beach, taking naps, taking time for yourself, playing pranks, doing water bucket clutches, collecting every type of tropical fish or axolotl, & cleaning the ocean.

You may think he's easy to take advantage of, given that he can be so absent-minded and easy-going. You'd be wrong. Do not take his lazy himbo nature for granted. The Ender King and his monument-stealing feat are an outlier.

GODDESS OF DEATH (KRISTIN)

Obviously represents death and mortality. Also represents grief, sorrow, but also love and memory, among other things. She herself is also symbolized by crows.

Offerings include anything & everything purple, alcohol, candles, yummy food, wither skulls & roses, alliums, gravel (get it? (grave)l. She thinks it's funny!)

She's a surprisingly bubbly goddess, sociable and loving. She loves being silly, often focuses on the positives of things, and thrives on just enjoying life for what it is. Honestly a really compatible lifestyle when your husband slash devotee is a survivalist.

Examples of devotional acts include drinking alcohol, playing pranks, resting, visiting gravesites, and remembering those who have passed. She's a pretty typical death deity, but with a silly side! Get creative, she likes that!

Given that in Hardcore, death (for humans) isn't so serious, she's considered a minor deity! Her focus is mainly on mobs and plants, working in tandem with Rose.

GOD OF CHAOS (IAN)

Represents, well, chaos. As well as spontaneity, whimsy, humor, change, unpredictability, and fun, among other things.

Offerings include anything and everything orange. Why? Fuck you. He likes orange. As God of Chaos he doesn't have to explain why he prefers the offerings he does. He also enjoys offerings of obnoxious shit (so long as it's not him it bothers). LOVES note blocks, redstone noise machines, and horns.

In the Hardcore World, there's not a lot for a minor god like Ian to do, and not a lot of reasons for people to follow him in a way as formal as worship. And frankly, he kinda prefers it that way, it means he can do whatever the fuck he wants. No obligations means all the more time to do whatever his whims desire. He spends his time playfully harassing Phil, egging on the Murder to do the same, and being a loveable menace with Kristin.

Examples of devotional acts include quite literally just about anything and everything. Be funny, be loud, be goofy, bother Phil, commit to the bit, enjoy yourself, wear orange. He doesn't give a shit, chaos is such a broad concept, it's not hard to commit devotional acts in his name!

Don't forget that Chaos can be dangerous. :)

SCULK SCOURGE (FAN DEITY)