(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

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.

[u/Nazzy480]

I think at the very beginning it's a good subversion and can be interpreted as a result of Naomi's suspicion of others and especially the opposite sex.

HOWEVER, it falls apart at the moment when naofumi fights spear hero and Raphtalia is temporarily freed. I can understand why Raphtalia is fine with being a slave since she's devoted to Naofumi and never had any downsides of being a Slave but this should've been the turning point where Naofumi should've broken past some his issues and fully trust raph. Him accepting to re-enslave raph comes off as selfish and this is the point where he should've given her freedom as a sign of trust and care for raph's autonomy.

And then it's just starts sliding down the stupid hill when he starts enslaving everyone and yuck

[u/Temeraire64 → u/Nazzy480]

The plot has to twist itself into a pretzel to make the spear hero the bad guy for trying to force Naofumi to free his slave (his underage female slave at that, when as far as the spear hero knows he’s been convicted of rape).

[u/Comprehensive-Star27 → u/Nazzy480]

If I remember right, doesn’t having the slave crest on her grant buffs and benefits to Rapthalia. Naofumi has that secondary shield effect that increases all the stats and exp of his party that have it.

Like he chooses to tell her she doesn’t need it but she wants it on to level up faster.

This is all season 1 anime stuff I remember

[u/Nazzy480 → u/Comprehensive-Star27]

Thats the world-building justifying his slavery. The shield hero could've just been given the powers to buff his party's growth normally without slavery. He doesn't treat them as slaves so why bother have it in the first place outside of the potentially fetish/harem stuff.

In the very beginning of the story it had its place with his serious trust issues as a deterrent/insurance for his safety but after the Spear hero fight the justification isn't there outside of arbitrary "buffs" that don't have a real reason to be tied to being a slave

[u/s00pahFr0g → u/Nazzy480]

There’s the stat buffs but there’s also the issue of the beastmen race being desirable slaves. The slave mark being what it is means that they’re at risk of being forcefully re-enslaved which is the main reason for using it. Raphtalia does end up being rid of it permanently. I still ended up stopping it but wanted to clarify as I haven’t seen that mentioned.

[u/Altruistic-Beach7625 → u/Comprehensive-Star27]

I'm pretty sure Raph's internal reasoning, at least in the manga, is that he wouldn't fully trust her if she wasn't a slave, which is just yuck.

[u/Ok_Needleworker_8809 → u/Nazzy480]

If i recall, his justification for using the slave mark is because it stops anyone else from enslaving them. Not sure if there was something about that being necessary to have some demi humans in his party.

Either way it's still fucked.

[u/Balthasar-Hohenheim → u/[deleted]]

They would simply be killed.

The situation in the story is a bit more complicated than you think. The world is a composite of four separate worlds that fused with half of those being inhabited by humans and the other half by beastmen or demi-humans (though in-universe noone remembers that). Both sides are hostile to each other, have fought centuries of wars and the major countries that the MC visits are either human supremacist or anti-human. Each original world had its own weapon hero and the human MC is a hero equipped with the original beastman weapon summoned to one of the most human supremacist nations. As a result the MC is seen as an enemy by most nobles, receives next to no support (or is outright framed for crimes) and he cannot leave the nation without risking to be killed.

Before the first chapter the moderate actual ruler has to leave for a international conference and the only other noble in the nation that openly defends demi-humans is killed by the very disaster the heroes are summoned to combat, resulting in the entire demi-human population of his domain being enslaved (or murdered) by the very racist stand-in ruler and the nobles. Most of the slaves the MC owns are survivors from that incident and if he didn't officially "use them to generate funds for himself" (by rebuilding their city and learning trades to be independent) they would simply be re-enslaved or euthanized.

Yes, this is ultimately just how the author decided the world to work but we do have examples of these kind of situations in real live, like with Oskar Schindler.

[u/Ok_Needleworker_8809 → u/Balthasar-Hohenheim]

Mm. I didn't remember the minutiae of the story. I do agree that it's possible to worldbuild in a way that makes slavery better than "the alternative", and that Shield Hero is one such. If anything it's a stain on humans in that world that Naofumi has to even consider the slave mark as a tool of protection for the Demi Humans.

I don't mind it as much in Shield Hero because it's never really seen as positive, and if i recall Naofumi never uses the mark for anything except when he's clearly slipping out of his mind or he can use it as a tool to save someone he's bound from worse.

[u/Stormfly → u/[deleted]]

"She breathes through her skin" sort of forced explanation.

[u/Ombrage101 → u/Nazzy480]

Cannot agree more

[u/Lukelandswimmer → u/Nazzy480]

Yep. This was my experience with that narrative too. Couldn't have said it better.

[u/Plus-Emphasis-2605 → u/Nazzy480]

He WHATS

[u/attikol → u/Nazzy480]

In the light novel apparently its a lot better justified as to why the keeps it. The exp slavery buff is still there but the primary reason is that Naofumi has a lot more issues in the novel. Despite wanting to believe in raphtalia he is unable to be in a party with her and fully believe she wouldnt betray him without the brand. So paranoia and trauma are a lot better of an excuse than its an exp buff. Still something he probably should have worked past by this point in the story

[u/Comfortable_Tax_5574 → u/Nazzy480]

IIRC She wanted it back, because of his abandonment and trust issues, Its the entire reason for the first half of season 1.

This was after he had just been accused of rape, and literally every single person in the city believed it, without exception.

Forgive him for being well written. And he though Filo was a bird.

EVERY other person he gives the crest, Inclusing all the people in the town, and the two tiger people, are literally just for the stat bonuses he grants, because of his Slave User's Shield... Its LITERALLY the entire reason Filo and Raphtalia are stronger than the heros lmao

[u/Kamikaze_Ninja_ → u/Comfortable_Tax_5574]

Get what you’re saying but tying it all to slavery is just bad taste. It would’ve been nice if they found a way to alter the slave crest and turn it into a positive symbol and drop off the slave part.

You are saying everyone gets a crest, but it’s a lot different for your slave child that hasn’t known anything else. Who then suddenly grows up and becomes a love interest. It’s straight grooming.

[u/Lukelandswimmer → u/Comfortable_Tax_5574]

You're using Watsonian reasoning to explain a Doylist problem.

[u/Nazzy480 → u/Comfortable_Tax_5574]

I understand why Raph wants it back since she doesn't view being a slave to naofumi as bad and wants to comfort him and I understand why Naofumi wanted her to have a slavemark at first and feels more comfortable with her having it for his has deep-seeded insecurities and past.

But, IIRC he was already at the point where he didnt really care about his reputation amongst the nobles/public and in his eyes he would never regain the public's trust. IIRC he was way more distraught with the idea of Raph leaving him than losing more face.

But, that doesn't change that listening to her is selfish to soothe his trauma/insecurities and strips her of autonomy. You can do bad things for not inherently bad reasons. Raphtalia breaking free from her captors and running to Naofumi/agreeing to re-enslave herself was proof enough that he wasn't harming her to the city and that she will never betray/leave him.

The story would still work perfectly fine and this moment could've been a moment of healing where he could give some trust to Raphtalia and it might've been interesting to maybe have some internal conflicts with him maybe feeling vulnerable with raph not having a slave mark. Could also recontextualize the moments when Raphtalia pushes against Naofumi's pessimistic decisions/actions as perhaps only possible due to her freedom/autonomy.

Also the stat buffs is just the world-building trying to justify enslaving the girls. They could've easily just given him a shield that does all those things without enslaving women. He was already supposed to be at the start a more supportive/tank for his party so it couldve easily just been a bonus he could give to his party without the stupid slavery shit

[u/Comfortable_Tax_5574 → u/Nazzy480]

I dont even disagree. Keep in mind, In the anime at least, even Naofumi was even like, "you sure?" Im just telling you the storytelling is all.... not really about to explain why slavery on fictional character written for entertainment purposes is irrelevant.
Slavery is a disgusting practice, that still exists to this day. Doesn't mean it should be taboo to write about.

[u/Mannekin-Skywalker → u/Comfortable_Tax_5574]

“No, you see, they HAD to be slaves”

Is completely ignoring that this is a fictional story where the author had full control over the rules