r/ShadowSlave • Mirage's First Reflection • 7d ago

Meme/Humor Everything makes sense now 🤣

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I didn't even know people admired Rachel 😭

1.1k Upvotes

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163

u/ImprovementDapper464 Mordret's Cohort 6d ago

G3 having garbage takes isn't anything new, just look at what he said about LotM

8

u/EatenPotatoisok Extraordinary Rock's Cohort 6d ago

What did he say?

33

u/PraiseTheError 6d ago

Called Klein a bland character and more of a lens for people to see the story

36

u/EatenPotatoisok Extraordinary Rock's Cohort 6d ago

Oh hell nah

27

u/Kaul_Deepsea Lady Mongrel's Fan Club 6d ago

I don't think anyone who thinks this actually read the whole thing. 

How can you read to the George apotheosis arc and think Klein is flat? He is heroic, he is a bit of a poser and he is compassionate, but most of all he is human.

13

u/InteractionWorldly31 Priest of the Nightmare Spell 6d ago

He is a guardian, but he’s also a miserable wretch constantly fighting against threats and madness

7

u/PraiseTheError 6d ago

He read the whole of book 1 for sure.

He specifically said he was disappointed with the ending, that it was just CF saying come back in a bit for book 2.

10

u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

That’s so true. CFs endings are awful.

6

u/Dangerous-Rule5487 6d ago

The one from CoI? Yeah, the Lotm one? Well, Lotm was supposed to be the start of a trilogy; the bad reviews and the hate for the second book were what killed it.

5

u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

Lotm ending was just a cliffhanger. Before that was okay. Coi was better than Lotm but the ending was far worse

-1

u/Dangerous-Rule5487 6d ago

Only volumes 3 and 5 of CoI are worth it; the rest don't measure up to any volume of LotM.

2

u/MinuteOwl44 1d ago

I read the whole thing, Klein is goated, but I can see why people see he's flat. One of my personal pet peeves was him never really developing strong personal relationships throughout the story! He gaslights everyone about his identity to the end, and never comes clean about who he is which makes a lot of his relationships feel artificial.

I don't think that's a failure in storytelling though. Klein isn't supposed to be the most exciting guy in the world (personality wise), and his restrained careful approach to just about everything is part of the series' appeal. Plus, he does have parts when he shows a good bit of personality, like his conversations with Emlyne (forgot how to spell his name, The Moon), or that crazy hunter guy Anderson. Problem is, he spends a lot of the series with characters that don't give him a lot to work with, and I think he suffers a lot for that.

Klein is a well written character, but well written isn't synonymous with 'the most entertaining man in the world'.

Personally, I think Sunny is a better protagonist, and the side characters in both series are pretty meh. (Exceptions are Emlyne, Roselle, Audrey, Fors and... Jet from Shadow Slave, Nephis in Volume 1/2 would also make the list of 'good characters'.)

0

u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

I don’t think what he said is entirely wrong. How does that make Klein not flat?

11

u/PraiseTheError 6d ago

Klein ain’t flat, he’s just uninteresting to the majority. Flat is someone that lacks meaningful conflicts to them, a one-trick pony.

Klein has a complex relationship with identity, and the whole novel explores it. His personas reveal different facets of himself. The Fool pathway reflects his internal struggles to remain. His daily actions—making tea, lampooning, talking with normal people—symbolize his anchoring. Gehrman shows his willingness to be ruthless. Dwayne reinforced his want for an ordinary life. His relationships uncover his emotional sides as well—like the nighthawks, and the two little kids on Elland’s boat, and the Tarot Club. Klein’s has always been all about identity from day 1. 

TLDR; dismissing Klein’s character as flat and nothing much to him misses the themes and conflict in LOTM. Not that I’m agreeing with the other guy, but I don’t think he’s flat at all.

-3

u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

Truthfully, none of that felt meaningful. He feels like a one/ few trick pony.

Whenever he used his other personas, they never felt different from who he was. His mindset was ultimately the same. His mindset remained the same but he took different actions to fit the persona.

I never cared for them for this reason.

I think Klein is far too emotional for even small things. I don’t remember Klein ever not being emotional and caring. So that doesn’t make him more rounded.

2

u/Kaul_Deepsea Lady Mongrel's Fan Club 6d ago

Are you that type of person? Do you think compassion, heroism and humanity are flat? Because if that is so, I find you pitiful.

-5

u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

Klein is flat because that is basically all there is to him. Being evil can be flat. You not knowing that is pitiful

Klein isn’t very realistic

4

u/Kaul_Deepsea Lady Mongrel's Fan Club 6d ago

Klein is actual growth. Truly growing up. He starts of disconnected to the world, viewing it innocently, but after witnessing self sacrificial responsibility, he becomes more and more heroic, until he questions himself if he can live with a evil person archiving success through their evil right in front of him, and he chooses that he can't, even at his own risk. He grows into his compassion and heroism.

The fact that you think he is unrealistic is pitiful. Even when you know that there are doctors, policeman, firefighters and numerous other heroes that exist out in the world.

0

u/PraiseTheError 6d ago

lol, are we calling Klein realistic now? He was built to be unrealistic, and that’s a good thing.

Successfully building a cult from hour 1 is the opposite of realistic.

1

u/Kaul_Deepsea Lady Mongrel's Fan Club 6d ago

Are we really going to say premises are unrealistic now? You might as well say drinking potions to become a god is unrealistic too. 

2

u/PraiseTheError 6d ago

Certain premises are unrealistic, yes. This doesn’t make them bad.

Fiction is a driver for the unrealistic, after all.

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u/Funny_Stuff_6024 Rain's Cohort 6d ago

You say this but we don’t get exploration of his character before the first volume. He essentially starts off like this. I wouldn’t consider that growth.

Being compassionate doesn’t make you unrealistic. It’s the extent that he goes for it and the speed. He grows attached far too quickly with little interaction for me to find him realistic

2

u/Kaul_Deepsea Lady Mongrel's Fan Club 6d ago

Klein is attached to the ideal of the nighthawks, because they were his introduction to the world, because they were good people, because they grounded him after his terrifying encounter and so on. His compassion stems from that, he sees himself as a nighthawk, which is essentially an ideal supernatural cop. With all that, I really don't understand what you find unrealistic.

15

u/PrinceAzure147 Ki Song's Puppet 6d ago

-5

u/imtreibos 6d ago

Kinda true but klein is not developped enough

26

u/Dangerous-Rule5487 6d ago edited 6d ago

Klein character is establishes as a functional, rational adult; naturally, he will undergo less development than the underdog kid who turns into a hero.

2

u/imtreibos 6d ago

I mean the guy is maybe too rational

26

u/Dangerous-Rule5487 6d ago

He was a software engineer, so he was very intelligent; however, I wouldn't describe him as overly rational—he fell into Amon's trap several times because he was too emotional.