r/TopCharacterTropes • u/RedNUGGETLORD • 21d ago
Personality A character trait is later recontextualized into something bad/tragic, it's always been there, we just never paid attention
Deku's self sacrifice - My Hero Academia
Initially portrayed as purely heroic, it's later shown to be extremely detrimental when he refuses any aid from his friends, abandoning them to "protect them"(of course, leaving them also puts them in danger since he can no longer be there to save them if something goes wrong
The same quality that makes him a great hero, also leads him to nearly lose everything and get EVERYONE killed(since if this tired, weakened Deku did encounter AFO/Shigaraki, he would almost certainly die and have his powers taken)
Seiya Ryuuguuin's cautiousness - Overly Cautious Hero
The whole series is about how the main character is prepared for any circumstance to an insane degree(being the highest level half-way through, perfectly predicting that an ally would betray them through ridiculous jumps in logic, etc)
It turns out that the reason for this was that in a past life(unknown to him) he was extremely easy-going and unprepared for everything, always winning due to luck and skill, however, one day he ends up losing due to not finding out about a bosses weakness, this leads to the demon king murdering his friend, eating his Goddess, and then devouring his girlfriend and the child inside of her right in front of him. The Demon King then takes over the world and basically turns it into Berserk on steroids
Erens entire character - Attack on Titan
He hates the titans not because of what they've done(though that's a part of it), but because they've stolen his freedom, so when he learns that in reality, the Marleyans are the true enemies, the ones who have taken his and everyone elses freedom away, he does exactly what he said he was going to do, just to a different enemy
Erens philosophy is that anyone that tries to take his freedom deserves to have theirs taken away, Zeke becomes a slave because he tried to take away the Eldians ability to breed, the Marleyans lose the freedom of living because they tried to take his, it's always been a core character trait, but when he becomes to antagonist of the story in the last parts, this character trait of his is front and center
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u/Ok_Programmer_1022 21d ago
There is a line in Attack on titan that I love by Levi,
Levi alway knew that Eren is a monster, it's something way more deeper than his power.
He has a flawed sense of freedom, to the point where he will always build a wall that blocks him from his freedom just so he can trample it.
First it was a wall, them the titan, then the see, then Marleyans thenn humanity, and I wouldn't be surprised if his people would've became another wall after.
And I like that he acknowledges it during his speech with Armin, he tells him he would've destroyed humanity anyway, because it didn't fit the image that he pictured.
Eren is evil, yes he cares about his people and his friends but he's not a good person.
And... it makes sense, the creator described reading a book from the perspective of a serial killer(or psychopath... I don't remember) and how the perspective made some sense.
Same goes with Eren's story, we saw it from the perspective of Eren and rumbling made 100% sense, but when you look carefully, you start understand how flawed he was.