I've read over a hundred chapters of this novel now. This is the type of monster MC you would either adore or hate. Why do I say this? This protagonist never truly becomes a dragon, at heart or soul, he will always be human. You could see this from each and every one of his interactions with sentient species; every time he inflicts harm upon them he would wallow in self-pity, guilt and philosophical debates (on the universe, life and death) for chapters on end. There's no growth to him as a dragon, whilst his power grows, his personality stays just as it was in chapter 1. Him living for years as a dragon doesn't change him a bit...which I find extremely disappointing.
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LIKEYet a character with completely alien morals would be hard for us human readers to relate to. Take the Salvos series, for example. Salvos is a demon, born into an alien, inhospitable plane called the Netherworld. Despite this, she still develops a form of morality most people will be able to sympathize with, such as “I won’t try to harm you unless you try to harm me” and, “I’ll help others, but only if it benefits myself or my companions, and only if it doesn’t put me in danger.” If she were the kind of monster MC that reveled in destruction and killing for destruction’s sake, whose morals are alien and unfathomable to anyone but a psychopath, she wouldn’t be very likable as a protagonist, now would she?
VenerableDemon:Always found it annoying when mc's aren't human but have human morals
Are you saying that if you suddenly found yourself in the body of a dragon, you wouldn’t feel any desire to hold onto concepts like compassion or empathy for other species? And isn’t it rather speciesist to assume that morals like ‘don’t kill sentient beings’ and ‘give kindness unto others’ are unique to humans (and humanoid fantasy species)? More importantly, it was clearly stated in the earlier chapters that he DIDN’T feel guilt about destroying the ships, or the kingdom, and that he had fully embraced being a dragon. It wasn’t until much later, after his dragon grandmother asked him who he wanted to be and reminded him that “every life matters to someone,” that he finally began to reassess himself and let some of his ‘human’ morality back in. And even the part with him ‘wallowing’ only lasted a few chapters; it was nowhere near as long as you make it out to be. You come across to me as just salty that the MC didn’t match your expectations of what a monster MC should be, even though you knew going in that he was originally human. Why wouldn’t he still have lingering elements of ‘human-ness’? I feel that the protagonist’s eagerness to suppress his human side early on being a symptom of escapism makes him more believable -and, more importantly, relatable- as a character than if he fully discarded his humanity. And again, it’s rather presumptuous to try to dictate which morals and emotions are ‘human’ or ‘not human’.
And seriously, a 1 star review? Just because you didn’t like one thing about the MC? That’s the equivalent of a Karen giving a restaurant a 1-star review because they wouldn’t give her a discount for complimenting the food and offering to give them a shout-out on her Instagram account.
Also, the fact that you took such an intense dislike to a character ‘wallowing’ in self-pity and guilt tells me that you have a disturbing lack of empathy for those suffering from depression, anxiety, or other forms of mental illness. From your comment, I get the sense that you’re part of the insensitive ‘just stop being sad’ crowd.
Nah maybe for you but guys like us prefer evil mc's
Pearson_Ksenich:Yet a character with completely alien morals would be hard for us human readers to relate to. Take the Salvos series, for example. Salvos is a demon, born into an alien, inhospitable plane called the Netherworld. Despite this, she still develops a form of morality most people will be able to sympathize with, such as “I won’t try to harm you unless you try to harm me” and, “I’ll help others, but only if it benefits myself or my companions, and only if it doesn’t put me in danger.” If she were the kind of monster MC that reveled in destruction and killing for destruction’s sake, whose morals are alien and unfathomable to anyone but a psychopath, she wouldn’t be very likable as a protagonist, now would she?
Then there is a story you might like of s MC that is COMPLETELY evil has no empathy and destroys EVERYTHING just because. If it even slightly gets on his nerves he destroys seems like something you'd like. I never gave it a chance since he rapes, kills, and destroys randomly for no real reason except being evil and having unreasonable expectations and philosophies I couldn't sympathize with an unlikable MC from my perspective.
VenerableDemon:Nah maybe for you but guys like us prefer evil mc's
Name
Jonathan_Whitfield:Then there is a story you might like of s MC that is COMPLETELY evil has no empathy and destroys EVERYTHING just because. If it even slightly gets on his nerves he destroys seems like something you'd like. I never gave it a chance since he rapes, kills, and destroys randomly for no real reason except being evil and having unreasonable expectations and philosophies I couldn't sympathize with an unlikable MC from my perspective.
don't blueball us like that. name please
Jonathan_Whitfield:Then there is a story you might like of s MC that is COMPLETELY evil has no empathy and destroys EVERYTHING just because. If it even slightly gets on his nerves he destroys seems like something you'd like. I never gave it a chance since he rapes, kills, and destroys randomly for no real reason except being evil and having unreasonable expectations and philosophies I couldn't sympathize with an unlikable MC from my perspective.