In a bleak and mundane world, a child born to mysterious circumstances discovers they have a gift, but that gift is forbidden by the bad people that resent how awesome the gift is and want to punish special people that have the gift, so that special chosen one of destiny must embrace their destiny and restore the good and proper status quo with a little(a lot) of help from their friends. :so-true:

That isn't just Harry Potter or Star Wars, mind. That's also Terry Goodkind's cryptofascist slop, among many others.

  • LeninWeave [none/use name]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Society is evil and does great harm to the main character and many of his friends, but one of the friends is more evil because he tries to do something to change the status quo - this is proven when he murders a bus full of children for no reason, convincing the main character that even though all life is sacred he has to be killed and the status quo has to be maintained.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      The hero then becomes the fantasy/sci-fi equivalent of a cop, restoring the balance. :so-true:

      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        I know you're referring to Harry Potter, but my sentence doesn't apply to it because no one in Harry Potter actually tries to change the status quo. :agony-shivering:

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          ACTUALLY :very-intelligent: Hermione did want to reform house elf slavery policy, but that was presented as quaint and naive and she eventually gave up and probably decided to :vote:

  • comi [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago
    i win

    What if harry potter was guided by methods of rationality.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        hexagon
        ·
        2 years ago

        It's been pushed so many times on me by former college peers, even roommates. :cringe:

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
            hexagon
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            edit-2
            2 years ago

            I was surrounded by STEM people at my particular college. I was an education/humanities peasant, and they rarely went a day without reminding me.

            • LeninWeave [none/use name]
              ·
              2 years ago

              I was an education/humanities peasant, and they rarely went a day without reminding me.

              :agony-turbo: Typical STEMlord shit. We're going to need a bigger :gulag:

              • UlyssesT [he/him]
                hexagon
                ·
                2 years ago

                Their idea of good literature was "whatever lets the reader vicariously experience the most indulgent and narcissistic power fantasy," which lines up nicely with HPMoR's own nuclear take that the only good fiction was the fiction that provided indulgent and narcissistic power fantasies. "Characters with weaknesses and limitations are logically stupid," he said in so many more words.

                • LeninWeave [none/use name]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 years ago

                  660,000 words of prosaic "literary" masturbation to say "the world exists to serve me because I'm smart and special".

                  • UlyssesT [he/him]
                    hexagon
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    Something about cryptofascist prose seems to require very long repetitive speeches that say pretty much that. See Atlas Shrugged. Or don't.

      • comi [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I haven’t read it fully tbh, I’ve made fun of it while it was being written. It’s so terminally smug. It’s with horror I’ve found out not only people like it, they become :so-true: over it

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          It's a longer and even more pretentious Ready Player One, with the same indulgent delivery style. It is good to its fanbase because it panders to them.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      The totally nonpolitical logical rational adventure that has a happy ending of turning the entire universe into a paperclip maximizing hellscape, also Hermione is only partially dead and can still sexually serve Rationalist Harry in all the ways that matter to him. :kombucha-disgust:

      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        murders all the fascist pawns

        keeps the fascist king because he's special and should be fixed and human life is sacred

      • comi [he/him]
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        edit-2
        2 years ago

        But also spawn most insufferable beings irl :improve-society:

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      :angery:

      For real, considering some of my college experiences, I really do wonder if I'd be an infuriatingly unintentional success overnight if I wrote something deliberately bazinga and utterly pandering.

  • RunningVerse [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Within the newly established Neo-American States, some sectors have begun to fight back. As the resistance groups start to contemplate and argue out their disagreements the MC meets with the Oligarchs and realizes that he basically would have to take their place.

    They give him the choice of dying here and he becomes apart of history or he continues to resist and become nothing but a memory.