Why do xianxia/wuxia authors overuse the 'family danger' scene?

What I mean is how in most of these xianxia/wuxia novels either the protagonists family or the love interest's family is usually held hostage or attacked when the MC isn't there and then the MC comes back and rages then kills the enemies, some family members even dying. It's gotten to the point where I make a game out of it to calculate which chapter it will happen and who's family it will be. I mean some tropes that are similar in these novels like school competitions or crypt raiding are at least more fun and somewhat diverse. However family genocide/killing is just the ultimate tragedy where you see it coming from miles away and when it happens it seems like the author just put it in there to fill their quota of words for each chapter.

 

Well the MC will not bother if a total stranger is kidnapped when he returns, would he????

 

hmm perhaps wrong way to use strike your enemy weakness side?
nah IMO cuz~
to show MC get new skill and need something to test it on enemy stronger is better~

 

Cuz it gets intense and gives the MC something to aspire for...let's face it if you wanna be a hero you gotta have dead parents...

 

well because its xianxia XD

 

Well, the fact is: It would still be happening, probably somewhere where cameras and the internet doesn't exist is still happening in the real world too.
In the age of Mafias one got either revenge or leverage by going after the other Mafias family members.
In the age of Medieval, one would just go off and kill the whole lord's family if they pissed you off and give it a righteous tittle of 'suppressing rebellion' or such. (Also works in the age of Revolution)

 

This happens in real world too. So why not? That's the easiest way to seek revenge anyway.

 

culture wise. . . those authors are asian, and most probably a chinese. . .
in which the majority practices or rather have deep familial love and they gave importance to their love ones. . .

 

You could (readers) can relate better if they use the loved ones of MC as hostages. I mean if they say, "i have the snail from your garden so come or else it will be squashed". Won't really affect the MC and i think it's hard to make new creative way to anger/blackmail the MC nowadays cuz most scenarios have already been used. Probably

 

The same reason Hollywood does: It's an easy way to ramp up tension that the majority of the audience can identify with.

 

because is realistic, usually the MC leave right after killing the family genius or after taking nearly all the resources of the family. This means that the family do not have enough powerhouses to protect it, even more if the MC opened just before a new shop/income to them.
Not to talk about a mc that usually go on a killing spree killing everyone, to get revenge it is the first idea to threaten the family

 

for the greater good of the plot..I mean,there has to be conflict on a personal level to motivate MC.

 

It's the trend.

 

Why is it used so often?

Convenience, probably. A family genocide is an event that requires, even though they help, little imagination or skill to write effectively.

Do you have a big bad?

Do you have a main character with ties to a big thing?

If the answer to those is yes, you can write numerous easy tragedies or conflicts while also getting rid of characters you don't want to keep track of. You can kill two birds with one easily thrown stone.

It's also very easy to write dragged on content following a big tragedy like that, since odds are the MC and his buddies are looking for revenge. You just have multiple conflicts with the big bad as the MC powers up, and then the big bad gets destroyed at the end of the day. What's even better is that the readers will eat it up, and you'll have a longer story to make money off of.

Quantity over quality, as the CN novel business goes.

 

Well xia itself actually means; being held as a hostage and/or dire situation, too. Aside from its popular meaning....



heuheheuehueh

 

Family and friends being targeted by enemies of the mc I can understand, but it gets stupid when they get targeted by simple coincidence, or when the mc don't even consider that his actions can lead to his/her family getting into danger.

Spoiler: Nine Cauldrons

Dropped this one because IET went and made the family targeted by the enemy simply because they happened to live next door to some other thing the enemies was looking for, even if it was foreshadowed I'm simply sick of authors relying on that kind of coincidence to create drama or conflict

 

Just to show how the antagonists are bad guys. Ever seen a righteous MC in xianxias kidnap villain's family? No wait, do these people even have family? They don't? Wow, how convenient....

 

Because they are the antagonists, and are scum. They can not harm the MC, or can not find the MC. To find/harm him they must find a means, the means they locate are their family. That simple in the end. Also many of us live in quite well off countries. But this sort of thing is rather common in the world, especially in areas that are policed quite loosely, let alone areas not policed at all. Travel to some less well off countries sometime and you will understand, these sort of tropes are truly realistic, with just some super human ability people.

 

What if the snail is the actual MC though?

 

It's the best scene in any chinese novel.
Just read Desolate Era. The MC's wive died and he tryed resurrecting her for at least 25 volumes.