Discussion Is it common for power fantasy MC to be rather brutal once they got power?

So I was reading Nano Machine. At start it seems that MC would grow into decent person. But I didn't expect in the end (as I read now) for him to be rather brutal. Like chopping his opponent's arm off or straight up murder a son (also his opponent) in front of his mother. Granted that "that mother" kill MC's mother long time ago. But I personally feel like it's necessary to brutally murder her son in front of her. Even more, MC cut that son's arm and pluck his eye beforehand. This things really put me off.

I read quite a lot of martial art stories but this is the first time I felt an MC goes to extra length to do unnecessary torture and murder. But I don't seem to read enough of these kind of martial art story, or story with MC like this.

Does Nano Machine MC keep doing this in next chapters? I only read up to what I said on paragraph 1.

Is it common for MC to be like this in wuxia or xiaxia, especially those famous ones?

 

Yes, very common.

Esp if theres a lot of comparison happening in the story(rankings, competitions etc.,) and in a lot of cases these mcs have some type of inferiority complex they wallow in.

Theres some others with less brutal mc but theyr really rare and can be more comedic/romance focused rather than action filled.

 

I think it depends. The timeline, worldbuilding, etc all influence this. Especially in xianxia, wuxia, these worlds usually have a setting of strong can do whatever he wants to the weak. Hence grudges, emnities are usually multiplied in order to suit the world settings.
Unless it's a japanese mc, you can do whatever you want to him and he'll still smile at you.
Also brutality is considered a strength as well in certain settings. Kill or be killed sorta thing.

 

To some extent yes, it's an issue that a lot of these styles of novels (particularly of Chinese origin) have crop up. There's a tendency towards being more brutal as they go along because it does a couple of things story wise. One being as an imagined sense of character growth, which brings a sense of freshness which is needed when they have a story that is stretched out in order to make more money. Otherwise people tend to give up faster when they are only changing up the formula a bit. Which also has a predictable need for topping previous events.

 

You didn’t read enough Chinese xianxia and wuxia cuz a shit ton of them are ruthless they kill, plunder and sometimes rape because of "revenge". But yeah in most powerfantasy I read the mc becomes more decisive with their kills but not a horrible person that tortures people.

From my experience:
Cn - Torturing bastard that hold a grudge for a damn long time (as long as they don’t think with their dick)
Kr - Mostly kills as long as it’s necessary
Jp - Really forgiving and really dumb and naive and the list goes on (I’m talking about Mcs)

 

Is Release that Witch considered xiaxia? That is one of few CN novels I read. And it doesn't seem to have brutal MC. Other I used to read are set in modern times, which might explain the lack of brutality.

Also, what about Tales of Demons and God? I read the webtoon quite far and the MC doesn't seem to be that brutal despite how OP he is.

Forgot to add that Nano Machine is of Korea origin. Not CN

 

Lmao sorry for laughing but this is really true. I've read a lot of power fantasy novel from CN KR JP but most of them really become brutal after they got the power and treat people as ants, but for JP MC... well... you can cuckold them and they'll be smiling at you because they're just that polite, meanwhile KR MC would kill you without batting an eye and CN MC would chop your arm off.

Honestly, the brutality of Female MC is more maddening than Male MC in case of CN power fantasy genre. Last time I read Female MC (xianxia) she strip her opponent's clothes in public and use some mental manipulation arts and emmmmm I'm not gonna write that down because that's just batsh*t crazy

 

Xianxia, yes, wuxia, not as much, especially not the famous ones. Wuxia has a better foundation (in terms of famous works) for MCs not turning into assholes and the power levels are more inherently limited.

In wuxia settings, typically, destroying an entire sect down to the cats and dogs is objectively evil, even if the sect is considered demonic. People in wuxia settings have normal lifespans and there are sect/religious beliefs that are about forgiveness and redemption so even major villains can have atonement paths that don't involve death (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber's Xie Xun is a pretty good example of this).

In xianxia, if a sect gets destroyed, it's the sect's own fault for not being strong enough to defend itself while also picking fights. Forgiveness and redemption? Doesn't exist.

 

So, @ragingphoenix , can you answer this question?

 

Speaking of destroying a sect down to the cats and dogs, as far as I remember Martial God Asura even had the mc literally destroy a family down to the house mice.
It was so cartoonishly overdone I was left wondering if the author was trying to parody their own work.

 

Xianxia is a specific type of progression fantasy that follows cultivation with the purpose of becoming immortal, with a bunch of principles that are based off Taoism. Release That Witch is just an isekai with magical elements that are irrelevant to xianxia, so it would fit under xuanhuan, which is general fantasy. Civilization builders like Release That Witch are usually not xianxia though, xianxia tends to follow a hero's journey type of adventure, though sometimes it'll include sect building.

I have not read Tales of Demons and Gods but it looks like it's close to xianxia if not actually part of the xianxia genre. Someone who's actually read it would have a better answer for you. Can't say I know anything about Nano Machine either.

 

I searched a bit for the meaning of the terms but basically:

Wuxia (武俠 wǔxiá) – literally means “Martial Heroes”. Fictional stories about regular humans who can achieve supernatural fighting ability through Chinese martial arts training and internal energy cultivation.
Xuanhuan (玄幻 xuánhuàn) – literally means “Mysterious Fantasy”. A broad genre of fictional stories which remixes Chinese folklore/mythology with foreign elements & settings.
Xianxia (仙侠 xiānxiá) – literally means “Immortal Heroes”. Fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. Heavily inspired by Daoism.

Taken from:
https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

 

i see, thanks for the answer

 

Actually, it depends, the good ''cultivation'' novels will prepare you for that, I mean, it's not going to change from nothing. In Nano Machine's case, you have to remember that he's from a Demonic Cult, which is extremaly brutal, even if the author didnt show him like that before, he's transforming him because he's going to be the sect leader.

Anyways, usually, the author will show you how the MC will get to this point and you will not have doubts, but in Nano Machine we have to say that one of the reasons is the low chapters. Most of the cultivation novels have more than 1k chapters, a lot of them has more than 2k, (that's why its kinda repetitive sometimes), but Nano only had around 500 chapters, and that's too low and make things kinda fast paced.

Tbh I didn't like a specific scene, so I quit, I would say its going to be a bit worse if you read the tags.

And in Wuxia/Xianxia novels it also depends, the most cliches ones will be a brutal yeah, to even worse standarts, where MC will kill just because he wants, but there are a lot of novels, so you can skip kinda easily those kind of novels.

 

No this isn't common or normal. What is common and normal is for them to be ruthless like killing people who deserve it or even exterminating entire families/sects but going the extra mile to torture someone or kill them in front of their mother is some extra shit.

 

Finally, some satisfying answer I'm looking for.

 

Although killing entire families is arguably already the worst one out of those.

 

You are wrong, as you said, there are a lot of novels that the MC would kill the ENTIRE clan of someone because they tried to kill him/his family. In this case the MC tortured that mother because she was the woman that killed HIS mother. Furthermore, her son tried to kill him as well. He was just torturing her and that's not extra shit, he's from a Demonic Cult, you can even say that's something normal LOL.

I can tell you a bunch of novels where the MC refined his enemy's soul for thousands of years, or raped/make others rape his enemies, even novels where they killed millions of people (including babies) for revenge. That's much worse than killing the son of your enemy before killing him, a lot of novels do that, the problem is that they are son and father and we don't give a shit, in this case, mc's enemy was a woman.

 

It's not because killing an entire family is a safety thing. This is going to sound cruel but if you kill someone, that person is going to have brothers, sisters, parents, children and so forth. these people are going to look for revenge and if you become too powerful for them they will target your family and friends instead. I mean the literal bread and butter of cultivation novels is you offend someone, they get beat up, then they get their older stronger family member to seek revenge. That and when the MC leaves his hometown and his parents/family stay behind they get schemed against and the MC has to come back to save them. Plus how many times does the MC have a backstory where the sect they were in was destroyed by some enemy, the MC survives, gets stronger, then gets revenge. everyone knows in the cultivation world, you pull the weeds just in case.

So yeah killing an entire family or destroying an entire sect might seem harsh but it's still justified.

Don't know how man novels you've read but I've read hundreds and yes there are novels where the MC does things like refine a persons soul, or make them experience eternal burning of their soul or whatever, but those are the minority. So yeah I'm not saying it doesn't happen, i'm saying its not the norm. For example having an idiot rich silk pants get offended at the MC for literally nothing is a norm in cultivation novels. The MC fighting people way above his level and winning is the norm. People underestimating the MC even though all the warning signs say they shouldn't is the norm. The MC torturing people happens, but isn't the norm.

 

Just because it is done out of safety doesn't make it justified, and half of the time it is pure paranoia, not out of actual necessity.
If you go out of your way to kill children in order to feel safer, then quite honestly you might deserve that revenge you are trying to protect yourself against.