Discussion Original owners in transmigration

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Shizukani, Jan 14, 2021.

?

Would you feel guilty if you stole another person's body?

  1. No.

    15.6%
  2. Yes.

    25.0%
  3. Maybe.

    59.4%
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  1. Shizukani

    Shizukani Chronically stressed

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    So there's this trope right? Where the MC transmigrates into another person's body. And then they go, "Oh the original owner had a bad personality" or they go, "The original owner was unlucky and died", or maybe the even go, "The original owner didn't want to live anymore due to something something".

    Then magically, like this pitiful pitiful owner wasn't loved by anybody at all, no one ever realizes that the soul was replaced inside! (there are exemptions ofc) Or worse, the ML or FL or whatever will realize and will be thankful for it. Like, who cares? The previous one had a bad personality anyways.

    Well back to the point. This always makes me sad. :blobsob: Let us pause for a minute to press (F) for the previous owner.:blobpensive: So sad. :blobcry:

    Imagine it happening to you, man. Like what if one day you get into an accident, and then some random pervert who loves lolis uses your body to make a harem for himself??? :blobpoliceangry: So scary. And so sad. :blobcry: Let us all spare a moment for all the originals out there who isn't even missed by their own mothers when another soul replaces them. :sweating_profusely:

    Well, what do you think? :blob_ghost:
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2021
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  2. anotherAniket

    anotherAniket Well-Known Member

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    Indeed, MC be collecting girls surrounding the original owner; starting with the fiancee and childhood friend.. while pitying/insulting original owner like every chapter..
    F
     
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  3. Melodious Nocturne

    Melodious Nocturne [Dance, water, dance!] [My name is Demyx!]

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    >_> <_< ...
     
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  4. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    I have to admit this tend to creep me out, it is basically body snatching and the fact that a lot of authors doesn't seem to think much about it doesn't make it better.
    Now if they would actually use it as a source of conflict and tension it might actually make for a good story, whether it be the risk of being found out or the mc feeling guilt, but that assumes the author bothers to think that far.
     
  5. Anra7777

    Anra7777 All powerful magic grammar hamster queen pirate.

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    You should try reading “Don’t Pick Up Boyfriends From The Trash Bin.” It actually is a source of conflict and plot.
     
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  6. SABAKU

    SABAKU New Member

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    That sounded funny ... changing the subject, I sure would feel guilty!
     
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  7. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

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    I... honestly don't know how I would feel. While I have read a fair number of stories where that happened, mostly Cultivation Stories, I have also read a few where the transmigration happened due to the individual being hurt, and the reincarnated individual seems to have just assumed that their soul is the same and they just remembered a past lives' memories, despite seemingly completely replacing the previous owner's personality. Which mostly seems to happen in Reincarnated Into An Otome Game Stories. And, while some people MAY recognise the replacement, they assume it's a side effect of the, likely, head trauma or illness, or whatever got them bedridden for the reincarnation.

    The one consistent thing is that very few people, if any, actually realise that an individual was replaced. While in most cases this is just plot armour, there are a few where this is actually understandable. For example, in My Death Flags Show No Sign Of Ending, (I'm only at the beginning, so it may not last the entire story, though I wouldn't be surprised if it does) the MC is incapable of directly controlling his mouth, and it spouts out insults and derogatory comments anytime he isn't in front of his parents, even when he wants to say something simple, like "Leave". The message he want to get across can still be imparted, if you read into his words enough (or know what he wanted to say), but the fact that what comes out of his mouth is worded in a fashion that the original would have used and not the replacement means that it's understandable that nobody realises that he was replaced.

    Ohanashi's What Comes From Second Chances gives a different solution to the problem of nobody knowing the original owner (relatively spoiler free for a story that's currently 11 chapter's long). First of all, we don't have to feel bad for this original owner, we get to see him willingly give up his reset to the new protagonist. He's looking after his very young niece due to a very good reason that, simultaneously, prohibits him from direct contact with his family for everyone's sake. That means that there's nobody who knows him well directly to call out the new replacement MC on not being the same person. While his decisions differ significantly from the original's, his reasoning for those decisions make sense and aren't unreasonable. As such, there's no real reason for people in the story to even start to question why the MC is acting "weird" or forgetting knowledge & skills that they know he learned growing up.

    The stories that just ignore this problem, however, are too numerous to even consider mentioning them all.
     
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  8. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Most of the transmigration stories I read do two things that mitigate this problem. The first is that it's involuntary; usually the protagonist dies so he has zero control over the whole process. So it's less a case of stealing someone's body and more a case of being forcibly inserted into said body. The second part is that the original body's owner is also usually dead. It's a body that isn't being used any more so I have a hard time seeing why anybody would be guilty about it.
     
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  9. vlue

    vlue Jaded Isekai-Reader

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    Does the merging of the transmigrator and the original owner of the body personality count as stealing?
     
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  10. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    Still, those two things doesn't really mitigate the problem of the protagonist using the identity to pretend in front of the original owners friends and family. That is usually the thing I most often tend to have personal issues with if it is handled poorly.
    Not that there isn't stories that do find ways to mitigate that as well.
     
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  11. Hasty girl

    Hasty girl [Holy Novitiate] [Red Sibling] [Blackjack Sect]

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    I would feel guilty actually . I would feel like I was stealing that person's life. That's I why I mostly only read counterattcking novels(where mc completes task and the original owner lives after everything is completed) or going back to the past novels(as they are basically in their own body itself)
     
  12. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    It's not as if they have much say in the matter; doing otherwise would probably get them burned at the stake.
     
  13. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    Still, doing something just because it is the safest choice doesn't mean one shouldn't at least feel conflicted about it.
    The very bare minimum I usually want in these stories, is that if the protagonist actually start to care about the new friends/family as their own, then at least have them reflect over the fact the whole relationship is a charade.
     
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  14. 8oni

    8oni Well-Known Member

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    ... ... Considering my life, if someone ever ended up using my body, I can only say, my condolences, I hopes you are alright with all the pains that comes from years of unhealthy lifestyle.
    On the topic of MC, my romantic side makes me believe that they have all gone to the better place. I means most of the times, their life are so bad they are either cannon fodder or barely exist at all.
    Although there is one or two novels that I have read that have different perceptive on this :
    For example, this novel : https://www.novelupdates.com/series/spare-tire-is-gone/
    Description :
    When he was 21 years old, wealthy heir Qi Cong’s body was seized by a transmigrator of unknown origins, his consciousness sinking into a series of strange and grotesque dreams.


    Three years later, Qi Cong woke up: his family was bankrupt, his studies were ruined, and even his loyal dog of a man (who had just been about to become his boyfriend) had left the country!


    Even worse, his only remaining good friend told him, in these past three years, he willingly acted as a fallback guy for a phoenix man*, loving that person with crazy desperation. After all kinds of devotion and sacrifice for the other party, he had even emptied out his own family’s assets.

    A rare novel where the transmigrator did not make things ok but instead just wrecking havoc and then left. (If any of you know novel with theme like this please tell I want to read)

    Oh then there is also this novel : https://www.novelupdates.com/series/dont-pick-up-boyfriends-from-the-trash-bin/
    That have a twist about the original owner and the MC are actually together in 1 body

    So yeah, if truck-kun ever visited me and granted me visa to another world, I can only wish I am not ended up in a hands of malicious systems though. Which is why I choose maybe.
     
  15. applebeans

    applebeans Well-Known Member

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    Mostly I wouldn't feel that it's my body, and I'd probably pray for them on their death day…… Even if they were bad, they're still someone before, now I'm in their body and using their identity
    I'd feel pretty depressed because no one recognises me as me, I might even go get plastic surgery to look like myself again
    Another thing I can't prove is whether they crossed over and switched places with my original body when I transmigrated over. If so then that's good
     
  16. Bachingchung

    Bachingchung Well-Known Member

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    If the transmigrator still have the previous owner's memories and his previous life memories, How can he be so sure that he's the transmigrator?


    Sometimes I have a really good realistic dream and feel devastated when I wake up. I can't imagine if I have an intact decade long of memories of another person in me. I'll probably develop a Disassociative Identity Disorder.
     
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