Discussion Is making a character an orphan a cheap trick?

I've seen this around in a few novels. The MC being an orphan, gets transmigrated and thus doesn't mind if he or she could never go back to their original world.

And more often than not, said MC takes the identity of the person they transmigrated into and somehow just live that life as if their previous life was nothing but an unimportant detail other than skills they acquired from that past life. It becomes more plausible because MC is an orphan (not always the case tho) and they don't have attachment to their previous life so sometimes it feels more like a cheap trick.

What do you think?

 

It's a Cheap Trick like the Stand from Jojo.

 

That the mc should start farming skulkie and revolutionize the meaning of food

 

Then they wield the Bantyo Blade

 

...but why?

 

The thing is I think I’d hate it more if they said the MC had family back in his world and dealt with that poorly… So it can come off as a cheap trick sometimes but if the rest of the story is great I wouldn’t mind this much.

 

It just feels like a wasted opportunity to me sometimes. I would definitely prefer if they have a family and it was dealt with well.

 

I mean yea it’s a cheap trick because it’s a bit hard to deal with stuff like family. But most people reading transmigration stories don’t care about the previous world so we overlook it.

 

True that hahaha. Most of the time it's more like an afterthought than a proper setting

 

But unless the MC finds a way back into his previous world wouldn’t this just end up making him feel melancholic due to a lack of closure…? Is that something worth showcasing? And sometimes they make the family or friends transmigrate too and I’m not a big fan of that…

 

It depends on how well the author writes the character probably. For example if they're the sort of person who doesn't care about the past and accepts whatever happens to them, they don't have to be an orphan to explain why they're not attached to their past life, but then the author should probably show they have the same attitude throughout the new life unless it's character development. Usually, in novels I read where the character is still attached to people from their past life, it's because their past life family/friends are important to the plot. So it makes sense and makes things less complicated to make MC an orphan. Even if it's a cheap trick, if the rest of the story is good, then it doesn't really matter much to me.

 

same, i don't like fam and friends transmigrating too. But I'm interested in the perspective of a transmigrated person who wants to return back. it's a little hard to find balance between past life and current life but maybe someday we'll see one and it would be like a breath of fresh air.

 

The following reasons, imo:-

1. Familiar love is essential 'cuz if u r loved then you will love.
2. It ends the 'I-want-to-back-to-my-world' train of thought.
3. A Happy ending after a series of trials and tribulations in the transmigrated world is well received (since it adds a pinch of spice to the story).
4. Transmigrated worlds are in vogue!!! Since it satiate our fantasies. So, an orphan wouldn't think of goin' back as there will be no one waiting for them.~^^

 

Rather than a cheep trick, I would call it an easy out to avoid pointless drama. Why the **** is the author making us care about people that wont appear except in flashbacks (if that) and add nothing to the storyline? Worst of all is when the MC immediately starts looking for a way back and acts wronged if he can't find one. I hate MCs acting like a victim because they're "forced" to live in an exiting fantasy world with god like cheats and a harem of beautiful women.

 

It's a cheep trick for the author to start a story with no stakes. If no one wants the MC back, then the MC can be a blank state. If the MC is a blank slate, then he will have no history to define him or help shape him as a person, until something is needed and can conveniently be used as a memory of something that happened long ago. By keeping the MC a blank slate, readers will have an easier time associating their feelings with the MC and vicariously live their desires through the character.

 

Yeah... Sometimes it feels like it's done for plot convenience

 

In the case of isekai, yeah, totally, definitely a cheap trick.

It's also a cheap trick for stuff like D&D RP characters because it makes your character have no attachments nor anyone you need to worry about whatsoever.

I don't think orphan characters are bad per se, and it can still be interesting to play with them. About how they envy people with parents, about how they cared for some specific people at the orphanage, about how they suffered from a trauma in the day they became and orphan... Orphan characters really have a lot of wiggle room for themselves~

Just well, gotta actually play with those elements... But in an isekai as a way of making them having no attachments? Yeah, it's totally a cheap trick, but not really a bad one in all honesty. It gets its job done after all~

 

I mean.... I never thought of it as a cheap trick before, just a regular plot setting. I did kinda marvel at the abundance of orphan protagonists, but that's about it /shrug

Does cheap trick have a really negative connotation? Because that's what I'm feeling...

 

I'm a bit disappointed in this thread. Based on the thread title I thought this was going to be a rant about orphan protagonists to begin with. I was hoping for a whole bunch of naming names, and calling out Dickens for being the hackiest hack who ever hacked!

Anyways, the answer is no. And reason why it's no is that isekai protagonists who have strong ties to their previous life make for better characters. And the reason should be pretty obvious: a character with stronger ties would make for stronger tensions, and stronger tensions is great for all sorts of storytelling.

Now obviously not every book is interested in exploring this idea so you're not going to see it all that often. However, if a book doesn't want to address this idea, all it has to do is to not bring it up! Making the protagonist an orphan doesn't accomplish anything in this case. Usually the only time a protagonist being an orphan is relevant is to contrast his old life with his new life, but that's good writing. I can see bad authors creating orphan protagonists because they assume that it makes it easier to write, but it doesn't make any real difference. All in all, I don't know why anyone would assume that it's some sort of cheap writing trick.

It's supposed to have a negative connotation.

 

It's better than "I had a hobby of cooking in my past life" -> food revolution that amazes everyone

Or "I was an engineer" -> able to create an industrial revolution from nothing

Or "I watched a tv show one time" -> able to do literally anything