Ever read a story that makes you think "This character shouldn't be able to do this." My meaning is: wouldn't someone else be a better pick for the job to get done? Look at the wheel of time's group. They complain, for most of three books, about anything, disrespect their elders (most of whom can kill them by talking), they are somehow friends despite treating eachother badly (during most scenes in those books). And I read it and think "there has to be better people for this... even better kids would do." So has any story made you think this; made you want to replace the lead? Place explain why?
Harry Potter. Harry is the lead made no sense what so ever. He was a moron that got people to kill. He refuses to listen to people who try to help him time and time again.(snape) His father was a better wizard than him. Snape was making magic spells when he was harry age. Harry father use to bully the guy who could make broken spells. If it wasn't for harry friends beside ron. He wouldn't have gotten through the 7 books.
I always wondered, about, how he beat Vonldimor in that last fight; he really didn't seem like he could. Is there any webnovel or series, whose mainlead you would switch?
Isn't that the problem with a lot of japanese shounen fantasy , if Isekai it has to be a high schooler , of course , the inhabitants of the world are inept by nature and need of kids to save their asses , then again if it needs to be someone from another world ,why summon a bunch of kids , and not trained soldiers or geniuses of diverse fields. And this is not a problem unique to Isekai , in all of japanese media (anime,manga ,light novels) you can see example of (ordinary) kids saving the world ,while adults are ,well , pretty much useless. It's understood that is about the demography (shows for kids or young men feature kids) , yet it is still nonsense, especially when they try to be serious.
THIS; is why I dropped, almost, all anime. They deliver the same message, and effed-up, by making type cast characters: tsnudere, braids of death, and whimpy mcs. And seriously, why are all main characters the same person? *Cough* chinese mcs too *cough*.
uh nope. You are just looking at the generic ones amongst shounen fantasy, try searching for better ones atleast
I'm not talking about quality though ,just about the inconsistency. Take Aldnoah Zero , Gundam Wing , Evangelion , I may like some and dislike others , but they are still interesting titles , that nonetheless still fall in "the kids that for X or Y are the only ones that can save the world." Which is kind of ridiculous. Of course there's works that are more serious: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes ,Berserk or Gundam from the UC universe, among many others.
I see. Yes indeed the tropes tend to weigh towards kids saving world pattern, a not so well thought out isekai slice of life or just straight up fanservice in most mass produced shows/novels/mangas. But every medium (easiest eg - generic xianxia with raping asshole mc or money minded kr mc) has piles of these generic shit. As readers it is our duty to select the gems among this.
Um, HP is the only one who could kill Voldemort. Not because he's a great duelist or anything, but because of prophecy. He's not called "The Boy Who Lives" for nothing. Why do you think Voldemort tries so hard to kill him?
But that isn't the point. The point is why is he the MC. He is an MC and really needs to be replaced. Like I said before. Snape throughout the entire story trying to help potter and what did Potter do. Throw his help back in his face. I understood in the first book why he did it, but after potter did it for the 90th time it got annoying.
Now I'm even more confused. Are you saying JK Rowling should've chosen another character as the MC? Why? If it's about his ability, then he's not really incompetent. He's actually very competent for a wizard his age. Him managing to cast a Patronus at such a young age is proof. Most wizards can't conjure a Patronus. As for Harry refusing Snape's help, you can't understand why he's refusing him because you're looking at it from the viewpoint of an all-knowing reader. Harry had no way of knowing Snape's true intention - not even with Legilimens, as Snape himself is a master in Occlumency, he could even hide his thoughts from Voldemort. Why would you trust someone who mistreats you (because that would be what it seems to Harry)? All in all, the argument that "the main character should be replaced because of X" is a weird one anyway. It implies that the reader knows more about the story than the author, the one who created the story. Which is absurd.
From the other characters. James Potter made HP at the same age look useless. The Patronus wasn't a hard spell most people could have used it. It was useless for the most part. If it isn't used against Death eaters than it was useless. LOL, snape did everything possible to save HP in the other books. EVERYTHING. yet, harry never ever trusted him. Also once again compare HP to snape. Snape was making spells at harry's age.
James Potter and his group are made out to seem a lot smarter - geniuses even perhaps. An Animagus form is difficult to obtain, and their ability to hide it from even Dumbledore is quite impressive. However, Harry Potter isn't a genius. Even when he was in Muggle schools, he was not allowed to exceed Dudley, and growing up like this, he likely never had that much ambition. The MC of a novel doesn't have to be OP. Harry Potter is more of an ordinary boy who had an extraordinary destiny thrown upon him. As for Snape, yes he was very smart when he was Harry's age, and he did try to help Harry a lot. However, it's hardly made clear to Harry that Snape is for sure on his side, and Snape did not protect Harry for Harry's sake; he protected Harry for Lily's sake - to preserve what remains of Lily in the form of Harry. Snape throughout the series is rather antagonistic towards Harry, and Harry does not know exactly what he's doing behind the scenes. Yes, Harry found out that Snape was protecting him at the end of Book 1, but he also finds out that Snape was a former Death Eater. Harry had no idea of Snape's feelings for Lily until as far as I can remember, right after Snape died and Harry saw his memories in the Pensive. Harry knew of no reason why Snape should be helping him. In the later books (5 and beyond), Voldemort has consolidated his forces and is much more powerful than he was in Book 1. Whereas in Book 1, Voldemort was at a severe disadvantage (relying only on Quirrel), Voldemort has the advantage (control of the Ministry of Magic, his Death Eater forces) in Book 7. To a normal person, it'd be obvious to pick the stronger side, and later in the story, Voldemort is the stronger side. Snape did do a lot to help Harry, but he did not do everything. In Book 5, Snape was supposed to teach Harry Occlumency. However, he stops after Harry accesses some of Snape's memories. Harry not learning Occlumency allowed Voldemort to create a false memory in Harry's mind, prompting Harry to go to the Ministry of Magic, which put Harry in danger. Harry is not the MC because he is OP. He is sorta the MC by chance. Voldemort picked him when he attacked Harry and his family that night.
It is not about the story, this is problem solving, and a discussion of the beleiveablity of a certain character to solve it. Harry, in terms of talent, was not qualified to solve the problem (voldemort). If it were Hermine, that would be beleiveable, because she is very into the study of magic; where as Harry can just do things, advance things, and doesn't even know his basics. Hermine studies, and doesn't get a realistic return in effort put in. And yes, a fan can know more about a story, even care more then the author. Look to DBZ's creator as evidence; he forgot Launch (as a character), Bulma and Trunk's hair color, gave a shit about power levels-leading to the ruin of the series.
Source for the bold part? Because JK Rowling stated the contrary. At this point, you're just talking out of your butt. Or perhaps you'd rather try one of the Unforgivable Curses on a dementor and see they have any effect (hint: they don't)? And I don't care if Snape makes a bazillion spells while he was still a five-year old (which he didn't) or if Harry was diagnosed with mental retardation and has the intelligence of a newborn baby, only capable of saying "boo-boo" (which he wasn't). Harry was chosen. Not Snape. And among the vehicles JK Rowling chose to deliver that message is that lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Yes, that scar is important. Go read the book again. I stated in my previous post, that Harry was pretty much the only person in Rowling's universe that is capable of solving the Voldemort problem. Not because of his intelligence, not because of his spell-making, not because of his physical prowess, but because of a prophecy. Oh, and can a fan care more about a story than the author? Sure. Many authors don't really care about their story. Can a fan remember more details of a story than the author. Oh, certainly. Some details may escape the author, maybe because it was such a minor detail that really has no bearing on the story, or the author simply didn't think it was important enough. But can a fan truly know more about a story than the author? No. Never. Let's take your example in this case. Suppose we say Bulma has a pink hair. Author forgot about it and later said she had green hair. But he then found out that he was mistaken. Now he could do one of two things: He could either fix it, and say her hair has always been pink, or he could retcon her and say her hair is green. Bad writing? Maybe, but it does fix the problem. Fans may start a riot, but if the author doesn't budge, then the story is as he says, not as what the fans say. After all, he is the creator of that story. It is his to do as he pleases.
You made no point, you were building to one, but you made no point. What? He can forget characters that made him millions, brag about how he pantsed passed a certain point in the story; and somehow, you think he cares? Do you really think that he knows more as a pantser? There is nothing more, then what is shown, because that is his style of writing. Like you pointed out, with hair color, Rowling should just slide the scar over to Hermine and make some sense of the victory. But, she has a similar problem in power scaling to dbs, people do stuff they shouldn't be able to (Harry).
Lord of the Rings. Frodo the mc of the trilogy just cant get his shit together. He was almost like dead weight in several instances. Samwise Gamgee was the one who really provided the most support in the journey.