I'm a fan of Hunter x Hunter, and one of the main villain of the show, Meruem, is really interesting to me.
For those who didn't watch (spoilers ahead), Meruem states he has no desire to fight the character, Netero, even though knowing very well he could easily kill him, and insists on having an open conversation with him. Netero, though, differently from your usual "hero," has no desire to talk, convinces the villain to fight him, and ends up getting they both killed in a somewhat cruel way.
Usually, I see the opposite: the hero, the protagonist, insisting on solving things peacefully.
I think this "inverted" trope is very interesting, and would enjoy to see if this was approached in other books.
by Constant-Pain1878
1 Comment
Okay i am going completely off topic because although i would be so into finding books like these but tbh meruem is such a complex and unique character. I don’t even know if there are possible comparisons. and i want to extend on the description a bit because i don’t agree entirely with your analysis of this story arc.
>! Meruem’s entire story is about being born for one goal and being the most powerful and sole decision maker and that becomes the crux of his entire conflict : he was born to kill and conquer and at first he’s all in but meeting Komugi shifts his personnality so badly “Why would his inferiors try to make him do something he has no interest in ? conquering the world and spreading his species across the world ? No time for that, i am finally facing an opponent that is superior to me in her field. I am no longer supreme and perfect and cannot move forward until i beat her. but she. keeps. improving. How can she improve and be even more powerful if i am supreme and she’s already more talented than I ?” !<
>! And then he meets netero. it’s not that netero is a challenge for the king as you said, Netero will die. and Meruem truly wants to kill him and is capable of doing so Netero admits it and confirms what gon told him, raw power wise, netero is beaten,” only his insane training and technique manages to keep him alive but he’s gonna die he loses limbs during the fight. and he loses. I just remembered also : Meruem is not using a nen ability during the fight. He wants to win the game of the perfect guard offered by Netero. it’s a game. a game he wins by killing Netero. And after he wins, Netero cheats to destroy him.!<
>! That’s the most important part of the story to me. Meruem fought honorably on Netero’s term, he let him chose the time and place, he gave him all the cards. Meruem fought honorably just like he face Komugi and he defeated Netero. Netero was not the Hero of the story. He was the antagonist. He was here to defear Meruem because of course you’d need to kill the most powerful being on the continent. A non-human creature so smart, cunning and influential that he can take over a full country and defeat almost all the strategy tabletop game players with ease and crush them one by one. Netero was on the correct side by ridding the world of such an abomination but he was behaving like an antagonist. not a hero.!<