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[remarried empress] it's always fun to have a favorite character that the translator and possibly at least some of fandom blatantly hates. Anyway, Rashta
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i had this feeling before, when i initially read the series, and i still have it now as i catch up again (as i often do with comics)
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but i'm just laughing because i, like, genuinely feel she is the most interesting character in this story so far
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and honestly find her situation very understandable, even though it is clearly causing her to clash against our MC empress
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and yet, there are so many little translator notes just absolutely shitting on her, and i know that there was some hate for her by some people I was in a discord with
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(haven't really looked into fandom at large tbh)
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even though, like... I feel that the hate is almost mostly because the story places our protagonist as The Empress, and since she's our protagonist, then Rashta is clearly the enemy, and you treat the enemy like trash, right?
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And yet no one else seems to get this sort of treatment besides, like, the emperor
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the noble who's blackmailing rashta, who obviously treated his slaves like shit, who's just a power and money hungry scumbag? who basically kidnapped a baby? who's exacerbating Rashta's feelings of needing to feel safe and in control?
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nothing
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duke elgy is clearly up to a whole lot of bullshit - and we're even told by the main love interest that he's a sketch bastard!! - and is clearly contributing to this already dramatic shitshow with everything he suggests to rashta and encourages her to do
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which of course obviously affects the protagonist
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and yet the translator notes snidely say he should wash his hand after he touches rashta's shoulder
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even though, like - just what with i know of the story at present - he's clearly more suspicious garbage than Rashta
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like Rashta's desires are actually just very simple - she wants to live a good life, not treated like a fucking slave, and have her baby be respected and not treated like her, and her connection to the Emperor is what she feels is key to all off it
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meanwhile, what the hell is the duke up to? who knows! still a mystery! still sketch!
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yes, rashta is pulling Some Shit in pursuit of her goals, but, like.... that's why I feel it's interesting? why she's interesting.
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She's profoundly selfish. For very understandable reasons!
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I'm trying to figure out how to put this, but so often character hate stems from a character getting treated differently than their actions deserve.
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I like Rashta as a character. I like her as a character meant to be hated. She's fulfilling the role she belongs to narratively in an interesting and dimensional way.
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Man, I don't even think "hated" should be the right word. But maybe that just is too strong a word imo, especially when the Empress honestly doesn't... really do anything for me, at least not yet. like, as a character.
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but maybe that's just because she's currently separate from the other characters I feel bring out more of her
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if anyone should be hated, it should be the emperor, whose motivations/etc have been less looked into and was just a jackass lmao, but fandom at least seems to get that
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Oh yeah, he's the worst.
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Honestly I feel more like the trashta meme is more of a running joke than anything.
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I think the interesting distinction with her are that her motives are sympathetic, but her actions are profoundly not.
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Or maybe I should say her goals and objectives.
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The emperor's goals and objectives are totally dickish, in comparison. Keep a mistress around and also keep his wife. His motivations have a certain amount of sense - needing an heir, for example, is itself pretty legit - but his goals are awful.
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it does make one wonder how Rashta would necessarily win though - like obviously throwing a duchess under the bus was a shit bastard move, but, like, even i feel that her options are limited here
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if that even makes sense - and 'win' isn't even the right word, lmao, but you get the idea
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She can't. There's no way.
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In her mind, if she becomes Empress, she wins, but in the long-term that would be proven wrong.
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I think "becoming the empress" isn't the goal, tho - at least it wasn't from the beginning
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and from the beginning, people were already against her and ready to treat her as, like, an enemy, and intruder, before she'd really done anything
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It changed when her child entered the equation. If not for her desire for her child to be legitimized, she could have just stayed very quiet, relied on the Emperor for everything including protection, and made no waves.
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fandoms love good black and white morality
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ie, look at minthe before she hit Hades. yes she made some poor choices but she wasn't evil. she was petty and afraid of losing her place in the world. but people still placed her right up there with actual awful Apollo.
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i don't like rashta that much and I find sovieshu the real villain. but fandom loves to put down a woman in the way, especially one who is a little selfish.
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yup
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like, honestly, I'm thinking everyone has contributed a little bit, in some way, to what a shitshow this situation is becoming (just from where I am in the series currently)
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I'll admit I've read translations of the novel far ahead so I'm less on rashtas side than I could be but /waves hand. it's all really sovieshus fault. he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. he thought of no one but himself and his legacy
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meanwhile, just me reading the comic lmao
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Sovieshit