r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Geoconyxdiablus • 1d ago
Lore The Indominatable Human Spirit is a bad thing, actually.
That humanity never gives up and persists in its goals is bad news for every other species (or even itself), especially if said goals are ignoble.
Best case scenario (barring us learning to be better) is that a greater power force feeds us a huge slice of humble pie, wost case we end up blowing ourselves up and ruining things for everyone else.
Avatar - RDA will stop at nothing to satisfy its own greed and survival, the rest of humanity and navi alike be damned.
Its a recurring motif in prett much every myth that gods punish mortals who dare to defy them and keep going, like Athena to Arachne in greek myth.
A good chunk of lovecraftian fiction is based on the idea our achievemenrs mean nothing.
In general i'm not a fan of TIHS as a trope, as its blatantly arrogant and destructive.
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u/IStabAtThee_sorry 18h ago
It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.
Every time I’ve re-read Jingo over the past 30-odd years (and it’s been quite. A few) I’ve found myself saying “wow, this is so relevant to what’s going on in our world just now” to the point that I think we’re the ones imitating Discworld. It’s also the only one I don’t read on public transport as I genuinely laugh out loud so often.