does the depiction of the empress from How to Win My Husband Over ever feel weird to you? i mean, her, her daughter and Cesare are the only dark-skinned people in the manhwa, there might be a dark-skinned knight in Izek's group as well - they are all either villains or people who practically worship the main characters. i don't even see why her character, heavily implied to be a romani slave at first, was really needed. it's not like she had a son/they live in a matriarchial society where women get the throne
Thank you Anon for this ask! And yes, I really think it's weird and will use this post to LOUDLY voice out how I'm heavily against this element of How to Get My Husband on My Side.
I think it's a good time to mention on how i think it's pretty fucking weird that the two villains/antagonists we have are dark skinned especially considering the time era we are basing this off (the renaissance) but i think i'm gonna only talk abt the Queen and her daughter, Arianne (Cesare is a whole can of worms i will open in another day)
SPOILERS FOR HOW TO GET MY HUSBAND ON MY SIDE (MANHWA AND NOVEL)
It's heavily implied that she's Romani/or an ethnic group based of the romani (and if i remember properly was mentioned that she was from a nomadic tribe) considering how one of her scenes in the manhwa have her wearing romani culture inspired clothing
(As for her dancer attire, I cannot provide a stance on it because I don't have much knowledge in their cultural dances, I'll just leave this part for someone who's more acknowledgable in this field to add in)
Now I personally think that the Queen and Arianne are horribly demonized and dehumanized by both the narrative and the fandom on its whole.
Also i think it's fucking insane that the Queen was never named throughout the entirety of the story but her bum ass husband was.
Like if I were to say something, it's easy to say that a lot of people within this fandom jump on the train to hate on a character without properly dissecting their writing and motivations (i vaguely remember during the hype for HTGMHOMS, the fans were using racial motivated wording when it comes to insulting the Queen because she's the one who poisoned Enzo in order to bring Ruby over back to Cesare's side)
Now here we're going to novel spoilers, quick disclaimer that I haven't read the novel nor do I plan to because I am a PROUD Spice&Kitty hater but do take my words with a grain of salt and I am happy to accommodate and edit my post when new accurate spoilers surface but this is based off what i've heard in passing.
I find it fucking insane that Arianne was exiled.
Apparently in the novel, after this entire ordeal, the Queen was executed or punished at least(?) And King Faenol out of guilt and shame of what his ex wife has done decided then and there to EXILE his only daughter and strip of her titles before naming Iske his heir (who later on becomes king)
It's crazy how little grace they were given by the author the moment the Queen finished her part in the story of conveniently knowing magic to bring Ruby over to Cesare.
Like i personally thought when I read this, I thought that it just made it seem like the author decided that Arianne was simply an obstacle in the way of Iske and Ruby's happiness instead of a child who was trapped in the crossfires and oppressed by the people around her due to her ethnic features standing out.
The fact that the author made this entire build up on how Arianne was a lonely child due to everyone around her seeing her as a misfit and the stain to the Royal lineage just because her mother came from commoner backgrounds and is someone that doesn't apply to European beauty standards to show that she was able to open up to the people around her thanks to Ruby's help only for her to be thrown away is crazy.
I had an argument a few years back regarding this topic (which never ended properly because the other party blocked me when I called them out on their racism) but one of their arguments was that it's common for parent and child in historical settings to suffer consequences of the parent together
Which i mean, yeah...? But this is also a fantastical world and i've seen other manhwas with children of villains who wasn't treated horribly and thrown away by the narrative as quickly as Arianne was...
And I find it super suspicious how Arianne's storyline was conveniently wrapped up by her mother's crimes just so the beloved scary alpha male lead of this story gets to become king like every single manhwa out there has the ML usually becoming a king or a duke 🤔
Ok put your tinfoil hats really quick this is some next level possible bullshit coming out of my head
But i personally think that a lot of people in this community would voice their criticism towards this if only the Queen and Arianne had eurocentric features and was painted as the main characters of the story than simply as just antagonists or obstacles for the actual main characters
Like it's crazy how differently two characters from the similar story background and (kinda) characteristics are seen differently by this fandom
These two are:
Dancers who travel the world and met their spouse during one of their shows
Would go on to start a relationship with said spouse and have a daughter with him
Due to their background, their daughters's positions are constantly being questioned by the people within an empire or a kingdom
But only one is considered as a free-spirired, kind and caring individual who did a noble sacrifice in giving birth to her daughter and watching over said child even after her death and the other is seen as an ungrateful, traitorous bitch who sided with the big bad of the story therefore she isn't redeemable even though she also did it for the sake of her daughter (oh and her daughter will pay for the price too just so we can put our beloved main protagonists on a throne even tho they're both already in one of the highest seats in the kingdom 😍😍)
I think the post is enough to voice out on how much I don't like this manhwa and how much I HATEEEEE Spice&Kitty and maybe one of these days I will make a full length rant post about Spice&Kitty and a deep dive on why i hate them and their writing
God speed both of you, mayhaps in another life you both are with your actual people and your community and not surrounded by a bunch of aristocratic assholes who objectifies your identity, secretly looks down upon you and will throw you under the bus at their own convenience.
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POST CONTAINS SENSITIVE TOPICS SUCH AS TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT, OVERWORKING, CHILD LOSS/MISCARRIAGE AND DEATH
Let me preface my thoughts by saying that I feel like a lot of people within this community doesn't respect the artists behind their favorite works.
As of recently, it's been announced that Spoon, artist behind the Forgotten Field and Who Made Me A Princess will be taking a hiatus on July 1st and then followed up by a release schedule of one episode weekly for three weeks and one week of break for them.
After this announcement, many voiced their dissatisfaction over this, saying that this is annoying and comparing to the release schedule of Under the Oak Tree which is still releasing after six years of serialization.
Now i understand certain point of views, perhaps some of these are fans of Spoon from WMMAP and underwent the long wait for them to release the side stories and now seeing that the artist is going on a hiatus, it gives them a sense of uncertainty if they will ever see more of Spoon's works in the near future.
But most, especially one who believes manhwa artists are 'privileged' for taking a hiatus, need to be reminded that artists are still humans at their core. Art takes time to create. And we have to take note that this industry is not only challenging but practically life threatening.
One of the more known cases of overworking during production has to be Juniljus, the artist behind Roxana/The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother
Juniljus was overworked by Kakao (allegedly?) to the point of suffering a miscarriage. This caused her to announce an indefinite hiatus on Roxana and she hasn't updated on any social medias since 2022
I hope Juniljus continues her journey through healing and continue putting her wellbeing above all else going forward on.
This entire situation could be read on this reddit post
OR
You could head down over to Juniljus's twitter page and read her statement regarding the situation
Another huge case within the opposite of this industry is DUBU of Solo Leveling
Now this is just speculation, take this with a grain of salt, i am only quoting what others have said and i might be wrong so i apologize in advance and willing to take anyone who's knowledgeable in this situation to give a better perspective on this
But in 2022, DUBU otherwise known as Jang Sungrak died to a long time chronic illness. Some fans and individuals within the industry speculate that this was due to poor working conditions during the serialization of Solo Leveling especially with how many long time fans would joke on how many times the artist took break from working on his manhwa.
And there could be more that remain unreported.
CONCLUSION
Though it is disheartening having to wait for a indefinite time for beloved stories to be told in a form of media accessible (trust me i've lived through waiting a long time for Under the Green Light : In Dreams to return). It has to be taken in account that artists are still humans that have limits to their own bodies.
No, they are not 'privileged' for taking hiatus, they are humans who has set their boundaries. They are humans who are risking losing their job, livelihood and months or years of work simply for prioritizing their health above all else.
No matter what, nothing takes precedence over human life.
Manhwa readers who genuinely think slavery isn't a big deal and that these works shouldn't be critized for involving such topics in the name of upholding their beloved MCs or doing so only to paint the slaves as some kind of villains to their oppressors or simply extensions to move the story along, that these are simply 'fiction', should go to hell
So i recently started reading this really dark thriller/psychological horror fantasy manhwa and i thought one of the characters really remind me a lot of how people would redesign Rashta to look more accurate to how she's depicted in the novels
MANHWA NAME : ETAPA
(Check the content warnings if you want to check this manhwa out bcos it's a really dark manhwa)
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You should talk about how Izek had to mistreat Freya in the manhwa, when I don't think that ever happened in the novel. The fandom overlooked all the misogynistic behavior he displayed in those episodes simply because he was "protecting" Ruby.
Sorry for take so long to answer this anon, i've been thru a rough stage in life that I won't get into but here i am answering ur request finally 😭 and also gonna give my a blog a little redesign once I finish going thru the questions in my inbox
TW FOR MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, NON-CONSENSUAL KISSING, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
POST MIGHT INCLUDE NOVEL SPOILERS FOR HTGMHOMS
And also quick disclaimer to take my words with a grain of salt bcos like i haven't read this manhwa after season two ended lol
I unfortunately won't be using any photos or screenshots on this because I would do anything but revisit this fuckass manhwa but what I think the incident you're referring to was during the arc when Cesare visited the kingdom for some kind of tournament.
In which Freya and a couple of witnesses (Ellen, Ivan) saw Cesare forcing himself onto Ruby and kissing her forcibly in the courtyard during a confrontation which caused Freya to immediately storm the knights' quarters and tell Izek about what happened and Izek using violence on her to push her away (?)
I might be wrong on this because the last time i read this was before season 3 even came out and I don't think i'm planning to revisit this manhwa until it properly ends
I'm not going to pick apart this scene exactly but more so going to go into how I feel about Izek as a character and how i feel about how the fandom perceives him.
I. HATE. IZEK. VAN. OMERTA.
HATE. IS NOT ENOUGH OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT.
But anyway one of my biggest gripes about Izek and the HTGMHOMS community is how much he is put on a high pedestal despite being such a nothingburger character like let me tell you how much it frustrates me every single time I see someone praise his character simply for being the one to treat Ruby better than anyone else did when he's pretty much a dickwad to everyone else around him. (And this is another pet peeve in the manhwa community is how easily a man who treats the female lead well is treated like the second coming of Christ even though he treats everyone around him like they're simply trash)
I personally dislike his character because it's literally the recycled trope of "i hate anyone other than my woman" including his family apparently and specifically his son Aloysha from what I heard from novel spoilers he literally fights with this kid over Ruby's attention which is deadass weirdddd
Yk i kinda get his motivation for being distant with Ruby in the early days of their marriage with his trauma regarding his mother's death and disorder and how he came to love the current Ruby but I can't wrap my head around how he came to love the original Ruby especially how she caused the deaths of his father and sister like I get that the original Ruby was forced to do so but I wanna see more what happened behind the scenes rather than just a few small interactions or maybe i'm wrong
Anyway sorry for such a short post anon but I genuinely don't want to talk about this character anymore because everytime I try to open a discussion about his character, a lot of people will disagree with me and would deadass argue with me for days on end until they get me to like Izek so i think i won't be talking much abt him from a discussion standpoint
Part 2 of this maybe i'll make more bcos i am so happy so many people agreed on my last pet peeve post
Ok for this one this is specific but i also don't have examples of this but it's whenever the ML becomes a father by the end of manhwa and if he has a son, he would start treating the kid like he's a love rival for FL's love and would get jealous if FL shows the son more attention
I don't really have any examples for this because so far all the rofan manhwas i've read have their MLs become good dads or they would just have daughters but this is just based of novel leaks I've heard
I think Heinrey from Remarried Empress did this with his son in the novel
And from How to Get My Husband on My Side/How to Win My Husband Over, i think Izek fought with his son Aloysha for Ruby's attention and affection (grown ass man wtf r u doing)
I heard originally this is how Dylan from Taming of The Tyrant treated his son too in the novel, not sure if it's changed for the manhwa (i only read the manhwa)
(Since i don't have example picture i'll just throw in a random reaction pic)
If i'm wrong abt the novel spoilers pls do tell me and if you have any examples of this trope feel free to talk about it here
