T*ash of the Count’s Family Chapter 776 Discussion

Before I read it, I heard a lot of good things about tr*sh of the Count's Family. I can vaguely remember that it was said to be part of the holy trinity of Korean action fantasy web novels alongside ORV and one other that I can't remember exactly (either SSS-Class su*cide Hunter or The S Classes I Raised). I don't know if there actually exists a holy trinity as such, but the point is that TCF is held in high regard.

Now that I've read it, honestly, I don't know how this novel has a 4.5/5 rating. It's really overrated. I mean, it's pretty decent sure, but it's nowhere near that good. I would say this deserves more of like, a 4.2/5 or maybe 4.3/5 if I'm really generous, but NU doesn't let you put decimal ratings. I would never compare this to ORV, ORV is a masterpiece while TCF is just good.

I liked the characters a lot. Cale Henituse is a likable protagonist, and it's entertaining to see him interact with all of the other characters which is a good thing. There is definitely a noticeable lack of character development. Nobody really seems to change very much long term. The only characters I can think of that change perceptibly are Alberu and Eruhaben. The rest stay the same for the entirety of part 1, more or less. This is a tolerable flaw since none of the characters are initially unlikable, but it's still a flaw.

I find the idea of a weaker MC somewhat refreshing even if it has been done before. I know it's not for everyone, but so many other novels have their MCs be action heroes that surpass everybody else and it's nice to see something different every now and then. Cale being forced to sacrifice himself is something I like, but I think it happens so often that it gets a little old. As for the other characters, it doesn't feel like they grow stronger at all. Similar to character development, power progression is practically imperceptible. We don't have a benchmark to measure a character's strength. The only time a character grows visibly stronger is when they obtain a new power, such as a new ancient power or a different ability. Otherwise, it might as well not happen. Even at the end of part 1, I can hardly tell you how much stronger Choi Han is than when he started besides the new ability he gains. Spoiler

For example, the necromancer Mary is said to grow stronger in the novel, but never performs any feats of strength that would impress upon the reader that she has really grown. This is the same for Ron, Beacrox, Choi Han, Raon Miru, Toonka, Witira, Archie, On, Hong, Hannah, literally everybody besides Rosalyn and Lock. Only those two display growths in strength that don't come from obtaining some new power like Choi Han's inherited black yong or a new ancient power.

[collapse]

The antagonist of part 1 is a spoiler so, unless you want to hear about it, don't spoil yourself. Spoiler

The White Star is a creative antagonist. The idea of a man willingly embracing a curse of reincarnation in order to gain power and ascend to godhood is novel. He's also really intimidating in the beginning. TCF does a good job of showing off the power of the White Star the first time he appears. He overpowers everyone including Choi Han and the ancient dragon Eruhaben all at once. However, over time he just becomes way less of a threat since he loses almost every time. It almost seems like he gets weaker, even as he canonically grows stronger. In the end of part 1, as the White Star becomes complete, Cale still 1v1s him and and wins, TWICE. The White Star literally gets nerfed.

[collapse]

I really feel like this story could have just ended with part 1. Part 2 is pretty unnecessary and kind of feels like when the MC of a cultivation novel ascends to a new realm and just does it all again or when the MC of a shounen manga defeats an enemy that they've been fighting for a long time and it gets revealed that that enemy was part of some unknown organization and they were actually one of the weaker members. If part 1 just didn't bother introducing some of the new stuff to tie into part 2 and finished up the last of its plot threads, it would have been a perfectly acceptable ending. Spoiler

All that stuff about hunters and single-lifers could have been left out of the novel entirely. There wasn't really a reason to introduce those new concepts. The story could've been self-contained and ended with the defeat of the White Star. It didn't need to be a story about Gods and Demons.

[collapse]

Overall, I'd still recommend the story even though it has problems. It's still a fun, pretty light hearted novel to skim over the course of 3 days and immediately forget all the details.

Edit: It looks like there may be a little misunderstanding in the above review about what I was referring to when I talked about "character development". Well, who knows, maybe they weren't talking about me? Anyways, I stated that "nobody really seems to change much long term". This is talking specifically about long term character development. You see, there are generally two types of character development. By far, the most common type is the short term development. This is the kind seen mostly in this novel. What I'm talking about is the change that happens in a character over the course of one or maybe two arcs that focus on that character. This change happens rapidly, and, if the character in question is a recurring character, they never really change again even after hundreds of chapters. A prime example is Raon Miru. Raon changes very rapidly in the arc following his rescue, and then is set in stone from chapters 200 to the end of part 1. The same thing for the cats On and Hong. This is... fine, but it's a lesser form compared to long term character development.

Long term character development happens over the course of hundreds of chapters, very gradually. It is fairly uncommon. That being said, long term character development does still happen even if it's a bit rare in this novel. As I said before, Alberu and Eruhaben undergo long term character development. I totally forgot about the half-blood, and yes, he does develop too. If you really want to stretch it, you can say Ron and Beacrox do too barely, but that's going too far for me.

However, it is simply untrue that Hannah develops as a character. She's the same person the entire novel, even during the portion that focused on her. Her personality does not change. Her allegiance does, sure, but this does not come due to any growth or change in character traits. She joins Cale because of external factors. It is not as if she decided to join Cale, she was forced to. There's no development here, don't conflate external change with internal change. If you changed your job, that does not mean you changed your personality. It could just mean that you needed a new job.

The same can be said of Cale Henituse, the main character. He doesn't change throughout the entirety of part 1. The following will have spoilers about the past of the main character. Spoiler

You cannot say in good faith that Cale Henituse develops as a person. At least, not throughout the story. He behaves exactly the same at chapter 750 as in chapter 150. I know the novel has an entire arc where he goes into an alternate dimension and "overcomes his trauma" and saves all the people that died. But, seriously, ask yourself this: Did any of that even matter? The novel can say Cale overcame his trauma, but what really changed about him? He acts the same, thinks the same... he IS the same. If Cale, for instance, stopped sacrificing himself after resolving his trauma or changed anything about the way he acted, we could say that short term character development happened. A big part of this problem is the way Cale is written. He's too stoic. He's like the epitome of the toxic masculine "men are supposed to show no emotion" notion. There is only one instance in the entire novel when Cale shows any emotion besides anger or annoyance, and that's when he wakes from the God of Death's dream with Lee Soo Hyuk. He cries. I thought that would have been such a good emotional moment, but the novel has to reinforce the fact that Cale is not actually sad, just that he's crying for some reason. Why bother? Why can't Cale be sad? Why can't he cry? In that scene, Rosalyn noted that it would've been normal to see Cale cry out of anger instead of sorrow. Why? Cale is human too, so he should be written like a human. And humans get sad, humans cry. Humans aren't cold, collected robots. This stoicism that Cale is afflicted with rejects any change that comes to him. Perhaps part 2 will open Cale up a little more and allow for some development, but I doubt it.

In addition, the original Cale Henituse (the one that inhabited the body before Kim Rok Soo took over) does indeed change from who he originally was, sure. But that doesn't count. We don't see any of it happen, we just get to see the starting point and the end. Imagine if a character in a novel is shown in the beginning, and then once again in the end and that character has changed a lot by then. We could say that they went through a lot of character development, but since we haven't seen ANY of it, it doesn't matter at all and therefore counts for nothing.

[collapse]

Was this addendum necessary? Probably not, but I feel that information should be clarified when possible and I felt like doing this and no one stopped me.