Slavery

Slavery…is bad.

(only hot takes in this essay)

Slavery is a surprisingly common trend in fantasy mediaeval Isekai stories and it is a well known and quite hated cliché, and with good reason.

The history of slavery is far too long and in-depth and varied across history for me to properly talk about (nor am I qualified to talk about it), but it’s interesting in a sense that it features in so many mediaeval European-inspired fantasy stories for a few reasons.

Firstly, the practice and its form was quite different depending on the time period we are talking about. The more famous form is of course the one remembered from the time of the American Civil War largely thanks to explosive books that exposed the horrors of the trade, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin or Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

Secondly, while the institution of slavery can be traced all the way back to many of the first civilisations, it was vastly different in terms of rules, laws and how acceptable it was. In the Roman Empire, it was heavily regulated and was primarily made up of conquered peoples and prisoners of wars. In England, the slave trade was abolished in 1102, not that that would stop Britain in the colonial period from ‘employing’ slaves. Britain would eventually abolish the practice properly in 1807, preferring to use child labour instead, but some colonies such as those controlled by the East India Company didn’t let them go until 1838.

Poland forbade the practice in the 1400s; Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty tried to outlaw slavery as early as 10AD-ish, but it was unpopular with the upper classes and thus he was killed. Laws were passed throughout mediaeval history that would change the landscape of the practice, such as when Pope Gregory the 1st banned Jews from owning Christian slaves, or when Gwangjong of Goryeo passed the Slave and Land Act which freed an unknown number of slaves. Charles the V of Spain made great strides in dismantling the slave trade of both Africans and Native Americans in Europe and the Americas.

During the Crusades, slavery wasn’t uncommon in the Holy Lands and regions like Asia Minor, but they were mainly prisoners of war captured by either the Christians or the Muslims. Famously, the great Salah ad-Din took many slaves after Balian of Ibelin surrendered Jerusalem to him. Saladin promised that any man, woman or child who could pay their ransom would be escorted safely from the Holy Lands to Christian countries and those who could not would be enslaved - about 15,000 couldn’t afford to pay in the end, though they were not mistreated according to sources.

Throughout the many Crusades in the Holy Lands, an untold number of Christians and Muslims were enslaved; it is an untold number as many were never heard from again, making it difficult to know for certain how many were enslaved or where they were taken to.

…While this is a little uncomfortable to touch upon for some, it’s also important to talk about Slavery in the form we most see it common today - as a fetish or sexual fantasy.

BDSM stands for Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism and Masochism (...4 letters, 6 words…makes sense) and it’s a fairly common fetish whether its on the lighter or heavier end of the spectrum, and we won’t go into more detail on this than necessary.

But Master/Slave style sexual fetish contracts and roleplay aren’t uncommon, neither are things like roleplaying as maids/butlers, a servant/master relationship - and there’s nothing wrong with that (Not going to lie, I feel a little awkward even explaining this, but it’s important to the essay, dammit!).

So, what relevance does this have to do with slavery in Isekai?

Well, depending on the story and whom you ask, a lot.

There are a lot of people who like to be in this style of relationship, either as a top or bottom, and there are people who like a sweet voiced, cute girl to call them ‘Master’ - again, we don’t kink shame here, you do you.

Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World (henceforth known as Harem Labyrinth) is the full realisation and embracing of that very fetish - a guy finds himself reborn in another world and wants a harem of slaves to have sex with. And he does just that. Simple enough premise and execution, so if that’s your thing, rejoice.

It’s definitely not just this story that fully embraces this fetish either. Astro King - Summoned as a Hero, I Turned Out to Be Low Rank, so I Made a Maid Harem! (what a mouthful of a title - henceforth called Astro King) sees our MC and all the guys in his class reborn as heroes who gain powers, and I’m not joking when I say this, by having sex and gaining skills from clearing dungeons. As for what happened to the girls from his class…well, they, uh, they…they aren’t heroes but they’re summoned…and mind controlled…and r****d by men in this other world, including some of the other guys from their old class…including our MC at one point too.

The MC in Astro King doesn’t like the idea of other people having sex with the maids/slaves that he likes, so he earns money and prestige to buy them and make them exclusive servants of him, including two girls from his old class, one of whom used to have a crush on him…before she had her body forcefully taken over, taken against her will, her sanity basically destroyed and now she’s unable to speak or properly express herself due to the trauma.

What I think makes this even worse is that our MC speculates as much and just says “Yeah, let’s not think about it.”

…Uh, no! Let’s think about it!

…It honestly gets worse - somehow.

Turns out, the girl that used to have a huge crush on him was conscious in a separate world watching the people use and abuse her brainwashed body, and she was about to disappear until she saw the MC having sex with her body. Then, and dear God, she’s happy to have been impregnated by our MC just before she disappears for good, saying that she was happy that in any form she was embraced by the man she loved AND, just as she disappears…that coming to this other world was truly wonderful.

…

…

…

I honestly asked myself “Who the hell is this for?!” with every chapter of Astro King, but I read the whole thing just to see what the hell its deal was…the things I do for this essay.

Now, being fair, these examples are on the extreme end of the spectrum when it comes to slavery in Isekai stories and are written more as erotica or smut than actual stories with plot, narrative, development and themes.

So, let’s go back to the beginning and see what brought slavery into the modern Isekai story more than-

Oh, it was Mushoku Tensei?

…

Is that a shock at this point?

Well, jokes on you because it isn’t entirely Mushoku Tensei’s fault!

Honestly, it’s harder to trace the origin of this cliché than others like the fiery red-head tsundere or joining the adventurer’s guild.

Yes, Mushoku Tensei features slavery and yes Rudeus doesn’t really care - it doesn’t affect him or the people he knows, it’s not legal in every country, and the types of slaves range from the extremes listed above to just to pay off debts. In the story, slavery only really factors into a handful of plot points.

The first is when Rudeus needs an easy way of getting between continents and so he pretends to help some slavers move cargo, only to betray them and free the slaves he can with Rujerd’s help. Later, he goes to buy one with a few friends at school to help make figures to boost the Superd race’s reputation and buys a cute little Dwarf child called Julie, and basically becomes one of her 2 new dads. He and Zanoba don’t do anything but raise her with love and care, though Julie does end up having to get involved in Rudeus’s eccentricities.

Aside from a few other mentions throughout the story, slavery isn’t a big recurring plot point or theme in the series - it is just something that exists in its world and that Rudeus isn’t trying to change, both due to his own personal goals and also because it’d be difficult for one man to end slavery alone.

W-well…it does appear later again now that I think about it, but when it does, Rudeus is basically buying a good friend of his to stop her being sold so that makes it okay?

At the very least, it makes it a bit better than most of the stories I’ll be touching upon in this section.

So then, why do so many other Isekai stories have slavery and seemingly make it worse or weirder than it should be?

Honestly, I can’t say for certain, but it’s far too common for its own good.

Whether or not Mushoku Tensei is at fault for popularising the slavery trend/sub genre, both in and outside of the Isekai genre, is unknown but it is definitely not the worst offender when it comes to the cliché; not by a long shot.

The Rising of the Shield Hero might have one of the worst cases…well, not at first at least. It makes sense for its protagonist, Naofumi, to resort to buying a slave to fight for him when he learns he cannot physically do damage at his low level, and because he’s thought to be a potential r**ist so no one wants to work with him. It makes sense later that he keeps good business ties with the Slaver too, because he’s often willing to do Naofumi discounts on items and provide him with gear and information from time to time. He is a good connection in a sense for the hated hero to hold onto.

What isn’t okay is when the series starts acting like slavery is a wonderful thing.

You probably remember the famous moment in the Season 2 premiere when Raphtalia happily asks the newest member of their team to become a slave as if it’ll be a good thing for her to do, and that’s not okay even with the in-universe justification.

In the story, we learn that Naofumi gets certain skills/powers/abilities from owning slaves and they, in turn, get stuff from being his slaves…which is just a very weird dynamic to have be a centre point of your story, made even weirder when you remember what Raphtalia’s age is…and how the Web Novel of this story ends.

Jesus…

No spoilers, but…shivers.

In Black Summoner, Kelvin’s barely in the isekai world for a week before being like “Well, time to buy a slave.” Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody has our MC buy some girls who were being abused by their owner - I Have A Slow Living In Different World (I Wish) has its MC get a handful of female slaves, at first to pay a monetary debt they owe him and then when he buys them to ‘save’ them or because he likes them, and he treats them as people, not slaves.

Living in Another World by Taking Commissions ~A Relaxing and Comfy Life of The Restoration Magician's Staffing Agency~ has its MC set up multiple business using slave labour that he ‘saves’ by buying cheap, disable or ‘defective’ products and healing them with magic, allowing them to work and move again, and also earning their near eternal loyalty to him.

As weird as that premise might seem, it’s made stranger still when the MC is one of the overworked ‘black company’ workers that often seem to star in so many Isekai stories.

Yes - the guy who was overworked and treated like a slave sets up businesses…with slaves as the employees.

But hey, he heals them so…there’s that?

Seirei Gensoki has human traffickers and slavers in it too, and the MC, Rito, isn’t too bothered by it, but it never treats slavery as a good institution. The only reason Rito doesn’t care is because it’s A) normal in the isekai world and he’s lived there for many years before ‘recalling’ his past life and B) it’d get him into trouble with the law potentially if he did something to offend the people running it. He does, in the end, save some people from the slavers, but only because he recognises them as Japanese people and wants to figure out what’s going on…well, I’m paraphrasing and summarising but that’s sort of the gist of the situation.

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord starts with its protagonist, Diablo, being dragged into the world of a game he once played and two girls try to enslave him, but the spell rebounds and enslaves them, though there’s few scenes where anything really comes as a result of this. A few fanservice-y scenes, the ol’ Nasuverse skinship to regenerate mana (but more SFW than the Fate VN) but that’s about it…and the girls sometimes refer to him as Master I guess? And he turns the demon lord loli into a slave to protect her from being killed for something she did whilst out of control.

Skill Taker's World Domination - Building a Slave Harem from Scratch - I don’t need to say anything else, bar its title.

Due to Their Appreciation and Expectations, I Can't Exploit My Slaves has an MC who actively wants a sex slave, but is an introverted shy boy who is quite weak, stupid, shortsighted and honestly gets too embarrassed to tell them his true desires, so he pulls a Cid Kagenou and lies, saying he bought them to bring about world peace and eventually he buys dozens more to help with his new goal. Unlike other series in this section however, this is entirely played up for laughs and isn’t a story to be taken seriously in the slightest.

You're The Only Slave Girl is a cute slice of life story set in modern Japan after a slave from another world suddenly appears in the MC’s apartment, so it’s the day to day life of him trying to teach her to live a better life all while being unable to speak the same language.

But hey, it’s not only male MCs who dabble in slavery for all these types of reasons.

Villainess Are Destined to Die’s Penelope buys a slave for her own rather selfish reasons in order to get a loyal dog, and even tells him as much. While she herself is not interested in an intimate relationship with him beyond needing to clear the game she’s trapped in, their relationship is definitely portrayed as an overtly sexual one in nature.

As much as I adore Roxana, there’s a similar initial dynamic between her and the female lead’s older brother that’s been captured by her family, but that’s her putting on an act to deceive her family and hide her real intentions of saving him. That still doesn’t stop the artist from showing off some sexualised images of a Master/Servant relationship with a topless strapping 6-pack male lead with a collar and chain, and blushing.

The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated In Another World As An Aristocrat treats slavery as fully evil, but this feels like a rarity in the genre. The anime original opening scene shows our MC and his friends taking down a big slaving ring, freeing the enslaved and killing all the buyers, guards and the ringmaster herself which was super satisfying and refreshing to see. Likewise, World’s Finest Assassin’s Maha and her friends were originally forced into being sex workers until the MC saved them and, again, there is a good amount of catharsis that comes about as a result of seeing the girls saved and the bastards responsible slaughtered.

After looking at all these examples, after scraping through dozens of titles to find examples of slavery in Isekai, what can I say is the conclusion to draw from all of them? Why is slavery such a cliché in the genre, despite how many people dislike it or roll their eyes at it?

Honestly, I think the primary reason might just be for the fetish fantasy, but that isn’t the whole story.

It’s an easy way of creating a party of heroes/protagonists.

Think about it - really, think about all the examples of slavery in Isekai I just listed and really consider it for a moment.

I already said that Shield Hero justified it by having Naofumi being desperate and alone; Black Summoner’s Efil was an Elven slave and the first non-monster member of Kelvin’s crew. Diablo was summoned alone but gained 2 female slaves mere minutes after being summoned in How Not to Summon a Demon Lord.

It’s a similar story for Death March, Slow Life and Dorei Harem - that’s what I think plays a big part of it.

But it also goes a little bit further than that - it’s a quick way of establishing the Suspension Bridge Effect; a shortcut to friendship or romance.

The hero saves the damsel in distress, her loyalty and devotion to her saviour and then forming an easy bond to start adventuring with and grow as they travel together.

Slavery is, in a sense, a plot device that might actually link to the worst part of many stories in the genre; it’s a shortcut to skip over the more intriguing parts of the story to speed things along.

Who needs to know who the protagonist is when they can be any and everyone?

Why do we need to see meaningful connections and bonds when slavery can create them at the click of your fingers?

Who needs to spend time looking for and recruiting the right party members when you can just buy them?!

Perhaps it really is just that simple of a reason.

I know that I spent a good amount of this section speaking of the more fetish-like nature of the concept, but that was a slight misdirection of sorts.

Slavery is a shortcut, simple as.

When the author is stuck wondering how 2 characters meet, have one be enslaved and have one save/buy/meet them.

Hell, even the recently airing An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride anime perfectly demonstrates what I mean - there is more to Nephie’s enslavement that is relevant to the plot and her character arc, but it does clearly display what I mean.

How did Zagan and Nephie meet?

She was being sold at an auction; he instantly fell for her.

Why does she stay with him?

At first, because she’s his slave, though that does quickly change.

There’s also My Childhood Friend Who I Used to Train Swordsmanship With Became a Slave, so I, as an S-Rank Adventurer, Decided to Buy and Protect Her which has not just its setup, but also the fact that she gets aroused due to the cursed collar around her neck, which drives the 2 main characters into a physical relationship when they both (secretly) like each other.

I know this answer will probably annoy a good number of you, but I think that is the simplest truth about the cliché - it’s a shortcut to getting the plot started, nothing more, even at the expense of putting off a good amount of the audience.

Don’t think it works?

Well, how many people still watch and read Shield Hero to this day?

(and even after the stupid, not set-up bullshit about Raphtalia’s past that comes at the end of Season 3 - that was the reason I dropped those books and never looked back, stupid fucking revelation!)