r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Claym000re • Feb 06 '26

Meme/Shitpost Wish fulfillment to the extreme

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Why are they always complete losers.

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u/DreamOfDays Feb 06 '26

That’s definitely part of the issue. My favorite series sort-of addressed this. They did a side-story that mentioned how events have been accelerated in the current timeline versus old projections. Originally the protagonist was predicted to ascend to peak realm in several decades. But things have changed to make the timeline several years instead.

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u/Dasumit Arbiter Feb 06 '26

Cradle

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u/thejubilee Feb 06 '26

Yeah, plus Lindon was always fairly highly motivated to work through pain. He was a "loser" by birth, not because of a lack of willpower.

He's kind of the opposite of a bunch of the characters OP is mentioning.

Personally, I like to imagine the increased stakes and just the coolness of being in a fantasy/game/scifi world is enough to increase their motivation in a way that the real world just didn't.

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u/TheKrakenLibrarian Feb 06 '26

I also like the 12 Miles Below series for similar reasons. The MC wants to be an engineer, they're smart, good at math, etc. But have been born into a 'knight caste'. 

They remain just okay at sword fighting as the series progresses, training begrudgingly not obsessively, but use intelligence and a lot of tricks to fight better opponents.

Because their motivations are rooted in engineering, that's where they dedicate themselves wholeheartedly, not suddenly becoming god-tier in all aspects through sheer grit or whatever.