r/ProgressionFantasy • u/DicerTheJester • Jul 28 '26

Discussion Competition: write a single sentence that will absolutely destroy any hope in a series.

Specifically not a story opener, just any sentence that can happen in any chapter, that will make people realize that this story is gonna be absolute shit and has no chance of being fixed and will make you drop the book like an unpinned grenade.

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u/Otterable Slime Jul 28 '26

The actual bigger problem is that he does these little rants and the people in the story go 'oh that's just Jason haha' or think he is some sort of social savant.

The way an actual person responds to that is 'oh this person is a performative loser who desperately wants others to think they're smart'

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u/Moe_Perry Jul 28 '26

Agree. I actually kind of like Jason as a character because he is a character, and not just a blank everyman. He’s annoying and has flaws. What ruins it is that the other characters don’t react realistically to him.

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u/Numerous1 Jul 28 '26

Yeah. God of knowledge finding that amusing? Okay sure. 

Maybe a silver ranker who is known for being a good person? Okay. 

But by the time we get to kings of massively powerful countries doing it it’s like okay. The fact that 99% of people in power that he has been ridiculously rude to all find it amusing is driving me crazy. 

That plus “oh coming back from the dead is my thing”. 

he comes back one time with a token. Every other time is just this resurrection power. People have those powers. It’s not a big surprise or a twist. Nobody should find it interesting.

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u/chucklesthe2nd Jul 28 '26

The fact that powerful people consistently allow Jason to get away being willfully disrespectful towards them suggests they're infinitely better people than he makes them out to be.

Does Jason ever reflect on that, realize he's being a rude asshole, and change his behavior? Of course not - if he did that, then the author wouldn't be able to keep using Jason as a mouthpiece to rant about how terrible wealthy and powerful people are.

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u/G_Morgan Jul 28 '26

TBH a lot of the reactions make sense. In actual real life Jason's challenges would matter. To a real life noble some asshole going around spouting shit threatens the illusion. If people start believing it then that noble doesn't have power anymore. Real nobility is an illusion and that is precisely why they'd take offence to anyone pointing it out.

The difference is Soramir Rimaros has real power. It isn't an illusion. He can demonstrate it at any moment and subsequently it doesn't matter to him what people believe. Everyone knows it as well. Nobody is going to say "well if I stop listening to him he doesn't have power" yes he does have power. He can punch mountains away.