low-key the amount of family drama gets me stressed out. it’s like… almost too much. there’s not a shred of humanity in those sub-humans… this webtoon should definitely be under the ‘psychological’ tag. so creepy! so eerie!! the only three normal characters in this ENTIRE webtoon are the prince, MC and Sancha. THAT IS IT.
whenever it’s a villainess webtoon, people always want to say “oh they’ve done bad things”, yeah? no shit! they’re a ‘villain’. it’s so often that i see in the comments that people are like “penelope is manipulative”… yeah… she’s a VILLAINESS. it’s in the title… if you wanted to see a regular isekai, why’d you click on the villainess one expecting her to be some martyr? in webtoons like “I Tamed the Tyrant and Ran Away” and “How To Protect The Heroine’s Older Brother” i rarely see this sort of criticism, even though they’re WAY more manipulative and evil - i see this most commonly for penelope.
and the worst part is, eclis is literally not good either. he’s manipulative, too. he’s cunning, too. she’s not dealing with uwu small babies. she’s dealing with people who could kill her.
I don’t think what was described here applies to me but I feel compelled to reply because I feel I may have sparked said response just based on the references said:
While I do agree w/ majority— stating what Penelope’s character is— isn’t really a bad trend (if that’s what you were getting at, but if not ignore the rest ig ). I think because “Death Is The Only Ending For The Villainess” is a more subtle in its characterization, (some) readers feel more compelled to state things that often get overlooked as compared to “How To Protect The Heroine’s Older Brother,” which is more in your face with the villainy and evilness of its characters.
I’d (personally) assume that this story receiving more literary criticism on its characters and overall plot is a nice trend… when ofc it’s productive thoughts & not just bitching ; pointing out distinct characteristics (which often get assumed as negatives??? for reasons I have no clue as to why) creates a nice lens into the writing that can spark more thought and analysis.
That’s just what I intended to have done when I made my comment initially but if it appeared as (negative) criticism that’s mb. But yeah! here’s a potential answer to why you see this trend idk
there’s no need to apologise for stating your opinion. i just don’t agree with it! it’s not just your comment that i’ve read, i’ve read thousands over the course of this webtoon.
from what i see, penelope’s character is very well written and more realistic than other transmigration MCs - she initially views all the characters as just that - characters. eclis is simply her “target”. all of them are. in the beginning of the story, she doesn’t even call the potential MLs as by their names - just ‘targets’. as someone who has played the game, and spent hours with the characters, she knows each character well.
when eclis swings a sword at her while she approaches him during training, she is faced with the fact that he could kill her, that he has all the intention to.
and additionally, her confronting her “feelings” for callisto is also very tied to her being in the game. she thinks she likes him, and that he reciprocates but then she checks his favourability and she is shocked into the fact that this is a game. and she’s not the protagonist of it.
which is why i don’t understand your criticism (and others’) directed at penelope. all criticism is good, but critiquing Penelope for her viewing all of them as targets makes little sense to me considering it’s built into the plot. every time she touches one of the targets, her only aim is to check her favourability - of course she thinks of them as characters.
Actually the in the hard mode story that Penelope is playing, the villainess is not her. It begins as her but as the game progress and favourability is increasing to her advantage slowly she is becoming the heroine. this is why we haven't really seen yet Ivone and things are going very well for Penelope, well except Eclise even tho he is at 99%. that is my opinion and observations. I also read what happens next.. The villainess always die but are we sure is it really Penelope?
i’m coming back to this in 20 chps