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EP. REVIEW: Overlord III

The consequences or the point of Ainz's deeds depends on what people consider more important:

The End Result, or the methods one takes to achieve that Result?

IF Ainz performs a ton of horrific deeds, but eventually brings about World Peace and Prosperity by it, then were his actions right or wrong?
If he ends up killing thousands to save millions then is he still a Villain?

I have no answer, but I'm patient enough to see where the story goes with their answer before making my own decision.

Ainz is an undead, and apparently the system/game/world is making sure he is that character. He is no longer a human being, and humanity is not his people. His people that he has to protect and guide are the denizens of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Ainz is not a God and Ainz can be killed, even his people know that. The battle with Shalltear should have shown that, and he probably would have still lost that one spoiler[ if not for a certain hand of 'fate'.]

... so him being a hypocrite or turning into a villain are only observations you can make from outside the show, and they're completely irrelevant to the show's own progression or structure.

I am actually enjoying this series precisely because its not a cut and dry "hero's journey".

I'm curious to see if they actually achieve World Domination, and how they go about it.
The consequences or the point of Ainz's deeds depends on what people consider more important:

The End Result, or the methods one takes to achieve that Result?

IF Ainz performs a ton of horrific deeds, but eventually brings about World Peace and Prosperity by it, then were his actions right or wrong?
If he ends up killing thousands to save millions then is he still a Villain?

I have no answer, but I'm patient enough to see where the story goes with their answer before making my own decision.

Again, I am not interested in any philosophizing about the "perspective" of soulless monsters that doesn't give a crap about human lives. The fact that it is only natural for them to kill humans is exactly what makes them monsters. I don't give a damn about their "morals" or about speculating whether Ainz might accidentally make a few things better along the way. He still causes mass death and destruction to the innocent needlessly. He is a monster. End of discussion.


And if you enjoy a story that doesn't have a traditional hero's journey, great, but that has nothing to do with what I said. The problem isn't that Ainz isn't a hero, the problem is that he isn't even a villain because there is no story to be had here. One guy mod-spamming his way through a game is not a story, and without a story and more importantly, a conflict, there can be no villain. Just a guy with 0 empathy and a major Peter-Pan complex playing around in a kiddie-pool.

I am pretty sure this was both told and showcased in the anime but ainz didn't shutdown eight fingers, nazarick instead subjugated them, meaning they are still operating their crime empire just that they know take orders from and pay taxes to albedo

Also Again, NEVER said he Was Not a Monster. They ALL Are Monsters.
Not sure why you keep saying that or ending a discussion that was never there.
If you look back, I'm actually agreeing with you on some points.

This whole Hero/Villain discussion is essentially about Morals.
However the biggest thing to consider is WHOSE MORALS?
That is what I mean by the whole "Point of View" concept.

Your Morals are clear. Ainz actions are immoral and paint him as a villain to YOU. You disagree with everything he does because they are things YOU would not do.

If anything, all I'm saying is that the Humans Are Monsters As Well. Just look at the way they treat not only the traditional monsters, but Demi-humans like elves and even other Humans as well. Or did we conveniently forget the state of Tuare when we first met her?
Who did that to her? Oh yea, Humans.

As for Ainz, Death and Destruction, YES, but who are these "innocents" that you speak of? I don't remember Ainz ever attacking anyone innocent. I do remember him preventing Solution from having innocent humans as a reward.

Does that mean I'm saying Ainz isn't a Monster? NO, he still is.

But in a world of Monsters, who are we suppose to root for?

Take a show like Code Geass. Here was have a show centered around a villain who has a set of priorities that, in his mind, take precedence over any and all destruction and mayhem he causes. He's cold and indifferent, because he doesn't care about other people, except as tools. And while a lot of the folks he fights are also villains, that doesn't make him not one.

He also, through his "villainous" actions, presents his side of things as an irredeemable evil, which motivates his "heroic" foil to reject his own ideals and throw in with what he sees as a lesser set of villains

Is seeing how ainz psyche continue to change, aside from the actual plebeian lives he tramples over during his operations, when it comes to the narrative the concequencescof his actions are those that take action into his own character. Just as telling a lie many times over would lead the person to believe it himself. Every line he crosses is a point of no return onto normalization of selfishness, even if he doesn't realises it on a concious level

@Nordhmmer

I'm guessing you mean that chick who was playing with a Rubik's cube? I've a hunch that she's gonna be stupidly powerful cause of her personality... or think she is but then get one shotted by Ainz. 50/50 chance
Even so said character hasn't made a real introduction so even if they can challenge Ainz in the future it doesn't change the fact that Ainz has been steamrolling everyone in front of him.

The idea that any of this is strategically necessary to protecting Nazarick is a pretty silly deflection, as he and Nazarick face virtually no meaningful threats in their world; he just doesn't really care about or value other thinking, living, feeling creatures or their suffering.

---snip--- root for Nazarick if there was any kind of story built around them, but there isn't. If Ainz actually cared about the fact that his "role" is forcing him to become more evil and he somehow fought against it, then that would be an internal conflict and we could root for him on that. If there was another, bigger villain even stronger than him around that could challenge him, then that would be an external conflict we could root for him to win, and we might get some interesting internal conflict about people settling for a lesser evil when forced to choose. If Ainz was doing horrific things as a means to change the world for the better or stop the bigotry against non-humans, that would be another type of conflict we could care about or best of all, if we could get someone to actually call Ainz on his immature chuuni-shit and also challenge him with might we could have some real development of him as a character.

This story doesn't do any of that, which is why I don't care about pretentious philosophizing like "well, maybe we are all a bit evil" or "It's so deep that we don't know who to root for".

But I think it a stretch to call Ainz a villain. He has never as I recall actually killed an innocent.