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EP. REVIEW: Overlord III

1) When was their loyalty ever in question? Everyone at Nazarick is literally programmed to treat Ainz as a god. The only time that was ever challenged was when one of them was brainwashed by a mega rare item and even then she was only a challenge because Ainz wanted to fight her 1-on-1. Still, that was one of the better parts of the series since it gave some conflict, but it is never brought up again after that.

2) Sebas developing some conscience of his own is the best part of the show so far. Amazing, the show actually gets good when it isn't about the sociopath with no conflict and instead focuses on how other characters might react to this guy, just like we have been saying all along. Shocking!!!

3) Again, the notion that there might be people as strong or stronger than Ainz out there or that they could use world-items against him never goes anywhere after season 1. It doesn't register as a legitimate threat and it isn't treated as a conflict. And it certainly isn't the motivation for any of Ainz's foul deeds.

4) The whole point of the "you do what you have to in times of war" thing, is that people are expected to be in danger in a warzone and thus it is understandable that they might do unsavory things to save themselves or their allies. That excuse doesn't fly when you are powerful enough that no one poses any threat to you. And I doubt anyone really cares about the theocracy guys who were war-criminals themselves, but what Ainz did to Foresight and many others is clearly an abuse of power. You don't get a free pass just because it is technically a war.

5) Ainz was the one who started the war against the lizardmen, even though he knew they posed no threat and stood no chance of winning. Don't even [expletive] try to defend that one.

point number 2 is kinda answer point number 1. If an NPC could develop its own conscience what would keep them to being loyal?

About point number 3 isn't the notion that there's stronger being than him is usually what motivates his deeds? Shalltear rebellion for one, Sebas suspected treason, and even in season one he prepared a lot of countermeasure when he track Clementine. As I said Ainz is cautious person bordering to paranoid so you might want to try to understand how such a person will react. Try to put such person perspective into yours try to empathize.

And why would you say no one could posses a threat against him if you realize that his minion is at least comparable or even stronger than him is what makes point number 4 confusing to me.

And if you are talking about foresight don't you think you overestimate Ainz too much he is not a god you know, he doesn't know about their motive other than that they invade nazarick for money. So in Ainz perspective they are just some greedy workers that don't deserve any mercy.Ofc the audience know that it's not right but how would Ainz know that. And he did ask for their motive.

As point number 5 as i said he is a normal person not a hero nor a villain who were transported to another world with very different moral than his original world surround by monsters who hates human do you really believe there won't be any influence on him when his emotion is already restrict by the system.

Do you really think that a stronger nation declaring war to a weaker nation that has no chance to win against them something that unusual? Try to learn earth war history and you'll see a lot of massacre. And that's why i said he is not a hero nor a villain just a human being. He sees an opportunity to strengthen his force and he took it as simple as that.

The fact that their loyalty is so deeply ingrained on their very being that Sebas didn't hesitate for a second to kill the girl he was fond of as soon as Ainz ordered him to. It is never a conflict for Ainz. Hell, it isn't even a conflict for Sebas because the girl seems surprisingly ok with the idea that her savior would kill her in a heartbeat as soon as helping her became inconvenient.

Except that is literally never brought up. We never see Ainz being paranoid, cautious sure, but never a hint of fear or anxiety. It is never a conflict for him, just another reason why he is so ridiculously invincible. Why would I empathize with him when he has zero reason to be paranoid and every reason to think that he is the single safest and most well-guarded, unkillable thing on the planet?

Because...they...are...his...minions. They are on his side and he controls them. You can argue that technically they might be able to turn against him but their entire existence is based around obeying his every whim. We have already seen that in a conflict between their interests and Ainz's, they will obey Ainz no question. This is why the idea that they pose any kind of threat to him is asinine. And if Ainz not acting evil enough could make them turn against him, then that needs to be the conflict, but it isn't, because he is quite happy to oblige their every sadistic impulse and refers to them as precious friends. He never once hints that he is paranoid about them or allows them to be evil to keep them loyal. It isn't a conflict to him. And the point wasn't even about his minions, it was about your comment that it was "war" to Ainz but every "war" he has fought has been against being he knows doesn't stand a chance against him.

Putting aside for a moment that he knew luring people to Nazarick was a plan, it would be laughably easy for him to just find out what their motivations were if he wanted to. And even if it wasn't, who cares? A thief who breaks in and steals things does not deserve to die, much less be tortured in ways worse than death, and the fact that Ainz's "perspective" says otherwise is what makes him an evil piece of shit. Hell, Ainz doesn't even care about thieves, what really sets him off is the fact that people he didn't invite "sullied" the place he built with his friends, even though said friends have long since moved on and he is the only one who still cares about a glorified clubhouse, which is both evil and pathetically immature. That could be another opportunity for interesting stories but it doesn't go that way because there is no one to call Ainz on his immaturity and absolute evil. It isn't a conflict for him.

No, I know that the rules of his transfer has made it so that he can't feel emotions like he used to. I also know that it doesn't matter because he still knows what is right or wrong from his time as a human and is perfectly capable of choosing to not do evil things. The fact that he doesn't have a conscience to stop him any more doesn't make him worthy of sympathy, it is the reason he is an evil git. Once again, this could be a perfect opportunity for conflict if the fact that he has been "forced" into being evil bothered him in any way, but it doesn't, which means it isn't a conflict for him. The whole "he feels no empathy any more, oh poor widdle overlord" routine is also BS because he absolutely can feel emotion. He often says how fond he is of the residents of Nazarick and he flies into a goddamn rage just because people touch his friends' old junk. His "lack of empathy" is never treated as anything other than an excuse for him to not be bothered by any of the evil shit he pulls.

Unusual? No. Wrong as fudge? Hell yeah. See, this is what people who pull the "it's a different world with different rules" crap doesn't get: The only reason their world is "like that" is because it is full of people with far too much power and far too little conscience to not abuse it. It doesn't make it "ok" to go around killing sentient people as you please as if the fact that it happens often was an invitation to do it more. Ainz has even less excuse than most for this because as we have already established, nothing in this world is a threat to him. The possibility of there being someone out there with items that can challenge him is brought up once and then never again. He doesn't need to strengthen his forces so the fact that he "took this opportunity" to do so is completely unjustified.

I do know military history, and there are indeed a lot of massacres in it, which is why I know that there is no point in simply pointing them out as if there wasn't a moral component to most conflicts throughout history. When you rally an army of fools with lies about the enemy and a promise of eternal salvation just to take back some land for the Byzantine empire you are on the wrong side of the war. When you invade Poland to get a quick fix for the economy and fuel your war of genocide, you are on the wrong side of history. The idea that the strong were ever "justified" in beating down on the weak just because it happened a lot is a goddamn lie. And you will never, ever, insult me by spreading that bull around again. Are we clear on that?

As for how this works narratively, Overlord once again avoids having any conflict because aside from how easy it is for Ainz to subjugate the weak and how little he cares about the moral implications of it, either on an emotional or intellectual level, the show goes out of it's way to sweep any consequences for him that one might expect. Other nations do not rally together to combat the threat and half the people he enslaves seem almost happy about it. Show me how that is in keeping with your "military history" if you can. If Ainz's actions as a conquering warlord had any realistic consequences and he escalated his behavior in response to that, we might have a story. But that doesn't happen, which means that once again, it isn't a conflict to him.

To summarize: The minions developing their own set of morals isn't a source of conflict for Ainz because we have established that they will choose him as soon as he asks them. The possibility of someone rivaling him out there isn't a conflict because it is never once brought up after Shalltear. The "threat" of his minions turning against him if he doesn't live of to their expectations isn't a conflict because he is never conflicted about doing the things he needs to do to keep them in line and happy and instead of treating them as obstacles he has to be on edge around, he treats them as friends. The fact that he is a "normal person" forced into this weird moral situation isn't a conflict because even though he is a normal person should have a normal perspective on right and wrong, he isn't conflicted at all by his loss of empathy, even though he is very much aware that he is going against the ideals of his friends he supposedly cares about so much. His military conquests aren't a source of conflict because he has never once had any trouble after beating Shalltear and he conveniently doesn't have to deal with pesky things like slave rebellions or the geopolitical landscape turning against him.


There.is.no.conflict. The only interesting conflict we have had is when other people are forced to deal with Ainz as an evil overlord, but even then that is quickly swept under the rug.


I'm taking a break from this. It is getting very hard to stay within community guidelines when I have to deal with this kind of frustration.

tianchris

Suzuki's played his Momonga character as a ganker of gankers,because of his friend Touch Me,but make no mistake Momonga was created having a lawful evil alignment(-500 karma in Yggdrasil).

That lawful evil alignment is what defines Ainz's being. He is not RP'ing as a evil ovelord,Ainz is a evil overlord..
Also Suzuki ,himself, is a extremely selfish and lonely person. And that selfishness,coupled with his fear of being alone again,colors every choice Ainz makes..

As for the NPCs...
Free willed beings they are be now.Free wills that have been dictated by their game settings.They all see their creators as gods and in Ainz they see their supreme,all mighty & all powerful,God.
Only one has gone beyond their original game personalities,Albedo. And it's because of Ainz's tampering.. S2 ep 10


Shallteer did not rebel,as she was MC'ed. Ainz knows this,his fear is simple..his only connection to his friends maybe taken from him.

Cocytus is neutral with a bit of good, he sees in the lizardmen honor and courage,thus was moved enough to ask for their lives to be saved.

He actually failed Ainz's original test.

Sebas disobeyed Ainz. Because his game settings make him a good being.One who has a strong sense of right- "It's only common sense to help those in need"...

The anime dropped all mention of the following,its why Ainz refused Solution's wish for innocent humans- S3 ep 1

Ainz is trying to beak the NPCs slavish side,not because he wants them to be free willed..but because he can't handle their devotion. It put too much pressure on him as he can't live up to their expectations and fears they'll leave him.

Wanko and Nigredo saved all the of babies who were taken during the raid on the capital[S2 eps 12/13] did so because their settings demanded it. Wanko is a kind hearted good being and Nigredo...well she spoiler[is an homage to horror movies like Mama(2013),Ju-on(The Grudge) etc....and babies trigger her.... protectiveness
]

Those two saved hundreds of babies.spoiler[.Babies who were doomed to an endless cycle of torture,being skinned (while conscious), then healed,all the create scrolls for Nazarick.
]
That is what happens,and it happens to a huge number of beings, at Demiurge's ranches.
The anime truly glosses over that part Overlord....

And you're seriously basically saying that there "many fine people on both sides" Then you bring up actual history-

Ainz has personally experimented,vile & gruesome experiments,on several dozens of humans.
Thousands upon thousands of are continuously being sent to Demiurge's ranches...

A book Ainz is unwittingly reading [S3 ep 1] to learn about leadership and politics.

By the end of episode 13......

Major anime spoiler---------

spoiler[<spoiler> Ainz will have directly caused the deaths of over 180,000 men...Splat! .... </spoiler>]

tianchris


You've read the LN including v13?


At this point neighbor seem to me a contrarian.

A "very fine people on both sides" my rear end.

Alas, their appeal to his adventuring side couldn't get past how pissed off he was at the invaders.

BTW how did my previous comment could lead to a conclusion that i said A"very fine people on both sides"? If i remember correctly all i'm saying is basically what Ainz did especially to the workers is understandable. But if i do really say "very fine people on both sides" then i'm definitely wrong.

Things get a bit more interesting where the old mage Fluder is involved; we knew that he had some kind of encounter with Momon, but begging to become Ains' student is more than I had expected, even though it makes a certain amount of sense.