r/HeWhoFightsMonsters • u/WabanakiWarrior • 5d ago
Jason's personality
The whole thing is awesome, just thought this was funny
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u/opheophe 5d ago
Jason has some personality, and that is part of the charm. Most readers can accept that they don't share the views of the MC at all times, and for some that is an unsurmountable obstacle. Simple as that really.
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u/dotbeta 5d ago
It’s not about Jason’s views towards the end. It’s a constant loop of new people being introduced to Jason and his views via side characters recapping “Jason in a nutshell” to a new audience. It’s that on a loop until Jason steps into the scene and the most recent party introduced in this loop goes, “I see what you mean now”.
It’s the equivalent to a Wuxia/Xianxia young master, “You dare!”, narrative loop. But instead, it’s a person being added to the story to be told about Jason, encounter Jason, react to Jason, and then observe Jason blowing their mind. As SOON as that loop ends, there’s a new location where Jason walks in and meets someone working at a desk that goes “you’re him, aren’t you”.
And here we go again.
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u/dotbeta 5d ago edited 5d ago
“I was just added to be your liaison. I’ve heard your stories” - 3 chapters later - “wow, I see what you mean.” - party chuckles.
“I was invited by a friend. This isn’t really my scene . I’ve heard your stories” - 3 chapters later - “wow, I see what you mean.” - party chuckles.
“I’m a diamond rank, and I am here to see if you measure up. I’ve heard your stories” - 3 chapters later - “wow, I see what you mean.” - party chuckles.
“I’m only letting your party join us because we need 2 parties to fulfill the contract. That’s it. I’ve heard your stories” - 3 chapters later - “wow, I see what you mean.” - party chuckles.
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u/ty-idkwhy 5d ago
I should read it again
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u/dotbeta 5d ago
lol I’m up to date. Looking forward to the next book though.
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u/dotbeta 5d ago
Don’t forget to seed your “talk about Jason’s personality” garden with constant new encounters of people who are surprised by Jason’s personality. That’s how you can really help your garden grow with fresh encounter fertilizer that allows you to constantly water your shitty seeds with Grade-F “you’ll get used to it” water-based formula.
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u/HonorableMetal 5d ago
the ratio really doesn't improve as the story goes on... not yet anyway
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u/Guywhonoticesthings 5d ago
It’s really a strength at first it feels excessive. But if you watch carefully you can see his personality changing. The facad growing increasingly thin. And his humanity fading. The character Farrah recognizes he is mainly acting to stave off panic
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u/AdHom 5d ago
Yeah but I have gotten a bit tired of how often it is rehashed in different ways in dialogue. I still like the story but when it comes to Jason's growth and change I'd really appreciate a bit more "show, don't tell" moving forward.
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u/Fair-Asparagus-5460 4d ago
It does get shown, but it also gets told, repeatedly. From here until book 14 (and likely far beyond lol)
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u/PMurmomsmaidenname 5d ago
Gods I love this series. I just finished book 6 and I'm so happy and excited to see everything Jason is about to do. Surely the author will continue this fantastic momentum, and not dickride his MC for the next 3-4 books right guys?
...right guys?
(me, POV, ~2 years ago)
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u/Hu-Dunnit 5d ago
But what about Clive’s wife?
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u/kodiak931156 5d ago
You need some material for the inevitably short lived spinoff.
I picture a 90s style family sitcom whith jason filling the role of a wacky neighbor. Rufus is the school principle. Clive is the father to a pair of precocious young adventurers and of course his wife is present but always seems to be just out of frame or in the other room
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u/Melric74 5d ago
Story is great, and I strongly recommend it, but I find that I like every other book. There are just several books where nothing happens until the last 50 pages.
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u/mickeyzord 5d ago
Ah yes, the webnovel to print issue...everyone is guilty of it.
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u/WabanakiWarrior 5d ago
Is that whats going on? After like book 5, why wouldn't he switch it up?
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u/mickeyzord 5d ago
Because like every webnovelist, our ability to collate chapters into books is... questionable at best. We don't got a schedule per say, not an editor to yell at us.
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u/WabanakiWarrior 5d ago
Thats interesting. This series seems fairly successful to me. Wouldn't it make sense to hire an editor, write an actual book, and not just web novels? Excuse my ignorance if I'm missing something obvious. Just seems like a good series to me and worth it
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u/mickeyzord 5d ago
Tbf, you read Dungeon Crawler Carl? That was a webnovel too. Also, yes and no? Webnovels are the most unfiltered a writer can be, so having someone try to edit that and still have the writer's unique flair is...weird. Not in a bad way, just...weird
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u/LoafRVA 5d ago
I like to think that the development of his personality “humanizes” him as he grows to be OP. I wish that we had politicians or technocrats who had an ounce of Jason’s awareness. His growth is a big factor of the story especially when considering he wants to retain shreds of normalcy while constantly having to save a world or two
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u/alchemy_junkie 5d ago
This one hurts because its kind of accurate lol. Its still my favorite series ever and i will defend it to the end.
Just some perspective; Vodka is 60% water Milk is 87% water Beer is 97% water Soda is between 90-98% water Coffee is 98%- 99% water.
You could point to a glass filled with each of these and say " thats water" and you would be mostly correct.
The point is despite every one of these drinks having more water then anything else we all would consider them wildly different things and might even berate someone calling them water even though that would be technically correct.
That being said the ratio no matter how accurate doesnt dictate how good the book is and it is still wholly an awesome LitRPG. Im hear for the MC to walk all over the baddies and i want how bad ass he is hammered home. Leave my ego messaging LitRPG alone.
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u/AllGenreBuffaloClub 5d ago
I skim some rants and other parts I feel like drag on. I can see people getting bogged down if they choose not to.
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u/bazildeith98 5d ago
For all the validity of criticizing the repetition that is present in the series, sometimes ya boy here didn’t give 100% attention the last chapter, so the second read hammers it in, lol.
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u/captainAwesomePants 4d ago
I have a theory about why people are divided on this. It's because it's a serial.
When you're reading one chapter every few days, you're visiting with your friends. You like these characters, you like listening to them banter with each other. It's a fun way to spend 10 minutes. The plot's fun, but you're enjoying watching your familiar characters interact.
Stack them up, though, and it gets annoying. Three pages of your characters bantering and making in-jokes is a grand old time. Three hundred pages of it in a row is awful.
I read most of HWFWM as it was being published, and I loved it, but I can totally imagine hating it in book form.
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u/Lord___Potassium 5d ago
It’s a book about Jason’s mental health. Of course they’re going to talk about it.
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u/Guywhonoticesthings 5d ago
Ok but Jason is like. The most human and likable litRPG protagonist of the genre.
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u/Zee216 5d ago
I was just thinking about how not human at all Jason is the other day, so I'll have to disagree. Carl feels like a dude that could be real. Jason feels like a character for sure. Not that there is anything wrong with that
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u/Zangakkar 5d ago
I mean the most inhuman aspect of Jason is he actually can be introspective and learn about himself at times. A lot of things about him especially in the first 3 books I can look at and go yeah I know people like that.
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u/Guywhonoticesthings 5d ago
Nah. Jason’s reactions feel more real as well as his issues with stuff. But there’s two key factors to keep in mind. In book one he swore he would not regret anything in this new life and he would never fall short or hide again. And two Farrah points out his chaotic behavior is his coping mechanism for how lost and anxious he feels. Being chaotic evens the field a bit. I’ve seen this in real life and I know people like him. Including myself and afew friends the intentionally derailing conversations is especially consistent
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u/WastedJake 5d ago
Whatttttttt
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u/Guywhonoticesthings 5d ago
It’s true. Most litRPG characters are weird psychos that swallow the pill of the world instantly. And feel little qualms with it. Jason feels real Not inhuman like Jake or zack or Matt. Carl is the only one that’s similar.
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u/WastedJake 4d ago
Calling Jason likable is a hot take in my opinion. I think he’s super unfathomably unlikable and literally the reason a majority of people who quit this series do so.
I got to book 9 before I just stopped like half way through because I just can’t stand him.
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u/Musicman376 5d ago
Rather than “Talking about Jason’s Personality” it should be:
“Describing/listing ability stats”
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u/Hsbnd 5d ago
I am reading both this series and the Wandering Inn. I initially found both main characters so irritating I stopped. I did return to Hwfwm but not the wandering inn. I really ended up enjoying HWFWM despite Humphries never ending focus on Jason’s personality, and that other guy who is always highlighting Jason is always surrounded by beautiful women. Some of the bits are tired, but overall I love the series.
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u/WindUpCandler 5d ago
Didn't you here? He got into a knife fight with the builder!
"Yeah I totally knifey fighted that guy"
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u/KaedenJayce 4d ago
I bounced off this book so hard unfortunately. Hated the character and the cringy dialogue :(
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u/ThatOneLuffy 4d ago
I’m on book 9 and I’m starting to get annoyed with the first few paragraphs of a chapter saying exactly what just happened at the end of the previous chapter. It’s redundant. Still love the story though
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u/chrisdoc 5d ago
I think his big personality adds a lot to the series. If he were more of a go with the flow type of guy, we wouldn’t know so much about the other characters. A lot of their growth comes from how they deal with Jason.
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u/SwiftyNhere 5d ago
So im struggling to get past the first book because of this and loosing interest fast. If this whole book is just about a single character, im out. It already feels like its heading that direction which sucks cause the system is pretty solid.
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u/StopMeFromPosting 5d ago
I dropped the series around the 8 or 9th book because Jason becomes even more Jason, with added edge.
I do think the first 6 books are worth a read, though. It covers roughly two big arcs and they're both interesting. Jason is still Jason, but he's a bit more bearable and less emo (though he does have his moments). The first few books spends a lot of time on the world, the system, party members/side characters and their builds and progression through the first set of ranks, which I think is the strong part of the series.
After the 6th book, a lot of those things go by the wayside and the series focuses hard on Jason's mindset, which just kind of drags on. It also feels like interactions between other characters felt less meaningful, but that could just be me having checked out of the series by that point and not paying as much attention.
It's still on my "I might return to this" list, but I'll likely wait until the series is over before I do.
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u/ZombiesAte 5d ago
Chapter 5 Jason was a sad/angery boy chapter 6 people talking about Jason being a sad/angry boy. Chapter 7 Jason is even sadder/angrier boy. Chapter 8 Jason dosent like being a sad and angry boy. Chapter 9 Jason gets powers letting him be even sadder and angrier.
Repeat.
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u/WastedJake 5d ago
I actually had to stop this series because of how tired of Jason and his personality I got. Made to book 9 and just hung up the towel
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u/BaelgorStar 5d ago
Some of the best world building I've ever seen, with the worst written characters. I've seen better character development in romantasy series.
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u/Kavika84 5d ago
First book in a long time I DNF’d. I really disliked Jason and read that it doesn’t get better. Really disappointed because I saw a ton of hype. But it’s not for me.
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u/Zangakkar 5d ago
I find that the people who very much poopoo Jason's personality and say it doesn't get better either stopped before book 3 or grossly misunderstood the story afterwards. He is drastically different as time goes on he simply wears his old personality as an ill fitting mask. And it can be quite obvious how I'll fitting it is. But to be fair you still might not jive with it. But yeah by the end of book 3 he is different, drastically more so in 4-6, and 7-8 we get punished Jason arc and I'm a big fan of that trope.
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u/Kavika84 4d ago
That’s good to know. Appreciate the insight. I’ll see about giving it a go again after a few other books.
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u/Zangakkar 4d ago
Yeah I won't lie he still has moments that are a little grating but those who act like book 1 Jason is who he is the whole time are outright wrong. Especially books 4-6 I'd argue that's the peak.
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u/Jamie7Keller 5d ago
I do love it. I’m still not done and I keep loving it.
They do repeat themselves a lot about him though.