I just finished binge watching Shadow & Bone. I just wrote a quick non-spoiler review of the series, but it was kind of difficult to write to be honest. The storyline was decent, but I noticed something as I was watching Shadow & Bone. The main character is so similar to other main characters that I’ve seen in other Netflix series that I’ve binge watched in the past few months.
From Warrior Nun to Cursed to Shadow & Bone… the storyline of a regular caucasian girl with dark hair with a sad background ends up getting some magical powers out of nowhere. She becomes a chosen one and she is meant to be a savior. She ends up being worshipped in some sort of way while also trying to get the hang of her powers even though to be honest… her team of side characters are so much more of a better focus.
I found this trend to be kind of annoying because even though I found myself wanting to like these shows, I ended up finding myself comparing and realizing how the main character of each story is almost a copy and print. There are barely any changes.
- A girl with dark hair who hasn’t been living such a great life ends up with powers.
- She tries to figure out what is going on while people are trying to covet her powers.
- Girl ends up having selfish moments where she doesn’t want her power.
- Girl has heart to heart conversations with people who believe in her.
- Girl is seen as a savior.
- Girl taps into her power after having some sort of emotional revelation.
- Girl saves a whole bunch of people.
- OH AND sometimes there’s a love triangle involved…
Netflix has did a copy and print of pretty much this same exact character and her journey arc in Shadow & Bone, Cursed, & Warrior Nun. The storyline of the actual background of the lore of these shows makes the stories interesting along with the side characters as well as the villains. However it just sucks that this is a constant repeat that makes me connect all of the main characters as being so freaking similar. I mean to be fair in most stories on tv and these streaming services the main character is always written as a boring ass character that is pretty plain i.e. Harry Potter. It’s making me really wish someone would create more stories from the perspective of a side character witnessing a savior in development if that’s the case. Those characters seem way more interesting to be honest. I’d even like to see more villain creation stories in the form of a Netflix Original series more than this and even seeing the antagonist fail.
I ended up writing a pretty dry Shadow & Bone review after watching the series because Netflix Original series are getting very repetitive and the term original… is pretty much a lie. I almost want to read these books these different shows are based on just to see if the concept of the main character is made the exact same because it could be a flaw with authors or I should say.. maybe tons of people just love this type of main character trope or this is what becomes popular.
This is something I’ve seen in so many shows; Van Helsing, The Vampire Diaries (even though I love this series), Vampires (Netflix Original Series)
For me personally, if you’re looking for a somewhat different Netflix Original series I suppose I would recommend Luna Nera. The trope is very similar to these, but at the same time EXTREMELY different because you end up realizing the main character is actually a side character or something more than that.
If you guys have any other recommendations, feel free to leave a comment down below and let me know other fantasy series that include a different type of main character because I’d love to check them out.
Also let me know your thoughts on Netflix creating similar main character tropes too!
