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Of course there are exceptions, but I've read life 2673632373637 historic romantasys, isekai or not, at this looks like a trend. Is it because their loyalty can be won without the romance? Does anyone have a solid theory here?
It's not a trend , it's just authors are just too lazy to come up with something new , so they just copy paste .
idk if this applies but usually knights are depicted as like upright chivalrous church boy gentlemen and imo it would be too easy of a choice to make, irl u look for someone polite and stable but for a story its probably more engaging to have the mc go for someone who creates conflict and makes the book dramatic like tje toxic cold duke of the north trope + highborn characters w status feel more appealing? probably somerhign about them being able to give mc all that they want
I think it's because of some, for the lack of better words, superiority complex (?). My thoughts is that those kind of authors will always favour the king more because the king possess the most power in the entire kingdom.
And many of the author might have like subconsciously self inserted them in the FL's shoes and obviously they want to have the most powerful ally by their side.
If they chose the knight then there still exists a woman with the higher/highest form of power aka the queen. Maybe they can't bear to let the FL be "weaker" in terms of all powers including political. Idk if I explained it correctly but hope you understood what I meant
Probs bec they're powerless. Imagine choosing the one you're paying over someone who have powerful network. Like if you go down, ur knight goes down with u too. So unless said knight revokes their position, the big power imbalance does not provide a healthy future in the relationship
The undoubtedly hides a piece of the truth, but I don't think that's all there is to it. But it's a great start!!
Just like dorama MLs need to be a douche for half sold the show before becoming gentle and obsessed? Makes sense
Your answer is linked to the comment above, so if you want to, take a look, I'll answer right after yours.
Now I think you hit the core of it, the pressure for marrying well straight up reflected on fantasy "noble titles". Makes me guess if in the authors eyes, the FL will never be happy if she doesn't stand beside the man of greatest value, be it a ML or a post-reincarnation father. Honestly, I think the few that escape this path are 1- FLs that are naturally too op and end up with a soft fluffy man or 2-FLs that pursued the life of a knight to the point she has that "longing" for "that knight" (even so, sometimes the plot simply turn the knights into emperor's just so they're "worth") thank you for the insight!
Apparently, the amount of people that read this post, through the hive mind, crafted a connection between time and space and as soon as I posted this, I started reading a historical romantasys where the ML is a knight. Holy crap the power of multiple brains.
The comments and discussions are so much better than the ones at official platforms. I do hope everyone can afford legal in their preferred languages and mingle someday, but I don't know if community wise it'll ever be that good.
Don't get me wrong, Ik we're not perfect. We *do* have the bad apples, god, sometimes I AM the bad apple, even if we disagree or cuss each other, when someone publishes/says something universally nasty, there'll always be ppl more people roasting em than agreeing.
Just wanted to say that.
Of something as heartwarming as this?