Why Does the King Hate the Shield Hero in The Rising of the Shield Hero?
The interpersonal relationship between the characters of The Rising of the Shield Hero are quite intricate, but there is none that has sparkled so much interest as the seemingly irrational hatred that the King, Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, has for Naofumi Iwatani, the current Shield Hero. Whichever standpoint you actually take, the hatred seems uncalled for and we have decided to use this article to try and explain why the King hates the Shield Hero in The Rising of the Shield Hero.
The King hates the Shield Hero because he is both a bad person and a traumatized one. Namely, the King blamed the former Shield Hero for betraying him, unifying the demi-humans and ultimately for the deaths of his family members; this hatred is irrationally transferred to the current Shield Hero. On top of that, he is a bad person per se, so that’s also one of the reasons.
In the rest of this article, we are going to talk about the relationship between the King, Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, and Naofumi Iwatani, the current Shield Hero. You’re going to find out some narrative details related to the two, as well as answers to some intriguing questions that are going to help you in understanding this complex relationship much, much better.
Why does the King hate the Shield Hero?
Aultcray’s irrational hatred of Naofumi could possibly stem from how Siltvelt worships the Shield Hero, causing the King to support the Church of Three Heroes by constantly demonizing the Shield Hero. Unlike how Mirellia had asked her husband not to discriminate against Naofumi, Aultcray had done so anyway.
Aultcray, aided by the Church of the Three Heroes, had reprimanded and chastised Naofumi. He even did everything to discriminate against him and did everything to oppress him. The number of crimes he committed against Naofumi was countless. He still addresses other heroes with respectful titles while referring to Naofumi as a shield or criminal hero. Their relationship deteriorates after the third wave, in which Naofumi was victorious over the other three heroes who were all defeated.
The King refused to believe this, accusing Naofumi of foul play and demanding that the Shield Hero confess. Naofumi had denied Aultcray’s fake claim and refused to show Aultcray any respect, asking him to crawl and kneel before him for further demands. Naofumi pursues the insult and also threatens to kill him if Aultcray gets in his way as Naofumi is stronger than the other heroes, although most of them were a bluff to scare Aultcray away.
After Mirellia’s return, Aultcray and Malty’s crimes and Naofumi’s innocence were revealed. They were punished when they lost their political power and were also punished after Naofumi was elected. At the same time, Naofumi wanted to carry out an execution because people appreciated Aultcray’s abilities. He was also aware of the queen’s familial love for both, and in order not to make any new enemies, he later decided to simply change the names of the King and princess, with Aultcray being renamed Trash as an appropriate amount of humiliation.
According to what the Queen said, Malty pulled all the strings and used Aultcray’s hatred of the Shield Hero to trick Aultcray into going after Naofumi. Aultcray carried out any malicious action against the Shield Hero after being persuaded to do so by Malty and the Church of the Three Heroes. After witnessing Atla in the care of Naofumi, who looked like her deceased sister.
Aultcray has been in shock ever since he avoided and ignored Naofumi’s existence as much as possible and stopped causing a shield hero-related outcry as he had before. After his wife’s death, Aultcray broke down but was brought to his senses by Naofumi. He started to show a change in how he presented himself with the change in aura stopping viewers. He showed his wisdom by facing the crisis with much ease and changed his relationship with Naofumi.
