History Main / SympatheticSlaveOwner

* ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': Watto's [[DownplayedTrope no saint]], but he's comparatively a lot nicer to his slaves than most other slave owners depicted in ''Franchise/StarWars'' (such as Jabba the Hutt, who sexually harasses his slaves and [[FedToTheBeast feeds them to his rancor]] if they displease him). He lets Shmi and Anakin have their own home which, while nothing fancy, seems comfortable enough and pretty much lets Anakin do what he wants provided he completes his work. He also appears to have a soft spot for them; he seems genuinely sad to see Anakin go when Qui-Gon wins his freedom and is happy to see him again a decade later in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', calling him "[[AffectionateNickname little Ani]]". When he had to sell Shmi due to money troubles, he also made sure she'd be bought by someone who would treat her well, and is tickled that her new owner wound up freeing and later [[HappilyMarried marrying her]].

* ''WebVideo/AtunSheiFilms'' deconstructs this archetype on ''[[https://youtu.be/SbMzYRMxIvA The Mundane Horror of American Slavery]]'':

* ''Manga/RisingOfTheShieldHero'' has this as one of its largest draws, for the Protagonist, no less. Having had his name slandered across the kingdom, he can find no one willing to help him fight, and unable to do so himself thanks to his legendary weapon (as the title implies, a shield), he is forced to purchase a demihuman slave girl to fight for him. He even has her magically bound to him by a seal, which forces her to fight. Ordinarily it would be deplorable, but Naofumi has nothing but good intentions towards his slaves, treats Raphatalia better than the majority of people do, and only uses the seal to help her overcome her fear in dangerous situations, which she herself acknowledges is important. Even when given the chance to break away and be free, she willingly goes back to being enslaved by him (note: and only him), finding him to be this trope. Becomes even more widespread when Naofumi purchases a second HappinessInSlavery girl, and a third willing seeks him out to become part of his party and to become stronger via the same slave seal.

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[[folder:Dark Sun]]

* ''Literature/TheShipWho'': Pretty much every [[WetwareCPU "shipmind"]] character is currently or formerly in indentured servitude to the owners of the spaceship they're operating, at least on paper, but the contracts are subject to so many legal protections for the shipminds that their indenture is treated more like student loan debt.

* In ''[[Literature/AmaranthineSaga Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox]]'', Argent, a supernatural creature, is enslaved via a generational bond to a certain bloodline, and this trope is explored with some of his mistresses.Tsumiko, the titular heroine, is the second type, who only accepted Argent's magical bond because it was the dying wish expressed in her predecessor's letter to her, because Michael, Argent's caretaker and best friend, assured her Argent would die if she did not, and because Argent did not actually refuse to consent when she pressed him, although he does not give affirmative consent. She avoids giving Argent commands, willingly frees him from any previous restrictions that he brings to her, and willingly joins the "secret plot" to free him. Nevertheless, Argent refuses to show any signs of HappinessInSlavery and outright tells Michael that responding gratefully to Tsumiko's kindness would just make her and others believe that his situation is acceptable, when it completely isn't. This is further explored with Argent (and Ginko)'s complex relationship with Amy, who was Argent's kindest mistress prior to Tsumiko, and seems to have been the first type. She gave Argent a comfortable existence as "family butler" and inflicted none of the horrors that many of her predecessors did, but she still violated Argent's personal autonomy in many small ways (like forcing him to accompany her yearly to England, despite him being openly harassed by her husband's relatives, forcing him to allow her in his private spaces, and to reveal some of his secrets to Stu) and kept him as a slave. Ultimately, Argent chooses to forgive her after her death, accepting her choice of Tsumiko as her successor to be her gift to him and an expression of a better self than her actions were able to be. Ginko, on the other hand, never forgives Amy or any of his father's other mistresses, and the narrative presents this as a valid choice as well.

* ''Manga/PlusAnima'' has Crystala, a slave trader who seeks to give the slaves she owns a fulfilling life. In Sailand, her slave caravan actually serves as a safe haven for +Anima, where free +Anima would otherwise be captured and probably enslaved to worse masters. She even used to own [[spoiler:Senri]] in the past, and had taught him many things.
* {{Deconstructed}} thoroughly with the character of Ketil in ''Manga/VinlandSaga''. He seems to be playing this straight at first, a fairly nice man who treats his slaves with respect and even promises Thorfinn and Einar their freedom once they finish preparing his new fields for harvest in a few years, but you soon see the problems as you get further into the farming arc. Ketil does not offer the same promise to his female slave Arnheid, and uses her as a SexSlave to boot. [[spoiler:After he suffers a DespairEventHorizon, he beats Arnheid nearly to death despite her being pregnant with his child, and still refuses to part with her after Leif offers to buy her. When all is said and done with the Farming Arc, Ketil is left grieving over Arnheid's death.]] Through all this we can see that while Ketil does not go out of his way to treat slaves badly, he still uses them for his own needs and is not above exploiting his status as his master to take out his frustrations on them or to make them suffer.
* In ''Manga/XxxHolic'', the protagonist Kimihiro Watanuki is plagued by visions of ghosts and monsters, and asks the witch Yuuko Ichihara to help him. In exchange for her help, [[MistressAndServantBoy he agrees to become her de facto slave]]: she does genuinely care for him, [[TricksterMentor but also enjoys having fun at his expense]].

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fanfiction ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4758047?view_full_work=true The Gift of Premonition]]'', Gimli is about to be either executed or sold into slavery, so Legolas buys him to save his life, but is then very nice to him and declares that he's free.
* In ''Fanfic/IncarnationOfLegends'', Romulus describes the people he captured for use as labor in Rakia as vassals rather than slaves. He also swears to Bell that they will not be used as tools and will instead be treated as individuals who will one day become part of Roma, albeit they have no real say in the matter. This does little to assuage Bell's misgivings, and Romulus accepts that Bell doesn't agree with his viewpoint and doesn't begrudge him for it, instead wishing him well in his travels despite the sour note they part on.

* In ''Fanfic/KellyTheRomanWarrior'', the narrator admits that Kelly's father, the "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin Ceaser]]" who rules all of Rome, does own slaves as an instance of DeliberateValuesDissonance, but stresses that he's nice to them.

* If the Inquisitor recruits the Templars in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', the storyline eventually leads them to meet Magister Erasthenes, who formerly owned TheDragon Calpernia. A side story ''Paying the Ferryman'' shows him being somewhat kind towards Calpernia, even teaching her how to control her magic instead of disposing of her or punishing her for her outbursts. {{Downplayed}} as Calpernia still has little sympathy for Erasthenes, resenting him for never fully mentoring her, and [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror off-handedly recalls being beaten at multiple occasions]].
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', [[spoiler:Hetzel bought and nursed Rafiel when he was sold from an auction. Unfortunately, this is his only redeeming quality, as his cowardice and passiveness allowed the corrupt Begnion senators to do as they please. None of the heroes sympathized with him as he still stands against them, and even Rafiel refused to speak to him.]]
* Azir of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' was the ruler of an empire that made extensive use of slaves, and he owned many slaves himself, including Xerath, his best friend since childhood. He was against slavery, but even though he was emperor, he could not overturn slavery so easily--Shurima's noble houses had relied on slavery for wealth and power for millennia, and openly opposing slavery would likely get him assassinated. So he kept his plans to end slavery a secret, [[PoorCommunicationKills and never told Xerath about any of it]], believing Xerath wasn't in a hurry to be freed. Xerath eventually came to resent his best friend for seemingly not lifting a finger to free him, and his plans to betray Azir eventually destroyed Shurima ''just after'' Azir made his move and declared all of Shurima's slaves free.

* This trope is {{discussed}} in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', where trainers occasionally question the ethics of having animals fight for them. This is complicated by the fact that most Pokemon are {{Blood Knight}}s with superpowers and that the game encourages you to befriend them: the general impression is that it's much more a symbiotic relationship than master-slave.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Rimworld}}'', certain traders will buy or sell slaves. Buying a slave is essentially buying a new colonist since they aren't treated any differently from colonists who join you willingly. Selling anyone into slavery will give all of your non-psychopathic colonists a negative thought. There are {{Game Mod}}s that allow you to keep slaves or force prisoners to work for your colony, but how humanely they're treated is [[VideogameCrueltyPotential up to the player.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', one mission results in a MortonsFork where you rescue a bunch of girls who are being forced into prostitution by a rival gang. At the end of the mission, you're given two choices: You can sell the girls back to the rival gang for profit, or you can employ the girls as prostitutes for your own gang. There is no freedom for the women who were forced down this path against their will. However, if you choose to keep them, Zimos informs you that he treats his hos like humans, allowing them to unionize and live otherwise normal lives.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'':
** ZigZagged with Darth Malgus. He became the owner of a Twi'lek slave woman named Eleena Daru. He used her as a SexSlave and for other tasks, but became fond of her. The two even were a BattleCouple at the sacking of the Coruscant Jedi Temple and considered each other common-law husband and wife. Still, Malgus beat Elena when displeased (and since he's a Sith, he was often angry...), and Eleena had no legal status other than being the favored property of a high-ranking Sith. In the end, one of Malgus's rivals pointed out [[LoveIsAWeakness she could be used as a weakness against him]], and he murdered her in her sickbed. Of course, he faced no repercussions; Sith are above any sort of law, and she was just a Twi'lek SexSlave, after all.
** Can be played straight with a Sith Warrior. Their first companion character is Vette, a Twi'lek woman who used to be a criminal. The Warrior can treat Vette as a little sister or (if playing male) a treasured concubine, but it still does not change that Vette is legally property, not a person.
* Played for laughs and completely defied in the "Bring the Crunch" DLC of ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole''. After beating the final boss, [[spoiler:Mintberry Crunch reveals that the alien they just fought was an escaped slave of his]]. Jimmy tries to rationalize how being a slave owner can add complexity to a hero, only for the CreepyGasStationAttendant to come by and tell him that he should probably drop that line of thought as soon as he can.

* Eric in ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'' is a slave trader who starts to develop second thoughts about his choice of profession over the course of the comic. It helps a bit that he thinks of one Keidran slave his family has had since he was a kid as his little sister (and she has a crush on him).

->'''Jimmy''': Wow, One of our beloved characters has a dark facet to his past that conflicts with contemporary moral standards, but also adds an interesting complexity to his-

Slaves owned by such a person often exhibit HappinessInSlavery, but it is not a given; whereas some will be perfectly happy in their situation, others will not be satisfied with such an arrangement and will [[IJustWantToBeFree yearn for freedom]] all the same. The latter attitude ties in with a common deconstruction of this trope -- if the slave owner is so benevolent, why won't they just free all their slaves? Since the slaves are happy in bondage, they will keep working for their master even after being freed, right? It's not as though they have their own plans and desires.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', an ordinary teenager Saito Hiraga becomes a familiar (and basically a slave) of a young magic student Louise. Louise acts in typical {{Tsundere}} fashion, often acting haughty and demanding to Saito, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale physically abusing him]], and going from berating and yelling at him to kissing in the matter of seconds. [[DefrostingIceQueen She does mellow out to him over time though]],[[spoiler: and they eventually marry]].

Slavery and other forms of bondage have been present in every civilization at one point or another. Whereas today it is seen as an atrocity, it was formerly seen as an unavoidable social injustice at worst.

While most modern stories that depict slavery portray it as unambiguously evil and slavers will generally be [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil the worst of villains]], there are a lot of different approaches one can take when depicting slave owners. Sometimes, owning slaves is portrayed as a sign of being a crappy person, or even crossing a MoralEventHorizon. Other times, however, a writer will portray slaveholders in a more favorable light by making them act benignly towards their "property". That is, in essence, what the trope is about - slave owners that appear benevolent towards their slaves, or at the very least aren't as bad as they could be.

* If the Inquisitor recruits the Templars in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', the storyline eventually leads them to meet Magister Erasthenes, who formerly owned TheDragon Calpernia. It is deconstructed, as while he is shown, particularly in a side story written by the devs, to have been a kind owner who treated Calpernia respectfully, she was still understandably unhappy at the fact that she was his legal property.

* If the Inquisitor recruits the Templars in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', the storyline eventually leads them to meet Magister Erasthenes, who formerly owned TheDragon Calpernia. He is shown, particularly in a side story written by the devs, to have been a kind owner who treated Calpernia respectfully, and she was fond of him.

SubTrope of BenevolentBoss. Contrast SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil. Compare NiceToTheWaiter, when a character is acting politely to working-class members rather than their own slaves. And while it is considered somewhat [[DiscreditedTrope discredited]] in realistic settings, it's still very much in use in fantasy settings, [[MuggleInMageCustody especially when the slave is an ordinary human, and the master is a mage or a supernatural being]] (one of the reasons is that it fits the religious archetype of the relationship between humans and God).

* In ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'', Diablo technically owns his two female companions (Shera and Rem) as his slaves, due to an enslavement spell ''they'' used that had GoneHorriblyWrong. As a result, the girls were bound with enchanted Slave Collars around their necks that force them to obey Diablo's commands. However, Diablo always has their interests in mind and almost never uses his power over the girls, with the only instance he was forced to use it was [[spoiler: to break Shera out of a BrainwashedAndCrazy trance.]]
* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', Feel Nirvalen's elven family owns Kurami Zierh's Imanity family, due to the Zierhs losing to the Nirvalens generations ago and being MadeASlave as a result. Feel, however, treats Kurami like a friend or even a daughter, and is determined to outlaw slavery in Elven Gard despite the fact that doing so is tantamount to treason.

* Franchise/{{Tron}}: As the Programs are, essentially, a ServantRace created by humans (who have no idea they are sentient), most of the human characters are this by pure accident. Needless to say, Creator/{{Disney}} does their best to downplay this.

* ''LightNovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus'': Souma Nagi gets [[TrappedInAnotherWorld summoned to another world]] along with the rest of his class, but rather than follow everyone else, he ticks off the king and is thrown out where is he left to fend for himself. Shortly after he keeps gaining slave girls through circumstances beyond his control, but he always treats them with respect and cares for them even though they would like nothing more than to submit to his will and bear his children.

* ''LightNovel/DeathMarchToTheParallelWorldRhapsody'': Satou is [[SummonEverymanHero summoned to another world]] where slavery is common. As a game programmer stuck in an RPGMechanicsVerse, as well as [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands gaining a nigh-infinite amount of experience and leveling points]], he is able to [[LikeADuckTakesToWater adjust to this world]] and emerge as a great and powerful man. One of his first acts is to rescue three demihuman slaves from a cruel master and then buy them himself when they make it clear that they'd like to stay with him (beastfolk are targeted by FantasticRacism, and having a kind human owner is safer than being freed outright). At the same time, a pair of half-sisters sold into slavery also coerce their way into his service. One of the half-sisters did this because she was ''specifically'' hoping that Satou would use her as a SexSlave since she fell in LoveAtFirstSight. Unfortunately for her, Satou refuses to sleep with any of his slave girls, even when they clearly desire it, because A) most of them are too young (he prefers women his own age and usually hires prostitutes when they visit towns) and B) he feels that it would be an abuse of his position.

* The book ''Literature/TheEagleOfTheNinth'' (and it's film adaptation, ''Film/TheEagle'') deals with two boys, one a Roman officer, one a recently captured Briton slave, going on an extended quest in which the possibilities of murder, and escape come up, and their positions are reversed when they finally meet the Briton's tribe. But his compassionate and trusting treatment of his slave to that point is then rewarded.

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'':

** The Lizardmen subjugated by Nazarick wear SlaveCollars, but seem well-treated by their standards (Ainz resurrected their tribal leaders at Cocytus' request, feeling they could better serve Nazarick).

* Played for laughs and completely defied in the "Bring the Crunch" DLC of ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole''. After beating the final boss, [[spoiler:Mintberry Crunch reveals that the alien they just fought was an escaped slave of his]]. Jimmy tries to rationalize how being a slave owner can add complexity to a hero, only for the CreepyGasStationAttendant to come by and tell him that he should probably drop that thought as soon as he can.

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* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Rose Quartz may have been a kindly liberator of Crystal Gems [[spoiler:and a defected Diamond who wanted to stop her sisters' plans for Earth]], but even though she was trying to encourage her Pearl's independence, Pearl was still Rose's property.
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