Why is Cale so lovable, actually? What’s his secret??
Here’s the thing: despite his flaws, KRS-Cale’s charisma is insane, even for protagonist standards. Why is that?
Sure, it’s a standard protagonist quality to use the ✨Power of Friendship✨ to save the day, but Cale has the unique ability to – completely unintentionally – turn EVERYONE around him into simps, sometimes even his enemies. And that, bizarrely, includes the audience. No don’t lie to me, I’ve been in this fandom for a month already, I have eyes!
So, how does that keep happening, exactly??
To answer that question, allow me to first introduce you to a very important concept for healthy relationships: the 5 languages of love.
Words of affirmation
Quality time
Physical touch
Acts of service
Receiving gifts
A no, this does not apply only to romantic relationships - it’s ALL relationships. Every person has their own preferences, both in showing and receiving them, usually 2 or 3 of them being the most important ones for a person. For example, I’m a “words” and “touch” person myself: I like hugs and people telling me they care about me. Pretty simple concept.
So, here’s the thing. I’ve been re-reading TCF, and I came to a very important conclusion: Cale, completely by accident, absolutely excelsat all five love languages.
It’s so subtle you might not realize it at first. It does’t sound like someone with such a closed personality, does it? It’s especially confusing when you consider his background: an abused orphan who was pretty much always alone. But perhaps becausehe never recieved much affection growing up, he currently compensates by subconsciously sharing what he always wanted to receive, yet never got as a child. And becausehe ends up in a world where he’s surrounded by abused children who didn’t get enough affection, it’s so darn effective, winning people’s undying love and loyalty instantly.
Let’s look at these one by one, shall we?
1. Words of affirmation
Cale has a tendency to accidentally say exactly what the listener needs to hear. But it’s not all bluff, and not all luck. Cale is actually quite wise. He gives proper words of encouragement, based entirely on his knowledge and judgemment. For example: he tells Choi Han that he can protect people. He tells Raon that he should live freely and that he’s great and mighty. He tells Alberu he deserves to rule the kingdom. He tells Mary not to “listen to nonsense”. He tells Rosalyn she’s reliable and capable. The list goes on and on.
Cale might not be saying “I love you” directly, but he is saying “Good job, take good care of yourself”… which pretty much amounts to the same thing.
2. Quality time
It might sound ridiculous, but… taking down Arm and saving the world is actually their perfect family quality time. Laugh if you want, but I’m serious! They’re not a regular family, after all. They were all hurt, scarred and/or betrayed by the secret organization at some point. By destroying them and saving the world together, Cale not only gives his friends a purpose - he is also giving them closure. Revenge, retribution, healing, moving forward… it’s all there. THAT’S some quality time!
3. Physical touch
While he’s certainly not hugger or anything (not counting the Choi Han battle hug or Alberu’s showman embraces, those were always an act), Cale is not averse to touching people either. Head pats for the children are quite common. Cale also touches people on the shoulder a lot, have you noticed? Like when Jack cried over Hannah, or when Cale congratulated Choi Han on a job well done after rescuing Raon. It’s subtle, but it’s there: his touch means support, affection and respect. It definitely counts.
4. Acts of service
Pretty much everything Cale does ends up helping other people, one way or another. Considering the sheer scale of Cale’s actions, it’s only natural that combined with the other love languages, it makes others feel great admiration towards Cale. He might not like it, because he sees those acts of service as “self-serving”. But I think Cale was the most honest about it at the beginning of the story: when he gave On and Hong bread for the first time. “You don’t need a reason for things your heart draws you to.”
Cale actually, genuinely wants to help others. It’s just he’s so overworked already, he doesn’t want the expectations and responsibility that comes with other people relying on him. As an orphan, he was made to believe that taking care of his own interests is inherently selfish, but somehow, he only applies that when thinking about himself. Despite everything, he actively encourages others to take care of themselves while neglecting himself. No wonder people love him.
5. Receiving gifts
Despite liking money so much, he’s extremely generous. He lets go of five billions when selling Toonka – whom he “doesn’t even like” – some documents back from the magic tower pretty much “just because”. Sure, Alberu told him to do it, but Cale wouldn’t listen to him if he didn’t want to. You’d think his previous life of poverty would make him greedier than that. But while he steals from bad guys with no remorse, he gives to his allies freely with even less remorse. Sure, he expect them to “repay” him with their services, but you’d have to be blind not to notice how beneficial those deals are for everyone involved. And his kids? Cale downright spoilsthem. Sure he “scams” Raon by letting him pick one magic gemstone out of hundreds, or a single coin out of Alberu’s pockets… but that’s just responsible parenting more than anything.
And remember how he asked Basen and Lily what they wanted as a gift at the beginning? There was absolutely no alterior motive to that: zero. He did it literally just because. Remeber when he gave Raon an additional pouch with healing potions when he just met him? Or when he gave Choi Han the same pouch when he sent him off to find Lock and Rosalyn? Yeah. Cale does that pretty much all the time in the novel.
Conclusion: the reason why Cale is so lovable is because he’s already so loving
You know, this is going to be a disorganized post but hear me out! I’m a fan of folktales and mythology and I spend a lot of time on Wikipedia, especially on the In Popular Culture content section. And it hit me, while there’s a recent surge in reaction fic in TCF fandom, I haven’t seen a lot of outsider POV fics. Or at least, the one like the Wikipedia part mentioned above.
Like, give me a Wikipedia on the characters as if they are truly historical figures we learn about in history class. Or at least, something like the cultural depiction of that character (Cale, especially) in the future generation time. Because even as we readers have a more in-depth read on the characters’ journey and motivations and reasons, in-universe outsiders don’t. And this could be great!
Imagine, how some people might think and agree that Cale is a saint-like figure (courtesy of some crazy legend lunatic) who was so kind, heroic and must be protected at all cost. A more realistic mindset people might believe that this depiction might be exaggerated by history and countered back, using the original Cale Henituse’s drunkward actions, to show that Cale Henituse was not a perfect angel.
Other folks (descendants of the nobles who wanted to control the royal family and/or jealous of the Henituse family’s wealth) instead argue that Cale is a more ambitious figure since he managed to capture the attention of the back-then-crown prince Alberu Crossman and became ally with powerful people of all races. You can twist it into something more scandalous, I guess, by making it seem that Cale was a Helen of Troy sort of beauty. Some believe he had a beauty that made even the most beautiful race, like dragon, bewitched. That he seduced all of those scary, powerful people into fighting for the Roan Empire.
Yeah, I was reading Anne Boleyn (who was often depicted as a seductive vixen who convinced the King to split from the Catholism church) and Hurrem Sultan (a red-haired concubine who eventually schemed her way into becoming the wife of the sultan).
But that’s all. I will come back to this if I can think of more.
Bruh, from an outside view, Cale Henituse is a whole CONSPIRACY.
Like, this guy already emerged with a swordmaster by his side. The Black Blade Choi Han was said to be his bodyguard since before the Plaza Terror Incident. Cale Henituse had the worst reputation ever at the time. So why did the swordmaster followed him?? So sus.
The then-crown prince Alberu was understandable if he decided to ally with Henituse. He owed him for saving his people. Alberu Crossman was a ruler that genuinely cared for his subjects.
But then there’s Toonka. TOONKA. A barbarian that at the time, never had a single ounce of sympathy for the weak. He said that Cale was his friend, the only person that believes that the non-mage faction would win even when the civil war hadn’t even started yet. Many argued that Cale was the reason the war started in the first place.
The Jungle fire was the one with the most speculation. So Cale Henituse just happened to be in the path of no return, somewhere between the Whipper Kingdom and the Jungle, which is no where near Roan, while Queen Litana who just happened to be there, in a final effort to find a solution to an unusual fire that’s never been seen before? Yeaaahhh too much coincidences. Many speculated that Cale Henituse was the one to start the fire in the first place. He used the same fire in the Gorge of Death remember? Why does everyone conveniently forgot about that when singing praises about him. The whole thing was way too sus.
And the whales. The WHALES. So Cale Henituse saved the prince? Who was poisoned by mermaid poison? A poison with no known cure, even by the whales that have been battling them for generations????? I CALL SUS!!!
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE WHOLE MOGORU SITUATION CUZ THAT IN ITSELF DESERVE A WHOLE BOOK AND A 3 HOUR LECTURE!!!
NO WAIT CUZ I JUST THOUGHT SOMETHING
Ya know, his past was pretty sketchy. No, i don’t mean that we-don’t-know-much-about-his-past sketchy, but something-doesnt-add-up sketchy.
He was the first born of one of the richest noble families in Roan. He’s someone that has the power and money to do whatever he wants, and to order people to do whatever he wants.
Why is this important? Cuz of what we know about him in general. Remember, he was the trash of the Henituse, he had a horrid personality, always drinking in bars and causing general chaos and discomfort, he always did property damage, etc.
But why did he even do all that? If the whole drowning in alcohol really was a grief response from losing his mother, why did he even need to go to bars and taverns if alcohol is what he wants. His house probably has better alcohol than any bars in the kingdom. He’s rich, why did he even need to spend energy to actually go somewhere? And for something lower quality than what he could get while lounging on his sofa?
And even when he was a jackass, the damage he did wasn’t really up to par with what you’d expect from an actual jackass. He never hurt anyone physically, he threw bottles but only at other jackasses, and even then it never hit. He causes property damage but it was never something important or life-ruining, always something replaceable like furniture or something. He’s an asshole, but not as big as an asshole that you’d expect from someone so infamous.
He’s so infamous in fact, that even foreign countries know that he’s an asshole. Let me repeat myself, HE’S RICH. He has all the money and power to keep people’s mouth shut. Enough family influence to stop rumours and stories from spreading, or at least dampen his trashy reputation at least. Why didn’t he? If anything, his trashy rep was kinda blown out of proportion. It’s like he wants to be known as trash.
So here’s my own theory. Let me ask ask you something, if you ever want to get to know the latest news and gossip, or to meet up and make deals with people, where would you go? *slams table* THE TAVERNS!!!!
Cale Henituse has been using his drunken outings as a cover for information gathering!!!!
No but LISTEN IT ALL ADDS UP!!! The Henituse territory had been a little too prepared for the war don’t you think? They had fortified their castle walls, gathered more knights and mages, made evacuation plans, gathering extra food and farming tools…
Those would need a couple of years of preparations. Are you telling me, that a small territory of the northeast, bordering a Forbidden Region, with no known route for any foreign invasion, had been that prepared for one?? Especially after only a couple weeks after the announcement by the Indomitable Alliance and only 3 days after the discovery of the wyverns?????
They contributed a third, A THIRD, of the funds needed for the Ubarr Navy Base. They contributed as much as the royal family!! And for what?! THEY WERE A TERRITORY KNOWN FOR ART AND CULTURE, NOT MILITARY. SO WHY??????!!!!
Even Marquis Ailan, who actually known as a military household, was not as prepared for the war as the Henituse. How the heck did the art nerd with no known connection to the outside world could predict the war even better than the actual war jocks??
Okay, let’s just step back a little. I know that it’s highly possible that the Henituse just had more money to buy better information than anyone in Roan, and it might not even be Cale Henituse at all, maybe it’s just HENITUSE in general.
But remember the start of all this. Remember the Plaza Terror Incident. Remember how the mana was disturbed just as the terrorists was trying to detonate the bombs, remember how the bombs flew over and detonate at the mountains, like someone had transported the there, like someone had deliberately prepared to counter the attack, that someone had been ready.
Cale Henituse was there instead of his brother Basen. CALE Henituse attended, when his brother had been attending the functions for the past 2 years. Why? If it is a Henituse operation, Basen Henituse would have suffice. No need to make a change that would draw eyes to them. But CALE Henituse was there. Like it needs to be Cale. Not Henituse, but CALE.
Perhaps we never really know who Cale Henituse was before his rise to being hero. At least, nothing that wasn’t what Cale Henituse himself wants us to know.
I think I’m back!!!! I’m sorry for disappear without saying anything. Life was just too much. Here are Cale Henituse FA I’ve drawn for practice my skills on.
“Originally, the twenty years old Kim Rok Soo was pretty useless. However, as he passed 25, 30, and then 35, Kim Rok Soo became a decent person.”
Reality: KRS survived the monster apocalypse on his own while starved without any powers, joined the most impressive team in the Company with no combat abilities, became an invaluable member of the organization, came out alive from fighting against multiple unranked monsters, overthrew multiple corrupted guilds, gained an ability that let him transcend time, and lead his team for years with 0% casualty rate Me: … Me: That’s it. I am nevertaking KRS talking about himself at face-value again
Cale Henituse Attack:______________Sky Eating Water (agressive combat) Defence:_____________Indestructible Shield (defensive combat) Strength:____________Super Rock (hardened body) Damage:______________Fire of Destruction (destruction & purification) Constitution:________Vitality of the Heart (recovery) Dexterity:___________Sound of Wind (navigation) Agility:_____________Instant (speed) Wisdom:______________Embrace (special skill) Intelligence:________Record (info analysis) Charisma:____________Dominating Aura (bluff)
Bonus round Special Effect:______Dominating Water Accuracy Buff:_______Annual Rings of Life Critical Hit:________Blood-Drenched Rocks Health Upgrade(?):___World Tree Dagger Enemy Loot:__________Sky Attribute & (5+) APs
