More Trash of the Count's Family

The novel mentions the terms 'foundation' and 'plate' a lot. I think foundation translates over fairly well, but I'm curious if that's author/novel specific or a sign of Korean culture. (for some reason I keep thinking of the little I know about Tae Kwon Do).

I might have to read another Korean novel just to get a sense of that. (there is apparently a 'holy trinity' I've caught references to in fandom circles, but I haven't yet looked into it enough to decide if I want to read any of them. I'm not ready to leave the Trash of the Count's Family universe anyway).

'plate' is harder to understand immediately, though not difficult. It's basically your innate potential for handling things. Ie. Someone with a large plate can handle a lot. Someone with a small plate quickly has no room for more. I kinda like the concept, though I keep thinking of the frustration that comes when you have a large plate but are unable to fill it. (ie wasted potential. Underutilized. So damn frustrating, and it seems like our systems are not designed to draw that potential out. But that's a different story.)

I've been rereading it, so as to pick up the details I breezed through the first time. I probably ought to give another spoiler warning before continuing... If you plan on reading it and don't want spoilers, stop now. 

I really love the character development, as well as some of the larger themes. For example, one of the major characters is the crown prince of a kingdom, and he gets in a major battle with a primary villain... While our main character is tied up elsewhere. There's a lot going on there... The main character is known as a hero, and the people fighting without him are realizing how much they're relying on one guy..  And stepping up. 

We also see the crown prince really show off his strengths. 

But what I especially liked was how it highlighted the difference between a true leader and... Well, whatever you want to call the villain's style of ruling. (it's not strictly based on strength, though there's a lot of that involved).

You see the crown prince raising his people's spirits too (kind of like Gandalf on his white horse during the battle of Gondor). 

That reminds me of something my aunt shared on Facebook. It was talking about how important music was. As usual, I forget the specific wording, but it basically said music affected our invisible worlds. Like... It wasn't just 'music moves you' or 'effects the emotions'. That's implied ofc, I just got the impression of music being used more like a tangible art. Like weaving. Except it's affecting intangible things.

Gyah. 

I am relaying it very badly, but I don't have much hope of finding it if I try googling. So I'll just skip to the point...

Leadership is both an art and a science because leaders also are affecting those intangible structures. 

And seeing our crown prince schooling the villain on his weak leadership is really kinda awesome.