Okay, I just gotta say this. People who say RTW isn't a harem are full of shit. When you force every fan-service staple to the point where you have a furry who can change every part of her body but her ears and tail because 'reasons,' you're not even trying to hide it anymore. Also, you are over 800 chapters in, and when the witches brought up they are almost exclusively talking to each other or Roland. For all the talk of integrating the witches into society, we almost never actually see any witches having conversations with the populace. The only exception to Roland having a monopoly on witch interaction I can think of is that one sniper dude having a crush on Leaf, and that side-story is going nowhere fast. I suppose I can also concede that Iron Axe and Echo have a relationship, but that is the one outlier. Sure, this novel is about the creation of an empire, magic, and war tactics. Those are the reasons I read to this point, but the majority of this story is just bogged down with chapter after chapter focusing on the relationships, platonic or otherwise, between witches and Roland. If a novel about one man interacting with a slew of beautiful women is not a harem than what is?

Harem (ハーレムもの hāremumono; "from harem") in anime and manga is an emphasis on polygamous or love triangle relationships characterized by a protagonist surrounded amorously by three or more members of either the same and/or opposing gender, sex, and/or love interests. only anna and nightingale love roland. the others are just respecting him.

    dlwlrma You just said that a harem could be defined as a love triangle, and that Roland has two women that love him in the next sentence. And you are just citing a dictionary definition. How many harem stories/manga/anime have been made where you know from the beginning which chick will end up with the guy, but there are a load of girls that just surround the man? Ah! My Goddess, Sword Art Online, Love Hina, and Negima! Magister Negi Magi all come to mind. Just because a harem traditionally is a lot of people all having the hots for one person does not mean that is the only way to conceptualize the idea.

    You have to take into account what the author deems important for the reader to know or see. So far, the only times the story focus on witches interacting with others is when they are with Roland or each other. Any part of their life that is spent outside of those interactions is left out of the story, because all the author deems important for the reader to know about them is how they interact with Roland and each other.

    The witches not being attracted to him is irrelevant if their main purpose in the story is to surround the MC and look pretty. You can argue that they have other purposes like keeping the lights on and curing wounds all you want, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they are still basically just eye-candy for the MC with some extra utility for him to exploit on the side.

        ImperfectInfinity I think most people are going by the CN definition of a harem, not the JP one. And as dlwirma said, a harem necessitates the existence of attraction, but the only ones who care for Roland romantically are Anna and Nightingale.
        As for interaction with other people, while the author may not portray the actual conversations (I actually that it's better this way, than wasting time one one-off characters), we do know that witches are integrating into society. Nana runs a clinic, Evelyn a tavern, Agatha works with chemists, Anna works at the plant, Scroll is in the Ministry of Education - pretty much all of the assistant witches have jobs where they interact with, it's just that the interactions must be so commonplace, that they hold no place in the actual story.
        Another thing to note, is that JP harem novels tend to lack prominent (as in with a lot of screentime) male characters, other than the protagonist, which isn't really the case here.

            RtW is indeed a harem by my standards. But that depends on how you wanna define harem. Since in CN main characters tend to go further in relationships, you can argue that it's not harem unless mc sleeps with two different women (idk if this happend or not. already dropped it).

              Because if it is harem then author will revise it because his wive.

              Ssshhhtt. RTW is not harem!!!

                Klepar Then I suppose my point is I disagree with your definition of harem. Harems do not necessitate attraction in my mind, they just necessitated a close connection with the MC and ignoring any other part of their life as 'unnecessary to the plot.'

                As for your point about one-off characters, I would not want that either. I want characters that regularly interact with witches fleshed out. For example, there is this one group of friends from the castle near Neverwinter that used to all be rats. One of them had a crush on another that turned out to be a witch and ... nothing. Haven't heard from him in 500 chapters. The witch, I think it was Summer or something, keeps coming up in filler chapters when the young witches want to go on some silly little quest and get lightly scolded by Roland at the end. At no point does the author ever show dialogue talking to another man.

                Nana runs a clinic, but we never see her expressing her bedside manner with the patients, in fact I think she has spoken maybe ten lines in the past 500 chapters; all directed at Roland or another witch. Agatha works with the chemists, but do you remember ever reading them discussing their work together or a description of their cooperation on an important experiment in detail? Scroll is the Minister of Education, but the only time she is ever brought up anymore is when Roland is telling her what to teach next. And you are honestly going to tell me that when the author spends entire paragraphs detailing how Ronald wants to pet a girl with dog ears, or inwardly laughs at the mischievousness of the younger witches that such information is critical to the story?

                The crux of my argument is that witches' relationships are only developed with Roland and other witches. Think of any other harem and you can say the exact same thing about their stories. Having more men in this one does not change the fact that they don't ever get close to the witches. Even if most of the witches relationships with Roland are platonic, I don't think a single witch has a relationship with a non-witch, outside of family members, stronger than the one they have with Roland.

                You can argue that there are simply too many witches to give all of them the detail they deserve, but that doesn't wave some magic wand and allow you to ignore that the story only develops their relationship with the MC, it just highlights the issue. That also makes me come up with another point, why so many witches anyways? Their powers are starting to become redundant at this point. There is a magnetism witch that can make electricity, and hey, now there is a lightening witch. If it is true that there are too many witches to develop then why develop them at all? Why not just focus on a few core characters like any other solid piece of literature and let the side character witches stay as side characters? For the most part, the author does this with the males. I think the main masonry guy has been brought up maybe 3 times since the first 100 chapters. On the other hand, each witch in the alliance gets some face time with Roland at least once every 50-100 chapters. It is because the author's main focus is on one man's connection to about 100 women.

                A harem focuses on relationships between one man and a large group of women. Most harems focus solely on romantic relationships while this one allows for a wider range of emotions and connections. I will admit this is a change in the normal formula, but it does not change the foundation. The man closest to every single witch, with the only exception being a few witches' family members, is Roland.

                  8 months later

                  RTW is to be sure a group of concubines by all accounts. However, that relies upon how you wanna characterize a collection of mistresses. Since in CN principle There is some good harem manga here. characters will, in general, go further seeing someone, you can contend that it's not a collection of mistresses except if mc lays down with two unique ladies.

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