It all depends the self-made man trope. Depending on the time politics in history and its location can have many dark realities. Normally people are incredibly ambitious they know how to get into the right Social Circles there a little bit lucky to be in the right place and the right time and they may have an incredibly fast rise, Boss Tweed, Carnegie,Jackson Hamilton. Somebody’s going to get burned or screwed or a whole group of people. PS miss my favourite viking writer:grin:
.
I love where the protagonist is the villain. My favorite is tomato in the mirror and becoming what you fight.