The Greatest Heroes in Literature

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I love villains......but that can be unhealthy if abused. And while the villain may be interesting, sometimes it's the hero that may be the most complex character. As important as it is to see what we could become, it is also beneficial to recommend what can be the best of us, so this complementary topic will be about the most shining examples of goodness in literature.

Heroes and villains complement each other in fiction - the greater the hero, the greater the villain, and vice versa. Heroes are also examples of what we could be, or rather, what we SHOULD be. Through will and effort (and God's grace), we could all be what our heroes could be, and it's good to have characters in which we see ourselves - our struggles, our vices, and our virtues. And most often, the hero is simply the main character. So who are your favorites among heroes and protagonists in literature? Who have been the most resonant with you? Who have you consistently enjoyed journeying with again and again, however sentimental such travels may be? Whom do you look up do? Whom do you wish you could be?

[Raven]

I'm not sure that I like "heroes" as much as I like "protagonists." For example, I really like the protagonist of George MacDonald's Phantastes. Would I call him a hero? Not sure.
In order for someone to be a really compelling "hero" in my reading, they have to be dealing with not just external struggles but also internal ones. For example, we all know Aragorn from Lord of the Rings is a hero. But when did he ever struggle with anything that made us at any time feel like he was relatable? Compare that to another character from Tolkien, Turin. Is Turin a hero? I don't know. He does slay a dragon. He's definitely a protagonist. But think about the agony he goes through, the struggles. That makes him a relatable, interesting character to me. Even Bilbo is a "hero" with a struggle and with weakness. Aragorn, though? Hard to connect with him.

Who is more interesting in the Chronicles of Narnia? Peter, or Edmund? We might not like Edmund, but I think at least I can relate to him more.

It's kind of hard for me to think of good heroes.
Van Helsing from Dracula is interesting in some ways, particularly because in the book he was not the young warrior-type individual that is portrayed in movies.

I'm blanking on others.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

That's sort of why I have another topic dealing with antiheroes. Some characters can't be classified as straight good or bad, and yet they're the main characters of the story. Take Alex from Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (played delectably on film by Malcolm McDowell). He's the "protagonist", for sure. He's also a brutalizing sociopath and a rapist. He's a horrible person, and yet he's the one who the story follows and even dares to elicit sympathy from. He's so outside of what would commonly be considered protagonist material, yet also not completely villainous (surprisingly), that he needs his own classification.

The Wikipedia definition of hero is "a person or main character of a literary work who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, bravery, or strength, often sacrificing their own personal concerns for a greater good." I would go even further to say that a hero is a person who shows outstanding character despite personal debilitations of the same. Say, for example, Moses. Now there's a hero: he is angry, rash, stressed, and, on one occasion, near-cowardly, yet his faithfulness, courage, and leadership eventually supplant and even complement his own failings. David is another example: "a man after God's own heart" but still given over to fits of lustfulness and ego. They're heroes both because AND in spite of their flaws.

For me, one the greatest examples of fictional heroes is Atticus Finch of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Here is a man with the cards stacked against him - defending a black man on charge with rape in a predominantly white, heavily prejudiced Alabama town, further complicated by being the chief caretaker of two children during the Depression - yet he is a real man of honor. He sincerely believes in racial equality both before the law and as a natural principle, he has a relationship of understanding with his children far beyond what most parents would have, and he has the kindness and courtesy both to turn the other cheek and to always respect those around him, even when they don't "deserve" it. He says "[courage isn't] a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." Now, to be fair, the text is told from the perspective of a young girl from ages 6-9, so much of what we see may come from naïve hero worship, but what we can see is a truly good man, if such things can be spoken of without blasphemy. Atticus Finch is an exemplary hero.

[Bluerose31]

Interesting discussion of heroes. I like the mention of Moses and David as hero's despite their flaws. I might add in Solomon who I feel could be considered a hero. He was flawed in many ways but he wrote very beautiful parts of the Bible and can be seen as a good guide for people.

[Raven]

Coir, your comments about the flaws of heroes touches on the problem with many protagonists in literature, and I think in fantasy literature.

Aragorn is a prime example of this, and I think I discussed him already at some point. He's hard to relate to. We don't really see him struggle much.
Boromir on the other hand -- there's a guy I can relate to a lot better, and his death would not have been nearly so tragic and moving if we had not seen him struggle prior. Then there's Faramir. He doesn't fall prey to the temptation that momentarily captured his brother, but he struggles and we see it. Aragorn is kind of recognized as a main hero of the LotR, but in fact, he's one of the most boring characters.