What Makes a Hero?
- Thread starter Anarchemitis
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A hero is someone who can set aside that which is important and dear to them in order to do what is necessary to preserve a future for humanity in which heroes are only remembered, and not needed. A hero's job is to make himself obsolete.
A hero is someone who isn't maybe perfect, nor terrible, yet they persist and re-try. No matter what amount of weight put on their shoulders, they carry on until their last breath. A hero in my eyes is someone who persists at a task until it is completed, unless the block is something morally questionable.
The person who is exactly who they are is what I think of as a hero. Anyone can change to fit a situation, but heroes don't. They are themselves even when they should, by other people's standards, change.
Like Writerling said, they may not be perfect (and I don't think they should be), but they are themselves.
However, heroes are also defined by what they are. Heroes, while staying true to themselves, further others and enhance the world, or at least those around them. They make things "better", and I realize that this is subjective, but I can't come up with a better word.
I realize that this would put some people who we may not consider heroes in that category, but then again a hero isn't ever really loved by everyone. Even the classical heroes, both mythical and real, were never loved by everyone, as they always fought or went against something.
Like Writerling said, they may not be perfect (and I don't think they should be), but they are themselves.
However, heroes are also defined by what they are. Heroes, while staying true to themselves, further others and enhance the world, or at least those around them. They make things "better", and I realize that this is subjective, but I can't come up with a better word.
I realize that this would put some people who we may not consider heroes in that category, but then again a hero isn't ever really loved by everyone. Even the classical heroes, both mythical and real, were never loved by everyone, as they always fought or went against something.
I like it. Very succinct and, in my opinion, true.EvilEngineNumberNine said:
Break said:
terrorist and freedom fighters are a bad exemple... The Terrorist think they are doing the right thing same thing for "freedom fighters".
I think this is a quote from George Carlin (unrelated to topic): "Firefighters fights fire, Crimefighters fights crime, Freedomfighters fights what?"
As my favorite hero type: the guy who didnt plan to be the hero he was kinda forced to do it.
Someone who has the guts to stand up and fight depsite knowing that odds are they're going to die. Someone who will die to protect others. Someone for whom fear is there, but they for some reason ignore it.
Anyone else is not a hero. They are a psychopath, or a killer, or mercanery, or deluded, or possibly actually evil.
Anyone else is not a hero. They are a psychopath, or a killer, or mercanery, or deluded, or possibly actually evil.
Most of your statements were very helpful. Thanks everyone!
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A hero is someone on your side. A villain is someone who isn't. Simple.
Also... to most Germans, Adolf Hitler was a hero. The man who saved Germany from economic depression and international humiliation.
Just a little thought to make the term 'hero' seem so meaningless.
Also... to most Germans, Adolf Hitler was a hero. The man who saved Germany from economic depression and international humiliation.
Just a little thought to make the term 'hero' seem so meaningless.
Real-life heroes are the sorts of people that, were there enough of them, would, through sheer numbers and force of optimism / will, make the world a better place.
An example: in Britain a teenager was stabbed to death, senselessly, in a baker's shop recently. His mother said two things that really struck me: first, that she wasn't angry with the killer, wasn't there enough anger in the first place and wasn't that what had got her son killed? and, second, that she felt sorry for the parents of the boy who'd killed her son because they were losing him as well. She described the death of her son as a "great loss". If he's anything like his mother, she's surely spoken the truth.
But on a less sombre note: in fiction we can be a lot more - or less - creative with our heroes. What is a hero usually? A guy with an American accent and a chest size that's larger than his IQ usually does it for me.
An example: in Britain a teenager was stabbed to death, senselessly, in a baker's shop recently. His mother said two things that really struck me: first, that she wasn't angry with the killer, wasn't there enough anger in the first place and wasn't that what had got her son killed? and, second, that she felt sorry for the parents of the boy who'd killed her son because they were losing him as well. She described the death of her son as a "great loss". If he's anything like his mother, she's surely spoken the truth.
But on a less sombre note: in fiction we can be a lot more - or less - creative with our heroes. What is a hero usually? A guy with an American accent and a chest size that's larger than his IQ usually does it for me.
I guess the easy definition is: "a hero is someone who exemplifies (a) virtue"
When you do the right thing, but lack virtue, you get into the realm of the anti-hero.
When you do the right thing, but lack virtue, you get into the realm of the anti-hero.
