How to write about a Hero
No matter if you write epic high fantasy, like I do, or crime, or horror, or romance, every author faces the same dilemma. How do we make our Heroes realistic and identifiable to our readers.
Right now, everyone reading this has a picture in their mind of the traditional perfect hero. Sir Galahad. Right?
Well, if that is the definition, if you know going in that this hero will never do anything wrong, say the wrong thing, and will always win, it will make for a really flat character and insipid story.
If that is the type of hero that everyone likes, why was the tv show HOUSE so popular, about a real SOB, who had very few shinning moments?
Because it was the fact that he had shinning moments, where he overcame his base nature, and you realized that it was because of the fact that he was a SOB that he was able to be the hero that was needed. But you were always left guessing as to which way he was going to jump, tense about if he would come through, or sink into a drug and alcohol fuelled fugue state.
So think about the anatomy of a hero.
A person trained to fight a villain, or the untrained person who has to take on the villain without those skills?
A person with a perfect past, or the damaged person who has overcome that past to excel?
A person with no flaws, or the person who is a hero because of those flaws, or in spite of those flaws?
Heroes are defined by their weakness as much as by their strengths. Perhaps even more so by their weaknesses.
Superman and Kryptonite
Batman and his childhood trauma
Ironman and the fact that he is a complete git.
Bruce Banner and his "Rage Monster" aka Jekyll and Hyde.
Their pain is why we cheer them so loudly when they succeed. For we are all flawed beings, and we all have greatness within us, when we have the situation and the courage to act.
Right now, everyone reading this has a picture in their mind of the traditional perfect hero. Sir Galahad. Right?
Well, if that is the definition, if you know going in that this hero will never do anything wrong, say the wrong thing, and will always win, it will make for a really flat character and insipid story.
If that is the type of hero that everyone likes, why was the tv show HOUSE so popular, about a real SOB, who had very few shinning moments?
Because it was the fact that he had shinning moments, where he overcame his base nature, and you realized that it was because of the fact that he was a SOB that he was able to be the hero that was needed. But you were always left guessing as to which way he was going to jump, tense about if he would come through, or sink into a drug and alcohol fuelled fugue state.
So think about the anatomy of a hero.
A person trained to fight a villain, or the untrained person who has to take on the villain without those skills?
A person with a perfect past, or the damaged person who has overcome that past to excel?
A person with no flaws, or the person who is a hero because of those flaws, or in spite of those flaws?
Heroes are defined by their weakness as much as by their strengths. Perhaps even more so by their weaknesses.
Superman and Kryptonite
Batman and his childhood trauma
Ironman and the fact that he is a complete git.
Bruce Banner and his "Rage Monster" aka Jekyll and Hyde.
Their pain is why we cheer them so loudly when they succeed. For we are all flawed beings, and we all have greatness within us, when we have the situation and the courage to act.
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