More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
The stories we tell about our heroes are important. We pass them on to the next generation. They are what make us human.
If we define a hero as a catalyst for change, for transformation, what change are we looking for? Whom do we make into heroes and what does that say about us as a society?
“There’s always someone out there who has it worse than you.”
Don’t ever show emotion, don’t ever let them know what you think, don’t ever give them power over you in any way, shape, or form.
Running only ever makes things worse.
Just because the spies seemed like pompous, defenseless fops didn’t mean they truly were.
“What do you think a hero is? It’s just the right person in the right place making the right choice at the right time. Heroes aren’t born, young man: they’re made.”
“Why would people want to bother us, Papa?” I asked. “Or the dragons?” “Well, you see, there are many in this world who constantly crave, constantly want,” Papa replied. “No matter how much they may already have, they still have ill feelings towards others that have something they don’t. Some of those who harbor such resentment scheme and plan to take things from others. They will often harm others to get what they want. And sometimes, children, folks hurt others simply because they enjoy it.”
“The story might save their lives, my wife. That fear of a slaughter, whether by the hands of their own kin or outsiders, might very well keep them alive!”
Humans cannot rule. They will lead themselves to ruin, and the world with it.”
however, that not all heroes are warriors, great leaders, explorers, or inventors who changed the world. Sometimes they came in the most unlikely form.
Easy prey, and certainly not smart enough to sniff out a trap.
I wanted to be a hero, but I wanted to prove it on my own terms.
The dagger felt small and weak like the rest of him. This was it. No more dreaming. No more traps. No more telling himself that he didn’t need to fight.
Thanks to the beasts of the frontier, orphans were a common thing on the streets. Why did it matter that he’d been torn away from his parents not by the claws of a monster, but rather by the alignment of his body and their penchant for drugs? They were still claws; just attached to a different creature.
You all have the chance to be heroes! To do the right thing and be remembered for it. There’s that and gold waiting for those willing to accept the task. Now grab an ale. Lord be damned, grab two or three and then get some rest. With the new moon tonight we needn’t worry much about the demons, but tomorrow will be different.”
Sometimes a hero’s fate is to watch those about him fade away. It’s a curse that the living must witness the deaths of those close to them.”
“Hope is all we have. We do what’s right, what’s needed. Neither the Lord’s Heaven above nor Hell below will reveal to mortals any greater truth than that.”
“Men are prone to saying things they don’t mean.”
“Some things you just don’t get over. Some losses you can’t forget. Not without help, that is.”
“It’s just that what we’re doing now,” I waved at the land before us, “whatever happened before – it doesn’t matter as much as what we do next. And we’re doing something. That matters.”
No matter how good life gets, there’s always something nasty around the corner.
“I learned a long time ago to ignore the words of others. The only thing that matters is what you think of yourself. Your thoughts are your own, and knowing that gives you power.”
Choose not to be harmed. It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
“One who’s well prepared is always equipped with more than one weapon.”
“Thomas, sometimes all you need is ten seconds of pure courage and something great will happen. Nobody’s born a hero; a hero is born from a sequence of choices.” He took a fighting stance. “Prepare for glory.”
Now, I am the wolf. And you will fear me.
“Sometimes, all you need is ten seconds of pure courage and something great will happen.”
“Life comes at you fast, son; the good and the bad. It’s a wild and beautiful ride that’s gone before you know it. So don’t blink, or you’ll miss it. And don’t forget to breathe.”
Following a stranger into an unknown location was often more dangerous than running deeper into a canyon filled with dreadbeasts.
“The man has three swords, but he beat a man to death with a pot. Go figure.”
“And don’t forget that we’re heroes now. The pretty lady said so, and she was looking at me when she said that, by the way,”
‘Looking over your shoulder is the only way you know how far you’ve come. Or in your case, fallen.’
the worth of studying a fighter’s moves before getting in the ring with them.
‘Heroes, villains. Same coin, different faces. All depends which side you look at them from.’
Have we really reached a point where prejudice is the natural state of things, and tolerance is more alien than hatred?