Qualities of Horoes and Heroins

[Rhuidean]

What are the qualities that you think would make a hero/heroin?

 

[Marky Lazer]

Heroic deeds. And in SFF that's 99 out of 100 doing something brave in battle.

But I would say good leadership...

 

[Paradox 99]

• Self sacrifice
• The ability to overcome personal demons
• Strength - a hero should never be a wimp
• One trait that makes them "normal". i.e. Something the reader can empathise with and say "that's me!"
• Charisma
• Tenacity

Those are the qualities that spring to mind mostly to me.

 

[Rhuidean]

• The ability to overcome personal demons

I think the ability to change is perhaps the most important quality.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Face doubts - fallibility - make mistakes, yet overcome them through personal struggle.

Etc.

 

[Marky Lazer]

It looks like we're lost in the SFF cliche list now

 

[YOSSARIAN]

I need to point something out quickly:there is a big difference between the words "heroine" and "heroin." Use the former when you are describing a female hero, and use the latter when you want to go broke and get arrested.

 

[Susan Boulton]

For me, well a hero is the normal person doing something beyond the norm. Not the beyond the norm person doing it. If that makes sense.

In other words there is a hero in each of us, you just need to create a story that brings out the hero in your character. Same goes for a villian.....

 

[iansales]

Do you mean hero or protagonist? The two are not necessarily the same.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

The quality of herorin depends on how pure it is, so I heard.

I guess the same can be said of horoes.

To answer the question properly, my definition for heroism would be the courage to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves and the ability to take personal responsibility for improving the world in which you inhabit.

I am not a hero.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I never noticed this thread title was badly spelled from the beginning.

And to continue on a somewhat pedantic point - probably better to use the words "protagonist" and "antagonist" for the roles.

 

[Aes]

I never noticed this thread title was badly spelled from the beginning.

Oh I did, and imagine my disappointment when I saw that someone had already beaten me to it. ^^

And to continue on a somewhat pedantic point - probably better to use the words "protagonist" and "antagonist" for the roles.

The original poster could be asking for hero qualities specifically, at least that's my interpretation. Not all protagonists are necessarily heroes, after all.

 

[BookStop]

To answer the question properly, my definition for heroism would be the courage to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves and the ability to take personal responsibility for improving the world in which you inhabit.

That's a great definition for a 'Damned Decent Human Being', but shouldn't a hero not only have courage and take responsibility, but also take action on a grand scale, at personal risk, to put right what is not?

 

[dustinzgirl]

My favorite heros never wanted to be heros. They just wanted to be people. Like, Mad Max--he had a good thing before the bikers chopped him up. And Tanis Half-Elven---he never asked to be Queen Takhis's nemesis, but love put him there.

Heros are people who do what needs to be done.

Some people think Osama is a hero, because he stood against the greater power and did what he thought had to be done. (No, I think he is an evil man, and thier whole terrorist thing makes me sick. But you see my point?)

Rand Al'Thor----One of my favorite heros. He is just a kid Mr. Jordan! Just a kid and you ruined his life, thrust him in danger, and gave him amazing powers that would utterly drive him insane or destroy him, and probably a bit of both.


I hate heros that are heros for no reason. All American heros for instance, bore me.

If the hero has felt no pain, no loss, he has no true idea what he is fighting for, he is just fighting because he likes too.

 

[FelineEyes]

A hero is someone who makes an impact that people like.
A villian is someone who makes an impact that people don't like.

 

[j d worthington]

To me, one of the greatest examples of a hero I've seen in my life is the unknown man who jumped repeatedly into the Potomac to save the people who went into the icy river in a plane crash. He rescued several people before succumbing to hypothermia. There are any number of reasons to believe he knew he wasn't going to make it out of there the last time, there weren't going to be any medals, nor public acclaim, nor even someone to shake his hand and say "Well done!" But he went in again anyway, trying to save people he didn't know from Adam. He never came out again; and we don't even know the man's name (at least, the last I heard, they'd never traced it down). Now that, to me, is a hero.

And for heroine? Try the mother who, when an abusive spouse went nuts one day and attacked their baby, threw herself in his way yet again (this was a woman who had grown up in an earlier day and had it in her head you don't leave a marriage), but this time he not only beat her (which had always been enough to keep the kid safe), but took a baseball bat and knife to her, then shot her in the chest, belly and head; then he went after the kid -- would have choked it to death except that the woman got up off the floor and wrapped herself around his neck until he lost his grip. Finally put the kid in a bag and stuffed it in the freezer, leaving them both to die. She managed to pull herself to a phone and call 911, but died before she could get out any information; he call prompted a visit, and the kid was found with minor bruises. The baby was less than 6 months old. Now, yes, she should have left him long before this; but in a day and part of society where that just didn't happen, what she did was nonetheless an act of heroism.

Or try the "carpetbagger" politician who came into the South (wish I could remember the man's name; he deservest to be remembered) and actually was trying to make Reconstruction work for all concerned. But because he was a carpetbagger, the KKK decided he had to die, so he was ambushed and shot 16 times (using the old musket balls), twice to the head, three in one leg, one in another, and ten times to the torso. They left him for dead; he crawled off into a ditch and lay there until he recovered enough strength the next day to crawl 3 miles to a house, where he was recognized and taken to a hospital. Infection had set in; he lost nearly half of his face, one eye, one leg and part of the other, and one arm. Congress was so outraged that they were about to undertake severe retributive justice, when the man had himself hauled into the chamber and argued the South's case. As a result, the guilty men were (mostly) found and sentenced to a life of hard labor, with the possibility of parol, no innocents were punished. Again; that's heroism.

 

[Aes]

A hero is someone who makes an impact that people like.
A villian is someone who makes an impact that people don't like.

When you say "people" who are you referring to: The readers, or the people in the story? One thing I've always wanted to try (surely it's been done before though) is to create a hero and villain scenario where, in the eyes of the people, the two are reversed.

What I have in mind goes something like this: The 'villain' is a ruler who is loved by his subjects, and the 'hero' (heroine in the case of what I have in mind) is his jealous sister, who was (mercifully) exiled for crimes against the kingdom. At least that's the side the masses in the story are familiar with.

Ugh, I've been batting this story around in my head for months now, I really need to get it going.