For now, I am going to set a baseline- what do I mean when I say hero? Is it a famous person? Someone with super strength? Both? Or something else?
With that in mind, I introduce you all to Rokii, my Dungeons and Dragons character that I have never played as far as D&D goes, but has been my starting point in almost every RPG I have ever played. A half elf werewolf, he is an exceptional user of magic, a fantastic swordsman, with black hair tied into a pony tail and has Nightshade, a talking sword.
But why has he stuck with me since I was ten? Why do I think he is cool? Because he is what I envision as the best form of me in a fantasy setting. He is strong and fast and smart and charismatic, and I look up to him when I a feeling less than heroic. Rokii can show me what being a good person is, and how to act as a good person. He is also a person that I can put scenarios and circumstances against, and I know he will always win, or choose the right decision.
For the most part, Rokii is me, but with rose tinted glasses. He exhibits the best parts of me, and leaves the worst parts behind. He is an amalgamation of all of the things that I think/have thought was cool, and is a reflection of what I hope I can be.
That is my definition of hero. You can look up a more scholarly definition here, but I am likely to disagree with it. I think it is someone people look up to, for whatever reason. Someone’s parents are their heroes. A teacher. A priest. Or a fictional character. But someone that someone else thinks of as a role model. Does that mean that all role models are heroes? For this definition, yes. All role models are heroes to someone. Even some more controversial people can be heroes to some, and not to others. What I plan on looking at going forward is the heroes themselves, and what those heroes mean to those who call that person a hero.
Blog of Heroes 