Common Elements of Fantasy: Hero

From my MLA 2012 Fantasy presentation

The Hero:

·       Conversation about the nature of heroism and the hero.

·       Perspective of Hero is key.  That determines what's heroic – it's a very personal thing.  Also, it's partially an internal journey so without the hero's perspective it loses a lot of meaning.

·       Sometimes the hero creates the situation in which he must become the hero.  In Ursula K. LeGuin's “Wizard of Earthsea”, Ged loosed a great evil and has to become a great mage to banish it again.

Heroic Journeys

·       The heroic monomyth that Joseph Campbell distilled in his Hero with a Thousand Faces” – “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

·       Hero’s journey – Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of fertility and love – descending into the darkness and finding that your ultimate enemy is yourself and embracing that.

·       Transformation – (“Riddle-Master of Hed” by Patricia McKillip – Transforms from the Farmer-Prince of an island nation to something much bigger and more mysterious.)

·       Growth into/discovery of power – form of coming of age that is not age specific – coming into oneself.  This is a much-loved fantasy element.  (“Fistful of Sky” – Nina Kiriki Hoffman – both coming of age and coming into her powers. )

Different types of hero:

·       Anti-Hero – a protagonist who is heroic and not at the same time.  A hero with many less-than-heroic characteristics and yet manages to get the job done. (“Sir Apropos of Nothing” by Peter David, 1^st in the Apropos of Nothing series.)

·       Reluctant Hero – A hero who has no desire for the job and yet gets forced into it anyway.  Sometimes by someone else.  Sometimes because they’re the only person with the right qualifications.  Sometimes purely by circumstances. (Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett. Sam Vimes, commander of the City Watch, just wants to keep what order he can in Ankh-Morpork. Unfortunately he keeps unwittingly getting himself involved in crises that with ever expanding consequences, and solving them. The epitome of the person promoted above his comfort level, but never above his abilities.)