Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Rarity of Heroes

I've talked enough about how the word "hero" is extremely overused. To recap: A hero is someone who seems to stand far above everyone else in the world. They cannot be beaten. If in combat, they will survive and kill all those who come against them. They are essentially the one-man army we see portrayed in most movies and video games. If they die, they die of old age or in some amazing, powerful way that inspires the masses for generations and sometimes into the far flung future. That is a hero. If you fought cancer and died from it, you are not a hero.

In these days, everybody wants too feel like a hero. But the truth is that heroes are extremely rare. They are so rare that some generations likely fail to produce one. The only real requirements for someone to be a hero is that they stand alone, unbeaten by anyone who comes against them. And this is where we come to a very unpopular aspect of a real hero: They have no true moral alignment.

The latter statement is more based off the social constructs of what morality is than anything universal. (Remember that all cultures throughout history considered their own accepted morality as universal.) The original definition of "hero" was merely "favored by the gods." Whether or not the gods exist, the gist of this definition is that this person seems to be beyond his fellow mortal kin, which one could likewise perceive as being touched by the hand of the immortal.

As a believer of God, I can easily imagine that a true hero very well could be touched by God, and very likely is. But the belief in this possibility is not needed to understand what a hero is. It is merely that they are seemingly better and beyond all other humans on the planet at that moment in time.

As I said earlier, heroes do not adhere to a strict code of moral righteousness. The term "evil hero" is actually not an oxymoron. Because of the modern perception that the word "hero" must entail that, as a hero, he must be good, we often use the term "anti-hero" to describe these infamous humans that kill and destroy untouched by all forces, good and evil, that come against him. However this is an unnecessary redundancy used to help people deal with the fact that evil heroes can exist. The truth is that if a human is unbeatable and stands above all other humans in greatness, that person is a hero... period. Whether he is good or evil is debatable based on cultural norms.

With the latter information in mind, if there be a truly evil hero who rises to greatness upon the corpses of the innocent--as certainly we would desire to grant this person the title of evil--should this man be dethroned? Well, I don't really know how I feel about it honestly. If this man really is the hero that he is, going against him is surely a death sentence. More so, if God has chosen him to be our judge, we shall be so judged for trying to take him down. But I suppose the good often has no choice but to rise up in compassion for the slain innocent. It is bound to happen regardless, and if this evil hero loses that which gave him that power, then we shall ultimately win, but not after fantastic losses. He is, after all, still a hero, and we fall well below that, even in large societal groups.

Nevertheless, the heroes of our world are rare. They are few and far between, but when they rise, we notice. These people suddenly become the most noticeable person in all the world. Their names are repeated constantly in the media and during conversation. Even long after they are deceased, they remain in our media circle for centuries. We can't forget them. We can't unsee them. They become a part of our lexicon and culture. Adjectives are invented based on their names. Whether we love them or hate them, the point is that we cannot help but notice them. That is what a hero is, and unless you meet those qualifications, you are not a hero.

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