The hero and his quest. Almost every epic in literature has its protagonist: the character us readers find ourselves rooting for. The internal desire to see our character succeed can sometimes even be so strong as to turn our eyes away from his or her flaws. All these works – from Star Wars to The Odyssey to King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table – illustrate a hero’s quest to some final development. In these stories, we can draw at least one verdict: heroism is not easy, and to be a hero means to struggle. What may be a heroic action or behavior to one individual may be a trivial accomplishment to another, thus diminishing the “heroism” tied with it. Take Frodo Baggins, a clumsy and small hobbit who destroys a magical ring to save all of Middle-Earth. Had this same adventure been completed by, let’s say, Elrond, a powerful and ancient elf, the story would have been much less interesting.

Frodo is one common archetype of a protagonist: our unlikely hero. But after all these literary stories, are our unlikely heroes really that unlikely? Beyond the fact that Frodo is a small hobbit, he fits in well with the hero characterization: He is white, male, and seems to have an improbable knack for inspiring people with much more experience and authority than him. Our characterization of an unlikely hero is now expected, and we rarely read stories with true unlikely heroes. Perhaps this is why, decades after women have earned their right to vote, joined the workforce, and taken a greater political voice, our female heroines remain much less common. Perhaps this is why, after decades of striving for equal treatment regardless of race, religion, sexuality, or gender identity, our society seems to subconsciously (or consciously) default back to our standard characterization of a hero, unlikely or not.

Heroes also are portrayed to uphold moral values throughout their quest. Honesty, integrity, perseverance, loyalty, and conviction are all commonly found in the characters we admire. However, as already asserted before, heroism is not easy. Often a quest is not only defined by physical challenges but also temptation (and subsequent resilience) of betraying personal values. These mental challenges are often similar to struggles that many people experience in everyday life, making these characters relatable to people in many ways. This raises another verdict: heroes are almost always flawed, often in ways that are applicable to their readers. As people, we crave imperfection as a way of justifying our own natural, and so inherently human, mistakes. After all, if Odysseus can commit adultery but still win Penelope’s heart and Achilles can suffer from the disease of excessive pride but still be famed as a war hero, can’t we justify our own mistakes that we make each day? Perhaps our need for our heroes is driven by our own need for consolation in our flaws as well as the hope that we can achieve greatness despite them. Bertolt Brecht once said, “Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” If our desire for heroes is based on our own faults, the unhappiness that Brecht refers to may derive from our subconscious awareness of our limitations.

And what of our perspectives of these characters’ faults? Does our desire to see our protagonist succeed veil flaws that are too easily forgiven? Odysseus’ affair with Calypso is often overlooked and we readers end up praising his devotion to his wife. While our favorite heroes display exemplary morals and values, there are often many aspects that go overlooked. The flaws we choose to ignore, the lack of hero diversity, and character archetypes that are overly used are all issues that exist in our literary world. Regardless, however, our heroes are mirrors of our society, demonstrating in a fictional light some brutally honest truths of human behavior and the world we live in.