It’s interesting that Lars wrote about villains last week, because I was thinking about them last week too. I quickly a list of 50 greatest from literature, compiled by the UK Telegraph a while back. So when I said to myself, “Dude, what’s the list of 50 greatest heroes look like,” I ran aground searching for a list. That is to say, I didn’t find one.
Of course, now that I search again, I find this list and this one, both broad and not quite what I wanted, especially the latter one. So what about our own list? If you wanted an list of great heroes from literature, who would you expect to see?
Odysseus, Hamlet, Henry V, Petruchio maybe. Frodo, Sam Gamgee, Aragorn, Faramir (unless we limit it to one per work). King Arthur, Erling Skjalgsson, Beowulf, Theseus. Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Edmund Pevensie, Robin Hood. (This is getting beyond me, and if I had to rank them, I couldn’t do it.)
How about Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig from Watership Down?
Great example of this getting beyond me already. I still have not read Watership Down. I know, I know, what I have I wasting my time doing, playing Oregon Trail for 20 years? It’s so, so sad.
Are heroines allowed? Not that there have been many great ones. There are plenty of admirable female protagonists who don’t rise to the heroic level–everyone loves Elizabeth Bennett, but speaking plainly to difficult old ladies is not quite heroism. There has to be some serious risk.
I’d nominate Portia, Eowyn, Marian Halcombe (from the *Woman in White*), Lucy Pevensie, Jane Eyre. Bradamante is an awesome character from the tales of Charlemagne’s knights, but probably too obscure.
And on the heroes, how about Roland, Atticus Finch, Jean Valjean?
I meant to mention Finch and forgot. Thanks. Yes, heroines are welcome. Let’s make the list as long as we can and even argue about one character over another. Obscurity is no object.
Is Portia the one from “The Merchant of Venice,” or are you thinking of someone else?
Erling says to thank you for listing him.
Looking at the Germanic past, you’ve obviously got Siegfried the dragon-slayer (although he doesn’t always act like a more modern hero would), and I’d nominate Gunnar of Hliderendi from Njal’s Saga. It’s odd, when I think of it, that saga literature doesn’t have a lot of real heroes. The saga heroes are so realistic and morally complicated that it’s hard to call them heroes–Grettir the Strong is an outlaw, and Egil Skallagrimsson is a murderer. The two King Olafs of Norway were seen as heroes, but their bloody missionary work kind of disqualifies them nowadays.
Roland from “The Song of Roland” counts, I’m sure.
Ooh, I’ve got another! Leatherstocking!
I start with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jepthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, Samuel, David, Jonathan, Nathan, Abigail, Joab, Solomon, Asa, Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Micaiah, Jehoshaphat, JoashAmaziah, Azariah/Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, Josiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Mordecai, John the Baptist, Peter, John the Apostle, Andrew, James (brother of John, James (son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, Judas (son of James), Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Paul, James the brother of Jesus, Barnabas, etc.
That’s more than 50.
We may need to talk about some of those, Greybeard. Abel was a good man, but does he fit the definition of hero that we want to hold to. And Jepthah? I don’t think he makes the cut. Samson may not even make the cut.
Of course, you haven’t really defined hero yet. I would propose something along the lines of “one who undertakes extraordinary actions, at significant personal risk, for the sake of some worthy goal.”
And yes, I was thinking of Portia in *The Merchant of Venice*. Her actions were more unusual than risky, but risk was still present and the actions were quite out of the ordinary. (Novelty is as important as risk–women have faced a high risk of death in childbirth from time immemorial, but it’s too common to give any one of them “hero” status. Similarly with men in ordinary combat.)
Hector from the Iliad. Hercules. Perseus.
Lucilla Elliot from Elizabeth Goudge’s “The Bird in the Tree”.
My heroine.
I was using the definition of hero as someone to be looked up to or emulated. That leaves open a wide range of activities that earn respect and emulation. As for the ones that Paul questioned, Abel brought an offering to the Lord that was acceptable to God. I pray that my sacrifices may be received by Him.
It’s possible that Jephthah and Samson shouldn’t be in the list due to their very costly fatal flaws. However, both of them did gain mention in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, so I have to consider that their faith outweighed their flaws. Or rather, the mercy of the God in whom they placed their faith covered their fatal flaws. In the same way, whatever hero we seek to emulate, whether from Scripture, Literature, or Personal Acquaintance, we still need to place our faith in a God who will forgive and cover our fatal flaws.
Those are good points, and I didn’t define it, so I got off on the wrong foot–or maybe someone else’s foot. I like the definition the Queen has given us: “one who undertakes extraordinary actions, at significant personal risk, for the sake of some worthy goal.” That narrows the field a good bit.
Abel was being obedient, not acting extraordinarily, so I don’t think he fits. Daniel, on the other hand, prayed (an ordinary act) openly when his life was a risk, and then followed through with the consequences, trusting the Lord to deliver him. That’s heroic.
I know Jepthah and Samson are in the hall of faith and fought bravely in war, but when it comes to arguing who makes the cut, I think they are first on the list to be reconsidered.
How about Jael (Judges 4:11-23)? Does her taking advantage of the opportunity presented to her make her a heroine according to our definition?
I’d say she is, although I always wonder what motive she had exactly. She wasn’t an Israelite and it says her tribe was at peace with Sisera. Still, one figures she must have had some sort of good cause to do something so gutsy. What if he’d woken up at the wrong moment? “Heh . . . just putting in a new tent peg . . . maybe over here in the corner would be better . . . “