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thumb Sir Galahad, a prototypical hero In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, commonly possessed of powers far beyond that of a standard human, which enable him or her to perform some truly extraordinary, beneficial deed (a "heroic deed") for which he or she is famous. These powers are sometimes not only of the body but also of the mind. Heroes are typically opposed by villains.
A person normally becomes a hero by performing an extraordinary and praiseworthy deed. Traditional deeds are slaying of monsters and saving people from certain death. A hero normally fulfills the definitions of what is considered good and noble in the originating culture. However, in literature, particularly in tragedy, the hero may also have serious flaws which lead to a downfall, e.g. Hamlet.
Sometimes a real person might achieve enough status to become a hero in people's minds. This is usually complemented by a rapid growth of myths around the person in question, often attributing to him or her powers beyond those of ordinary mortals.
Some social commentators prescribe the need for heroes in times of social upheaval or national self-doubt, seeing a requirement for virtuous role-model s, especially for the young. Such myth-making may have worked better in the past: current trends may confuse heroes and their hero-worship with the cult of mere celebrity.
Well-known heroes approach the gods in status in some cultures. The word hero comes from ancient Greek, where it describes a culture heroA culture hero is a historical or mythological hero who changes the world through invention or discovery. A typical culture hero might be credited as the discoverer of fire, or agriculture, songs, tradition and religion, and is usually the most important who figures in mythologyThis article is about a system of myths. For the 1942 book Mythology see its author Edith Hamilton. A mythology is a relatively cohesive set of myths: stories that comprise a certain religion or belief system. What is mythology? Myths are generally storie. The Greek heroes were often the mythological characters who were the eponymAn eponym is a person (real or fictitious) whose name has become identified with a particular object or activity. One of the first cases was in second millennium BC, when the Assyrians named each year after a high official limmu . Also, the eponym archonous founders of Greek cities, states, and territories. These mythological heroes were not always role models or possessed of heroic virtue; many were demigodsA demigod a "half-god," is a person whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was a human. The heroes of Greek mythology were often demigods. Zeus became the father of many demigods as a result of his dalliances. Demigods were usually mortal, but, the offspring of mortals and the godsThis article focuses on the concept of singular, monotheistic God . See deity, gods, or goddesses for details on divine entities in specific religions and mythologies. God is a term referring to the supreme being generally believed to be ruler or creator. The age when heroes of this sort were active, and where the stories of Greek mythologyGreek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods and goddesses and ancient heroes and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. Our surviving sources of mythology are either transcriptions of this spoken word, o were set, is frequently known as the "heroic age"; the heroic age ends shortly after the Trojan WarThe Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of Greece, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. The war figures centrally in Greek mythology and was narrated is over and the legendary combatants have returned to home or exile.
Most European indigenous religions feature heroes in some form. GermanicGermanic languages: A language family, the languages of which are spoken in northern and northwestern Europe, and in many places colonized since around 1500 Germanic peoples: Collective name of a number of tribes and peoples, originating from northern Eur, Hellene and Roman heroes, along with their attributes and forms of worship have been largely absorbed by the Orthodox and Catholic denominations of Christianity, forming the basis of modern day Saint worship.
In modern movies, the hero is often simply an ordinary person treated unfairly by society who prevails in the end.
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