Ok, so this entry’s going to be rather different to the usual sort of thing. No moping about how terrible my life must be or how much I hate X where X is the comedy of Jimmy Carr or the art of Frank Quitely or whatever. Instead, this is a list of inspirations for heroism. I’m trying to create the perfect hero, you see, and these characters are my list of inspirations (taken from things I’ve seen/read/etc. from childhood to the present day).
I’ll add to each entry as I go along and there will doubtless be many more than the ones I’m including here shortly. They’re included in the order that they pop into my head and the numerical ranking system is almost totally arbitrary. All entries assume at least a basic understanding of the work in question in which the heroes appear. I have attempted to avoid spoilers wherever possible but if you do intend to read/view/play these things then you should probably avoid reading them.
If I have the inclination and the time to do so in the future, I’ll do an in-depth top 5. If you have feedback, if you disagree with my choices or you’ve got the perfect character I haven’t listed, please let me know and I’ll do my best to become familiar with them if I’m not and try and defend my decisions. As I’ve said, this is not an exhaustive list and will increase in volume as and when I/you think of characters. Be warned; it is already somewhat epic and the writing is fairly uninspiring.
1) Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII. Cloud is a character I’m always fairly ambivalent about. On the one hand, he’s a mopey guy who’s clearly compensating for something with that sword, but on the other, he can certainly fight well and saves the world. Gotta love the hair and the outfit too. Cloud also gets a major mention because of his nemesis, Sephiroth, whose style is fantastic and who manages to pull off long girly hair and a daikatana (arguably sillier than anything Cloud ever uses) by virtue of being badass. Although any of the FFVII characters could probably be mentioned here easily enough (with the possible exceptions of Cait Sith and Yuffie who both annoy the hell out of me), Cloud is the protagonist of the story and deserves the top billing. The game itself is great, with the moment when Sephiroth kills someone very dear to Cloud (and, by extension, to you) being one of the most poignant I’ve experienced in a game. And the shot of Sephiroth turning away from the camera and walking into the flames is perfectly re-realised in Advent Children.
2) Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Shinji is wonderful because he’s so uncertain of his own ability and because of the way he’s torn between Rei and Asuka and because of hundreds of other things. I’d go into more here, but Shinji has enormous depth and I’d hate not to cover him properly. I need to see all of Eva again and highly recommend it to anyone that can deal with sci-fi and anime. If you can get past the medium (and there are a few poor people who can’t) then it’s superb.
3) Nearly everyone from Watchmen. That’s right, this isn’t just one character, it’s four. Dr. Manhattan is brilliant because he is, to all intents and purposes, God. This naturally leaves him with very little connection to the rest of humanity. I love his perception of time, I love how his presence alters the course of history massively, I love how he chooses the symbol that he respects. Rorschach is another excellent character. He’s paranoid to the point of delusion and yet correct; he’s relentlessly violent and yet the still story’s protagonist. We sympathise with him when he kills police officers. We even end up on his side when he goes through psychotherapy. Think the modern ‘Dark Knight’ Batman but turned up to 11 and you’ll have one of the most interesting antiheroes I’ve ever known. Moore’s other take on Batman can be seen in Nite Owl who has aged properly and is overweight and totally fails to sustain an erection. Yet he still has some damned cool toys and even manages to get the girl. Finally, Ozymandias, the perfect man. He blurs the line of exactly what a hero is far beyond even Rorschach and makes choices that are incomprehensible, culminating in the so-called ‘ultimate weapon’ that saves the world. (or does it?) If you can read and look at pictures, you should read Watchmen. Bitter social commentary and an exploration of what it means to be human and superhuman. Feel free to bother me for my copy.
4) Naota Nandaba from FLCL. FLCL is Naota’s story, a strange series of events with mecha and aliens and guitars. But at its core, it’s a story about a boy pushed through puberty (almost literally) by Haruko Haruhara whom he dislikes, then loves and ultimately is forced to betray. FLCL is probably one of my favourite things due to its style but mostly due to its story. Naota is forced to accept huge responsibility for simply being who he is and, at the end of the story, nothing changes. Even though the events of the show would seem to disagree, he’s still perfectly right when he says, “Nothing ever happens here”. When you’re a hero, nothing ever happens, until you save the world.
5) King Arthur from British legend. King Arthur is one of those myths that has endured in spite of not really having any official version printed anywhere. Arthur is a great hero and a particularly interesting one because he may actually not be fictional (this list is of characters who do not exist, as I’m sure you’ve noticed) and because he’s one of the few examples of a hero whose entire ‘life cycle’ is seen by the reader: from the early days with his own father (a great hero himself) and Merlin (one of the best mentor figures around), right to the end of his life when he dies alone. Arthur’s story is a truly epic one and I always get a little shiver when the once and future king pulls Excalibur from the stone, I also appreciate the fact that his intelligence is emphasised as well as his strength through the creation of the round table. Arthur’s downfall is pure tragedy and his world falls apart when he picks Sir Lancelot over his son. This is the one act that is fated to destroy his marriage, his castle and ultimately kill him. Also worthy of a mention is Morgan le Fay for planning this downfall and for the way she manipulates Mordred. An excellent nemesis for a near-perfect hero.
6) Rick Deckard from Blade Runner. First of all, let me apologise to you for never having read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This is an enormous oversight on my part and really needs rectifying somewhat sharpish. That said, Blade Runner is a great film and Deckard is a great character (partly because Harrison Ford is a great actor) with a great nemesis in Roy (also a great character because Rutger Hauer is a great actor). Everything in this film is great (I’m going to stop using that word now). I’m discussing the Director’s Cut rather than the original as I feel that the two films are almost totally different and I prefer the former. Although there is ambiguity about exactly who Deckard is and the question of whether or not he is a replicant, this does not matter and does not answer whether or not he is a hero. Even though he has not seen as much of the universe as Roy (and what a superb job Roy does of expressing how very much he has seen) and even though he does not save the world or even have a happy ending, he does his job in difficult circumstances against tricky odds. This is sometimes all you need to do to be a hero. He’s a classic film noir detective thrown into a futuristic world where all appearances are deceptive and the synthetic characters are almost considerably more ‘human’ than the humans themselves in their capacity for emotion.
7) John Sheridan from Babylon 5. I’ll be honest with you, when Sheridan first appeared, I didn’t like him very much. I wanted to know where the hell Sinclair had gone and what this brash, arrogant military boy was doing in C&C. This dislike never actually disappeared, but there’s no denying that if B5 has a hero, Sheridan is it. Anyone that can put a guy like Kosh in their place is worthy of respect. Oh and he was able to say “get the hell out of my galaxy” to two warring alien factions immeasurably more powerful than him; reform the corrupt government of Earth and form an alliance of species that would last long beyond his own short lifetime without breaking a sweat. Sheridan matures an enormous amount throughout the series and finds love in the most unlikely of places. The last episode alone is a perfect example of why Sheridan is a fantastic character. Honourable mentions go to Marcus and Londo, the first for dying in the name of love and inspiring Ivanova to her famous quotation (“all love is unrequited… all of it”) and Londo for the darkness within him that almost totally consumes him before he finds the light again. They are all brilliant characters and it’s an equally brilliant series.
8) Jenny Sparks from The Authority. I’ve chosen Jenny because I can’t think of a better embodiment of the spirit of the 20th Century than a chainsmoking, foulmouthed British blonde and neither can Warren Ellis. Although it can be argued that some of the other characters in The Authority are much better choices, Jack Hawksmoor or Apollo and The Midnighter; Jenny is a definitive leader and, because she died when Ellis’ run on the book finished, has never been forced to compromise her goals with the real world. Whilst Jack becomes a sort of president figure, Jenny’s legacy is what inspires him. She’s a fantastic character and her epitaph is a perfect summation of what she stands for: ‘Bugger this, I wanted a better world’. In the end, that’s what all heroes want; to improve the world for other people. Oh, and she kills God too. That counts for a lot.
9) Wallace from Sin City. If you’re wondering which character from the film Wallace is, stop. He appeared only in To Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story), an arc I really loved mainly because of Wallace, undoubtedly one of Basin City’s most dangerous inhabitants. His long black hair, leather coat and Converse trainers looked fantastic in Miller’s world of black and white and his quest to recover the woman he loves takes him on a strange journey filled with heroes, villains, a brilliant drug trip and to a final, brutal confrontation that ranks amongst my favourites. Wallace is a very simple character, it has to be said, and is a caricature of a certain type of man (as most of the people in Sin City are) but the ‘guns and dames’ thing still holds a lot of appeal for me.
10) JC Denton from Deus Ex. Denton’s a kinda complicated one because he is, to all intents and purposes, you. You make most of his choices for him, however there are some points in the game where you’re forced into a certain action. When you discover that your bosses are corrupt and that the NSF terrorists you’re meant to be exterminating aren’t really all that evil after all; JC makes the right choice and does the heroic thing. JC is also mirrored in his brother, Paul, and the people around him. It’s through them that we get the impression that he is a good person. The long coat and sunglasses indoors were taken straight from The Matrix but still looked good and the idea of being a techno-augmented human is an interesting one and the monofilament katana remains a must-have accessory. And (of course) he saves the world in one of three exciting ways at the end.
11) Aeneas from the Aeneid. Aeneas is a perfect example of a classical hero. He manages to find love and to lose it, to battle men and beasts, to visit the underworld and even to found the beginnings of the Roman people (admittedly, Virgil died before actually writing this bit, but the intention was certainly there). So why have I chosen Aeneas (who is admittedly somewhat dry and dull) over say Achilles or Odysseus? Well, the Aeneid was the first example of a classical myth I ever read and so it’s more important to me. If you want a little less conversation and a little more action, read The Odyssey, though (or listen to Elvis).
12) Yorick Brown from Y: The Last Man. Yorick is the last man alive. Now, I’m sure that a few of us might think, ‘yay!’ at this, but not the intensely practical Yorick. All he wants is to find Beth, his girlfriend, and not to draw too much attention to himself in the new society where women find themselves suddenly in charge. Yorick is a typical everyman (admittedly, his skill as an escape artist is extremely useful) thrust into a totally alien situation. Vaughn cleverly subverts the ideas of what a world without men would be like by having many women become considerably more masculine (dressing up as Amazons and, yes, even cutting off their breasts – although this is a symbolic rather than a practical gesture). I don’t actually own any of this series and it’s still ongoing, so I have no idea how Yorick will evolve as a character but I’m sure he’ll continue to produce brilliant one-liners and try and discover the cause of the plague that killed nearly everything with a Y chromosome. Who knows, he may even save the world and get the girl.
13) Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain. Lain’s another one of those characters who doesn’t quite fit into the role of a hero. She’s not who she thinks she is, this much is certain and the question of the other Lain, the one from the Wired, and exactly who has created whom is an important one. I obviously identify with her for being a computer geek a bit and for not fitting in terribly well at school. She never really has any close friends and so is a lot more human than some of the characters on this list. She is nearly an ordinary girl but never quite fits into the role she has chosen for herself. It’s all very complicated and would involve huge spoilers for the series if I were to go into it now.
14) Donnie Darko from Donnie Darko. I have read lots of strange theories about exactly who Donnie is and who Frank is. Many people dismiss him as a kid with mental illness, but he’s much more than that. Donnie deserves a full entry for everything about him. He does what most of the heroes I’ve mentioned never have to; he makes an important sacrifice in order to save people he cares about. He’s definitely one of the Top 5, though.
15) Superman from DC Comics. The first (nearly) superhero. You all know him so I’ll not spend too long discussing the Man of Steel. When Siegel and Shuster wrote about a man from a dead planet who was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. Kal-El introduced themes like a weakness (the ever-popular Kryptonite), a secret identity (mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent) and a gallery of supervillains (Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod and Mr. Mxyzptlk to name just a few) to superheroes. His influence can still be felt today with Smallville and Superman Returns. Even though the primary colours and getting dressed in the dark (underpants on the outside, anybody?) detract from my appreciation of him slightly, he’s still the superhero.
16) Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. Another one I think you’ll all know fairly well. To some eyes, Luke is a fairly simple update of the Arthurian legend and is hardly a complicated person. This is fair enough. However, he does have a lightsaber, which counts for a great deal :). I will admit to now appreciating Wedge Antilles a great deal more than Luke, but when I was small and watching the film for the first time, the latter was the guy who appealed to me. Luke is a great example of a hero who starts from extremely humble beginnings and achieves greatness through discipline and hard work. His mentors allow him to eventually perform impossible feats via The Force and to save not just one planet but the whole universe. The familial relationship between Luke and Vader is all a giant retcon, but a fairly intelligent and cool one on Lucas’ part (unlike midi-bloody-chlorians) so it’s forgiven. Admittedly, Luke doesn’t get the girl, but he does get a sister, a brother-in-law and, in the expanded universe, a great deal more. Even though he becomes a teacher, then an enemy to his old friends, then more he remains a simple moisture farmer from a tiny planet in the back of nowhere in his heart.
17) Riff from Sluggy Freelance. I’ve been reading Sluggy for a good few years now and have always liked Riff. Although Torg would probably fit equally well in this spot, he’s always (until fairly recently, anyway) lacked the level of heroism or coolness of Riff. Even when Riff was evil, he was still cool (maybe even cooler than before!). Riff is great for the fact that he is an inventor (nearly unique amongst people on this list), for the on-again, off-again relationship he has with Gwynn, for always having a laser when it’s needed and for the way he rarely expresses how he really feels on the inside. He’s an introvert and I guess I empathise with that. The fact he cares for Kiki shows us a slightly different side to him too.
18) Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings. Although I read The Hobbit before The Lord of the Rings, it is Frodo and his quest that grabbed my interest. First and foremost, Frodo is a simple guy dealing with things that are miles bigger than him (and not just because he’s a hobbit, either). Unlike Aragorn who has the natural qualities of a leader and is born to be king or Sam who is a fairly simple chap with an innocent heart or Gandalf with his vast knowledge and enormous lifespan, Frodo is inquisitive to an almost childlike degree. He wants to leave The Shire, to explore like his uncle, but he does not realise the magnitude of the task before him. He does not realise exactly what he is getting himself into. His responsibility corrupts him, as you would expect it to, given its great evil. Frodo’s greatest enemy is simultaneously miles away in Mordor and yet very close to him, in the ring he carries. Just as the ring corrupted Bilbo and Gollum before him, it starts to change Frodo and he loses his innocence, to a certain degree. Once the hero has seen the heart of darkness within himself, he can never turn back from it.
19) Archangel from X-Men. First of all, I’d like to dissociate this entry from the films, especially X-Men: The Last Stand, which allegedly contained Angel. I saw absolutely nothing of the pathos of this character in the stupid, blank-looking pretty boy played by Ben Foster. Initially in the comics, Warren was never a very deep guy; he liked the ladies, sure and he could fly. He had a gun, which was probably nice (although I forget if it was for shooting people with bullets or tranquillisers). However, in the 1980s, he was reunited with the rest of the original X-Men as X-Factor (the less said about his time with The Defenders, the better) and was involved in the Mutant Massacre. Angel’s powers aren’t exactly super; yet he was more than willing to risk his life to save the Morlocks. If it had been Colossus or Wolverine, they would have been fine (admittedly, Colossus was fairly badly hurt by the Marauders, but work with me here) because they had powers that actually let them fight. Angel was very badly hurt and his wings were amputated. He tried to kill himself. This was fairly dark territory for the comic to be going, particularly as Warren had always been fairly happy-go-lucky in the past. Warren came back as Apocalypse’s Death with new, metal wings and blue skin. He was fairly depressed, as you can imagine, and had made a deal with the devil just to fly again. At his core, of course, Warren was a nice guy and didn’t remain Archangel for long, eventually having his original wings return and even later losing his blue skin too. Archangel’s not the best character, but to return from the deepest darkness like he did is heroic. To try and save the Morlocks was heroic. I’ve always wanted to be able to fly and there’s never been a cooler way than doing it with blue skin, long blond hair and metal wings.
20) Gai Daigoji from Martian Successor Nadesico. Gai’s almost a cardboard character. By this I mean he doesn’t get the important development of Ruri or especially Akito due to what happens to him. He is still one of my favourite heroes, however, because of his extreme fanboyness. He gets to play in a giant mech and loves it in a way that I know I would love it. He gets a mention for abandoning his seriously dull old name (Jiro Yamada is sorta like the Japanese equivalent of John Smith but multiplied by a factor of several thousand) in favour of the exciting “Gai Daigoji”, his so-called ‘true name’. Say it to yourself (sounds like guy die-go-jee) and appreciate its lyric brilliance. So yes, the ultimate otaku and Gekigangar III fan deserves this spot over even the real hero of the series for his blind faith in himself and the incredibly useful ability to shout “Gekigan FLARE!” without a trace of irony.
21) Neo from The Matrix. If you know me already, you’ll know I quite like Neo. He’s another character that’s reclusive and quiet and doesn’t fit in and yet is able to escape the confines of his dull, repetitive job and eventually his whole dull repetitive life through computers. I’m a bit of a computer geek and a bit of a sci-fi geek too (ok, a lot of a sci-fi geek) so, even though the two sequels and the fact that I’ve discovered that the film is incredibly contrived and takes bits and pieces from other people in an extreme, near-Equilibrium type way, it will always have a special place in my heart. Neo’s image of himself as he would wish to be (the coat, sunglasses, etc.) is nearly spot on for a hacker who’s played too many computer games. Oh, and I can still watch the lobby scene on repeat without feeling too silly. Neo eventually does the best possible thing that a hero can do; he sets about trying to give others the same insight that he has received. To be a hero himself, and to make more heroes. This is what I plan to do.
22) Will Parry from His Dark Materials. When I was a bit younger, I used to read a lot more than I currently do. I think I used to enjoy it a bit more, too. There are few books I have enjoyed as much as The Subtle Knife. This book introduced my namesake to Lyra and the reader and I could see a lot myself in this quiet, black haired, mildly paranoid teenager. Their epic quest is one of the better ones I have read and the way that Will and Lyra fall in love and then realise that they can’t be together is heartbreakingly sad (even if Lyra’s not exactly my kind of girl). I’m overdue a re-reading of these novels and I’ll probably update this entry when I get done with that.
23) John Yossarian from Catch-22. Yossarian lives! That’s really the key to the novel. Whilst the other characters are slowly killed off around him, he beats the unbeatable, he escapes the insanest of situations and he lives. Now, I’ve not actually managed to read Closing Time yet, but I will. When I do, Yossarian will get an update so that he’s on par with some of the others. Yossarian gets a mention for being a key part of one of the most beautifully written tragic-comic novels I’ve ever read; for his taste for the surreal and desire, above all to live through his 50 missions or 60 missions and eventually go home. His worldview is heavily coloured by the death of Snowden and it is sometimes a very bleak place indeed, but he survives all of it and beats the unbeatable situation because he is a hero.
24) Largo from Megatokyo. Largo is, in many ways, the Riff of Megatokyo. Where Piro is the one whom all the girls are chasing and who plays the role of protagonist, Largo is usually in the background, muttering in l337 about teh 3vil, wearing nothing but his boxers. This gives him a certain mystique, in my mind and the way he views the world is inspiring. He’s a bit like Gai from Nadesico in this way because neither of them lives in the same world as the rest of the characters. Largo sees zombies everywhere and lives life as if it’s all a huge videogame and Gai lives as if he’s an anime character (the irony being, of course, that he is). Largo’s story isn’t over and it remains to be seen if his burgeoning relationship with Erika will ever get off the ground or if he’s destined to always be a lone wolf, drinking b33r and fighting monsters. He’s a hero because he lives to be a hero, it’s not his destiny or a huge quest or anything, just part (some would say all) of who he is.
25) Max Carrion from The Garden of Unearthly Delights. Maxwell Karrien is excellent because he’s nobody and remains nobody (although he does save the world. Well, a world, anyway.). This was the first Robert Rankin novel I’d ever read. The style was rather unlike anything else I’d seen before (having not seen any Ben Elton or Catch-22) and it was strangely appealing. This is the reason that Max gets the nod over Pooley or Omally who have multiple novels as the protagonists to establish themselves as reluctant, occasionally even unwitting, heroes. Max’s outfit sounds excellent and allows Rankin the same pop culture references that I indulge in all the time. If there’s one thing that Max is missing, it’s a 7.62x51mm NATO General Electric minigun.
26) Link from The Legend of Zelda (and sequels). There have been many Links, but they all share the same style (blond hair, elf ears, green ranger-type outfit with matching floppy cap; sword and shield or bow/boomerang/etc.) and the same attributes (bravery, desire to defeat Ganon and save Zelda by completing the Triforce). His motivation is fairly unclear, but he does it anyway. He’s a hero in order to do heroic things. Link gets this spot over similar characters (Mario or Sonic) for not being a plumber or a hedgehog.
27) Waylander from the Drenai series. Waylander is an assassin who has killed the king. Now, this makes him at best an antihero and at worst a fairly evil man. Yet he is a honourable man with a fairly simple desire not to die and not to have to go through the pain of losing people he loves again. Eventually, he becomes a reluctant hero and is coerced by a series of events into finding a legendary set of armour which will turn the tide of a war. This is all fairly generic fantasy stuff and the romance seems tacked on. It’s only really by the time of Hero in the Shadows that Waylander improves as a character beyond ‘generic assassin’ to become The Gray Man, a mysterious recluse, haunted by his past. Of course, events conspire against him once again and he finds himself saving the world again. Waylander’s tale is one of redemption and I think it’s good to believe that even the blackest of hearts can eventually change. It’s generic and mindless, but then, so was I as a teenager J.
28) Indiana Jones from the Indiana Jones films. Indy is a nearly perfect action hero for several reasons. First, he takes a popular pulp character like Doc Savage and updates him for the modern world. Secondly, he’s got his trademarks: the bullwhip and fedora and stubble and especially the attitude. Thirdly, he’s a hit with the ladies (although none of them seem able to last longer than a film). Fourthly, he has a sidekick (in Temple of Doom, anyway). Sidekicks can be important. Fifthly, there’s no moral ambiguity; Indy’s the good guy and the crazy fanatics or the Nazis or whatever are the bad guys. All these things and more add up to a quality hero.
29) Guybrush Threepwood from the Monkey Island games. First off, look at that name, does anything say ‘mighty pirate’ better? I think not! Guybrush is obviously a classic nerdy hero wanting to be more than he is, to turn from a spotty teen into undoubtedly the piratiest man in the Tri-Island area. He defeats the evil ghost pirate LeChuck on no less than four consecutive occasions in a series of brilliant ways; finds the missing treasure of Big Whoop (ok, so that was something of a stupid disappointment but never mind); defeats the Swordmaster and manages to marry the beautiful Governor Elaine Marley. Guybrush is a perfect comic hero and that’s more or less all there is to it.
30) Hamlet from Hamlet. Many smarter, more intelligent people than me have done good analyses of Hamlet’s character and his importance not just to the play named for him but to the way we view tragedy as a whole. I’m not going to attempt any of this but simply analyse why he’s a true hero. He’s torn between his desire to avenge his father and his fear of the potential consequences (not just if he’s caught or not but what will happen if he actually succeeds in killing Claudius). In the midst of this, he has to deal with his love for Ophelia and her death, the relationship between his mother and his uncle and above all of this, the ghost of his dead father pushing him ever further to murder and insanity (the famous ‘to be or not to be’ speech is all about Hamlet’s contemplation of suicide, if you didn’t already know). Hamlet ends with a stage covered with bodies as the hero finally manages to kill his uncle and avenge his father, dying himself in the process. Because he finally succeeds in his quest, he is a hero, although a tragically flawed one. Hamlet shows that not every hero’s life ends by walking into the sunset.
31) Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is a very strange place where a good 75% of the population seem to have mental illnesses of varying severity. At the same time, Twin Peaks is a very intelligent show, exposing the strangeness at the heart of many small towns in America. It’s important to note that Cooper comes from the outside, being an FBI investigator, and is accepted, for the most part. He seems to fit in there much better than other outsiders (like Rosenfield, for example, who cannot stand the lack of high quality facilities) due to his adaptability. So why’s he a hero? Well, he helps the town’s inhabitants discover who killed Laura Palmer; he’s got a few trademarks: the thumbs up and love of coffee and cherry pie (the latter of which I share) and his particular brand of detection involving rock throwing and a glass bottle remains one of the absolute best scenes in anything ever.
32) Rama from the Ramayana. If you thought that classical myth was the be all and end all of ancient heroism, you’re very wrong. This epic poem remains one of my favourite stories for the love between Rama and Sita and the low cunning and brute force of the demon, Ravana. Admittedly, Rama has a few things on his side, here. He’s actually an incarnation of Vishnu whose whole purpose for being there is to kill Ravana. When he’s exiled, Rama is stoic about his punishment and is faithful to his wife, Sita. When Ravana captures her, he resolves to get her back and lays siege to Sri Lanka where Ravana rules. All these things are enormously heroic and, in the middle of a huge battle, Rama kills Ravana. When he is forced to give up life with Sita again, he is a broken man (avatar of Vishnu, whatever). They finally get to be together. Although Rama is technically Vishnu, he acts more like a man than a god and throughout his moral dilemmas, never compromises and sticks to the virtuous path, weathering all his challenges.
33) James T. Kirk from Star Trek. So, the age-old Kirk vs. Picard debate finally is solved. Well, not really. I actually prefer Picard (and I like Sisko best of all) but he’s not a hero in the same way that Kirk is. Kirk does what you might expect a 1960s man to do in the future; he fights alien men and sleeps with alien women (usually in that order), before mocking the guy who represses his emotions and going to warp. The special effects are dated, but there’s no denying that without Kirk, we wouldn’t have TNG, and without that, most modern sci-fi would likely not have been made either. Even if he’s not as cerebral as Picard, Kirk still deserves the place here for his old-fashioned asskicking talents.
34) Cohen the Barbarian from the Discworld series. Cohen is not Rincewind. Rincewind is a useless coward with an inability to spell, Cohen’s the Disc’s greatest hero (although he should have doubtless retired by now). Ok, so he’s a comedy character and I could have had exactly the same effect by replacing him with Druss the Legend from Gemmell’s Legend but I think it’s important to have heroes who have been doing the job so long that they are damned hard to kill, in spite of their age (and perhaps because of it). Cohen never really struck me as a good character in the early Discworld books; it was only in The Last Hero that I really came to appreciate him properly. Throwing a seven on a six-sided dice remains one of my favourite moments and he really deserves the end he got there. The role of ‘old man who’s hard to kill’ seems to have been taken by Sam Vimes and I’ll have to wait and see if he can turn from a great character into a true hero. I’m guessing (due to the way that Vimes doesn’t play by the rules very often) that Carrot’s a better bet for the Watch’s hero, though.
35) Optimus Prime from Transformers. Ok, let’s go waaay back to 1984 and the first appearance of this hero. I would have been –2. I’m sorry if that makes any of you feel incredibly old. Prime is perhaps the perfect hero. He’s got style, panache, the ability to turn into a truck, cool guns, leadership qualities, occasional conflicts within himself and an almost miraculous ability to come back to life. I swear, he’s done it more times than Wolvie… Although there have been lots of pretenders to the throne over the years in Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime and others, he is definitive proof that you need more than the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to be a hero.
Wow, well that took longer than I’d thought. Many congratulations to anyone who made it this far, especially anyone who did it in one sitting. Although I’ve covered lots of people and robots and things, there are many more to come. Once again, if you have feedback, positive or negative, please let me know.
