In the J.K. Rowling Harry Potter books, I find it odd because Harry Potter, as hero, is not only flawed, but in fact a lot of his “heroism” is just dumb luck, almost like they are making fun of the idea.
Over time she does develop him into a likeable figure with an “heroic” sense of honor, but many of his actions aren’t heroic at all.
The Tolkien discussion is great. I think LOTR had three heroes; Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn. Each one exhibited a different trait of Christ. Frodo was crucified, bearing the weight of mankind’s sins (Frodo was spared at the last moment, a sign of Tolkien’s deep respect for Christ). Gandalf was the divine, the one from elsewhere walking among men. Aragorn was the man long predicted to come to his throne.
But, as mentioned, Tolkien rejected any notion that his story had these types or any others in them.
We’ve mentioned perfect heroes, and we’ve talked about flawed heroes. These arguments are slightly off focus. What makes a hero is sacrifice. We’ve mentioned Christ, he sacrificed his life to bring salvation.
Really great fictional heroes sacrifice to triumph. They have to pay a price for victory. All of the LOTR characters did. And perhaps sacrifice is what makes Spiderman superior to Superman and Batman; Spiderman’s personal life always suffers for his heroic actions.
Harry Potter pays the price of loneliness and isolation. Odysseus takes twenty years to get home. Arguably the best author of heroic fantasy, the late David Gemmell, writes some of the most absorbing fantasy novels, usually with larger-than-life heroes. His heroes always pay, or have paid, the price.
Real-life heroes, soldiers, cops, firemen, and so on, are typically called heroes when they have sacrificed life or limb for the public.
And, the everyday guy who raises a family, works all his (or her) life, plays by the rules, makes sure his family is sheltered, fed, and loved; this guy is a hero too. He’s put aside his desires to build a great life for others.
I’ve read Harry Potter from the beginning. A lot of dumb luck does fall his way, but there’s always a falling action at a critical moment that qualifies as “heroic”. Too rushed to do a book-by-book analysis, though, but that’s what I recall.