Before I begin this post I'd like to add something, recently I have been playing a fair few stealth based games. This caused a problem for me, most of these offer two paths to success - the standard video game pathway : murder everyone in sight in anyway possible, and their special method - ignoring everyone and leaving no trace , some offer a third route - in-capacitation, this would seem to be the best of both worlds and in a game sense it is. However from a heroic standpoint none of these options really works.
Killing - this has the most obvious problems associated with it, it's flat out murder - most category 1 heroes denounce either violence or killing - Batman's famous "only rule" springs to mind. This is usually because they either do not want to kill innocents who were only following orders or simply to keep themselves above the criminals and villainy that they stand against. But besides the point it shouldn't need explaining why heroes shouldn't kill the faceless goons.
Ignoring guards - this would seem to be perfect for a hero, surely without anyone seeing them the hero can achieve their goals, no-one need be hurt so everyone wins! you'd think but no. What would happen should a rent-a-cop be on the job when Sam Fisher or Solid Snake decide that what they want is super-dooper secret documents from an office in their building and under their watch they get by and steal them? It would almost certainly lead to them being fired from that particular job. No biggy though right? they've left the employment of an evil villain and have gone onto more legitimate work - well what if they were unskilled and this was the only job they'd had and being fired made it more difficult to find work later? what if they had a family to support and without the regular income of the labour they struggled through - children possibly getting bullied for being poor. In short it has ruined their lives, whilst not intentional a sequence of events has ruined this person's livelihood and in the short term their lives.
incapacitation is left then, this must be the one heroes use? no guard can be blamed should they be unconscious after the eponymous hero has made his way through the base. well the thing is, being unconscious for more than a few moments takes a large amount of force, this trauma would cause the guard great physical stress - this would lead to possible mental damage and/or serious disability. and, due to the reasons mentioned above, would completely change the lives of the guard and their family members, almost certainly for the worst as they are unable to find work as they once were able to.
In short the biggest problem for the hero, never mind those who favour stealth is the common or garden rent-a-cop. The super-villains are easy to deal with as they often act out of knowledge and with motive, the high ranking officers do the same. The grunts however may not have prior knowledge - often you can overhear them discussing theories about what they are guarding, working towards or looking for - showing just how little knowledge they have of their roles, this lack of knowledge and differing motives - often looking only for a wage means that a true hero cannot approach these guy in all good conscience, saving the world will just have to wait a little longer.
31/08/2011
19/08/2011
classifying a hero
Heroes are all unique, some are the strong figureheads of their universe - see Captain America, Superman and, to an extent, Duke Nukem (ala Duke Nukem forever), others fight from the back in relative obscurity and act alongside a strong team of followers - see BJ Blascowitz and Nathan Hale and some still are heroes purely by the perspective of the viewer - every character in every war film/ game or book.
So because of this variation it would seem impossible to categorise them all, however all heroes do have shared themes and areas of common ground with the ways they are presented and also the ways in which they act.
Category 1, the "Alpha Hero" - these are the pure heroes, they can never do anything but good, face all challenges with bravery and courage, defend the weak etc. In essence these are the archtypical heroes they are, in all senses of the word "good". Eg Superman
Category 2, the "Hero by perspective" - these are the characters that, whilst saving the world or defeating a villain commit acts that if it weren't for their role in the medium would not be revered in the same way due to the actions that they have undertaken Eg Gordon Freeman
Category 3, the "Gray hero" - these are heroes that are treading the line between good and evil, they are not anti-heroes persay as their actions are often intended to be good though they commit acts of "evil", Eg Kick-Ass
Category 4, the "Anti-hero" - these are the full-blown anti heroes, they do act for a greater good, but do only to achieve some personal goal, their methods are similar to the "Gray hero" but often taken to an extreme. Eg Batman
Category 5, the "Normal hero" - these are the people that are not special or treated specially - they are normal men and women who do great things, EG - real-life heroes, or background characters
Category 6, the "Supporting hero" - heroes that enable others to do great things - the inspirers of great deeds that they themselves cannot do. Eg the master jedi Yoda and Obi Wan
there are of course some heroes that do not fit any of my above categories(if I find any I will add some more) and some that fit multiple ones as well.
So because of this variation it would seem impossible to categorise them all, however all heroes do have shared themes and areas of common ground with the ways they are presented and also the ways in which they act.
Category 1, the "Alpha Hero" - these are the pure heroes, they can never do anything but good, face all challenges with bravery and courage, defend the weak etc. In essence these are the archtypical heroes they are, in all senses of the word "good". Eg Superman
Category 2, the "Hero by perspective" - these are the characters that, whilst saving the world or defeating a villain commit acts that if it weren't for their role in the medium would not be revered in the same way due to the actions that they have undertaken Eg Gordon Freeman
Category 3, the "Gray hero" - these are heroes that are treading the line between good and evil, they are not anti-heroes persay as their actions are often intended to be good though they commit acts of "evil", Eg Kick-Ass
Category 4, the "Anti-hero" - these are the full-blown anti heroes, they do act for a greater good, but do only to achieve some personal goal, their methods are similar to the "Gray hero" but often taken to an extreme. Eg Batman
Category 5, the "Normal hero" - these are the people that are not special or treated specially - they are normal men and women who do great things, EG - real-life heroes, or background characters
Category 6, the "Supporting hero" - heroes that enable others to do great things - the inspirers of great deeds that they themselves cannot do. Eg the master jedi Yoda and Obi Wan
there are of course some heroes that do not fit any of my above categories(if I find any I will add some more) and some that fit multiple ones as well.
09/08/2011
Heroes wanted. Causes optional.
Heroes, protagonists, main characters: these are all the characters that we as an audience feel for as we indulge in any one of many media. Each hero has their own caste of followers - each has a group of people willing to follow them (both in their respective media and also in our real world). It is this inspirational quality of our heroes that brings them above normal men (and indeed women), this quality that makes small children want costumes of superheroes, makes adults watch films about a teenage wizard and makes every person present feel empowered by a rousing speech before a battle.
Heroes stand apart from the rest of humanity (or whatever race they have chosen to defend) and by standing apart they do what none of us would dare - they show us the power of pure spirit and the strength of a human character.
What, you may be asking yourself, is the purpose of this ultimately "pro-hero" waffle? well as a start it was to post the first thing on this here blog. But it was also to raise a valid point, the villains may have more power, the people may have more freedom and the world may not always need saving but it is heroes that we all have wanted to emulate, heroes that we all have wanted to meet and it will always be heroes that people will want to create.
And if none of this applies to you, well then you are probably of a villainous mind and so should instead check out http://villainoustendencies.blogspot.com/
Heroes stand apart from the rest of humanity (or whatever race they have chosen to defend) and by standing apart they do what none of us would dare - they show us the power of pure spirit and the strength of a human character.
What, you may be asking yourself, is the purpose of this ultimately "pro-hero" waffle? well as a start it was to post the first thing on this here blog. But it was also to raise a valid point, the villains may have more power, the people may have more freedom and the world may not always need saving but it is heroes that we all have wanted to emulate, heroes that we all have wanted to meet and it will always be heroes that people will want to create.
And if none of this applies to you, well then you are probably of a villainous mind and so should instead check out http://villainoustendencies.blogspot.com/
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