Dark Heroes

[Windlord]

What do you think, are the Dark, brooding type of Heroes overdone in todays fantasy? I happen to like them, but I've noticed that they (or variations of them) do seem to be fairly common.

Peace,

Windlord.

 

[oncewaslost]

there's always something people like about characters overcoming a dark past and coming out victorious, that dispite it all, they can still win. besides, normal people are boring to read about

 

[Lessien]

I like dark heroes, personally. They're a lot more interesting than normal characters--you know, the farm-boy-who's-an-innocent-bystander-before-he-gets-drawn-into-an-evil-plot-against-his-will kind of characters. Dark heroes are more fun to read about, since there's always something you don't know about them. With the 'innocent bystander' kinds of characters, there's only so much you can learn about them before you know everything there is to know about them.

 

[thenightmarehero]

I like dark characters too, especially the emotionally conflicted ones.

 

[Solomon Kane]

What do you think, are the Dark, brooding type of Heroes overdone in todays fantasy? I happen to like them, but I've noticed that they (or variations of them) do seem to be fairly common.

Peace,

Windlord.

I'm not sure what you mean by Dark Hero.
It seems to me that a lot of the modern characters that you describe as such are little more then whinny individuals who obcess over their past mistakes.

To me a Dark Hero is a character who knows that they are doing the wrong thing for the right reason and can either justify their actions or, don't care that their actions are wrong.

One example is Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn.
The character just wants to unite the tribes of the Picts so that they can repel the Roman incursions into their land. In order to do this he makes a deal with a pre-human race in order to get revenge on a particular roman. He hates himself for having to do this, but would rather see the roman dead then stain his own honor by not getting vengence.
In the end he discovers that such agreements bring more problems then they solve.

That, to me, is the essence of a well written DH. Not overcoming grief, not getting past some earlier mistake. But using the anger and hate that those feeling bring in order to accomplish the goal that the character set out for themself and then discovering that thy went beyond what they would have originally accepted based on their moral standards.

 

[Tariel]

I like dark heroes, personally. They're a lot more interesting than normal characters--you know, the farm-boy-who's-an-innocent-bystander-before-he-gets-drawn-into-an-evil-plot-against-his-will kind of characters. Dark heroes are more fun to read about, since there's always something you don't know about them. With the 'innocent bystander' kinds of characters, there's only so much you can learn about them before you know everything there is to know about them.

Was there a specific farm-boy-who's-an-innocent-bystander-before-he-gets-drawn-into-an-evil-plot-against-his-will kind of character that you were thinking of?

Anyway...I agree. There are very few things that I love in a story more than a major, unexpected revelation about the character. Something about him that we never even began to suspect, yet makes perfect sense. It totally changes everything we ever thought about this character before...

That's what I like. And the "dark" heores are the ones that can do that.

 

[Peace Eternal]

I like dark heroes, personally. They're a lot more interesting than normal characters--you know, the farm-boy-who's-an-innocent-bystander-before-he-gets-drawn-into-an-evil-plot-against-his-will kind of characters. Dark heroes are more fun to read about, since there's always something you don't know about them. With the 'innocent bystander' kinds of characters, there's only so much you can learn about them before you know everything there is to know about them.

Dark heroes are more fun to read about, unless they're so dark that they make stupid mistakes. The best dark heroes are the ones that have some 'good' left so they can anticipate (sp?) what their enemies are going to do.

 

[Solomon Kane]

Sorry, if you want a truely Dark Hero;

http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Kmuse1.htmlhttp://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Kmuse1.html

 

[Lessien]

Was there a specific farm-boy-who's-an-innocent-bystander-before-he-gets-drawn-into-an-evil-plot-against-his-will kind of character that you were thinking of?

Yep

IMO, his brother who was closer to being a dark hero was better.

 

[Tariel]

Yep

IMO, his brother who was closer to being a dark hero was better.