All of Life Is Grieving: What is a Hero?

The word hero gets thrown around a lot. In fact I’d venture it’s the center of the sham we call the culture war. From the left’s decrying of “hero worship” to the right’s senseless heroic lionization, the word is used a ton. In fact it’s used in so many contexts that the word barely has meaning.

So let’s back up. 

What’s a hero?

A hero is a scapegoat. If it’s a nice story he does it willingly. If he doesn’t it’s a tragedy. 

Yes, it’s that simple. 

Oh, right, scapegoats. A scapegoat is a creature who carries the sins of its people. It acts out the greater drama of its setting, and pays the ultimate price of death. Without a scapegoat societies don’t function. The anger and rage has to go somewhere! Folks like Rene Girard have explored this concept of the scapegoat being the basis for all societies, and we're not going to get into it more here. It is my basis for how I think heroes work. I base my thoughts on this from reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad and Odyssey, and Arthurian lore in general, nevermind sources like the Book of Judges in the Bible.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the earliest myth we have; we don't have a complete copy, just extracts. The general arc of the myth appears to be about a Nephilim mass rapist king, Gilgamesh, learning humility by coping with the prophesied death of his best friend, Enkidu, a man specifically made to become friends with Gilgamesh and then die. Gilgamesh manages to find a way to possibly bring Enkidu back... and fails because he's an ass. He comes back and becomes the king his people need him to be, humbled by his sorrow. Just like the rest of his people.

The Iliad is 500 some odd pages of a bunch of cool people being killed Mortal Kombat style because Achilles is a whiny bitch, who accepts at the end that he will not be able to avoid his death and makes peace with his enemies. Just like the rest of his people. No seriously, that's the Iliad. Powerful book, but pretty easy to sum up.

The Odyssey is about Odysseus trying to make his way home, only to be hindered because of his honorable actions during The Iliad; Odysseus is explicitly paying for the Achaen's victory over the Trojans. Odysseus has to walk many paths to come back home, finally ending in him bedding his wife, Penelope. Given that orgasm is usually classed as a similar experience to death in most pre-modern thought I've encountered.... yeah. Still fits. Like a glove.

The Book of Judges is filled with people who do not fit the modern "Christian" ideal of a good person, at all. And yet, because of their position within the whole (generally outcasts) they are used to keep Israel going a bit longer. And each story ends with the hero dying and "becoming a part of their people". That's a different thing for a different point in this series of blog posts, but that verbiage is important. Put a pin in it for now.

Arthurian lore is filled with statements like "If you keep doing what you're doing it's all gonna collapse" and "I know, but this is what I am". Whether it be Arthur demanding to marry Guinevere, even if it ruins his kingdom, or Lancelot bedding Guinevere despite knowing it was to destroy everything, or any number of such warnings and disregardings thereof, there's a demand to remain what you are, even if it's disastrous. To be you is best, even if that's tragic.

Star Wars is filled with heroes of this older tradition, with the ones who knew they were playing a part in a much larger thing, and were willing to play that part to the max. The difficulty of Anakin, Luke, and Ben was not in being a part of something, but in figuring where they fit and why. The journey each of these characters goes on is not simply who they are, but to whom they belong and what price they're willing to pay to do so.

Anakin Skywalker's arc is the entirety of The Skywalker Saga. From hopeful child to failed hero to villain to ascended being, Anakin runs the gamut of possibilities in The Skywalker Saga. If there is one story that is tracked all the way through, its Anakin's. That may surprise more than a few of you, but the sequels are actually the key to what being the Chosen One really is. Anakin is the one who brings balance between the living and the dead; Anakin defeats death itself, by eliminating the loss of individuality in the dead. Anakin's journey is essentially a cosmic one: he takes all the paths that all could take, and is therefore capable of going to everyone on the other side of the Force.

Luke, Anakin's son, is the beating heart of Star Wars. It is he that convinces Anakin to return to righteousness, it is he that shows Rey the importance of serving the Force, and who gives the Resistance the hope they need to fight Ben and the First Order. Luke's arc is in deciding to being the beacon of hope. In battling his cynicism and doubt Luke helps the galaxy come to grips with their own doubts and fears in resisting the darkness of the galaxy.

Ben Solo, Luke's nephew and Anakin's grandson, struggles with how to inherit the legacy passed down to him by Anakin and Luke. Half of the Force Dyad with Rey, Ben initially he rejects his destiny, killing his way up the fascistic First Order. Thanks to Rey and his parents, Leia and Han, Ben is redeemed from Palpatine's lifetime corruption. He saves Rey from death, fulfilling Anakin's goals of saving a person from dying in the first place. And, in so doing, Ben conquers the real enemy of Star Wars: death. The closest character Ben is similar to is Gilgamesh, but we'll get back to that.

A lot of ink has been wasted on the modern conception of the hero. The idea of the hero as this nice, clean, doesn't kill people, has no historical reference at all. In fact, the further back I go the more I find heroes seem to resemble more of what we think of as anti-heroes of today: people who had their goals and were going to get them, come hell or highwater.  The heroes of Star Wars more resemble this older archetype, not the modern demand that heroes be "good people".