On Heroes

There’s a big difference between the classical heroes of myth and modern legends. New heroes have powers, they’re flashy, cool, good people. But classical heroes suffered. Plain and simple, a hero became a hero by doing something and suffering through it to completion or death. In this way, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo combine the classical and modern heroes, while adding a new spin on it.

Take Nico DiAngelo for example: Sure, he ends up in a nice relationship with Will Solace, but before that he is displaced from his time period, separated from his sister at a young age, she dies soon after, sees his idol and crush as the reason for her death, he runs away from camp, is emotionally manipulated and potentially emotionally abused, has to fight to get his father’s attention, is captured by Gaia, forced to go into a death hibernation, looses his former crush and his girlfriend, is outed to the crew by Cupid, nearly evaporates from expending too much power, and has too kill someone for self-protection. That’s a whole lot of suffering and the Greeks would approve.

The suffering shown in RR’s books is a mix of the mortal and mythological, divorce and dracanae, abandonment and agony, death and literal torture. And as he’s moved further along, the diversity increases but it also allows him to show the suffering real people go through.

To be continued