My Heroic Ideal

Well, for me, a hero of mine I look at in aspects of the positives and negatives of heroic would be a character name Felldoh from the 'Redwall' series by Brian Jacques.

To give a quick background, basically he, along with countless others, including his father, were imprisoned, and slaved by a tyrant inside this castle. The tyrant is a power-guided one who wants more of it, and to create a strong force against those who oppose him.

Later on, he meets up with two others, who ended up thrown in the prison pit for being objective. They eventually escaped with the help of two outsiders. After escaping from this place, Felldoh saw this as an opportunity to claim what’s right. This changes him in his character. In real life, there are people who see him in a negative way, of how his personality changes, while others have a positive look upon it.

To me, I look at it in both ways, and try to absorb WHY he acted how he acted.

He wanted to free his father and all the slaves from the camp, destroy the tyrant (the ruler of the power), and end it once and for all, and live in peace.

How he approaches it throughout the story... the other characters saw it as a major change in his personality; he went from being an ordinary kid, to a dangerous-minded one. In the mist of events, he had a crush on a girl who he could have lived with, had a family, and lived a good life... but instead, he decided to do what he think was right, and place his life on the line… to end slavery, even if it meant by himself.

This cost his life.


So, why would I see this character as a heroic ideal, is... because that's how some people, like myself, act like today. We long ago had this one personality we had most of our lives that everyone loved… and then suddenly, everything's corrupted, changed.

It shows how no one's life is perfect; even the greatest people have their bad side at times. It shows that one can make decisions he would follow that would go in regard to others around him, and still wanting to do what he thought was right: in the heart.


That's how I see my heroic ideal as.