10 Characteristics of a Hero

A real hero is someone who faces everyday challenges bravely and lives with a smile
despite problems and shortcomings. Listed here are the 10 most prominent hero
characteristics.

1. Bravery: "You can't be brave if you've had only wonderful things happen to
you." ~ Mary Tyler More: This is the most important characteristic of a hero. You
have to be brave to stand up and fight.
2. Courage: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue
that counts" ~ Winston Churchill: You need the courage to fight a situation no
matter how bad it is. Heroes have the fear of losing but they also have the courage
to drive away that fear.
3. Determination: "The difference between the impossible and possible lies in a
man's determination." ~ Tommy Lasorda: When you have the determination to
fight something, no matter how weak you are, you will win.
4. Dedication: "The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within
me." ~ Mahatma Gandhi: Dedication in a task pays off eventually.
5. Endurance: "Don't pray for lighter burdens, but for stronger backs." ~ Unknown:
If you are strong enough to face failure, nothing can stop you from achieving your
goal.
6. Perseverance: "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt: When you are persistent, you are bound to be victorious
eventually.
7. Valor: "Where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valor to dare to
live." ~ Thomas Brown Sr: To be bold enough to stand against the wrong when no
one can show true heroism.
8. Selflessness: "Without selfless service, no one ever receives the fruits of their
rewards." ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib: You have to be selfless in your life to be
remembered as a hero.
9. Sacrifice: "Those things that are precious are saved only by sacrifice." ~ David
Kenyon Webster: It is very difficult to make sacrifices but a true hero sacrifices
without hesitating.
10. Humility: "To become truly great, one has to stand with the people, not above
them." ~ Charles de Montesquieu. You shouldn't have airs about yourself but be
down to earth and humble.

Byronic Hero is the one protagonist who in stature and in temperament best represents the
[heroic] tradition
A Byronic hero exhibits several characteristic traits, and in many ways he can be
considered a rebel. The Byronic hero does not possess "heroic virtue" in the usual sense;
instead, he has many dark qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity, self-respect,
and hypersensitivity, the Byronic hero is "larger than life," and "with the loss of his titanic
passions, his pride, and his certainty of self-identity, he loses also his status as [a
traditional] hero"
He is usually isolated from society as a wanderer or is in exile of some kind. It does not
matter whether this social separation is imposed upon him by some external force or is
self-imposed. Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular
issue. He also has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average
man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident,
abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of himself. Sometimes, this is to the point
of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself. In one form or another, he rejects the
values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society's
standards.
Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as
fascination.
the attraction of the Byronic hero, “beautiful but damned"

• A distaste for social institutions and norms

• An exile, an outcast, or an outlaw
• Arrogant
• Cunning and ability to adapt
• Cynical
• “Dark” attributes not normally associated with a hero
• High level of intelligence and perception
• Mysterious, magnetic, and charismatic
• Power of seduction and attraction
• Self-critical and introspective
• Self-destructive behavior
• Social and sexual dominance
• Sophisticated and well-educated
• Troubled past