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The Heroes and Characters of Epic Fantasy

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The genre of Epic Fantasy abounds with the heroic character and the major appeal of these characters is usually his or her rise to power, fame and riches from very humble beginnings -often a kitchen or stable boy. Usually the Hero has latent abilities that he is unaware of (typically magical in nature). And he possesses a very strong sense of right and wrong but not always!

Our favorite heroes in epic fantasy works always face challenges that daunt normal human beings and often they battle internal struggles that are just as enormous. This duality of struggle brings an unusual dimension of depth to the heroes.

Most of the time they possess an udeniable sense of right and wrong and follow a pure path to their glory. But not always as in Conan who climbed his way to glory by any means possible and took women based solely on his desire.

The hero of our epic fantasy often follows a course of personal development called the Hero's Journey where he goes from the first call to adventure and moves through critical steps such as the finding of a mentor, the overcoming of the first obstacle, the meeting of a woman as a temptress until he reaches the final goal of the freedom to live. This series of steps were defined by Joseph Campbell in his book the Hero's Journey. It was also the subject of a PBS special with Bill Moyers called the Power of Myth.

Frodo Baggins - Frodo, as you know, is a hobbit which is a race of small people that have large hairy feet, pointy ears and two breakfasts every day. Frodo is challenged with the task of destroying the one ring. Through this challenge he has to face obstacles in the outside world and obstacles within himself -predominantly the challenge of denying the rings power. Born in the Shire in the Land of Middle Earth. The Books are the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins - Is the uncle of Frodo and he was the hobbit that discovered the One Ring. He also battled with the power of the ring and his story is told in the prequel to the lord of the rings called The Hobbit or There and Back Again.

Belgarion of Belgariad by David Eddings

Beowulf

Beowulf - This is one epic hero who's story has been told for over a thousand years. He is the ultimate hero and this is the ultimate epic quest story. The release of the new movie (2007) has reinvigorated the interest in this character. Learn more about the movie and the variety of available books here: Beowulf

 

 

 

ConanConan - Known as Conan the Barbarian and Conan of Cimmeria. He adventured the land known as Hyboria which was a land on Earth that existed between the sinking of Atlantis and our modern times. The creator of Conan is Robert E. Howard. Conan is described as being six foot six inches tall, two hundred pounds with black hair. Learn more about Conan

 

 

 

Eragon - Christopher Paolino

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser - The Sword Wielding Duo created by Fritz Leiber and most often take place in and around the city of Lankhmar. The Lankhmar Page for information about the books in the series

Pug - The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist

Roland the GunslingerRoland The Gunslinger -Born in the land of Gilead in the All-World. The Books are the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
Renowned for his Gunslinging ability. He is unnaturally quick on the draw. In the books he is on a quest to find the Dark Tower and this quest overrides all else.

 

 

 

Richard Rahl - Terry Goodkind

 

 

 

 

Rand Al'Thor - The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

 

 

 

 

Simon of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams

Sparhawk of Elenium and Tamuli by David Eddings

 

 

 

 

 

here some great fantasy websites:

Storm The Castle.com - Fantasy and creativity with an edge

Epic-Fantasy.com - website devoted to the genre of epic fantasy

The Fantasy Guide - The complete guide to fantasy on the web

The Heroic Dreams Fantasy blog - daily updates and info on the genre in movies books and more

The Heroic Dreams Forum - Come share your thoughts and opinions on the genre of fantasy

Knight-Medieval.com Everything about Knights from weapons to armor, chivalry and more.

 

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