Post 9: Heroes

In my book Lone Survivor, the protagonist is most certainly the US Navy SEALS especially Marcus Luttrell (author) and his fellow SEALS (Matthew Axelson, Michael Murphy, and Danny Dietz, along with other members of SEAL Team 10 that were killed while attempting to rescue them in a helicopter when it was struck with a RPG). Unfortunately Marcus’s fellow SEALS were killed in a massive firefight in the Hindu Kush that involved an army of close to 200 Taliban soldiers against 4 US Navy SEALS. In Marcus’s memoir he tells how the real protagonist is his fallen SEAL buddies that were killed on that mountain, but he himself is the lone survivor and is also a protagonist. The SEALS and Marcus fight into an archetype and that would be Epic Hero. I believe that the word “Epic” is used way too much and that it has lost the true meaning of the word. But in this situation these SEALS went above and beyond the call of duty and were in my eyes “epic heroes”. According to the definition of an Epic Hero: The hero participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey, gathers allies along his journey, and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society from which the epic originates. They usually embody cultural and religious beliefs of the people. Epic heroes have no superpowers but they're smart, brave, and have fears but overcome them to protect their friends, families, and countries. An epic hero can also be a warrior of some sort who performs extraordinary tasks that most find difficult. This hero is loyal, smart, and brave. I believe that Marcus and his buddies surpassed and crushed what we define as an Epic Hero, and should be the guide of what to call an “Epic Hero”. If you were to ask me if the characters in this memoir challenge the traditional patterns of a hero I would most certainly say they don’t challenge the pattern at all, but they do add another level to that pattern that would be extremely hard to reach. Let’s keep this in mind though that these heroes aren’t fictional, these were real, living, and breathing, dying SEALS, which would make having a protagonist obtain this new level of being a hero that much more complex.

Thank you Marcus Luttrell for shinning the light on this story and being able to give your SEALS the respect they deserved. I thank you for your service to this nation.