Saving Miguel, the Novel - Good Guys versus Heroes

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In Post Number 7 of the blog for my adventure novel Saving Miguel, I discussed a couple of the bad guys appearing in Saving Miguel and the characteristics that transform just a run of the mill bad guy into a A-1 prime villain. In the volatile and explosive world of Saving Miguel there were many bad guys, but only a handful were legitimate A-1 prime villains. But since there were villains in Saving Miguel, it only appears logical to have a few heroes in the book as well to counterbalance the diabolical evil.

below is a short scene from Saving Miguel where an unlikely character named Rabbit transformed himself from a less-than-heroic and ordinary person into a hero. In this scene, Rabbit discovered a bad boy sniper named Blaylock on top of one of the buildings and decided to stop the sniper from taking the life of one of his friends. In the scene below, another character named Ian is Rabbit's best friend.



Blaylock quickly moved the riflescope off the old man’s chest back to the front door of the restaurant, waiting for his target. The next person out of the front door was a very large black man.
Blaylock settled the cross hairs of the riflescope on the black man’s dirty stained t-shirt. The big black man peered up and down the street, looking around at the crowd. Undistracted by the crowd, Blaylock held steady on the middle of the black man’s chest. Blaylock gently squeezed the trigger of the rifle and whispered, “Bang, you’re dead.” The black man moved to the side of the restaurant door and Blaylock moved the crosshairs of his riflescope back onto the front door.

Ian and Rabbit kept pushing through the crowd until they finally reached the entrance of the building. Inside the building, Rabbit looked around for the stairwell and found it. He pushed Ian towards it.

"I cannot see anything, Rabbit!" Ian exclaimed. "Go without me!" 

 

“I c-c-can-no-not le-le-leave you here,” Rabbit stuttered.

“Go. You must hurry, there isn’t much time.”

Rabbit ascended the stairs, two at a time, while grabbing the handrail with his one good arm. Rabbit was not sure what he could do to the man with only one good arm, but he did not care, he would do something.

 

So, there was Rabbit, living a quiet and unassuming life, but circumstances dictated that he had to take matters into his own hands or else the dangerous sniper would kill one of his friends. So, what characteristics turned Rabbit the Ordinary Guy into Rabbit the Hero Guy? What characteristics do heroes have in general?  What do YOU think?

 

Here is my short list of characteristics that I believe transforms an ordinary guy or gal into a hero. Tell me what you think.

 

A hero has to have heart, even at the expense of brainpower.  If you remember in Blog Post Number 6 on villains, I proposed that for a bad guy to be a good villain, he needed intelligence. The example I used was Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. However, when it comes to heroes and heroines, I believe that heart matters much more than a brain. A hero or heroine does not have to be that smart, but must have the heart to accomplish what is required. My example is the fictional characters of the Wizard of Oz. They were all heroes, even before they received their gifts from the Wizard, and the reason was they all had heart, even the heartless Tin Man.


Courage, brains, and heart - the three 
missing elements in the Lion, Scarecrow, and
the Tin Man.
 



A hero is willing to sacrifice his or her own well being for the well being of others. There are lots of good guys out there that would give you the shirts off their back, as long as it did not impact their own well being. An example of good guys sacrificing their own safety for the welfare of others was the 9/11 firefighters. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others. Many of these hero firefighters paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their own lives to save others! These were true heroes!!

9-11 Firefighter - A hero, no doubt 

Courage and bravery. A hero must have the courage to take that first step into the unknown, that first step into danger. Courage may not be in the basic personality of an individual, but when the time comes, it will surface in a person who is a real hero. There are numerous examples of ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds when the appropriate time comes along. Perhaps, the courage comes from adrenalin or from somewhere deep inside, but it does come out and catapults that person from ordinary to hero or heroine.

Situation, opportunity, and circumstances. Last, but not least, for someone to become a hero, the right situation and circumstances must exist. I am sure that there are plenty of ordinary people out there that have the above characteristics and given the right situation, they will become heroes or heroines. Heroism is a seed and given the four characteristics above, that seed can germinate.    

 

What other characteristics exist in heroes or heroines? Read Saving Miguel and find out! Available by Clicking here.