What makes a hero strong but the foundation of fear he stands upon

I grew up reading fantastic tales of the charming prince out to save his kingdom and win the love of his princess.

Not much has changed (except maybe the number of pages). 

To this day I still find myself curled up on the couch reading fantasies. Of course the hero has changed. No longer do I find myself cheering for prince. Instead the adventures of the modern day hero takes my imagination hostage. An ordinary person thrown face first into extraordinary circumstances where only a will of steel and superhuman feats of heroism could even hope to overcome such incredible odds, all the while never having to cross the line and betray their morals. Of course the ordinary man rises to the challenge, and of course he prevails, and becomes the hero we all cheer for. Forever leaving a mark in history.

Even in a zombie apocalypse
Rick Grimes is still as
moral as they come. 

Robert Ross is no such hero. Robert Ross was tossed into a war where moral was crushed by the weight of duty. Where ones survival depended on who pulled the trigger first and where most were driven to insanity by their own actions. 

Timothy Findley did not set out to write a novel about a traditional hero. Instead, what he wrote was a novel based on characters so flawed that we all are able to connect and understand their actions. 

That has to be one of the most unsettling things about this book. Not the fact that it tells a tale where the motto is kill or be killed, oh no. At least we could separate ourselves from those actions and put the book down knowing that you are above that. No. The most unsettling thing about this story is the fact that you are not reading a book, you are looking at a mirror that points out each and every one one of your flaws. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we are all Robert Ross, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't feel slightly off from reading Findley's book. We all have flaws, whether you accept that fact or not and Robert Ross just happens to highlight them.

Now you may be asking yourself, what in the world brought this on? Well. I'll tell you.

Flip open your copy of "The Wars". Go on. Now you should see, right before the story begins, an almost blank page staring back at you, with the words “Never that which is shall die.” EURIPIDES written in the centre.

What does this have to do with heroism and who is this Euripides fellow? If you are anything like me, you probably just shrugged at those questions and flipped the page. But the damn thing wouldn't leave me alone. So I did a little research and as it turns out, Euripides has more to do with the book and this blog entry then you would first think.

Now my good friend Euripides lived something like 2400 years ago in Greece and he wrote tragedies but what is of interest to us is his take on a 'hero'. You see, Euripides created characters with the makings of a hero, but he riddled them with problems, fears and weaknesses. He made them real. Sound familiar?

Euripides and his view of a hero was the backbone of Findley's novel, and together they work to expose heroes for what they really are, “Ordinary people like you and me” (11). “One little David against another.”(31). They turn the idea of a hero upside down, not just in Robert Ross, but in all the characters, after all, what is a hero but an ordinary person? 

Robert Ross failed his sister, he broke command, he killed two men, he died, and he had fears.

Robert Ross loved his sister, he saved the horses, he fought for his country, and all his fears served only as a foundation for a strength that allowed him to save men under his command,

Robert Ross was not the hero I read about when I was a little girl but he is more human and more relatable and more worthy of a hero title then any prince charming before him because unlike prince charming, Robert's strength was built upon a foundation of fear, weakness and fault, not good looks.