{"id":6814,"date":"2012-01-10T16:36:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T21:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=6814"},"modified":"2012-01-10T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T21:36:11","slug":"trope-tuesday-big-damn-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/trope-tuesday-big-damn-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Trope Tuesday: Big Damn Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You know the drill. \u00a0The <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/RaceAgainstTheClock\" target=\"_blank\">clock is ticking down to zero<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/TheHorde\" target=\"_blank\">evil hordes<\/a> are swarming through the gates, the <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/VirginSacrifice\" target=\"_blank\">virgins are about to be sacrificed<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/DistressedDamsel\" target=\"_blank\">damsel in distress<\/a> is about to be <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/NothingCanSaveUsNow\" target=\"_blank\">lost forever<\/a>&#8211;and then the \u00a0heroes show up <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/Badass\" target=\"_blank\">in all their glory<\/a> to <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/BigDamnHeroes\" target=\"_blank\">save the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This happens <em>all the freaking time,<\/em>\u00a0which means that if you want to make a living telling stories, this is not a trope that you should ignore. \u00a0And with good reason. \u00a0Not only does it give the writer ample opportunity to play with suspense and action, but it arguably lies at the very core of what makes a hero a hero:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m8cURK7z60c\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"500\" height=\"284\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>David Gemmell, according to this interview with Ian Graham, defined a hero simply as &#8220;someone who does heroic things.&#8221; They might not always take the right side, or they might not even care about doing what is right, but when the universe conspires to bring them to a moment of decision, they make the choice that all of us would like to think that we would take and do something extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p>I like this definition of a hero. \u00a0It strikes me as a lot more honest than the perpetual do-gooder whose only motivation is Truth, Justice and the American Way (though those characters can&#8211;and do&#8211;have <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/BigDamnHeroes\" target=\"_blank\">Big Damn Hero<\/a> moments of their own). \u00a0Also, it means that true heroism is not contingent upon actually winning. \u00a0History may be written by the victors, but that doesn&#8217;t cheapen the experience of those who actually lived it.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if the heroes <em>don&#8217;t<\/em>\u00a0save the day, it&#8217;s pretty hard to pull off a crowning moment of awesome without <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/BolivianArmyEnding\" target=\"_blank\">bringing in the Bolivian Army<\/a>. \u00a0Either the heroes find out that <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/YouAreTooLate\" target=\"_blank\">they&#8217;re too late<\/a>, or they <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/NiceJobBreakingItHero\" target=\"_blank\">make things worse<\/a>, or (as is so common with <a href=\"http:\/\/girlgenius.wikia.com\/wiki\/Othar_Tryggvassen,_Gentleman_Adventurer\" target=\"_blank\">Othar Tryggvasson<\/a> of <em>Girl Genius<\/em>) they just prove that <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/LargeHam\" target=\"_blank\">their ego is too big for its own good<\/a>. \u00a0When taken to the extreme, the heroes may even be in danger of <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/KnightTemplar\" target=\"_blank\">turning to the dark side<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest danger with this trope is turning it into a <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/DeusExMachina\" target=\"_blank\">Deus Ex Machina<\/a>. \u00a0The thing that makes <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/BigDamnHeroes\" target=\"_blank\">Big Damn Heroes<\/a> so incredibly satisfying is the sense of climax when they show up to save the day. \u00a0Thus, proper foreshadowing is key. \u00a0Yes, the <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/RuleOfCool\" target=\"_blank\">rule of cool<\/a> still applies, but if that&#8217;s all you rely on, you&#8217;re not going to be able to pull it off to maximum effect.<\/p>\n<p>One of my favorite examples of this trope is Liam Neeson in <em>Taken<\/em>. \u00a0Plenty of action movies are more violent, but few are more satisfying. \u00a0It&#8217;s the perfect pick-me-up after a long crappy day at the office&#8211;not that I work in an office anymore. \u00a0I wonder why&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In any case, this is a great trope to look out for, and definitely one to master, especially if you&#8217;re writing any sort of action-adventure story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You know the drill. \u00a0The clock is ticking down to zero, the evil hordes are swarming through the gates, the virgins are about to be sacrificed and the damsel in distress is about to be lost forever&#8211;and then the \u00a0heroes show up in all their glory to save the day. This happens all the freaking&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/trope-tuesday-big-damn-heroes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Trope Tuesday: Big Damn Heroes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[185,335,108,113,682,681,87,74,92,194,641,565,626],"class_list":["post-6814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-climax","tag-david-gemmell","tag-foreshadowing","tag-girl-genius","tag-heroism","tag-plot","tag-sacrifice","tag-suspense","tag-trope-tuesday","tag-tropes-and-cliches","tag-tvtropes","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-1LU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6816,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6814\/revisions\/6816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}