People Share Protagonists and "Heroes" Who Are Actually Problematic

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Feb 20, 2022 11:00 AM EST

Ahh the protagonist. The all important one who is the center of their universe and can apparently do no wrong. Only when you peel a few layers back do you sometimes see them for the inaffable scoundrel that they really are.

Sometimes it's looking at it from a different perspective. When a story is presented to us through the protagonists eyes we see the filtered view of their world, and everyone is their own hero, in both reality and fiction. Sometimes past events are just mentioned offhand. Innocuous details that actually hint and sometime more sinister when put into context.

It's no secret that every protagonist isn't a hero and the hero isn't always a protagonist. But these characters all share a commonality in that they are presented by the context of their stories to be "good' but are actually hugely problematic. There's always going to be some debate too as to whether or not a character is actually supposed to BE a hero. So feel free to debate away.