Bella Caracappa: The Villainous Hero

     Campbell says in Hero with a Thousand Faces that "the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations" is a hero. By this definition, could this mean that characters we regularly see as villains are actually heroes? For centuries, most literature and media have had clear-cut definitions of the Hero and the villain. However, these definitions could become blurred with Campbell's formula of a hero's journey. However, I agree that this does not apply to all villains. 

For example, let's analyze Thanos from the Avengers universe. To audiences, Thanos is the villain as he kills half the universe and is the opposing force of the portrayed heroes in the story. However, with Campbell's definition, could Thanos be considered a hero? Thanos battles past his limitations throughout the movie sagas. This is first shown when he kills his daughter to obtain his goal. Thanos can battle past his love and personal attachment to his daughter to achieve his perceived higher goal. Thanos's actions are paralleled to the actions of Aeneas, a common hero cited in Hero with a Thousand Faces. Their actions are similar because Aeneas deems his love and his lover, Dido's love, to be less critical than fulfilling his destiny of founding Rome, ultimately leading to Dido's death.


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