A folk hero is a type of hero, real or mythological, who has become the stuff of legend through generations of retellings. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This is evidenced by mention in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore. In modern times, folk heroes are also the subject of films, comic books and literature.
Although some folk heroes are historical public figures, they generally aren't, and even if they are they won't bear much resemblance to the real person. Because the lives of folk heroes are generally not based on historical documents, the characteristics and deeds of a folk hero are often exaggerated to mythic proportions. The folk hero often begins life as a normal person, but is transformed into someone extraordinary by significant life events, often in response to social injustice, and sometimes in response to natural disasters.
One major category of folk hero is the defender of the common people against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure. Members of this category of folk hero often, but not necessarily, live outside the law in some way. There is a strong tendency for them to be Guile Heroes.
The tradition is carried on nowadays in an "ironic" fashion in the form of the Memetic Badass - games of one-upmanship involving Chuck Norris or Bruce Campbell only really differ from embellishing the exploits of Cu Chulainn or Paul Bunyan in the fact that they're about living people, and as such are obviously fake.
See also King in the Mountain.
- Abe no Seimei
- Alexander the Great
- Johnny Appleseed
- Baron Münchausen
- Billy the Kid
- Black Bart Roberts
- Blackbeard
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Buffalo Bill
- Captain William Kidd
- Egill Skallagrimsson
- El Cid Campeador
- Daniel Boone
- Julius Caesar
- Davy Crockett
- Dick Turpin
- George Washington
- Geronimo
- Genghis Khan
- The Ghost of Kiev
- Götz von Berlichingen
- Gunnar Hámundarson
- Hattori Hanzō
- Harriet Tubman
- Hernán Cortés and La Malinche
- Hershel of Ostropol
- Hugh Glass
- Jánoík / Janoszik
- Jan ika
- Jesse James
- Jim Bowie
- Joan of Arc
- Ned Kelly
- Ned Ludd
- Judah Maccabee
- Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary
- Mao Zedong.
- Miyamoto Musashi
- Musashibo Benkei
- Mykola Sjuhaj / Nikola uhaj
- Judge Ōoka Tadasuke
- Pancho Villa
- Paul Revere
- Pocahontas
- The Red Baron
- Rob Roy
- Rózsa Sándor
- Samson
- Sakata Kintoki
- Sargon of Akkad
- Skanderbëg
- Solomon the Wise
- Spartacus
- Stepan Razin
- Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders
- Pekka Vesainen
- Vlad the Impaler
- Wong Fei-hung
- Wild Bill Hickok
- William Wallace
- Winston Churchill
- Wyatt Earp
- Yagyu Jubei
- Zapata
- Numerous Saints built up "cults" at one point or another in history which tended to attribute various folk-tale like stories which are, at best, recognized as acceptable additions according to the Church. For instance, Saint Patrick driving out the snakes, sending a village into the earth for driving out his missionaries, meeting with the last great pagan Irish heroes and doing magic battles with Druids, for instance.
- Homer
- King Arthur
- John Henry
- Hua Mulan
- Sarutobi Sasuke
- Robin Hood
- William Tell
- Spring-Heeled Jack - also a Folk Villain.
- Lalli (though more like folk anti-hero)
- Ara the Handsome
- Till Eulenspiegel
- Siegfried the Dragon Slayer
- Santiago the Moor-Slayer
- Nora of Kelmendi
- Espen Ashlad ("Askeladden")
- The Man With No Name (Dollars Trilogy)
- Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)
- Max Rockatansky (Mad Max)
- The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne (Firefly)
- The Doctor (Doctor Who)
- James T. Kirk is seen as something of one both in and outside the Federation in Star Trek.
Folklore
- Paul Bunyan
- Pecos Bill
- Jiraiya and Tsunade
- Sigurd
- Big Joe Mufferaw
- Joe Magarac
- Alfred Bulltop Stormalong
- Espen Askeladd
- Don Quixote
- El-ahrairah (Watership Down)
- Tarzan
- Zorro
- Mr. Badger (The Wind in the Willows)
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- Beowulf
- Odysseus
- Hong Gil Dong
- Martin the Warrior (Redwall)
- Red Mars: "Big Man", with a brief appearance by (and fight with) Paul Bunyan.
- Sun Wukong/Monkey King (Journey to the West)
- Commander Shepard (Mass Effect)
- The Warden - "The Hero of Ferelden" (Dragon Age: Origins)
- Hawke - "The Champion of Kirkwall" (Dragon Age II)
- The Inquisitor - "The Herald of Andraste" (Dragon Age: Inquisition)
- The Lone Wanderer (Fallout 3)
- The Elder Scrolls
- Ancient Founder of the Kingdom Indoril Nerevar is one to the Ashlanders in Morrowind. They've even kept alive an ancient prophesy foretelling his Reincarnation despite it being suppressed by the Tribunal Temple.
- The Dragonborn of Skyrim already has a folk song being sung about them by the end of the game.
- From the series' backstory, Reman Cyrodiil, the founder of the Second Tamriellic Empire, is considered one in Cyrodiil. Reman is considered a "cultural god-hero" and the "Light of Man", held right up there with St. Alessia and Tiber Septim himself as the greatest Imperial leaders in history.
- Likewise, Tiber Septim, founder of the Third Tamriellic Empire who ascended after his death as Talos, the Ninth Divine. He was the founder of the first truly pan-Tamriellic empire and is revered simply in general as a great hero of mankind.
- Braum, the Heart of the Freljord from League of Legends has shades of this, his character background framed as a bedtime story from grandmother to grandchild.
- Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)
- Red Harlow, the protagonist of Red Dead Revolver, is often mentioned around campfires in Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II.
- Poharex
- Saddy Dumpington (Homestar Runner)
- Optimus Prime (Transformers)
- Bugs Bunny
