It is unlikely that it will ever be necessary for me to single handedly save the world from an evil bad guy. But I’d like to think I could if I had to. I’d like to think that like Frodo Baggins, or Harry Potter, or Percy Jackson, I’d be up to the job.
In my world there are a lot of annoying, rude and irritating people, but none of them qualify as world destroying evil bad guys. Thus, I am finding world saving opportunities somewhat rare. Oh, certainly, I can help other people save the world. I can contribute to saving the world. But I have yet to be handed a ring of power or a working wand and even if I had, I haven’t run up against a sufficiently evil individual to use it on.
Maybe this is why my very favorite kind of hero is the unlikely hero. Frodo is a hobbit, Harry is a neglected orphan, and Percy has major attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These guys are the last to be picked to play volleyball in PE. They are viewed by the world as weak or pathetic or just damaged. That’s why I love them.
Those guys could be me.
In Mutant, my hero is a girl who is dying of cancer until she is cured…and finds the cure worse than the disease.
Arroon is an orphan who has been kicked out of a number of homes and schools.
These two can’t even keep their lives straight, never mind head out and kick some evil bad guy butt. Yet, they do kick butt.
That’s why I keep rooting for them, keep writing them, keep trying to pry the hero from beneath the surface.
Who is the most unlikely hero I’ve ever met?
Me.
And Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Percy Jackson, and my own Miranda Baxter and Arroon Walker.