Real-Life Parallels of the Hero Narrative (and How it can be Harmful) (Patreon)

This is a very tiny update that gives some insight into what I'm working on in the next few chapters (mainly, the recognition from the general population that Rae is 'The Hero'). As a consumer of fantasy, I love heroes. I want them to get stronger, to be praised for their efforts, to win, and to have a happy ending. Of course, I don't want it to be too easy, right? They have to work hard if they want that title! I need to be entertained by the story, after all.

Warning: My personal bias: In real life, I detest the social construct of heroes when the term 'hero' is used to praise frontline workers for dutifully performing a hazardous job. It implies that somehow, these people are tireless, superpowered, invincible, fully willing to self-sacrifice, and knowingly work with a more-than-acceptable amount of risk, including risk that could have and should have been controlled for. Instead of shedding light on those in control of a poor system that fails to mitigate risk for these people, we simply shout platitudes for the people trying to survive in it. Don't get me wrong: their actions ARE heroic, and they perform miracles all the time. But by constantly singing their praises, we're too busy to listen to their true needs, let alone even begin to work toward making their jobs safer and more bearable. Hero worship in real life puts too much pressure on the individual to be successful (what happens when the hero just can't cut it?) and not enough on the system to improve so people can work with reasonable safety systems baked in.

As you might have guessed by now, this story was inspired by the idea that people shouldn't be forced to be heroes. Professional 'hero' burnout is a real thing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8014459/

I will try not to get too heavy-handed as I did in this post, but you might have already noticed this idea is one of the deeper themes of the story.