Why are we so attracted to warriors in fiction? When I walk through a bookstore I see countless aisles filled with book covers of idealized men that appear larger than life, too good to be true. These covers are carefully designed for marketing of course, but there is also a very real attraction that we as readers have to the warrior ethos, to heroes and gods.
Like the gods and goddesses of the ancient world (i.e. Zeus, Hercules, Athena, Diana etc.) warriors are often idealized and worshiped as heroes. Warriors often seem bulletproof, unable to be killed or stopped (at least not for long). If they are beaten down, they rise again stronger than ever, to once again commit to a greater purpose and to protect their loves ones. Their lives are in some ways single minded, a larger purpose of protection or power rules their narrow worlds. As readers we can enter into their worlds with the agreement that the vagaries of our human existence and day-to-day decisions become background noise, barely a consideration in the face of the extreme circumstances our warriors must face.
In literature they command an unusually strong level of attraction. We read tales of men like Hercules, freedom fighters who swoop in to save heroines (or heroes) at the last moment, and men and women of various ages who learn to stand tall when the sky itself is falling down on them. Our hearts jump when they commit to battle and we join with them eagerly turning the pages to see what happens next in their struggle, to see if they really can survive against insurmountable odds.
We have an attraction to warriors because we believe they can protect us and we want to be protected from a visceral fear of death, from chaos and destruction, the unknown. It’s a romantic notion, but one that continues to call out to us, pull us into stories and ignite a passion larger than ourselves. Even the characters who start out weak but grow into heroes as a story progresses become a source of inspiration. We remember their words, triumphs and pain.
Warriors fascinate because they are like us; we see that they stand tall when we’re unsure if we would be able to do so in a similar situation, no matter how fantastical. They call out our names and hold an answer to a desire within our hearts. Why are we pulled so strongly to them? Perhaps the attraction to the warrior is a manifestation of our ideal protector, whether a man, woman or supernatural being. We first drew them on cave walls and scrolls, leather bound works, and now they are available at the tips of our fingers whenever we want. We have only to hold out our hands and the warriors will be at our sides, their battles and losses ours to share.
Warriors are attractive because they are very real to us, and provide a mirror into our idealized selves. We yearn to wrap our arms around them when they fall down in a moment of weakness, pain or loss. We want to ease their pain and get them back on their feet. It’s an interesting flip when we yearn to protect and be protected. The warrior ethos inspires us to be stronger and to stand for an ideal that is worth fighting for… at least until we close the cover of the book and return to our lives where there are often not clearly delineated lines between good and evil. The battle fields where we strive to be true to our higher selves can often be unclear and difficult to navigate in the face of other priorities. The warrior gives us a moment to live in the fantasy of clear right and wrong and we know that in the pages of our book our hero will, in some form, prevail.
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