Unlikely/Hesitant Heroes - Know any good fictional ones?

[Kaludneisucks]

most of the characters in the Series Heroes qualify.

sounded too obvious i know.

If you have seen MyHiME , Mai Tohika is a good example, good anime series too.

George Clooneys character in Dusk till Dawn.

Bugs Bunny has gone from indifferent to Worlds Savior Vs. Marvin a couple times, saved the earth but only because he needed to punish marvin.

hmmm.. harder than i thought...

[Sol-Blackguy]

In the spirit of Easter, you could say Moses.

[Colm]

I don't know if Ender is really a reluctant hero, since he has no idea what's going on the whole time. But, I haven't read any of the later books in the Ender series, so what do I know.

Jon Snow from a Song of Ice and Fire might be a decent choice. A bastard son, he reluctantly joins the Night's Watch because he has no place at his father's court. He ends up training and uniting his fellow recruits, pisses off half the officers, and ends up doing a bunch of other things because no one else can do it, or he's ordered point-blank to do it. More detailed summary at the Wiki article, since I don't want to spoil it for people who may be reading.

[Baelorn]

Rand al'Thor
Matrim Cauthon
Perrin Aybara

All from Wheel of Time series. Matrim is the more interesting character.

[Maguspk]

In the spirit of Easter, you could say Moses.

Spirit of easter... Moses. You mean Jesus right? After all he did regret dieing on the cross initially, something about 'Abba why have you forsaken me' or some such.

[Talus]

I would argue John McClane from the Die Hard series.. in the first movie, he's just a NY cop in LA visiting his estranged wife and kids, caught in the building when Hans Gruber & Co. take it over.

His mantra would be like "I'm doing this because no one else can/will," he isn't doing it for the glory, he's doing it because he considers it his job, and it's the right thing to do.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Spirit of easter... Moses. You mean Jesus right? After all he did regret dieing on the cross initially, something about 'Abba why have you forsaken me' or some such.

Isn't passover in the same month of easter or something? I always get them mixed up.

[Altariel]

Arthur Dent?

[Maguspk]

Isn't passover in the same month of easter or something? I always get them mixed up.

Passover is 7 days, but yeah around the same time.

[Obev]

Rincewind from Discworld. He's more than reluctant though; he's actively trying to opt out of heroics, danger, and even the narrative itself.

Actually, now that I think about it, the Discworld series has a load of reluctant protagonists. Go read them all.

[Wintermute]

I want to say any Final Fantasy character ever since it's always the most underqualified who save the world but most characters eventually fall into their roles.

Squall's got the most prominent "wtf why me?" attitude but whether he's reluctant to be a hero or just a whiny teenager is open to interpretation.

Ash from Evil Dead is always a reluctant hero, even if he is a badass.

Gene from God Hand starts off rather reluctant to put his neck on the line but eventually falls into the hero role, mainly because he's cocky though.

The main character from the Fallout games could also pass. In the original you're pretty much kicked out of the vault on a seemingly impossible quest to get a chip for a water purifier because you picked the short straw. When you finally get back you've changed so much from the Vault Dweller you were they won't let you go back inside.

The second Fallout has a descendant of the hero of the first sent off to find a GECK to save his villiage because of his heritage. Pretty much the same deal. Way in over his head, chosen arbitrarily, shit eventually hits fan but everything's nice at the end.

I'm tempted to say Link from the various Zelda games but as a silent protagonist it's hard to argue how he feels.

On the same note you could mention Gordon Freeman. Dude's in the wrong place at the wrong time and eventually ends up with freeing an entire city from alien invaders and practically turns into a god-like figure for the people. All because it's pretty much expected from him.

Actually, you could make up a huge argument that silent protagonists may all be reluctant heroes depending on the nature of the player.

[Howard Roark]

aren't most "The One" type characters reluctant?

a) special power/super rare ability opportunity

b) unlikely/unwilling hero (omg he's just like me, I feel they really understand me, and me them)

c) start off weak and their power/circumstances allow them to win 'battles' despite themselves

d) series of tasks, insurmountable odds

Spoiler: show

(or in the case of the seeker series, increasingly ridicously impossible situations where the only way out is just so ragingly awful and unbelieveable even within an already impossible situation that you cannot bear to read the last book or two and oh god how did I ever finish pillars of creation -- where am I...)

e) hoh man I didn't think he could do it, and it's a good thing he was so unwilling and unlikely because ego would have made his icarian wings melt and he would have 'fallen' --loltragedy averted, fkn saved




tl;dr - nearly every anime with a sole main, young, male lead character

[Sol-Blackguy]

You forgot the part about all the minor characters standing on a nearby mountain ledge watching the fight giving "where did he get this kind of power?" monologues left and right.

[Wintermute]

I think the problem with reluctant heroes is that eventually they all fall into their roles and end up as an unstoppable force.
There's not many reluctant heroes that end up successful in their task yet broken at the end of the line.

[Obev]

Oh and this dude, just for me to be a great big cartoon-watching nerd.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5459/simon1024fe1.png

[Dazd]

Surprised no one said Odd Thomas probably best reluctant hero ever.

[Elvis]

Red from Pineapple Express.

Spoiler: show

[Makwa]

Would Micheal Westin from Burn Notice qualify? I always got the idea he was reluctant to help anyone, unless it benefited him directly, or if it became personal to him. It was usually Fey or Sam who'd get him into it.

[Tomk]

I know I'm old but this immediately came to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Q3orQhEcA

The Greatest American Hero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Eaglestrike]

I would argue John McClane from the Die Hard series.. in the first movie, he's just a NY cop in LA visiting his estranged wife and kids, caught in the building when Hans Gruber & Co. take it over.

His mantra would be like "I'm doing this because no one else can/will," he isn't doing it for the glory, he's doing it because he considers it his job, and it's the right thing to do.

In Die hard 4 he has a conversation with Justin Long's character about why he does it and his answer was "Because nobody else will." or some close deviation.