I’m chasing heroes.
You heard me right. I’m chasing heroes. (Yes, I’m married, and my husband’s fine with it. 
)
Who doesn’t love a bad boy, or need a professor now and then. The swashbuckler or the warrior can defend my honor or take me on an adventure any day of the week. And after they have, and then have left for their next battle or adventure, the best friend can step in and offer support. I’ll be bolstered enough to offer my own support to the lost soul, and with any luck, I’ll be on the receiving end of the charmer’s skills.
These men, in all their glory, are a big part of what romance books are all about. An author can tap into their emotions, delve into their complex character, and voila!, a compelling character is born. These heroes are so fascinating, in fact, that two other writers and I are building a web site all about…wait for it…heroes.
Chasingheroes.com is the brainchild of Virna De Paul, criminal prosecutor/romantic suspense writer, Lee Lopez, former Sheriff’s Correctional Officer, and me, Misa Ramirez, teacher and soon-to-be-published (yes, I got the call!!) writer of ’soft-boiled’ mysteries and romantic suspense. The web site will be a study of heroes, in all their complexity.
So here’s what I’m asking of you. Tell me who your very favorite hero is, if you can classify him into one of the eight major archetypes, the book title and author, and why you love this hero. Chasingheroes.com will be compiling information on compelling heroes and looking at what makes them tick, why they fit into certain archetypes, and will introduce readers to many new and fascinating men.
So put on your thinking caps and let’s hear it. What heroes do you love to hate, love to dream about, or just plain love?
Here are the eight main archetypes and a few examples to get you thinking:
Chief (think Nathan Petrelli in the t.v. show Heroes or Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice ~be still my heart!)
Bad Boy (Patrick Swayze’s an easy peg in Dirty Dancing. How about Sawyer on Lost? Perfect.)
Best Friend (Tom Hanks is the quintessential best friend. So is Jimmy Stewart. I had a hard time coming up with an example of the best friend from a book. I know they’re out there, apparently I’m just brain dead right now. Can anyone help?)
Lost Soul (Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. Is there anyone more tragic and lost? What about Edward from Twilight? Of course he’s sort of a blend of Lost Soul and Warrior, but my vote is for Lost Soul.)
Charmer (Titanic fan or not, Leo DiCaprio is quite a charmer. And I think Bruce Willis did a fine job of it in Moonlighting. Again, brain dead in the book realm. Help again!)
Professor (Harry Potter? I think he fits the bill here. And of course there’s Sherlock Holmes.)
Swashbuckler (Captain Jack Sparrow, anyone? Johnny Depp makes swashbuckling, yellow-toothed pirates sexy. And Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone is a swashbuckler if there ever was one. )
Warrior (Mel Gibson in Braveheart. Then there’s Bastien Toussaint from Black Ice, a total hard-a** warrior. And who can forget those dastardly muskateers. They came from a novel before they hit the silver screen.)
Now it’s your turn. Pick your favorite romance hero, tell us why he’s memorable to you, and if you can identify it, tell us his archetype. In a month or so, ChasingHeroes.com will launch. Look for your hero there!
Related posts:
Grimm from Karen Moning’s “To Tame a Highland Warrior” is my favorite. I always go for the warrior type, so dashing, passionate, and brave.
Makes me go all swoony every time
Professor- Roger MacKenzie from the OUTLANDER series *le sigh*
Big, big congrats on the Call!
Woo hoo, doing the happy dance for you!
I’m split between the Chief and the Warrior (’cause to lead the troops, ya gotta be a bit of a Chief).
What would the Beast fall into? Warrior? I’m a sucker for a good Beast story.
My favorite at the moment is Colin from Meljean Brook’s Demon Moon. Definitely a Charmer first and foremost, with Warrior and Lost Soul undertones.
Really Barbara? I’ve always had a serious soft spot for Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series. That man is smokin’ hot.
I love beastly men too… but right now in recent reads.. Cam from Mine Till Midnight has completely one over my heard. He’s one hot gypsy! Sigh…
that was heart not heard…that’s a sign I shouldn’t be blogging but working…lol
I find most beasts tend to fall under the lost souls category with warrior tendencies. They need to be “saved” even if it is from themselves.
Hmmm, I’m thinking about this. I might have to raid my keeper shelf.
I can think of a good charmer though. Rejar from the book of the same name by Dara Joy was a charmer.
The hero from “Nerd in Shining Armor” by Vicki Lewis Thompson was a good example of a best friend archetype. He was surprisingly sexy too. I loved that book. I’m pretty sure his name was Nick.
My hero in my wip is a mix of a charmer and a bad boy, with surprising chief qualities mixed in, but only if he absolutely has to use them. He does so reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
Really Barbara? I’ve always had a serious soft spot for Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series. That man is smokin’ hot.
Yep. It’s Roger who turns my crank, big time. The physical description is completely up my alley, from the height to the black hair and green eyes; he’s a musician and a scholar and can be tough as nails when necessary. And since I have a serious soft spot for the beta guys, he’s the absolute epitome of what a beta man can and really should be– he’s not the leader, he doesn’t have to be the leader, but he can step up and be the leader when necessary. Not a wimp, not by any stretch of the imagination (my biggest beef when people say they don’t like beta men) but just the guy in the background with the quiet confidence and the core of steel.
Again, *le sigh*
My favorite Professor–MacAllister Booke from Nora Robert’s Heaven and Earth. Brilliant and clumsy, but oh, so sexy.
I never do comments, but I couldn’t resist here…Jamie Fraser wins hands-down because he encompasses all the archetypes.
And Harrison Ford — best professor/swashbuckler/warrior(Indiana Jones).
Is it cheating to love one of your own character?! I adore Nate Fox in A Little Night Music (Sarah Dale). Mostly a bad boy and charmer, with a bit of lost soul thrown in (after all, the heroine has to have something to work with!). Sigh.
So many books and heroes I haven’t heard of! My reading list just got so much longer! There’s definitely a trend, isn’t there? So far Jamie Fraser is winning with two votes. Anyone else?
Ranger, from the Stephanie Plum series, is one of my favorite heroes. Give me a warrior any day. There’s just something about a man with weapons…
Help is here for the Best Friend category. Luc Fiorelli from Project Daddy. Can’t believe you didn’t think of him. Getting The Call must’ve given you brain frenzy.
My hero hottie is Matthew Lassiter in The Reef (by Nora Roberts). I thought about him for a long time afterward, but it’s been so many years I can’t remember why. Maybe I should reread it to jog my memory.:lol:
And, yes, Edward was hot in Twilight. Stone cold hot.
Misa, I loved, loved, loved this post, and am enjoying reading the comments. Makes me want to rush out and buy some books. Great job and I’m so glad to be doing this with you and Lee!
Hi Misa,
Hmm. Heroes. How about Harrison Ford’s alter ego, Indiana Jones. He’s adventuresome, not afraid of confrontation, won’t quit no matter what’s thrown in his path, but he’s also not afraid to show a weakness here and there. And he’s always there when you need him. (sigh) What can be better than that? Or him?
Ginny
Oh, we’re talking book heroes here, huh? Well, well. I think I’ll go with a very old one. Anne McAllister’s Code of the West books featured one man named Riley in her Stardust Cowboy novel. He is noble, brave, handsome and just a little bit shy, too. A cowboy to die for.
Incidentally, I can hardly wait for your new book to come out and I’ll get it automatically in the mail when it’s due. I am tickled for you, gal.
Ginny
My vote goes to Rhage from J. R. Ward’s Lover Eternal. Also, I love Vaughn in Nalini Singh’s Visions of Heat.
Bad boys willing to go the extra mile.
Ooooh, fun!
I’ve been on a recent SEP re-read kick, so her books are on my mind. And I love all these guys: Heath Champion from Match Me if You Can is a classic chief; Kenny Traveler from Lady Be Good is a charmer, with maybe a little lost soul thrown in; Dan Calabow is a chief; Bobby Tom a charmer. Dex was a professor, and quite fun.
Suzanne Brockmann: Sam Starrett was a charmer (?); Max was a chief; Grady Morant was a swashbuckler extraordinnaire (!); what about “the chief” (what was his name? the one who got together with Terri the helicopter pilot?) — he was a best friend, I think (they’re kind of rare in books, huh?)
J.R. Ward’s almost all seem like warriors? Maybe some lost souls too?
I look forward to the web site! It’s been fun reading everyone’s comments just thus far. …
What a fun website this will be – Congrats, Misa, on the call and best of luck to you, Lee and Virna with what sounds like a fab site! I can’t wait till it launches.
Jamie Fraser has to be it. He is everything a women could ask for. He is always the perfect match no matter what the situation demands. Leader. Lover. Father. Friend. Scholar. Humorous. Lethal. Sexy. He’s got it all in one nice little package!
I have to go with Jamie Fraser also. He has no equal in the hero department. I don’t go in much for paranormal romance, but Cian from Nora Roberts’s Circle trilogy was awfully hot. Being a vampire, he’d have to be in the lost soul camp, but there was some warrior there too.
I think I need to reread the Outlander series. It’s been too long and I need to revisit Jamie.
Ranger is hot, but I’m a Joe Morelli girl. I like the hot, sexy, sort of by the book guy.
Luc Fiorelli. That’s right!!! How could I have forgotten him? So sorry, Kate!
He’s the best friend extraordinaire.
What fun responses!!! I’m going to start reading now…
Jamie Frasier gets my vote!
As for professor? Denise Rossetti’s Miriliel the Burnished. He’s scholar, and a little bit of warrior, yet oh so oblivious. *snickers* So adorable. It would have been better though if he had a pair of glasses. ’cause glasses are really really sexy.
Yowza, Ladies! What a wonderful website this is going to be! Congrats to all on establishing it, and special congrats to Misa on “the call.”
Re heroes — there are so many that I am having trouble confining my ideas to a few rather than a multitude. I will accept Harry Potter as a future professor and a present helluva Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but my all-time favorite professor is Indiana Jones — teacher, warrior, friend, chief, whatever you want to call him, I think he qualifies as the Best, hands down. A fellow member of the audience at the first showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark was heard to mutter (during the truck chase): “Gimme a professor like that! I’d be a double A student! Hell — a triple A student!” Amen, lady, whoever you were!
Good luck, guys, on the new website. I’ll be watching you!
Okay, maybe no one else agrees, but what about Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables books as the “Best Friend?” Here here to Jaime Fraser being an all-encompassing hunk of a hero.
So I’m supposed to pick one fave hero? not possible
Ok, I’ll try. I LOVE Jamie Fraser (when is Gabaldon’s next novel coming out??), and Mr Darcy from Pride&Prejudice.
But I’m also starting to get into more “day-to-day” type heroes, like Wayne in “Coinage of Commitment” by R. Costelloe. I think we need more ‘real’ heroes these days (although I’ll never turn down a larger-than-life fictional one
With all the votes for Jamie Fraser, I’ve already started reading Outlander again. It’s all coming back to me now; what a great story it is.
Mr. Darcy, oh yes, I completey agree, Barb. (Especially when played by Colin Firth in A&E’s version) 
Good point about the ‘real’ heroes.
Cupcake Girl, I’ll have to reread Anne of Green Gables, now! It’s been a LONG time.
I think my next book may need to have a professor hero. Reading about some of the suggestions makes me long for one!!
[...] In a recent column at Romancing the Blog, I asked about heroes and quite a few people responded that Jamie Fraser was the man that made their hearts pitter-patter. That made me go back and reread parts of Outlander, the first of Diana Gabaldon’s series featuring JF. I think he’s a compilation of archetypes. Part Warrior; Part Charmer, he really the perfect balance. I can just picture his red hair, the scars criss-crossing his back, and his hands around Claire’s waist as she sits on his lap. [...]