Tragic Heroes

I've been watching old X-Men cartoons all morning. The characters that most intrigue me are Wolverine and Magneto. Both are what I would consider tragic heroes (much like Anakin Skywalker). I have always been able to relate much more with this kind of character rather than the traditional super hero. Normal heroes are great, but they've always lacked a certain realism to me.

To me, a tragic hero is essentially a character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also has enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain sympathy. Tragic heroes can be awkward, obnoxious, passive, pitiful, and even obtuse... but they are always, in some fundamental way, flawed or failed heroes. Hell, this is what makes them tragic! That's why I love comic books... they feature these tragic heroes who are characters fighting for the side of good, but either with some tragic flaw or by using questionable means to reach their goals. The great irony to me is that a tragic hero is a paradoxical character who is, within the context of a story, a hero but in another context could easily be seen as a villain. My favorite stories and characters draw a subtle line between a tragic hero and a villain... and it sometimes is not really clear which category they fit into.

A tragic hero is a character who constantly moves from one disappointment in their lives to the next, without end, with only occasional and fleeting successes. But they persist and even attain a form of heroic success by never giving up or changing their goals. These characters often keep a deep seated optimism that one day, they will succeed. But in the end they still meet the ultimate fate of a traditional villain... failure. Sometimes I feel that this is what I'm doomed to live.