Leadership

        Throughout the Wanderings of Odysseus, we see various displays of Odysseus' leadership skills, but also (and more importantly) how he doesn't act like a hero. The very first thing they come across - the Cyclops - Odysseus leads them in bravely, and when they become stuck and are being killed off, Odysseus organizes them and blinds the Cyclops, escaping on the belly of the sheep. However, in that same event, Odysseus tries to abuse Xenia and obtain gifts from the Cyclops, keeping everyone there who tried to leave. When they are leaving, Odysseus can't help but call out his name and taunt the Cyclops, which causes him to curse their voyage and ultimately lose all their men.

          When Odysseus lands on Circe's island, he sends out men to scout - a leader-like thing to do. However later, when one of his men disagrees with accepting the offer Circe makes to feast with her, Odysseus needs to be kept back from cutting his head off. Finally, Odysseus ignores the advice of Circe to not arm himself against Scylla, he does so anyway while also deciding not to tell his men of their six upcoming casualties, because it would not help and only put the rest of them in danger.

          These three examples each show times when Odysseus is acting like a leader, doing things for the good of his men and taking control of the crew, but also show times when Odysseus doesn't act in his own self interest but rather violently and out of control. He does things both with thinking and without thinking. The reason for these two different parts of him lies in the fact that he is a warrior by trade. His life has been focused around strategically planning what to do in any situation, but then also to completely throw aside thought and reasoning whenever he needs to fight. This can be seen in that the first city he and his portion of the army go to rest they sack and kill all the men, while this same group (albeit considerably smaller) swears not to kill Helios' cows, until they run out of food and are forced to.

          Odysseus and his men have all been bred into a society that favors leaders that can construct plans but then can also go haywire on the battlefield. The Iliad also emphasizes this, with some particular heroes dragging their enemies behind chariots, and also rampaging up to the front gates. This society, when crammed into a life-threatening situation on a boat in the middle of nowhere doesn't release itself in a very good form, and while his men are mostly collected throughout the journey, this explains Odysseus' various fits of violence and irrationality.

Heroic Reflections

          Despite what the title of this post may imply, I do not consider myself a hero. Similarly, the character I have chosen does not believe that he is a hero, and instead sees himself as a person around whom nobody is safe, everything he touches, every person he affects, is destroyed.

          Kaladin of the sci-fi fantasy book Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson begins his life as the son of a poor physician on the outskirts of a province in Alethkar, apprenticing in his father's office. By the end of the first book (this is a series, but I will only look at the first one), Kaladin has undergone tremendous change, joining the army, becoming a slave, being forced to join a bridge crew, build up that bridge crew to keep the men alive, save the life of a highprince and thousands of others, and become the honor guard for said highprince.

          What I like about this character is that he is able to overcome tremendous mental barriers in order to better himself. One main feature of this series is that the protagonists (the "Knights Radiant") better themselves through adoption of certain Ideals, and the Ideals that Kaladin adopts himself in this first book include the first three: "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination," but also more importantly include the phrase "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves." This Ideal is an important one, not just in this series, but also a good motto for life in general.

          I would like to say I have also adopted this Ideal, but the truth is that it has not majorly had an influence on my life. It is mainly that he embodies symbols that are admirable in a person, and his willingness and determination to keep pushing is something that I admire in this character and would like to see reflected on myself.