I love reluctant heroes. Those men who just want to live their ordinary lives but find themselves in situations that require them to step up and be more. There are some great examples in classic movies.
Gary Cooper in High Noon, Cary Grant in North By Northwest, James Garner in Support Your Local Sheriff, and Gregory Peck in Big Country.
A more recent example is Malcolm Reynolds from the TV series Firefly. He fought the Browncoats and now his idealism has been shattered. He wants to look out for his own interest, but time after time he’s hooked while traveling around in his ship by someone who needs his help.
But one of my favorite reluctant heroes can be found in The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale. S. T. Maitland was once a legendary highwayman. Now he’s a wreck of a man until Lady Leigh Strachan seeks his help in getting revenge on her enemy. Their journey together forces him to remake himself into a man better than he was before. I actually have a quote from this book on my wall, and it holds all the emotion and angst and heartbreaking self examination this man goes through in his desire to be worthy of this woman he’s come to love. It still makes me vibrate every time I read it.
“He found the extent of his courage in that wait. And it was mortifying.”
Okay, so share. Do you have any favorite reluctant heroes or heroines in literature or on film?
About Molly Cannon
Great post. I’m not very good at writing them, but I like reluctant heroes too. I’m not sure if he counts because he’s been reincarnated so many times, but I’d put Dr Who up there as a great reluctant hero. The David Tennant version too – he just has the character down.
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Molly Cannon Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 7:37 am
I hadn’t thought of Dr Who. What a great example, Michele!
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Ooooh, good post! I never thought about this, but yeah… I totally love a reluctant hero. I think I probably wrote one in Fortune’s Hero. There’s quite a bit of Mal Reynolds in Quinn. And a bit of Han Solo, who’d be another VERY reluctant hero, I’d say.
One of my favorites – and I doubt many of you have heard of him, unless you happen to like historical mysteries anno 70AD – is Lindsey Davis’s Falco. Marcus Didius Falco, private investigator to Vespasian Caesar. Very much a ladies man, very focused on his own survival and his own gain… but when it comes down to it, he’ll do whatever he has to, to see justice served. The first book is called Silver Pigs (or THE Silver Pigs on the US side of the Atlantic), and it’s great.
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Molly Cannon Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Good one, Jenna. Hans Solo is reluctant! I’ll check out Falco. Thanks for the recommendation.
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The first think that came to mind was MONK, the TV series.
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Molly Cannon Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 7:42 am
Oh, Monk is such an interesting character. Another one added to the list, PJ.
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Hi Molly! I love a reluctant hero. The guy who is just trying to live his life but steps up, or the guy that has had enough of being the hero but can’t get out of it. I think Bruce Willis in Die Hard, Han Solo (of course!!), Iron Man, spiderman.. a lot of superheroes come to mind
In books like Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, F. Paul Wison’s repairman Jack (i’ve been in a sic-fi/horror kind of phase),, lots of stephen king characters. In romance i can think of several Sherrilyn Kenyon heroes- bad boys that don’t think of themselves as good enough to be a hero. I think some of the best character growth is when someone is taken from their everyday normal life and put in a situation where they have to step-up or shut-up- add some snark and angst and I’m all in. 
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Molly Cannon Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Hi Kim! I don’t read much sci-fi but maybe I should give it a whirl. Those sound interesting and it’s good to get out of my comfort zone sometimes. Thanks for the recommendations. Snark is always good/1
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Hi Molly! I totally agree, a man who gives up his own desires to do the right thing is awesome! And snark is a must! I’m going back to my fav with Dwayne Johnson, William Michael Scott and Christopher Walken in the Rundown. Trying to repay his debt Dwayne chases down a man’s son (William) to return him to the states, but then he gets stuck helping the son and a band of rebels in South America and gives up his dream of opening a restaurant. And of course it was filmed on Kaua’i;)
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Why am I not surprised to see Dwayne Johnson make an appearance? I haven’t seen Rundown, but now I’ll have to check it out. Especially if it was filmed in Kaua’i!
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