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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 4957347" data-attributes="member: 1879">I can't believe it took 3 pages for someone to mention him. Lone Wolf and Cub is all about an assassin. However while he is heroic is stature and action (and sometimes motivation) he would certainly never describe himself as a hero. Perhaps my favorite episode of that series has him hired by a feudal lord to assasinate a monk who the lord believes is encourageing a peasant reballion against his rule. Itto approaches the monk but finds himself unable to strike down an enlightened figure. He prepares to kill himself for his failure and converses with the monk who guides him of how to find enlightenment along the assasin's path. He meditates on this "Meet the Budda, Kill the Budda. Meet your parents, kill your parents." achieves enlightenment and manages to kill the monk. Of course the feudal Lord betrays Itto and he kills him without a qualm. Reno Williams of one movie and a long series of books is another assassin as hero, but one who is a member of an order that dedicates themselves to killing evil people, viewing assassination as a higher calling. There is also the concept of the duelist assassin. This is someone who operates as an assassin, maybe even openly, but rather that striking from the shadows approaches his prey openly and engages them in a more-or-less legal duel. This is an approach modern morals find more appealing although it does little to make the assassin less mercenary. A distinctly unheroic version of this archetype kills Paul Tankersly in the Honor Harrington series.</blockquote>

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