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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primal" data-source="post: 4957803" data-attributes="member: 30678">That is my perception also; humility is not tied to the "power level" -- whether we're talking about wuxia novels, myths, fantasy, oral tradition or epics. That is an interesting point, and I have to say I agree. It's indeed hard to say anything that isn't purely speculative and anecdotal.Orlando Furioso does have elements associated with fantasy works, and it has influenced fantasy authors and works of "magical realism",  but I wouldn't personally regard Orlando Furioso into the fantasy genre, or as a myth; it's really an epic poem based on 'Song of Roland' and a "sequel" to Orlando in Love (just as I wouldn't regard the adventures of Baron Munchausen or, say, Italo Calvino's works, as fantasy). (I'm surprised that Ariosto, the poster, hasn't commented on this particular subject! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />)Hmmm... it's been a while since I read Beowulf, but I have the distinct feeling that he wasn't exactly a humble peasant hero, and for the large part his downfall was due to his own hubris, i.e. exaggarated sense of his own abilities. He did fight the dragon to protect his people, out of bravery and sense of duty, though. And, as far as I can recall Ruggiero, Orlando et al. are all characters from the era of chivalric romance, and display those very qualities (questing knights/warriors that seem to possess superhuman talents) that Cervantes later satiricized in Don Quixote. That is not to say that you wouldn't have a point; indeed, literature has a score of protagonists that don't start out as humble farmboys, and it's not a sign of "badwrongfun" if a novel or a game takes a more "heroic" approach to protagonists, or whether it's about a tragic or happy ending (BTW, if you yet haven't tried it, I'll recommed reading and trying 'Polaris' from Tao Games -- it's so damn well-written and well-designed that I'd wish every gamer out there would try it at least once in his/her life).Very true; it's becoming a trend in contemporary works of popular culture (movies, novels, comic books, games). Some of them even combine the both aspects; the hero has a greater destiny to fulfill, and in all appearances starts out "small" although he/she may very well possess superhuman powers and/or learning capacity, but does not initially remember or grasp how to harness or wield those powers (e.g. Dragonball Z, Naruto, Wheel of Time, Eragon and so on). Effectively, the reader is told that there is "more than meets the eye" in the protagonist, and a lot of the excitement comes from following this process as the young protagonist slowly (or even in some works, quickly) outranks his/her elders in terms of power and skill. It's enjoyable for me, too, but I don't know if I like it in fantasy RPGs. Again, this is purely a matter of taste. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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