: Re: Why do heroes need to have a physical mark? It seems that a lot of authors want their heroes to be marked in a special way. It is not enough that these protagonists are going to be heroes,

@Sent2472441

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It's often struck me that there are two very different kinds of heroes in fiction in this sense. Some are heroes because they trained and practiced and studied or did some sort of hard work to get where they are. Others are heroes because they were born with some special status or destiny. Superman is a hero because he was born with "powers and abilities far beyond those of normal men". But the Green Hornet is a hero because he worked and trained. And yes he's rich, which helps, but he worked for his money, he didn't just inherit it. In many stories a character is a hero because she was born a princess or he was born a prince. But Frodo is a hero because, when faced with an extraordinary challenge, he rose to the occasion. Etc.

(This really struck me once when, at the time, I had just finished reading several books by women authors, in all of which the hero or heroine was born with some special ability, like a magical ability to talk to dragons telepathically. And a theory formed in my mind which some day I would like to investigate: Female writers tend to create characters who are heroes because of a natural ability or destiny, while male writers tend to create characters who are heroes because they worked hard. I'm not saying it's 100%, I'm sure there are exceptions, but I wonder if there's a bias each way. Anyway, detour ...)

In a different direction ... Writers often try to make a character distinctive in some easy way. "She had a streak of blue through her hair", "The man with the scar on his neck", etc. Done poorly, this can indeed just be lame. When done well, it can help the reader to distinguish the characters in his mind. I often find that when I read a book with many characters, I can get confused about who is who. Was Sally the airplane pilot or the doctor? Flip back a few pages ... oh no, the doctor was Shelley. If the characters have vague physical descriptions and similar or undistinctive names, it can be easy to mix them up. But if you say that Sally has blue hair and Monica always wears a formal business suit, now the reader has a handle on the characters to keep them separate. If you can then reference these distinctive characteristics casually throughout the story, it can help the reader keep them straight. Like if early in the story you say, "He always felt a tingling in the scar on his neck when danger was near", and then every now and then, "His scar was tingling again ..." Done poorly, it would be a lame gimmick. Done well, it can help make a distinctive character.

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