Odysseus

(http://www.moyak.com/papers/odysseus-hero-trojan-war.html)

What is a hero? They could be somebody famous or just the everyday people we see in our very influential lives. A hero to me is one that hasn't really done anything good, but has influenced society in such a way that those people will want to better themselves. These people are legends and my favorite legendary hero is one of ancient Greece. His name is Odysseus, King of Ithaca.

Odysseus is a man of great skill and has an exquisite mind. He uses his mind to solve problems others would just give up on. Odysseus was born in Greece and is the son of Laertes, King of Ithaca. Eventually Odysseus becomes ruler of Ithaca and marries his beautiful wife Penelope. They then have a son who is named Telemachus and on the day of his birth Odysseus's hardships begin.

On that day he leaves for war and does not return for nearly twenty years. On Odysseus's twenty year journey he encounters many obstacles that no ordinary man could have conquered. These obstacles were set in place by the god Poseidon who is furious with Odysseus because he blinded his child, the cyclopes. That was just the beginning of his hardships. Odysseus had many other obstacles to overcome such as going into Hades and saving his companions. In Hades Odysseus learned the fates of many people he had known, including members of his crew. Odysseus's crew members told him that they regretted not being able to see their homeland once more. This only fueled Odysseus's desire to return home.

Eventually Odysseus conquered his many trials and returned home alone. Happy to be home Odysseus learned his lesson, that one is nothing without the gods. The story of Odysseus was told to many of the Greeks and the lesson they should have learned was that they must honor what they believe in and to encourage them to achieve great things. With this taken to heart the Greeks would have been influenced in their decisions. This is why people of legends are heroes.

Legends do not have to be your heroes but whether you like it or not they have influenced everybody's life. Either through one's culture, religion or family history they have allowed societies to advance in one way or another. Things like this have such an impact that they can not simply be ignored. Though legendary heroes are fictional it's the moral of their story that causes them to be great. Which is why legendary heroes are my favorite because their impact has lasted for quite a long time.