Assemble! - Horror Victim Archetypes - The Hero

Welcome to Assemble!

 

Here, we'll look at several different characters across multiple series to see who would form a perfect team for a certain genre. From fighting game rosters to RPG adventuring parties, different types of characters tend to show up frequently. What we'll do here is look at those archetypes to see what character is the best fit for that slot, and in the end, we’ll have the best team for the job. These articles will also be shorter entries, compared to some of the more long-form articles here, focusing on one or two characters at a time.

When talking about horror, the villains, monsters, and killers are often the first things that come to people’s minds. The people they hunt are often an afterthought, but these characters show that not all survivors are that easy to kill. The right group with the right people can make things very difficult for the killer. Here, we’ll be looking at that can represent different archetypes of horror movie characters, to build a strong squad of survivors.

THE HERO

This is one of the rare instances in horror where the villain is not the biggest focus of the story.

The Hero is a capable and competent character when it comes to battling the evil forces of whatever this world’s horror is. They may have faced a threat and survived in a previous movie, only to face it again in the sequel, but this time, they’re better prepared. They know what to do and how to do it and they survive long enough to put it into action. Before long, they become a go-to individual when it comes to surviving this this threat and can kill off the enemy with little problem.

Our pick for the Hero is…

Ash Williams from Evil Dead

From his beginnings as a regular college student going with his friends for a vacation at a remote cabin in the woods, Ashley J. Williams, or just Ash for short, has become one of the most iconic characters in horror. After surviving the horrors thrown at him, brought forth by the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, Ash has had to fight through several demon-possessed, zombie-like beings. Even losing his hand hasn’t slowed him down as he was able to mount a chainsaw onto the stump, hold a shotgun in the other hand, and keep up the combat. He’s been sent back in time to the Middle Ages, and if you count comics, he’s also been to a zombified version of the Marvel Universe, and he still managed to survive and find his way back to his own world and time period. He’s even fought both Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees at the same time.

…and won! (Whoops, spoilers.)

For surviving horror story after horror story when all the odds were stacked against him, we now add Ash Williams to our roster.

ADDED!

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Honorable Mention: Ellen Ripley (Alien)

Another hero to not be counted out is horror's leading lady, Alien's Ellen Ripley. A protagonist in the first few films, then later, a recurring character in spin-offs and licensed features, Ripley has a long history of fighting off the Xenomorphs, even when the rest of her crew has been killed off by them. Even her death (sorry, spoiler) in the movies was a heroic sacrifice on her part rather than becoming prey to the aliens that have been pursuing her. As impressive of a character as Ripley is, Ash has done more and fought against different kinds of threats in his depictions, which edges him out over her. Sorry.

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. 

 

Thanks for coming!