Folk hero

A folk hero is type of hero, real or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by mention in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore. Folk heroes are also the subject of some films.

Although some folk heroes are historical public figures, they generally are not. Because the lives of folk heroes are generally not based on historical documents, the characteristics and deeds of a folk hero are often exaggerated to mythic proportions.

The folk hero often begins life as a normal person, but is transformed into someone extraordinary by significant life events, often in response to social injustice, and sometimes in response to natural disasters.

One major category of folk hero is the defender of the common people against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure. Members of this category of folk hero often, but not necessarily, live outside the law in some way.

Historically documented folk heroes

• Aylett C. (Strap) Buckner - United States, a Indian-fighter of colonial Texas
• Billy the Kid - United States, a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman
• Bonnie and Clyde - United States, bank robbers who evaded retribution in the 1930s
• Calamity Jane - United States, a tough Wild West woman
• Casey Jones - United States, railroad engineer who chose to die rather than abandon his locomotive during a collision
• Dick Turpin - England, highwayman
• Dorus Rijkers - the Netherlands, sailor and savior of over 500 men, women and children as the captain of a rescue-boat, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century
• Davy Crockett - United States, an Indian-fighter, Congressman, and died as a hero fighting in the Alamo. Also known as the King of the Wild Frontier
• Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson - Sweden, rebel and temporary regent in the 15th Century
• Eppelein von Gailingen - Germany, robber baron
• Janosik - Poland, outlaw living in the Tatra mountains in the time of partitions of Poland, defending Polish peasants from the tyranny of Austrian landlords
• Johnny Appleseed - United States, he introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
• Kaluaiko'olau - United States - Hawaiian who evaded deportation for leprosy by hiding in the Hawaiian rain forests
• Lam Sai Wing - China, martial artist and student of Wong Fei Hung
• Mike Fink - United States, the toughest boatman of the Mississippi and is rival of Davy Crockett. Also known as the King of the Mississippi River Keelboatmen
• Miyamoto Musashi - Japan, a skilled swordsman, soldier, philosopher, and author
• Ned Kelly - Australia, outlaw
• Nils Dacke - Sweden, leader of a 16th century peasant revolt
• Norman Bethune - Canada, doctor, active in China with the Eighth Route Army
• Rob Roy - Scotland, outlaw whose word was his bond
• Robin Hood - England, outlaw usually associated with the motto "Steal from the rich, give to the poor"
• Spartacus - Thrace, led the largest slave revolt against the Roman Republic
• Tamanend - United States, an Indian Chief who became the source of many folk legends that propelled his fame to mythical proportions during the time of the American Revolutionary War
• Tipu Sultan - Indian Muslim who fought and defeated the British in the Mysore wars. He died defending the walls of his capital.
• Tomoe Gozen - Japan, woman samurai warrior
• Pier Gerlofs Donia - Frisa, legendary giant warrior, freedom fighter and leader of the legandary Arumer Black Heap, known for handling an enormous sword of 2,15 meter in length, which he used to behead several enemies at the same time, in just one hit during battle
• William Tell - Switzerland, began the rebellion against the Austrians
• William Wallace - Scotland, knight who led a rebellion against England in the early 14th century
• Wong Fei Hung - China, doctor, martial artist, and revolutionary

Possibly apocryphal folk heroes

• Fionn mac Cumhaill - Ireland, warrior
• Fong Sai-Yuk - China, martial arts folk hero
• Mulan - China, heroine who disguised herself as a male in order to join an all-male army
• Molly Pitcher - United States, heroine of the American Revolutionary War
• Rummu Jüri - Estonia, outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor
• Till Eulenspiegel - Germany, trickster

Folk heroes known to be fictional

• Alfred Bulltop Stormalong - United States, immense sailor whose ship was so big it scraped the moon
• Cúchulainn - Ireland, folk legend and the pre-eminent hero of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle
• Febold Feboldson - United States, Nebraska farmer who could fight a drought
• Joe Magarac - United States, Pittsburgh steelworker made of steel
• John Henry - United States, mighty steel-driving African American
• Koba - Georgia, folk hero whose legend bears a resemblance to Robin Hood.
• Paul Bunyan - United States, giant lumberjack of the North Woods
• Pecos Bill - United States, giant Texas cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
• Taylor Bradshaw - Canada, possibly a variant of Paul Bunyan
• The Little Dutch Boy - Netherlands, saves Holland from disaster by persisting in keeping his finger in a dike; first mentioned in the 1865 novel Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates and sometimes incorrectly called Hans Brinker
• Tony Beaver - United States, West Virginia lumberjack and cousin of Paul Bunyan

See also

• American folk hero