The following contains spoilers for Dune, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Berserk, Code Geass, and Arcane.
The tragic hero is a trope that fans are seeing increasingly in media. The tale of a beloved central character being consumed by darkness and becoming the common enemy of everyone else. A fallen angel that becomes a devil that destroys the world. Most recently, fans saw this trope expertly executed in Attack on Titan, but Eren isn’t the first and most likely won’t be the last of this line. Most famously, this trope is embodied by Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars, a promising prodigy who becomes a mass-murderer, mechanical monster.
Let’s explore why this trope always gets to the hearts of fans and captivates audiences. You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain, just as these amazing characters demonstrate.
Like a Fallen Angel
It’s impossible to discuss this trope without the blueprint of it all, the tale of the fallen angel Lucifer from the Bible. The most beautiful and loyal of the angels fell into the depths of hell, banished, becoming the embodiment of evil for the entire world. The tale of Lucifer has served as the blueprint for many authors, similar stories of courageous and heroic beings that fall into the darkness becoming the complete opposite of what they started as. To the point that Lucifer’s title is often used to discuss this type of character. To be referenced in artwork and even song lyrics, as was the case for Attack on Titan’s Eren Yeager.
My father came, not for spice, not for the riches, but for the strength of your people. My road leads into the desert. I can see it. If you’ll have us, we will come
Much later there was another monumental piece of fiction that added a lot to this trope. Frank Herbert’s Dune is a science fiction masterpiece that has now seen a surge in popularity thanks to masterful film adaptations, and its protagonist, Paul Atreides, is a textbook example of how to perform this idea in the best way possible. Paul starts as a noble prince with the promise of becoming someone great and a world leader, but with time, his own powers and his knowledge of the future corrupt him, turning him into the greatest mass murderer the universe has seen.
It is…too late for me, so
Then comes probably the most famous example of this, Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. A young heroic prodigy who is deemed to be the Chosen One, the one that will bring stability and balance to the galaxy, but ends up becoming its greatest enemy. The tragic fall of Anakin has captivated fans for decades by this point. The fall of the Republic’s hero into the Empire’s executioner. All to be redeemed and saved by that last glimmer of light in him, the love for his son Luke.
Lucifer was the first literary example of the “Fallen Hero”.
Paul Atreides is the protagonist of Dune (1965), a prince with future sight who brings a new era of terror.
Anakin Skywalker is the most famous example of the “Fallen Hero”, a heroic Jedi Knight who becomes Darth Vader, a galactic tyrant.
Paul and Anakin are both science fiction protagonists with future sight.
Fallen Heroes in Anime
In the medium of anime, there have been a handful of Fallen Hero archetypes that have created a similar effect to that of Paul or Anakin. Fallen Heroes who have broken the hearts of many fans worldwide. This archetype can’t be discussed in the realm of anime without mentioning the expertly written Eren Yeager. The main protagonist of Attack on Titan slowly gets more and more broken as the story progresses and, by the time of the final season, becomes the bringer of doomsday for humankind. His tale is similar to that of Paul Atreides in the fact that he can also see the future, he becomes a dark leader and he enacts mass genocide. Eren serves as the ultimate villain for the story that he started as the protagonist of.
This is…Freedom!
But before Eren, anime fans had the protagonist and antagonist of Code Geass, Lelouch Vi Britannia. An exiled prince of the royal family who gains the power of the Geass. Through his efforts of granting freedom and independence to the Japanese, he slowly becomes a monster and a shadow of his former self. Destroying his own family and friends in the process. Lelouch is ultimately sacrificed through his own plan of uniting the world in the hate against him, killed by his best friend.
But even before Code Geass, there is a more nebulous example, that of Griffith from Berserk. At the start of Berserk Griffith is one of the main heroes and the best friend of Guts. But after Guts’ apparent betrayal, Griffith is sent on a downward spiral that ends in him being horrifically tortured and mutilated and eventually becoming a member of the Godhand and enacting The Eclipse. A horrific nightmarish event that destroyed his former friends and marked the two survivors for life. Griffith is often not in the same discussion as these other characters as he’s mostly known as an antagonist and not really a Fallen Hero due to him always showing signs of evil.
And most recently, fans have seen Jinx from League of Legends in the animated adaptation, Arcane. Jinx was a little girl formerly known as Powder and the sister of Vi. After a horrific accident that she caused, she’s ostracized by her older sister and adopted by the main antagonist, Silco. Powder becomes a villain after her horrific experiences and her rapidly declining mental health. But after getting closer to her sister years later she is redeemed by the end and sacrifices her own life.
There is a common thread among some of these characters and that is the ultimate sacrifice. Anakin Skywalker, Eren Yeager, Lelouch Vi Britannia, and Jinx ultimately sacrifice themselves for the greater good. And that is the key part that captivates and reaches the hearts of millions of fans. Seeing their beloved hero fall into darkness while keeping the last ray of hope and kindness that allows them to redeem themselves at the final hour. Fans watch these characters grow and become heroes and then see them become monsters, shadows of their former selves, and the main antagonists in their respective series. The Fallen Hero trope expertly touches on the fans’ attachment and devotion to these characters and makes them believe that there is still good in them. Then deliver on that promise with a gut-wrenching finale for their stories.
The Fallen Hero is a tried and true trope in fiction that will forever be effective and iconic. The Dark Lord of the Sith, The Doomsday Titan, The hero of Zaun, Zero, Lisan Al Gaib, tales of miracles falling into darkness, of how even the best of us can become corrupted and consumed by evil, leaving their friends and family and all the good they have done behind.