Talk:List of fictional war heroes

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[edit] Deletion?

What's the point of this list? We're not going list out every protagonist or significant character with a few battle scars, are we? Considering the current list seems limited to Star Wars and LOTR, it's quite limited by itself, and the list offers little knowledge. To have anything resembling a marginally useful list, it would need thousands of entries. --Scottie theNerd 08:27, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Definition of a War Hero?

Aside from the deletion comment above, I've noticed that a few characters in this list are hardly worth of being called "heroes". Take Legolas and Gimli, for example. In the LOTR universe, they are significant characters as they are part of the Fellowship of the Ring, but in battle they're not any better than the average soldier. Legolas and Gimli did not lead any heroic charges or turn the tide of any battles. They fought as soldiers and in battle they did nothing more than that. On the other hand, Aragorn led an army in the Battle of the Pelennor and later against Mordor itself. Éomer and Théoden led the Rohirrim in their charge, Éowyn did her thing in battle and in single combat. If you want to look at the LOTR universe alone, that would fill up hundreds of spaces on the list.

Likewise, Han Solo isn't so much of a war hero as he is a vital support character, and the Star Wars universe and Expanded Universe contain thousands of war heroes more important than Han Solo.

So if this article isn't deleted, there certainly needs to be a definitive standard as to what makes a war hero. --Scottie theNerd 08:35, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

Certainly not. People who use the Internet to consult an encyclopaedia are usually clever people who can think and judge for themselves. (more) <KF> 22:47, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
That's one wide assumption. If people knew what a hero was or wasn't, they wouldn't need to look up an online list, would they? Just because people can make up their own minds does not mean we can put up any guy with battle scars and call them a hero. --Scottie theNerd 08:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
Basically, there are three options: (1) have a tentative list which never really stops being work in progress, tell users so, and invite them to think critically (see hermeneutics for details); (2) create the one and only definitive list, have it peer-reviewed and afterwards revert any changes to it; (3) delete all attempts at such a list once and for all because it can never be NPOV, referenced, etc. etc.
You may have realized that I'm in favour of the first option. Let me give you two examples to illustrate my point that up to a certain degree and under certain circumstances any item on any list may be debatable:
(1) Was Woodrow Wilson a militarist, war criminal, pacifist, or war hero?
(2) You may be familiar with Mary Preston's 1869 assertion that "Othello was a white man" [1][2].
Best wishes, <KF> 09:34, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
You present good points, and I don't disagree with your preference. The concern I have is establishing some sort of understanding of what constitutes a hero. As this list is fictional, verifibility isn't a huge issue, but the current list seems to have thrown in anybody who fought in a battle without distinguishing acts of valour or significant consequences. That, at least, is something we should clarify if the article is retained. --Scottie theNerd 10:24, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Articles for Deletion debate

This article survived an Articles for Deletion debate. The discussion can be found here. -Splashtalk 00:04, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV tag

I've added the NPOV tag since, without references, this is mere assertion of heroism on the part of an individual editor and that is inherently non-neutral. -Splashtalk 00:05, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I've taken off the tags. An inherently POV article should be up for deletion anyways, and the verify tag was just ludicrous. How is a list of fictional characters with the works they appear in NOT verifiable?. --Aim Here 00:13, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of fictional military people

The article List of fictional military people was far more comprehensive but was deleted. An archived or restored version would be useful.