Critical Essay on Hero Absorbs Major Damage: A Tale of Two Realities

Introduction

"Hero Absorbs Major Damage" story features a protagonist who leads a team on a mission to defeat various monsters, and though he doubts his abilities, he is assured that is the Hero, as he is the center of all of the action. Aren't we the heroes of our own lives? The story is narrated from the angle of a character in what seems to be a video game. "Hero Absorbs Major Damage" by Charles Yu is a story with two realities, the one inside the sorcery video game and the one outside. The fact outside the video game is crucial to the protagonist compared to the truth in the video game.

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At first, the Hero features a person who loves to eat especially chicken. For example, he says, they are busy slaying demon dogs and eager to earn numerous points, but he could use a chicken or just the chicken leg. Getting his stomach full is essential to gain enough strength for the battle ahead. The game is less important to him as he criticizes his team for prioritizing to earn points in the game of slaying monsters and demons over their stomach (Yu 5). Also in the battlefield, he fantasizes mounds under a tree as chicken. He says," I don't know if it's the prayers to the gods worked or we just lucky, but there it is. A whole lovely chicken, grilled and on a dish, they're under a tree waiting. None of the evil creatures is attracted.

The story hero suffers an existential crisis upon learning he is, in fact, a character in a video game. Face-to-face with his god, Fred-or is it just Fred? The speaker says, 'maybe they have been praying to a boy aged nine years whose mother keeps shouting at him to clean his room. May be all this is just a game [...] after the game finale, I can see it for what it was. You know what? I can recognize that and still care. I can realize all that and know it matters at the same time. It has to be important. [...]" (Yu, 17). The Hero also says it doesn't make it less genuine and it doesn't mean they should give up with his friends down there on the battlefield. The context reveals that fighting against evil in his real-world of magic is vital compared to fighting with a sword to earn a point in a video game.

The protagonist has feelings for Trin as he says," I might be slightly in love with her or maybe entirely in love ever since they spent a night in Oondar, during a double full moon. Bry also affirms that Trin loves the Hero during a short conversation. Furthermore, they stop by a shop run by an old druid friend of Trin's (Yu 2012). Trin greets him with a kiss on the cheek, and the gesture burns the Hero inside. Trin enquires for the price of a Ring of Regeneration or the Ring of Warning; the sellers reply "fifty." The Hero reaches his pocket fishes coins hard over to the shopkeeper and casually give a ring to Trin. The Hero's move indicates Trin is of value in his life compared to the video game.

The Hero feels that Krugnor has made everyone love him, even the guy who promised to follow him for all eternity. Fjoork worships Krugnor as he says that kobold king split the monsters clean in half with his short sword one-handed. Also, the protagonist wants praises from his team as he tells Fjoork, "Tell me again why you think I'm destined for greatness?" (Yu 6). The speaker saves a Halfling boy who got swallowed by a shambling mound a creature which looks like rotten vegetables. The protagonist dives inside the creature body without talking grabs the kid, and they find his way of the beast with a machete. Being a hero and receiving praises from his team is essential in comparison to earning a massive point in the video game.

Ros comes to the Hero and acknowledges he has been kind to him, but he asks where all this is going, what they are doing and he needs to know what this team stands for because he doesn't know anymore. The Hero himself wonders the same things and asks himself a similar question. But he can't explain to him he had the same issues for the last ten moons as it will make him sound like a weak leader. At some point, the Hero realizes Trin has her hands under her thighs, which she only does when she's feeling a little red in the aura (Yu 13). At this moment she's weirdly gazing at Krugnor never seen. The protagonist admits it's a terrible thing heading to Battle 256, a final battle with a group of tired and demotivated warriors. He says for the moment he can trade his Charisma point for some Wisdom. Also, he thinks of gathering them around to lift their spirits a little bit. The context shows high spirited, focused, and a strong team is vital to the protagonists as a weak team will lose the battle.

Lastly, the protagonist admits he has failed the quest but refuses to accept defeat in this final battle, winning matters to him. He says "is this the end" despite him being slaughtered, his soul-lifting out of his corpse toward a vast expanse of light, the eternal skyline, the edge of the realm, that concluding screen, how gorgeous and quiet it appears." Fred shows the Hero two paths; the one is the path of legends, and the other is an honorable death. The protagonist fails to accept the offer of eternal life, watch his friends struggle, and to become a minor god himself (Yu 2012). He selects to face the enemy head-on with slim chances of winning and the enemy killing him on the process, meaning he joins his team. Floating above the battlefield, he sees Trin and Krugnor being beaten and says that if he fails to go back down, or things will get ugly. All of his buddies might die.

Consequently, if they live they will blame me forever for the hole, I got them. The Hero chooses to save his buddies life risking his own and also fears his friends to blame him and see him as a coward who ran away to save his own life at the expense of his friend. This context indicates that his team is of value to him more than his own life. Also, his legacy matters to him a lot more than a video game.

Conclusion

The above points conclude that the protagonist values reality outside the video game more than the one inside. The narrator in this story is a great warrior and a hero to be emulated and respected. He is also selfless leaders who care more about the magical land safety as much as that of his team.

Works Cited

Yu, Charles, and Leslie Bow. "An Interview with Charles Yu." Contemporary Literature 58.1 (2017): 1-17.

Yu, Charles. Sorry Please, Thank You: Stories. Pantheon, 2012.