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The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be common, nor the common heroic. Odysseus is the most common of all epic heroes. As the main character in Homer’s “The Odyssey”, he quickly catches the eye once his story is learnt. Ten years fighting a war over a women that he was neither related to nor friends with, instead having been coerced into it by her husband and brother-in-law, and another ten spent trying to find his way back home, back to his son and wife and kingdom. The last seven of those ten years are spent with a nymph called Kalypso who keeps Odysseus captive before finally being forced to let him go off and make his way home alone. Yet the three years between the Trojan War and his captivity on Kalypso’s island were the most dangerous, and what gives the most proof that he truly is an epic hero.
One of the things that makes Odysseus an epic hero is that he is favored by the gods. In the Odyssey the gods help Odysseus many times. When Poseidon struck Odysseus' ship with lightning, Odysseus was able to survive because a goddess named Ino gave him a magical cloak that prevents him from drowning. Ino had told him, “Here: make my veil your sash; it is not mortal; you cannot, now, be drowned or suffer harm. Only, the instant you lay hold of earth, discard it, cast it far, far out from shore in the wine dark sea again, and turn away.” (Od.V.359-363). When Odysseus' men are turned into swine by Circe, Hermes the messenger god gives Odysseus a magical herb that prevents Circe from using her spells on him. The god, appearing in the form of a young boy, even gave Odysseus a warning before he departed, “…but make her swear by heaven and hell no witches’ tricks, or else, your harness shed, you’ll be unmanned by her as well.” (Od.X.338-340). Due to...