Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-108.81.117.0-20140703065006/@comment-19765459-20140718024115

Grahamburglar wrote: Heroes come in a lot of different archetypes -- just because certain tropes of a hero fit one character versus another doesn't mean the other isn't a hero.

Also, "hero" and "protagonist" are entirely different concepts (albeit similar). In literature, a "hero" is one of the primary characters with whom the reader is expected to sympathize. The "protagonist" is the character who drives the action. Usually they're the same (less and less so lately as darker fiction becomes more popular) and there's often only one.

Television is a totally different medium. On a TV show you're going to get multiple characters as either (or both) at different points throughout the series.

So, in summary, this whole thing about whether or not Derek or Scott is the hero is kind of moot. They both are.

True, but it becomes a question of degree. Is, for example, Scott a bigger hero than Stiles, who has no (apparent) supernatural powers but engages in just as many heroic actions and faces just as much mortal peril as Scott?

Scott is suffering from a case protagonist decay. He is the protagonist because the show says he is, and focuses on him. But he is surrounded by people who are at least as heroic as he is. He stands out based on screentime, not actions.