Major FitzRoy Richard Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan, a.k.a. Lord Raglan, is nowadays best known for his work on hero myths,
The Hero (1936). He studied several hero myths and put together a sort of "average" hero biography, his mythic-hero profile:
- The hero's mother is a royal virgin;
- His father is a king, and
- Often a near relative of his mother, but
- The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
- He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
- At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather, to kill him, but
- He is spirited away, and
- Reared by forest parents in a far country.
- We are told nothing of his childhood, but
- On reaching manhood he returns to goes to his future kingdom.
- After a victory over the king, and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
- He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor, and
- Becomes king.
- For a time he reigns uneventfully, and
- Prescribes laws, but
- Later loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
- Is driven from the throne and city, after which
- He meets a mysterious death,
- Often at the top of a hill.
- His children, if any, do not succeed him.
- His body is not buried, but nevertheless
- He has one or more holy sepulchres
He scored Oedipus, Theseus, Romulus, Heracles, Perseus, Jason, Bellerophon, Pelops, Asclepius, Dionysus, Apollo, Zeus, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Watu Gunung, Nyikang, Sigurd or Siegfried, Llew Llawgyffes, King Arthur, and Robin Hood, finding them to have a range of scores, usually high ones. His top scorer was Oedipus at 21. Other people, like myself, have scored various other people, both real and legendary. Krishna and the Buddha score as high as some of these mythical figures, while historical people rarely score above 6 or 7, especially in modern times. The highest I've found for them is Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar, at about 10.
Lord Raglan carefully omitted one legendary or at least semi-legendary hero: Jesus Christ. But others, like Alan Dundes and myself, have taken him on, finding that he scores about 18 or 19. In fact, his high scoring has led some people to believe that Lord Raglan's mythic-hero profile was invented to discredit the historicity of Jesus Christ.
Turning to famous SF/fantasy people of recent decades, I've found that Harry Potter, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa score rather high.
And turning to criticisms, some people have asked what "king" and "royal virgin" are supposed to mean. But this profile is supposed to be interpreted rather broadly, and Lord Raglan came up with the virgin part after noting that many legendary heroes are first or only children. And though we seldom find out much about
anybody's childhood, such an absence is significant when we learn about big events in someone's infancy.
I myself have proposed some additions:
- Splitting of "royal" and "virgin"; it is possible to be one without the other.
- Inclusion of childhood-prodigy stories, like Jesus Christ in the Jerusalem Temple or Augustus Caesar hushing up some pesky frogs.
- Inclusion of prophecy fulfillment, often despite efforts to thwart it. Jesus Christ was far from alone; Zeus, Oedipus, Romulus, Krishna, the Buddha, Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar, Harry Potter, and Anakin Skywalker had all reportedly fulfilled prophecies.