A is type of Hero , real or Mythological . The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by mention in Folk Songs , folk tales and other Folklore . Folk heroes are also the subject of some Film s.
Although some folk heroes are historical public figures, they generally are not. Because the lives of folk heroes are generally not based on historical documents, the characteristics and deeds of a folk hero are often exaggerated to mythic proportions.
The folk hero often begins life as a normal person, but is transformed into someone extraordinary by significant life events, often in response to social injustice, and sometimes in response to natural disasters.
One major category of folk hero is the defender of the common people against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure. Members of this category of folk hero often, but not necessarily, live Outside The Law in some way.
- Aylett C. (Strap) Buckner - United States, a Indian-fighter of colonial Texas
- Billy The Kid - United States, a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman
- Bonnie And Clyde - United States, bank robbers who evaded retribution in the 1930s
- Calamity Jane - United States, a tough Wild West woman
- Casey Jones - United States, railroad engineer who chose to die rather than abandon his locomotive during a collision
- Daniel Boone - An American Pioneer in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- Dick Turpin - England, highwayman
- Dorus Rijkers - the Netherlands, sailor and savior of over 500 men, women and children as the captain of a rescue-boat, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century
- Davy Crockett - United States, an Indian-fighter, Congressman, and died as a hero fighting in the Alamo
- Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson - Sweden, rebel and temporary regent in the 15th Century
- Eppelein Von Gailingen - Germany, robber baron
- Geronimo - United States, Apache warrior
- Gregorio Cortez , Mexican American folk hero
- James Mckenzie - New Zealand, Outlaw and inspiration to landless immigrants in early colonial New Zealand
- Juraj Jánošík - Slovakia, outlaw living in the Tatra mountains, defending Slovakia peasants from the tyranny of Austrian landlords
- Johnny Appleseed - United States, he introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
- Kaluaiko'olau - United States - Hawaiian who evaded deportation for leprosy by hiding in the Hawaiian rain forests About Kaluaiko'olau
- Lam Sai Wing - China, martial artist and student of Wong Fei Hung
- Laura Secord - Canada, heroine of the War of 1812
- Louis Riel - Canada, founder of Manitoba, led two rebellions against the Dominion of Canada
- Mike Fink - United States, the toughest boatman on the Mississippi River and a rival of Davy Crockett
- Miyamoto Musashi - Japan, a skilled swordsman, soldier, philosopher, and author
- Ned Kelly - Australia, outlaw
- Nils Dacke - Sweden, leader of a 16th century peasant revolt
- Norman Bethune - Canada, doctor, active in the People's Republic of China with the Eighth Route Army
- Philippe Petit - Tight rope artist that walked between the two towers of the World Trade Center.
- Redmond O'Hanlon - Irish, rapparee of the 17th century
- Rob Roy - Scotland, outlaw whose word was his bond
- Spartacus - Thrace, led the largest slave revolt against the Roman Republic
- Tamanend - United States, an Indian Chief who became the source of many folk legends that propelled his fame to mythical proportions during the time of the American Revolutionary War
- Tipu Sultan - Indian, a Muslim who fought and defeated the British in the Mysore wars
- Tomoe Gozen - Japan, woman samurai warrior
- Pier Gerlofs Donia - Frisia, legendary giant warrior, freedom fighter and leader of the Arumer Black Heap
- William Tell - Switzerland, began the rebellion against the Austrians
- William Wallace - Scotland, knight who led a rebellion against England in the early 14th century
- Wong Fei Hung - China, doctor, martial artist, and revolutionary
- Lady Ch'iao Kuo - China, warrior, politician, queen of the Hsien
- Fionn Mac Cumhaill - Ireland, warrior
- Fong Sai-Yuk - China, martial arts folk hero
- John Henry - United States, mighty steel-driving African American
- Mulan - China, heroine who disguised herself as a male in order to join an all-male army
- Molly Pitcher - United States, heroine of the American Revolutionary War
- Robin Hood - England, outlaw usually associated with the motto "Steal from the rich, give to the poor"
- Rummu Jüri - Estonia, outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor
- Till Eulenspiegel - Germany, trickster
- Alfred Bulltop Stormalong - United States, immense sailor whose ship was so big it scraped the moon
- Cúchulainn - Ireland, folk legend and the pre-eminent hero of Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle
- Febold Feboldson - United States, farmer who could fight a drought
- Joe Magarac - United States, steelworker made of steel
- Koba - Georgia, folk hero whose legend bears a resemblance to Robin Hood
- Paul Bunyan - United States, giant lumberjack of the North Woods
- Pecos Bill - United States, giant cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
- Taylor Bradshaw - Canada, possibly a variant of Paul Bunyan
- The Little Dutch Boy - Netherlands, saves Holland from disaster by persisting in keeping his finger in a dike
- Tony Beaver - United States, lumberjack and cousin of Paul Bunyan
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