Do Heroes Really Win?

Most hero stories ends with the hero winning and the villain being put into prison. They seem to be perfectly happy as they saved the whole world and the ones they care about. Well they often at least lose one person extremely in their life. This leads me to a question are they really happy did they really win?

Their life has completely changed and the whole world is watching them. They can no longer live a normal life. In most stories because they did one thing they now have to do everything. No breaks because they have to live up to the expectations of the world. The villain has perfect control over their life.

The villain changed their life for better or for worse. But think of the mental effects. They villain caused so much pain in their life that can not be expressed and they get off with life in prison or a simple death not having to endure what they did. They got off with something that seems so easy and simple compared to what the hero now has to face in their everyday life. The villain still has control of their life because they can still be them and nothing worse can happen to them than what has already happened.

No matter what the hero does the villain is always going to be part of the biggest thing they have done. Imagine the pain that they had brought to you and how you can't go out without someone saying the name and they are related to you. How much pain that brings up everyday.

People also always assume that the hero is doing amazing and that nothing wrong could be in their life. They would have to always put on a fake smile and act to be okay. They have to act perfect for if they mess up the whole world will see and freak out. There is no rest for you and you can no longer by human. You have to be perfect, you have to live the pain that comes with your biggest accomplishment. They villain has ruined your entire life.

They might have killed the love of your life or your best friend. You are never going to get that back. That pain will be with you forever. People do not really seem to care about that when it comes to them being out in public. When they are on a screen we might care because we see how it has effected their life, how broken they really are. When in the world with them they might not even know if they knew the person who died. They could think "Oh their sad cause a civilian died" not "Oh no the love of their life just died!" or "Their best friend since the age of 5 died!". All they see is a hero coming out victorious.

Now a minority might care. They might be the people who actually knew how the hero was effected. However the majority of people are just going to see how they succeeded. Not how broken they are. Not how much they lost. Just how they saved the world.

Do not get me wrong saving the world is a big deal but they let their world shatter. Sure they saved billions of people and might feel proud about that, but they will look at the one person who they could not save, they will look at what they have done or could not do and be tortured by it till they die. Until that day comes they will put on a smile and act happy and like they won when they feel they really did not.