Themes of Heroes Rise

Choice of Games games Heroes Rise
1

I’m doing a project for English and I chose Heroes Rise. We have to discuss the themes and lessons of what we read. Do you guys have any ideas?

Here are some I’ve already come up with:
-Being power-hungry will eventually lead to your downfall.
-You can’t do everything on your own. There are times when you need to rely on others in order to succeed.
-No one is ever as they seem.
-If the people you think you need don’t stand by you, do you need them at all?
-The suffering of few is okay if it benefits the majority or the means justify the end.

2

Yes. :slight_smile: I have plenty of ideas. Admittedly some of those involve you doing your own homework. :slight_smile: How about you start off the discussion at least?

What is it that you think the themes are? What sort of lessons did you learn? What aspects of the game did you like most, what spoke to you most?

Have you a facebook account, if so you could also ask over these and see if the author will give you a definite on the themes.

3

See, those are different themes than the themes I saw in the game. But that doesn’t mean either of us is wrong.

Being power-hungry will eventually lead to your downfall.

You mean in the case of the main character, or for the antagonists? Do you have some examples? (I’m assuming Prodigal’s the primary one, with Victon being another obvious example.)

You can’t do everything on your own. There are times when you need to rely on others in order to succeed.

Yeah, it’s no use being the most powerful superhero in the world if you don’t have friends. I actually loved that about the last game where everyone you’d previously met shows up.

No one is ever as they seem.

Yes. Everyone’s hiding secrets. Especially Black Magic.

If the people you think you need don’t stand by you, do you need them at all?

That seems to contradict your previous theme.

The suffering of few is okay if it benefits the majority or the means justify the end.

Do they? That’s definitely not a theme I picked up on in the game. Actually, I suppose with Black Magic’s powers, it could be argued.

For me, there were several strong themes.

Prodigal, Black Magic, You, Jury, Lucky, all of you’ve lost mothers at a young age. Everyone’s dealt with it differently. (Well I’m guessing with Jury since I can’t recall his mother ever being mentioned.) The protagonist was fortunate enough to have their grandmother, Lucky had a family too. Black Magic ended up on the streets, and Prodigal had it rough too. I think there’s some interesting comparisons that can be drawn there. The whole game to me is about the importance of family. Your attempt to free your parents, Prodigal’s search for her mother, and discovery of who her father is. Black Magic’s complete lack of family. The lengths Jury goes to for his family. Lucky being motivated because of their family.

There’s also a strong theme of being a minority throughout, and the fear and oppression you face for being different. The whole aspect of being an infini-powered hero, of people discriminating against you, wanting to lock you away in camps, force you to be registered, trying to fix you by removing your powers.

Those are the two themes that struck me most. But there’s lots of others of course.

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4

Isn’t Jury’s mother Lady Diamond? But she only appears in Hero Fall, in the final battle, to my recollection.

5

Isn’t she his step mother?

Yes just checked. Victon divorced Jury’s mother, gets with Ms Artillery to conceive Prodigal then marries Mrs Victon 2. While we are told both we, and Jury are raised in stable homes, I’d argue that Jury’s family life had its own set of problems and expectations. His mother and step mother dont get names, his mother doesn’t even show up. And he does yell at his step mother that she’s not his mother. I’d say he has issues.

6

Some of the themes my friend had given me and her game was totally different.

I feel like the main theme is that no one is as they seem.
Jury not having powers.
Scoundrel being an Infrared spy.
Sparrow being Prodigal.
Black Magic’s secret.
Rebellion betraying you.
The Crush being a good guy.
Rexford Schillers being the puppet master of the Hero Project.

7

That’s a great theme to explore. You should definitely do that one

8

I think I will. Thanks so much, this really helped!

9

I always thought there was a theme of redemption going on. So many characters make mistakes or turn evil–even the protagonist, if you choose–but just as many get the opportunity to turn around and atone for it.

I mean, you’ve potentially got:

The PC making up with Jenny, BM striving to be a real hero, the Crush reforming in prison, Jury turning himself in, Prodigal sacrificing herself for the PC, Rebellion going on a “soul-searching” journey, even some of the American Protectorate realize they’re wrong and fight on your side in the final battle.

All of those are redemptive acts or are signs of working for forgiveness, and the fact that there are so many characters who can do this–including villains –then it just seems that the game is saying “nothing is really irredeemable, there is good in everyone, they just have to want to pull it out”.

10

Isn’t it great how we all see different themes as important and how we each take something different out of the game?

@BoltSterling Will you be able to share your project with us once it’s done?

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11

I could definitely share it with you guys :smile: