Reblogged from The Light Behind the Story:

We all know the definitions and the way stories portray them. Often there is a villain who spurs the hero into action, saving the victim from an evil fate. The hero becomes the embodiment of the light, the villain of darkness, while the victim hangs somewhere in between, like fulcrum, deciding how the scales will be tipped. Who, then has the true power?

I have been thinking a lot these days about how and why we choose to be either the victim or the hero in our individual stories and how this reflects upon our collective story of human existence. I have also been thinking about how we define and cast the role of villain in our stories, and how for some a villain who fulfills the classic definition of villain-hood is actually lauded as a hero. How this casted role depends upon our subjective nature, including how we cast ourselves in our play that is life.

Continue reading at The Light Behind the Story