What is a hero, really? Is a hero a strong, supernatural being with the power to fly? Or is a hero a small, weak child who pulls through in her darkest hour? There are many different type of heroes. Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit), an archetypal hero, and Malala Yousafzai, a real-life hero, are alike in many ways, though one is fictional and one is flesh-and-bone.
In the first place, these two heroes both had a reason to do what they did, though their justifications were very different. Malala Yousafzai started as a small girl in northwest Pakistan advocating for women’s rights. The Taliban had taken over the country and were impeding girls to go to school and were bombing any remaining (girl’s) schools.