Fictional Heroes

I was thinking the other day about how much I love certain game protagonists. For example:

Leon S. Kennedy, from the Resident Evil series. Everything about him oozes "cool", and it was amazing to see him finally return in Resident Evil 4 after spending so long behind the scenes. He has cool hair, an awesome jacket, years of training as a special agent, and can suplex zombies into oblivion. And your mileage may vary on this one, but his terrible sense of humor is part of his charm.

But then I realized how much I would not want to be him... at all. Because that would entail dealing with Lickers, Regenerators, Zombies, crazy Spaniards, and tons of other terrifying creatures that I would much rather never.... ever... deal with.

On top of that, despite being a highly attractive person, his luck with women is at rock bottom, and he gets screwed over by them on what seems like a daily basis. Ada Wong, Ashley Graham, Claire Redfield, Helena Harper - Leon is constantly surrounded by beautiful women who don't or can't return his affection. The guy is like the anti-James Bond.

He continually gets placed in two scenarios, often at the same time:

A) Surrounded by horrible, bloodthirsty monsters of some sort or another
B) The friendzone

Some characters are better off admiring from afar. It's like, I like watching your life, but you can keep it.

So then I got to thinking, who would I want to be?

I came up with Zack Fair.

Spoilers for Crisis Core below.

The guy is an extremely talented and friendly person who can make friends with just about anyone he meets. This includes the aloof and distant pre-insanity Sephiroth, whose only other friends have been super-elites like him. He has a nice, comfy, well paying and exciting job as a member of SOLDIER, and is skilled enough to make First Class where the only other members to do so are genetically modified with the genes of a powerful alien being. Everyone likes him, and he has a good relationship with a beautiful and loving girlfriend, who is willing to wait five years for him when he goes missing.

When his life finally turns upside down at the end of his game, he goes out in style, fulfills his lifelong dream of becoming a hero, and passes his will onto his best friend. Then he's brought to what is essentially that game's version of Heaven by his deceased mentor, and continues to watch over his friend Cloud from the next life as he lives out his legacy.

Sounds like a good way to live...

and a good way to die.