On Heros: Alphas, Betas and Omegas

[valarltd]

We bump up against several kinds of heros in our romance novels.

I like the Alpha Hero. This is our Manly Man. He goes out and hunts lions. He flies planes. He fights the villain barehanded. He can be smart, but he's more likely to hear of the Head of Vecna (which requires the user to decapitate himself in order to use it) and go "ooo, cool. Do want!" (in whatever vernacular he speaks) Edward Kilsby is an Alpha. Torturo the Pain King is an Alpha. Ulysses Carter, Paul the Big Bad Wolf, Ruvane Delkroy, Ma Cat from "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch," all Alphas.

It's the Beta's job to keep him from doing this. Beta heroes don't fight lions. They MIGHT trap them, but they mostly prefer their lions in books or as stuffed toys. He might fly, but he probably gets airsick. He out-thinks the villain. And most importantly, he's the one who suggests trying the Head of Vecna on someone else, who is more expendable. Charlie Doyle is definitely a Beta. David Inman is a Beta. Danior Camomescro totally identifies as a Beta. Both Gabe and Sean are betas.

The omega... He's what the Alpha spends his reward on. He's not usually a hero. He's usually a bedslave, a whore or just a pretty boy who hangs around. Etarin. Adlai Goodman and Samir start as omegas. Adlai becomes a Beta, with designs on being an Alpha.


For you, what defines an alpha or beta? Do you see many omegas?

Comments

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

For me alpha and beta traits are more about communication styles--an alpha is a natural leader who assumes he's in command and is willing to fight for it if he has to, whereas a beta may be socially aware but deals more in subtleties.

There's a great example in Jurassic Park II, in which a guy who doesn't possess the alpha trait is trying to get everyone to move and they just don't notice. He mentions it to Jeff Goldblum's character, who says "Let's go," and everyone gets up and follows him. To me, that's an alpha, even though the character has a doctorate and has to think his way through various problems--because he's a natural leader. Jeff Goldblum's character in Criminal Intent is much more of a beta.

In other examples, Buffy is an alpha and Willow is a beta, even though both have to think their way through situations sometimes. Also, I would say that Barack Obama is a clear alpha, while George Bush is much more of a beta. What matters (in this context) is not that Obama thinks problems through while Bush seemed to think that privatization, PR, and military action could solve every problem--Obama is an alpha because he leads through charisma and force of personality, while Bush is a beta because he relied on gimmicks such as giving people nicknames, etc.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Excellent point. I never thought of it that way.

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

I think that's the way those terms were first presented to me, and it never occurred to me to think of them any other way. Speaking of which, I really recommend the short story collection "Men Under Water" by Ralph Lombreglia. The title story has a scene in which the narrator analyzes a group of people in terms of who is alpha and who's beta, and why.

I've never heard omega used in this context. But my book in progress makes use of that--the character who's primary role is as the object of someone else's desire. A couple of characters actually. Do you mind if I put a link in your comments page?

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Links, vids, it's all good.

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Didn't want to self-promote without permission, but it seemed the easiest way to illustrate what I was saying.

http://cabinet-des-fees.com/?p=705

This is one of several short stories that comprise the overall story. One of the primary dynamics is that a man loves a woman who loves a selkie. So in this particular triangle there's the hero, who's somewhere between alpha and beta, a female romantic lead, who's an omega, and a male romantic lead (not the hero), who's also an omega. You can kind of see that in the story that's linked above, although the story that really shows it hasn't been published anywhere yet.