Why alpha heroes? And what exactly does that mean, anyway?
I’m so glad you asked. Have a seat.
First of all, I’m sure whoever first coined the term did not mean to imply that men are pack animals, but the alpha is the leader in dog terms. In human terms, men with leadership qualities are sexy. Hence, alpha heroes.
Fictional alpha heroes are not hairy knuckle-draggers. They are smart, talented men who know how to succeed in life and have the will and the drive to attain any goal. They aren’t whimps. They don’t sit around waiting for somebody to fix their problems for them. They don’t ask everybody’s permission before taking action, either.
Political correctness came along and messed up a perfectly good thing in romantic alpha heroes. Writers began to commit all sorts of atrocities in the name of political correctness and the mandate to make men in romance novels more sensitive. The result? I once hurled a book at a wall when I read a scene in which the hero, unable to rescue the heroine, BURST INTO TEARS. I’m not making this up. In another book, just as bad, the hero finds out the heroine is pregnant and instead of taking responsibility, leaves her to decide what she thinks is best.
What would an alpha hero do? Well, he wouldn’t cry if he couldn’t attain his goal immediately. He’d wait and plot his revenge and it would be thorough. And he wouldn’t leave the fate of his unborn child up in the air as if he had no interest or concern (or responsibility) in the outcome. Alpha heroes are like that. Which is why readers (and writers) adore them.
There are all sorts of reasons you could point to in psychology and biology that prove that alpha heroes provide the best survival characteristics and so on, but the bottom line is: a real hero is the one who is there when you need him. He might have rough edges, he might look the farthest thing from a nice guy on the surface, but his heart is true. And once he commits, he’s going to be there come hell or high water. That’s pretty sensitive, if you ask me.
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