Every child needs heroes. Not celebrities. Not influencers. Heroes—characters who model what it looks like to be brave, selfless, and good. The heroes children encounter in their early years shape the adults they become.
But not all heroes are created equal. Some teach children that power is its own justification. Others suggest that morality is flexible when the stakes are high enough. The best heroes—the ones worth building a child's imagination around—embody virtues that will serve them for a lifetime.
Power with Purpose
Lightman can illuminate half a continent. He can fly. He can heal with a touch. These abilities make him exciting to a child's imagination. But abilities alone don't make a hero.
What makes Jason Cornikey heroic isn't his power—it's what he does with it. He risks exposure to save a lost boy. He protects his adoptive family's secret. He leads twelve followers not to war, but to peace. His power serves others rather than himself.
A hero is not someone who can do anything they want. A hero is someone who could do anything they want, but chooses to do what is right.
Children understand this distinction intuitively. They know the difference between a bully with superpowers and a protector with superpowers. The stories we tell them should reinforce this understanding.
Sacrifice Without Self-Destruction
The best heroes sacrifice. They give up comfort, safety, and sometimes their lives for others. But there's a difference between healthy sacrifice and the kind of martyrdom that teaches children to devalue themselves.
Lightman sacrifices his anonymity when he lights the sky to find the lost boy. He sacrifices the easy path when he returns to Litron to claim his rightful throne. But he doesn't destroy himself in the process. He builds a kingdom. He leads his people to peace. His sacrifice creates abundance rather than just avoiding loss.
Children need to see heroes who give without emptying themselves, who serve without erasing their own value. This models healthy adulthood—generous but not self-annihilating.
The Enemy Within
Lightman's brother Mark chooses a different path. He builds a volcano fortress. He aligns with the invaders. He becomes everything the hero opposes.
This isn't just good drama. It's essential moral education. Children need to understand that the capacity for both good and evil exists within every person. Mark and Jason came from the same family, received the same gene, experienced the same trauma. Their choices diverged.
A hero who never faced the temptation to become a villain teaches children nothing. A hero who could have gone either way but chose light—that's a model worth following.
The Importance of Origin
Every hero needs an origin story. Not just because it's narratively satisfying, but because it teaches children that heroes aren't born fully formed. They develop. They're shaped by circumstances and choices.
Jason Cornikey was raised by a pastor's family in Wyoming. He didn't grow up knowing he was royalty. He learned values before he discovered powers. This sequence matters. The character was established before the abilities were revealed.
Children watching this understand: who you become depends on how you're raised and what you choose. Superpowers don't make you good. Your foundation does.
The Community of Heroes
Lightman doesn't work alone. He chooses twelve followers. He has a sister with healing light. He builds a community of faithful across generations.
The lone wolf hero has dominated popular culture for too long. While it makes for simple storytelling, it teaches children a lie: that great things are accomplished by individuals acting alone. In reality, every meaningful achievement involves community.
When you create heroes for children, give them allies. Show them delegation, trust, and the multiplication of good through teamwork. The hero's job isn't to do everything—it's to inspire and lead others to do what they couldn't do alone.
Creating Your Own Heroes
You don't need to write a book to give your children heroes. You can create them in bedtime stories, in casual conversation, in the games you play together. The principles remain the same:
Give them power, but make that power serve others. Let them sacrifice, but not destroy themselves. Show them the darkness they could have chosen, and why they chose light instead. Root them in community. Ground them in origin stories that emphasize character over capability.
The heroes your children meet in their first decade will shape the rest of their lives. Choose them carefully. Or better yet—create them yourself.