Roran Stronghammer

 I have always wanted to be a person like the heroes in the books, born with an innate purpose and perfection at something. So far, I have failed to be one. We also know the legendary stories of real people who were born to be great at something. Even as children, they seemed to excel at it, as if it was in their blood, their DNA, embedded in their core. Kassandra the Eagle Bearer, Eragon Shadeslayer, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter. They all have, so to speak, an inherent capability because of who they were born to. They had it in their blood to have those abilities. 

However, what many people don't realise is that it's rare. People like that are literally one in thousands, if not millions. I even know people who push their kids to "find their passion" very early in their lives. They want them to find something they're amazing at, not realising that most of us are not born with an innate ability, but we have to learn it through practice and experience. This is also why people quit immediately when they are anything less than perfect at something new they try. They feel dejected that there is nothing they are good at, nothing that comes naturally to them, and end up feeling like they have failed. I have also made the mistake of believing this myth.

Then came Roran Garrowsson, an ordinary farm boy, eager to make a good home for his family and be a provider for the love of his life. Not a battle-hardened soldier, hell, not even someone who would ever harm a person. He was but an ant among the warriors, sorcerers, and mad dragon riders, who could flick him away as one would a fly. Yet without him, Alagaesia would have been lost to the whims of a tyrant. He was not born for greatness, but with sheer will and the strength of his back, and only that, he became Roran Stronghammer. You can go far with the blood coursing through you, but without your sweat, tears, and your conviction, you can go no further.

I believe we should all strive to be more like Roran Stronghammer, because there can only be one Eragon Shadeslayer, but inside all of us, resides a Stronghammer who, when awakened, can slay nigh on two hundred men, all because his will to prevail was stronger and thicker than blood.

He’s not the hero the world foretold, but the one it desperately needed.
A man with no gifts, no legacy, no prophecy, just a hammer and the will to swing it.

“You fight with magic. I fight with steel and guts. Let’s see which wins.”

“I won’t let them win. I won’t let them take what’s mine. Not my home. Not my people.”

“For my love, I will wade through an ocean of blood, even if it destroys me.”

- Roran Stronghammer