Although the term hero is easily defined in any dictionary, the definition only deals with what is a hero, not what makes a hero. In order to find the answer to this question, alternative sources of information need to be used. Several authors have presented their own view of the qualities that a hero should have in epics, such as The Odyssey, Illiad, and Beowulf. The epic Beowulf portrays all of its heroic figures, from Shield Sheafson to Beowulf himself, as powerful men who scourged all of the surrounding villages. Strangely enough, the villains in Beowulf were also the scourges of the area, and as Lord Acton said "Power corrupts, and ... the most powerful people are almost always the bad ones." Clearly both the heroes and the villains are both portrayed as scourges and powerful people, so another aspect must be involved in determining what makes a hero. According to Beowulf, a hero must have these two attributes: honour, and followers. In modern society, like in Beowulf, a hero is also made using those same two attributes.
             The majority of heroes in Beowulf display their honour through their ancestry. Hrothgar the great-grandson of Shield Sheafson, who had conquered the Danes, built the great Hall Heorot to demonstrate his honour and prowess. Hrothgar himself had done nothing noteworthy in his life, but his ancestor's honour had been passed to him, and that was what the hall was built to represent, the Sheafson family honour. Beowulf similarly demonstrates to the sentry of Hrothgar that he is honourable, not by discussing his own personal deeds, but by making his family's honour and connections known. "In his day, my father was a famous man, a noble warrior-lord named Ecgtheow ... All over the world men wise in counsel continue to remember him" (Beowulf 262-266). Stating this, Beowulf proved himself honourable enough to go and visit the king of the Danes. On the
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