Sterling in spirit and non-swearing in nature, the Hero's Hero is so heavily layered in plot armor, he might as well be immortal.

Relationship status: Single, though he might've had a tragic breakup in the past. Heroes tend to pick up a girlfriend by the end of the book(s).

Like the Bad Boy, he often participates in love triangles:

Bad Boy, Heroine, Hero

Bad Girl, Heroine, Hero

Note: The Hero and bad boy can both be, well, heroic. The difference is this guy is always supposed to be.

Habitat: Brightly lit places, shops where they tinker on something cool that they happen to be really passionate about: like an old car their dad gave to them before he died, chilling with animals and small children that just seem to love them for some reason, somewhere near enough to the Heroine or Bad Girl, where they can inadvertently stumble across her

Rarely found: strip clubs and sketchy alleys (unless they're tagging along to protect a friend)

Physical attributes:

Taller than six feet

Muscular and/or in good shape

Blue or bright eyes [big, wide, or intelligent; when he looks at you, you know somebody's home]

Hair like a lion's mane, or something clean and stylish

Clean shaven or a little scruffy (the average hero is tends to look more youthful; the older hero is a little more battleworn; he's handsome in experience; the younger one is handsome in his strapping young body)

Strong jaw

Handsome, but he's not having to work at it. Ladies are just drawn to him.

Tattoo(s)

Default expression: Grin, sometimes goofy

Common traits:

Clean and light colors are a wardrobe staple. If he's not in lighter colors, he's wearing something dark for mysteriousness/disguise.

Skilled fighter (may literally be a knight!)

Tends to be in possession of power (a position, a power, enchanted item, fated child, etc)- but they aren't the most powerful person...yet.

Younger and older heroes frequently best someone who should be far more skilled than they, especially at the start of a story. A sort of accidental victory.

They have/had a lovable, gruff, witty mentor who usually meets an unfortunate end at the hands of their sworn enemy.

You're the hero? I trust you. Please take my horse and most valuable possessions. Normally I hate strangers, but I can tell, you're the one who's going to get shit done. If you're lucky, I might even agree to marry my rebellious daughter off to you.

Strongly passionate and spirited about something. Heroes almost always have some goal they're trying to be the best at.

Weaknesses:

Innocent things, like baby animals and school children on a bus that's about to go off a bridge.

His manhood. It, um, tends to make the end-of-book conflicts a lot harder when his lady love is inevitably kidnapped by the big bad and he's got to save her, too.

Killing is a struggle for him. He'd prefer his enemies to lemming their way off a cliff.

Common background info:

Mom and Dad were good people who died too soon.

He's not always well-off, but he is working hard and making the most of what he's got.  In fact, there's a good chance he's content and happy, and he doesn't want to participate in the plot, but someone or something forces him to.

Thank you for reading! :)

If you have anything else to add to this list, comment below!