It has been said that giving a superhero the flaws of an ordinary person could only lead into inevitable disaster. The concept stems from the old adage absolute power corrupts absolutely, as superheroes tend to be in positions of great power. Arguably, any protagonist that exhibits human flaws is going to find himself subject to great scrutiny. People will always see him as being someone who must never exhibit weaknesses and flaws. Flaws and traits like social anxiety, status anxiety, mental health disorders, and psychosis can all have immense impact on a hero’s actions, which in turn can affect countless others. The flawed hero, while an interesting avenue to take in the realm of fiction, can also become a walking disaster, with the level of damage only varying on how badly things go.
Frodo Baggins, from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga, can be taken as an interesting case of both status anxiety and performance anxiety. Presented with an all-powerful, all-corrupting object of pure evil, Frodo is made to embark on a journey to destroy the said object. It is made clear in several passages that Frodo does not want the ring and the inevitable burden of having...