When we first meet Sam he is a figure to be despised. He is such a weakling and a coward that he has given up his birthright without a fight and been banished to the Night’s Watch where he is unable to defend himself during arm’s practice with other raw recruits using dulled weapons. These actions made him such a target for bullies he might have been driven mad or suicidal if Jon Snow had not stepped in to both protect him and recruit other protectors. And yet, over the course of both the books and the television series, we see Sam grow and transform into a force to be reckoned with – a  hero determined to save the world. So what is the thing about Samwell Tarley that makes him so important?

He is not a born hero. He is not an obvious hero. He is everyman. He is awkward and clumsy both physically and socially. He is distracted from his work by his personal interests. He is often lazy and sometimes greedy. He is jealous of his friends who are better looking, stronger, fitter, and more competent. In short, he is every one of us normal folk. This is important for stories, because while we can admire and love heroes we can get tired of their awesomeness too. It is human frailty and struggle that resonates with us and gives us hope that we too can overcome the challenges that life throws our way (even if we will hopefully never be forced to defend ourselves against White Walkers and Thenns).

It is all these traits that he shares with us non-heroes that makes Sam such an unlikely hero – and yet he is a better person than many of us and that is what makes him so heroic and someone we should all emulate. We early on see the important character traits that make Sam the remarkable person he is – even if he is not a classic hero. He is curious and thoughtful – always seeking knowledge. It becomes a standing joke among his friends that he knows things because he “read about it in a book.” However, he does more than read. He listens and observes. This is how he convinces Jon that being chosen to be the Lord Commander’s steward is actually a mark of favor and a clear indication he is being groomed for command. This is also how he convinces his brethren to elect Jon as Lord Commander.

As Sam grows into his own he becomes Jon Snow’s advisor and moral compass. Sam possesses a strong moral code. While he often does not follow the letter of the law (when it comes to his Night’s Watch Oath, for example), he does take the spirit of the law or oath very much to heart. For him, the key part of that oath is:

I am the sword in the darkness

I am the watcher on the walls

I am the shield that guards the realm of men

For Sam, that is both the big picture and the impetus for his decisions on a small scale, such as saving Gilly and her baby that she always carries in his bob 2016 revolution flex stroller. It is his moral code that helps Sam save Jon when he tries to abandon his post on the Wall to join Robb Stark’s march to war. Not only does Sam save Jon from betraying his own vows, but he likely saved his life (think about the fate of the others who rode South with Robb). Sam is so open-hearted and kind that it is no wonder Gilly tries to recruit him to escape Craster’s Keep, but he also recognizes that she is more than a daughter-wife or a wildling – something our heroes do not. When Jon admonishes Sam about “stealing” Gilly. Sam’s response is simple: “It’s not stealing. She’s a person not a goat.”

However, it is this kindness and love for his friends and family that helps Sam become more heroic. Although he proves time and again unable to save himself from attack by bullies, wildlings, or White Walkers, when Gilly and her baby are threatened he wields his sword and when that is destroyed he grabs the next available weapon to continue to fight. He did not know he could win that fight, but he was willing to fight to the bitter end for someone else. Through his efforts to protect Gilly, and others, he learns “I’m not nothing anymore” and he stops cowering while others do his fighting for him. He picks up the weapons at hand to fight against the darkness and guard the realms of men. As Jon Snow notes in the show: “I’m glad the end of the world is working out for someone.” The end of the world is definitely working out for Sam who grows from a cowering boy into a fierce hero.

While it may well be that the popular theory that Samwell Tarley is in fact the narrator of the the Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) is true, that is not why I believe he is the most important character. I believe he is important because he represents us (the reader/viewer) through his human frailties, his wonderful heart, his character arc, and his heroic fight for the most important things. Do you believe Samwell Tarley is the most important Game of Thrones character? What do you think we can all learn from Samwell Tarley?

Photo credit: HBO

One of the episodes that I love the most is the Series One finale, Bad Moon Rising, because so many of these issues reflect struggles that we face in our more mundane human lives. What would you do to protect the ones you love? How do you live with your past? How do you become the person you want to be? How do you cope with your true nature? While we do not have to cope with being a vampire or werewolf, most of us do possess a dual nature — a mixture of good and bad — that pull us in different directions and force us to make decisions on a regular basis about the paths we will take in life. Let’s be honest. We all have a monster living inside us that we know could be unleashed in certain circumstances.

The scene above (George transforms) illustrates everything that I love about Being Human. Throughout the first series, our vampire Mitchell has been struggling with his past both internally and externally as it is represented by vampire leader Herrick who wants to win Mitchell over to the bad side. He is not willing to tolerate a vampire-turned-good (as Mitchell no longer feeds off humans). However, when Herrick threatens to destroy Mitchell’s friends, George and Nina, then Mitchell decides he will sacrifice himself for his friends.

However, in the end it is George who steps between Herrick and Mitchell. Mitchell is appalled because George is the better person who does not possess a dark past like Mitchell does. He does not want George’s humanity touched by this evil. Herrick echoes this threat by noting George will lose his “ridiculous naive morality” and “last shred of humanity” by killing Herrick. However, George is committed because of two important facts. One, he knows that Mitchell cannot retain his humanity if he returns to the vampire life because Mitchell himself notes in the episode that “the gap between me and humanity gets worse” every time. Two, George notes: “Humanity is about love and sacrifice. This doesn’t rob me of my humanity. It proves it.”

I love that Being Human explores the very essence of what it means to be human as well as the reverse of what it means to be inhuman. I believe the world would be a better place if we spent more time exploring our humanity and what we must do to prove it. What do you think we can learn from Being Human?

Pay Attention

This is the most important life skill and one we all need to remember. Pay attention to the details. Details matter whether we are simply trying to evaluate the words of another or we need to make a personal decision. Too often we don’t take the time to study a person or situation as fully as we should. We collect a few details and jump to a conclusion. We rush to judgment and all too often that leads to mistakes. If we all took more time to collect the details and if we all paid more attention to those details the world would be a much better place.

Start Fresh

Humans are essentially lazy. We like to take shortcuts. But Sherlock Holmes reminds us that it is important to gather all the information before we make a decision or form a theory. Not only do we need to pay attention to details, but we need to ask questions and work to gather as much information as possible before we move to act on our knowledge. Too often we assume that we rely on superficial information or our past experience. We allow our prejudice and preconceived ideas to drive our actions rather than coming fresh to each situation.

Don’t Go It Alone

Although it often appears that Sherlock Holmes is a solitary brilliant detective, in truth, he is surrounded by a team, or community, to support him in his endeavors. Of course, the key member of that support team is Dr. Watson who serves as friend, sounding board, foil, and dogsbody as well as providing invaluable expertise from time to time. However, there are others who provide support and challenge in a variety of ways as both allies and enemies (and sometimes both). It is important to remember that even someone as self-sufficient as Sherlock Holmes cannot survive alone. He relies on others to survive and succeed.

Be Creative

One of the fascinating things about Sherlock Holmes is that he is a multidisciplinary expert. He has so many different and varied skills to draw from, but he also willing to draw in a variety of experts to supplement his own skillset. He knows when to ask for help and information from other experts. Holmes’ creative approaches to thinking and problem solving always amaze and surprise Dr. Watson and the audience, but we can all learn from this idea. We would all be much more successful in life if we used our imagination to consider multiple approaches to life’s problems. Not every approach will lead to a successful outcome – but we only need one that works.

Be All In

Sherlock Holmes never does anything by half measures. It is one of the traits that drives those around him insane because he will dive into a project and focus to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. While this does not make him a good friend or tenant, it does make him supremely successful at what he does. This is a quality that children possess, but somehow, on the path to adulthood we train this trait out of ourselves. Think about what you could achieve in life, at home, and at work if you truly threw yourself into something.

Sherlock Holmes, in his various incarnations, is not always someone we should emulate, certain of his life choices are questionable to be sure, but there are many lessons we can learn from him. If we were more attentive to details, did not rush to judgment, asked for and accepted help, fostered creativity, and went all in then we would all be more successful in life.

Buffy is a composite of the human experience. Every single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes you laugh, makes you cry, and makes you fearful. Sometimes you are laughing while you are crying. Sometimes you have goosebumps while you are laughing. But every episode puts you in touch with the essential human emotions. And every episode teaches you about life and love. Although conceived and delivered as an over-the-top teenage horror story, Buffy is so much more because the characters are so much more. Yes, they can be considered essentially archetypes or memes, but as you watch their stories unfold you discover how rich and full each person is – which makes their relationships with each other extremely powerful. Buffy is a love story exploring every aspect of love. Not just romantic relationships but the love between friends, siblings, and humanity.

Buffy is a coming of age story not only for the namesake character but her entire peer group – as well as the adults and the other worldly characters. Buffy teaches us how to cope with the big bad that exists in all our worlds. Growing up is hard no matter what your age and, in fact, the hardest lesson of all might be that we are never really grown up at all. While none of us has to bear the burden of being the slayer, we all have burdens and most of us have no idea about the burdens that others must bear. Nobody is normal and nobody has it all figured out. We are all struggling and fighting to survive in our own way. We all have demons we need to face. We are all struggling to come of age and become something more.

Perhaps the single most important lesson that Buffy the Vampire Slayer can teach us is that time is important. Time is fleeting. We never know when we will die or when we will lose someone important to us. Therefore we need to make the most of the time we have by living and loving to the fullest – and we need to give our lives meaning and purpose. We need to work to fulfill our potential. Maybe we all won’t save the world, but we can all slay demons of destruction and have an impact on our world in countless ways.

Why do you think Buffy the Vampire Slayer has such enduring popularity? In what ways has Buffy touched your life? What is your favorite thing about the show?

Superheroes provide an ideal for us. While at first glance many superheroes are perfect, once we delve into their stories we learn that they are not perfect, because, even when they are gods, they struggle with the same human frailties that plague the rest of us mere mortals. They are jealous and tempted and often unlikeable. Yet they continue to strive to be better and to do better. Superheroes represent our idealized selves and give us a model for a hero that we can apply to our everyday lives and those extraordinary occasions when something truly terrible occurs.

Superhero stories challenge and inspire us to live more moral and ethical lives, because we see how giving in to temptation can twist and destroy, how compassion for others can uplift us all, and some things are worth sacrificing to protect or achieve. Superheroes teach us the importance of taking responsibility for the gifts we have been given and that we are responsible for the world and the others inhabiting it. Superheroes teach us that we all have been given unique gifts and it is our responsibility to fulfill our purpose.

Perhaps the most powerful effect of superheroes is what they teach us about hope and potential.  It is no accident of fate that we see the rise of superheroes in particular points in history. It is no accident that certain ages are more drawn to these stories and that sometimes the popular conception of these stories shifts over time. Superhero stories show us over and over that we must persist even through tragedy and that we can overcome great loss if we look beyond ourselves and our suffering. Superheroes teach us to believe in a higher power or at least serving the greater good. It is the humanity of our superheroes that teaches us about the potential of humanity to be heroic.

Superheroes provide an ideal we can strive to achieve, models for coping with adversity and loss, and hope for our own potential. Why do you think people are drawn to superheroes and their stories? Do you think superheroes serve important purposes in our lives?

The story is simple and one that resonates with lovers of history and dystopian fiction. Humanity made tremendous technical progress, but encountered many problems caused by these innovations. Struggling to survive and overcome these challenges, humanity spread beyond earth then barely survived a brutal war with an alien race. A group of colonists chose Pern to escape both the ongoing problems of Earth (and its near colonies) and to establish a new world not so reliant on technology that could offer a fresh start where the hard-won lessons of Earth could be applied. They select Pern (name adopted from its classification as a Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible). At first things go well for the fledgling colony, but then the planet is attacked by a space born spore that destroys anything organic. Their limited technological resources are not up to a long-term battle and so they must find another way to survive.

It is this struggle against enormous odds to survive that makes this series so appealing to me and many others. I know this is an element that always draws me to fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian stories. The will to survive is one of humanity’s most intriguing and appealing traits. We see it over and over again in our history books and we celebrate it in so much of our fiction. Reading these stories inspires us to push through our own challenges because things may be bad in our world, but they aren’t space alien bad! We also draw comfort from reminders of human ingenuity and determination. Maybe we aren’t geniuses ourselves, but we know there are innovative and inventive humans nearby – and they just might be able to save us all.

One of the reasons I like to use popular fiction in my humanities classes is because we can see that the same questions that have always intrigued mankind from the first storytellers gathered around fires with prehistoric man to the comics and movies created today. McCaffrey explores these questions, important questions about the essence of humanity, throughout her series. Questions such as what makes a human human and what is the role of law and government in society. These are important questions that we can never take for granted and must continue to explore and evaluate to stem the chaos and conflict that can result. These are questions that we continue to grapple with in our modern lives because humans are complicated both individually and collectively.

The best stories also teach how to make our way in our world as we safely consider the essential challenges of being a human who lives with other humans. Throughout the stories of Pern we encounter struggles with family dynamics, rigid societal structure, and character flaws highlighted by stress and tragedy. There are many lessons we can draw from these stories about the way we choose to live our life and interact with others. That is one of the traits of good fiction that is important to me.

Are you a Pern fan? Have you ever wished you could be a dragonrider? What can we learn from science fiction?

I am a huge Joss Whedon fan and one major reason is the creation of his short-lived, but amazing, television series Firefly. The Sci-Fi Western is set in the distant future when humanity has fled the “used up” Earth to a new universe with many planets. This series of worlds is recovering from a civil war between the highly-technical and autocratic society of the Alliance and the defeated rebels. Whedon explains that his story explores “how politics affect people personally…When there are shifts in a planet, those tiny little guys are the ones who are affected. So let’s hang out with them—not the Federation heads or the Jedi Council.'”

Firefly‘s heroes are nine crew members and passengers aboard a ramshackle spaceship called Serenity (a major battle that signaled the rebel’s defeat and the name of the movie that provided closure for the Firefly series). Cobbling together a tenuous freedom through smuggling, transport fees, and shuttle rental, the crew includes many archetypes and in fact, find many character’s inspired by John Ford’s iconic 1939 movie Stagecoach, whose characters similarly cross open and fairly unsettled frontier.

One of Whedon’s favorite archetypes is the loner with a distinct sense of justice, that may not reflect the accepted society standard of right and wrong. Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of Serenity, is a hero who is everything a hero is not and yet he has a strong personal code that displays itself in his loyalty to his crew (see this clip from Safe), his championship of the underdog and downtrodden (see this clip from Heart of Gold), and sacrifice for others (see this clip from Train Job). Safe is a great example of the lengths he will go to for his crew, his family, because in this same episode he must risk entering the lion’s den, an Alliance cruiser, to save one person then stages a dramatic rescue of the Doctor and his sister, who were left behind in the rush to save the Preacher. Heart of Gold highlights the strong sense of justice that sent him off to fight for the Browncoats. He just doesn’t believe that the rich and powerful should be allowed to run roughshod over everyone else. However, it is the Train Job that truly emphasizes how much he is willing to put the greater good first. He knows that delivering that medicine to the people who need it rather than the man who hired him to steal it will put himself, and likely his entire crew, at tremendous risk.

While offering an entertaining scope from humorous to poignant, Firefly is at its heart a morality play about the ethics and morality that should govern society, especially that the ends do not justify the means. We can all learn a great deal about ethics from Malcolm Reynolds and the way that he puts the good of others before himself while asking only that he be allowed the freedom to live the life that he chooses. When was the last time you witnessed true heroism? It doesn’t always arrive on a spaceship and wielding a big gun, sometimes it is simply doing the right thing. That is a code we should all live by.

Have you explored the ethics of the Firefly universe? How has Malcolm Reynolds inspired your own personal code of ethics?

This fear of “others” who are different from ourselves is an essentially human trait, but the measure of our humanity and civilization is how we respond to this trait. Over and over again throughout human history we have seen oppression and genocide occur simply because we felt threatened by those of another race, ethnicity, religion, or ability. Everyone likes to talk about the Nazi’s but we have plenty of examples right here in the United States (Native Americans, African Americans, Japanese Americans).

The history of racism and prejudice undergirds so many of the conflicts and injustices in America today that we need to know more and understand better, but so often attempts to talk about these issues are so fraught they are doomed to fail. That is not an excuse to stop trying, but rather a warning to tread carefully.

I invite you to watch X-Men or read the X-Men comics with fresh eyes and use it to jumpstart an important conversation with your family, friends, or students. I fear that we are facing a dangerous time in American history. This is not new or unprecedented – not only the horrific tragedies listed above but also during the McCarthy era and other times both before and after McCarthy — this seems to be a lesson we do not learn. Immigrants have always been viewed with suspicion throughout U.S. history from the Italians to the Irish and it has always been worse for immigrants who are different in some way whether ethnicity or religion or culture – and further exacerbated by events happening elsewhere in the world.

That is why it is so important to remember our history and our place within it as well as closely examine our motivation. It is always easy to blame our problems, both personal and societal, on a particular group of swamp dwellers or bad hombres, but a lot more challenging to examine how much we are to blame for this mess. That is why I love having these challenging conversations in the context of an imaginary world and I believe that the world of the X-Men is an important place to consider just now.

Mutants are symbolic of much more than the mysterious “other” that always frightens us. They represent oppression in all its many forms from our expectation that everyone conform – both externally and internally. The conflicts between mutants and humans in the X-Men universe can serve as a stand-in for discussions about gender politics, sexuality, race, religion, and much more. The X-Men stories are stories of bigotry and prejudice. It is more comfortable to have conversations about this prejudice when we are talking about handsome Hugh Jackman, the amazing Jean Gray, tragic Rogue, and the good James McAvoy or Patrick Stewart (both delicious in their own right). The X-Men draw our attention to the problems inherent to prejudice and help us make connections between these characters and their lives and the challenges that “others” face in our world. Through the X-Men stories we see the world through the eyes of these “others” as they experience bigotry and hatred and hopefully these experiences shake our complacency about our world and our views of those different from ourselves – and best of all to help us understand how much we are alike even though we come from a different background or look superficially different.

What have the X-Men taught you about life and humanity? How can we learn from the X-Men?

There are many powerful themes to explore in the Harry Potter series, but I am always struck by Rowling’s exploration of the idea of “otherness” – viewing or treating another person or group as different from, alien even, to oneself. Othering is essential to the belief in the superiority of certain ethnic or religious groups. It is much easier to tolerate discrimination and oppression if you believe that others are lesser because of obvious differences in their appearance, practices, or norms. However, as we have witnessed time and again throughout history, these beliefs and the actions tolerated and promoted by them have created political divisions at best and conflict and violence at worst. Othering causes war and genocide and the worst crimes perpetrated by humanity.

We are not born with prejudice, but we do learn it at an early age from our families. At first this bias is passive as we learn to prefer those who look like us and those with which we are most familiar – of course for most of us that means those who look like us. There are many ways to combat this inherent prejudice and othering, but among my favorites is reading, which has been linked to greater empathy in many studies. Last year research findings concluded that, in particular, Harry Potter books helped combat bias and prejudice by fostering this empathy for the oppressed.

I believe every day is a great day to immerse yourself in magical stories, but perhaps right now, in this moment, we all need to spend some time in the Potterverse to escape but also to remember what happens when we allow prejudice and discrimination to dictate our emotions and beliefs – not to mention our laws. Under Voldemort’s influence, the Ministry of Magic created the Muggle-Born Registry Commission which accused muggle-born witches and wizards of stealing their wands and sent them to Azkaban (a particularly horrible prison if you haven’t read the books). Voldemort was only one of many in the wizarding world who revered pure blood and disdained, even hated, anyone possessing non-magical (muggle) blood – using the derogatory word “mudblood” to describe them. In fact, this prejudice led to two different wizarding wars, according to the History of Magic. While muggle-born witches and wizards did enjoy full privilege in the modern magical world, there was still widespread intolerance of nonhumans and half-breeds throughout the series and, indeed, anyone viewed as different was viewed with suspicion or hatred. Think about how many times we have seen such stories play out in our own history from the Spanish Conversos to Japanese-American Internment Camps.

Othering is a choice. We can choose not to tolerate othering ourselves and others. As Albus Dumbledore once said (in The Chamber of Secrets): “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Harry Potter chooses his friends with little or no regard to the circumstances of their birth (whether centaur or half-giant) or the circumstances that shaped their life (werewolf bite). But the true lesson about choices is that it is the choices we make in our words and deeds that show the world, and ourselves, who we truly are. That is the power of stories, because, in the end, we all want to be like Harry Potter and no one wants to be Voldemort.

How do the Harry Potter stories promote empathy and tolerance? What are your favorite scenes and quotes from Harry Potter that support empathy and tolerance? What Harry Potter characters do you identify with the most?

What do I love most about Agent May? Perhaps her understated power. Never doubt that she is one tough woman – a one woman army even. She is an amazing ninja warrior whose body is a highly-trained weapon and yet she is famous for using only sufficient power to defeat her foes preferring to use her hands rather than a weapon. But she is more than a fighter. She is a thinking, caring, intensely loyal person. She is the epitome of a superhero even though she doesn’t have special powers or alien blood. She is very good at everything she does from fighting to flying to planning. While she hates her nickname, the Calvary, because she knows that the heroic rescue that spawned the name came at a terrible cost, it is also the perfect name for her because she is devoted to protecting and serving. She will always fight for the good and rescue those who need it.

We have watched Agent May come out of her shell over the course of the show. We learn, when we discover the story of her nickname and the tragic circumstances behind her change in demeanor, in the Season 2 episode “Melinda,” that she was not always so aloof and distant, but we also learn over time that she is funny and warm and loving in a fiercely maternal way. It is her love for her country and humanity that leads to her career in S.H.I.E.L.D. because she believes in their mission to protect and serve. She follows the rules and orders, but she will break with authority when she believes it is for the greater good. But perhaps her best quality is her extreme loyalty to those she loves as well as her country and the agency that strives to protect it.

It is the package of power and humanity that make Agent May a tremendous representative of femininity that redefines womanhood. Unlike Supergirl or Jessica Parker, she has no special powers and she was not born on another planet. She is fully human with all the quirks and frailties that package includes. As both an experienced field agent and clear second in command, she assumes the mantel of leadership without effort. She doesn’t demand respect, but she gets it because she is worthy of respect. She is tough. She is smart. She is caring. She is everything we want our heroes to be and she just happens to bring all that in a small feminine package that challenges every superhero stereotype.

I love Agent Melinda May because she is a human badass redefining womanhood and we need heroes like her. What do you love about the Calvary? Do you believe Agent Melinda May is a good role model and inspiration for women? Whenever I need a feminist icon to give me heart I’m going to picture Melinda May. What about you?