page_title: False hero
hierarchical_section_title: False hero
caption_attribution_description: Untitled illustration from "Cinderella" from the book Les Contes de Perrault, an edition of Charles Perrault's fairy tales illustrated by Gustave Doré, originally published in 1862 (source). Link to the page with the illustration in an online eBook edition of the original book.
context_page_description: The false hero is a stock character in fairy tales, and sometimes also in ballads. The character appears near the end of a story in order to claim to be the hero or heroine and is, therefore, usually of the same sex as the hero or heroine. The false hero presents some claim to the position. By testing, it is revealed that the claims are false, and the hero's true. The false hero is usually punished, and the true hero put in his place.
  Vladimir Propp identified it as one of the seven roles he found in an analysis of Russian folktales, but the figure is widely found in many nations' tales.
context_section_description: The false hero is a stock character in fairy tales, and sometimes also in ballads. The character appears near the end of a story in order to claim to be the hero or heroine and is, therefore, usually of the same sex as the hero or heroine. The false hero presents some claim to the position. By testing, it is revealed that the claims are false, and the hero's true. The false hero is usually punished, and the true hero put in his place.
  Vladimir Propp identified it as one of the seven roles he found in an analysis of Russian folktales, but the figure is widely found in many nations' tales.
caption: Cinderella is tested to distinguish her from her stepsisters, the false heroes
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