Legendary and Folk Heroes
- Alyosha Popovich, young and cunning bogatyr of priest origin, defeated the dragon Tugarin Zmeyevich by trickery
- Baba Yaga, a witch-like character in Russian folklore, flies around on a giant mortar and lives in the cabin on chicken legs
- Dobrynya Nikitich, bogatyr of noble origin, defeated the dragon Zmey Gorynych
- Ilya Muromets, bogatyr of peasant origin, saint, the greatest of all the legendary bogatyrs, defeated the forest-dwelling monster Nightingale the Robber, defended Rus' from numerous attacks by the steppe people
- Ivan Tsarevich, typical noble protagonist of Russian fairy tales, often engaged in a struggle with Koschei and rescuing young girls
- Ivan the Fool, typical simple-minded but lucky protagonist of Russian fairy tales
- Koschei "the Deathless", chief male antagonist of Russian fairy tales, an ugly senile sorceror and kidnapper of young maids, possesses immortality
- Nikita the Furrier, a town craftsman who released the daughter of Prince Vladimir the Fair Sun from the dragon's captivity
- Sadko, musician and merchant from Veliky Novgorod, procured wealth and wife from the Sea Tsar by playing gusli
- Svyatogor, giant "sacred mountain" bogatyr, passed his strength to Ilya Muromets
- Vasilisa the Beautiful, young, attractive and often cunning heroine of Russian fairy tales
Read more about this topic: List Of Russian People
Famous quotes containing the words legendary, folk and/or heroes:
“Is it the old, legendary monster of my father’s time? Or am I supposed to have whipped one up, as a housewife whips up an omelette?”
—Willis Cooper, and Rowland V. Lee. Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone)
“Myths, as compared with folk tales, are usually in a special category of seriousness: they are believed to have “really happened,” or to have some exceptional significance in explaining certain features of life, such as ritual. Again, whereas folk tales simply interchange motifs and develop variants, myths show an odd tendency to stick together and build up bigger structures. We have creation myths, fall and flood myths, metamorphose and dying-god myths.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
“They wouldn’t be heroes if they were infallible, in fact they wouldn’t be heroes if they weren’t miserable wretched dogs, the pariahs of the earth, besides which the only reason to build up an idol is to tear it down again.”
—Lester Bangs (1948–1982)