We have been told that goodness is naïve, that moral grayness is sophistication and cynicism is cleverness.

Turns out, we still want an old-fashioned hero, and there are psychological reasons for it.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" resonates with a human need for goodness and moral heroes.

Four criteria can help distinguish heroes from pretenders.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO’s new adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novellas,1 has no dragons other than puppets and heraldry. Yet it has received 94% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and became one of HBO’s most‑watched debuts.2,3

Because who needs dragons when people are starved for decency?

For decades, we smallfolk have been told that goodness is naïve, that moral grayness is sophistication, and cynicism is cleverness.

Turns out, we do not want it.

Most of us can only take an endless string of villains, liars, and normalized nastiness for so long. Our battered nervous systems want a hero to root for who would not lie to us or betray us—and a show that does not overindulge in gore for the sake of gore, and darkness for the sake of darkness.

Call it naïve but this is what the human psyche is wired for. In a world that is already unstable, we are looking for believable goodness. Flawed, costly, non‑saccharine goodness that can nevertheless stand up to brutality. Goodness that may have to sleep under the stars, but has a working moral compass.

A hero is not just some “tired trope.” A hero serves a true psychological and cultural need of protecting others and providing moral examples. And when life is hard, we need heroes even more.

Of course, the moment moral hunger becomes visible, pretenders arrive to seize on it. Propaganda dresses up tyrants as heroes. Sophisticated performers demonstrate all the visible moves: the vulnerability........

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