What makes a hero?

I was rereading Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small quartet and thinking about how much I genuinely admire Kel. I was at a talk with Ms. Pierce and heard her explain how Kel deals-- she deals, by dealing, and I thought how amazing that was. Kel has this ability to take all of the crap life throws at her, and manage it without too much hatred, because she has to do it to get what she wants. And that's probably the most admirable thing I've ever heard.

It got me thinking-- what makes Morgana admirable? I love her, but I don't admire her, not the way I admire Kel. At least, not in the first book. In the first, Morgana is defined by her search for acceptance. But at the end, she learns that all that matters is that you believe in yourself. You don't need other people to believe in you, because if you know you can do it, other people will realize you can. And if they never realize it, that's still okay.

I think that in the first book, you see Morgana as she is, flawed, human. And in the next, you see her striving to become what she one day will be-- a hero, not without flaws, but someone who tries, and in that trying, is admirable. Someone who doesn't want to be a spoiled princess, whining and complaining, but wants to be a knight, a girl who can save herself from her own tower, and save every other girl locked in a tower, because if you can believe, anything is possible. If you want it enough.