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:
“All legendary obstacles lay between
Us, the long imaginary plain,
The monstrous ruck of mountains”
—John Montague (b. 1929)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may outweigh a million, is not being increased these days.... Such do not know that like the seed is the fruit, and that, in the moral world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is inevitable, and does not depend on our watering and cultivating; that when you plant, or bury, a hero in his field, a crop of heroes is sure to spring up. This is a seed of such force and vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)