Wether they are prophets, tricksters, murderous widows or dead prime ministers, cultures always need heroine and heroes, whose role is to be agents of and models for values ​​that the group wishes to emphasize, promote or simply see in itself. Folk literature, in its various genres, and specifically in legends, is the main medium for the distribution, creation and construction of heroic characters. A critical analysis of how the heroines, saints and heroes are established, their different types, and the dynamics of their acceptance create an interesting and new perspective on the groups that created them. The seminar will be devoted to the reading of sacred figures and heroes from the Bible to stories that are prevalent in the social networks, while examining them in the light of critical, literary and sociological theories from the last two hundred years.