Healer hero

[BWTraveller]

OK, I've seen plenty of fantasy series where the hero is a swordsman or a mage, and even several where the hero's a "tank" who's primarily there to protect his comrades while they inflict damage. But there's one thing I haven't seen. Are there any fantasy series where the hero is the healer? I don't care if it's anime, manga, or light/web novel (though for the last I'd prefer something with a translation, official or otherwise). I could see a lot of potential struggles with that sort of role. I mean, it's far from a "heroic" role and tends to get overlooked when it comes to memories of the events of the day. You'll hear talk of how the swordsman ripped through so many goblins at once, or how the tank managed to stop a minotaur in its tracks, but you don't generally hear about any "awesome" stuff the healer did, even if they would've died ten times over without him.

Note, I'm talking about stuff where the healer is the legitimate core character. I've seen a series where just about everyone's treated equally in the party including the healer (at least as far as I watched that series), but never one where he's the narrating or central character.

[AntonKutovoi]

Does a non-fantasy series, where main character has a healing ability counts? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamon is Unbreakable main character has an ability to restore things (thus, he, among other things, can heal wounds)

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by AntonKutovoi

Does a non-fantasy series, where main character has a healing ability counts? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamon is Unbreakable main character has an ability to restore things (thus, he, among other things, can heal wounds)

Not a hero who CAN heal, a hero who is a healer. Lots of heroes have some healing ability, especially in games. I'm talking about a hero whose role in combat is healer. He's not a tank, protecting everyone while taking all the damage, or an attacker who deals damage, or anything like that: his role is keeping his comrades healthy and alive through healing and restorative spells. The closest I've seen to this is in Log Horizon, where the main character is in a support role; he can't really heal, but his only real role in battle outside of strategy is to improve the status of his allies and drop the status of his enemies.

[AntonKutovoi]

Pristess in Goblin Slayer is a main character. But I'm not sure if it fits your criteria, since there's also a titular main character exists, whose adventures we see from her eyes. At least in manga.

[Haak]

You know it's funny; My immediate reaction to this request was that "you could probably find an Isekai story for that".

And sure enough, I was right. XP

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Haak

You know it's funny; My immediate reaction to this request was that "you could probably find an Isekai story for that".

And sure enough, I was right. XP

I'll take a look at it. And yeah, I was sort of figuring that Isekai would be a likely genre since it seems like 90% of fantasy light novels and manga these days are about a guy suddenly waking up in an RPG world. Any others...?

[judasmartel]

In video games, a healer MC is usually either a Paladin (swordsman w/ healing a la Cecil Harvey from FF4) or a Monk-type character (i.e. one who usually fights barehanded or with kung-fu weapons), as the former is known in literature as a holy warrior, whereas Eastern monks in real life do have the reputation for being great healers, especially Buddhist and Taoist monks.

- The MCs from the Breath of Fire series are usually the best healers in their respective games, but of course, being the protagonists, players usually spec them as the most powerful attackers in those games anyway.

- In the Suikoden video game series, the MCs of all but one of its five main games have high affinities to healing spells, with two of them actually wielding the best healing spells in their respective games.

The reason why healers don't get as much respect as expected to be due them is that early healers are often useless outside of healing. They are usually damsels or dudes (who look like damsels, lol) in distress who constantly needs saving and protecting by the other members of the party. Of course, it's pretty annoying to save or protect this person when he/she can't pull his/her own weight, right?

The solution: Give the healer some teeth: make them actually competent at using their healing powers (like, you know, heal yourself when you're damaged), give them offensive (which are usually holy or light elemental, and can exorcise or kill undead foes) or disabling (you know, like, blind, silence or put foes to sleep) spells, or make them decent-to-strong physical attackers. That way, they can do something else other than healing everybody and they will no longer need as much saving and protection as he/she can already defend herself. In fact, in Naruto, medical ninjas are healers but they are also competent fighters by themselves so obviously they are not useless outside of healing, but it is still the job of the main fighters to defend the medics whenever the latter can no longer defend themselves against a superior opponent.

TL;DR: The most effective way to make a healer MC is to make him able to hold his/her own in battle whenever healing is not really needed so he/she is not going to be useless outside of healing.

[BWTraveller]

Actually, that's part of why I thought it'd be interesting to have an MC whose role is "the healer". Not only are they looked down upon or ignored, they legitimately have trouble demonstrating their worth in a lot of cases. Yeah, they might be vital in that they keep everyone alive, but they can't actually fight, or at least not well, so everyone praises the guy that cut down the monsters and ignores the dude that made sure that guy didn't die of wounds sustained in the process. Sort of like how some people will praise a soccer player who made a goal but ignore the goalie who blocked five shots from the opponent. You have in this a person who's underappreciated, likely to be unpopular and have to watch as the ladies swarm to the other guys, and has to deal with a frequent sense of inferiority and suspicion that he really isn't as important as the others or isn't as much of a "hero". The pain of a "supporting character" can be a good source for conflict, internal or otherwise.

Thus, I'd like something where the main character is a strict healer, a healer who gains some offensive abilities after a long period and possibly at a price, or a healer/tank who can't really attack but is able to defend his friends.

If this doesn't exist I must admit I find it a little surprising. There's a big fondness for the underdog in fantasy, for the guy whose lot seems to be pathetic and worthless. I've seen stories where the hero is a tank who's literally not allowed to attack until after he goes completely mad with rage, a few where the hero's given the weakest and most pathetic job/skill set of all, and even one where the hero's summoned with several others with no power except the ability to summon a Japanese bath wherever he is whenever he wants. Being weak or stuck with a bad lot is kind of big.

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

I don't care if it's anime, manga, or light/web novel (though for the last I'd prefer something with a translation, official or otherwise).

The first thing that comes to mind is Atelier Iris, which is unfortunately a video game. The main character is an alchemist who wields a staff and produces most of the healing items used by the party. He does decent damage physically but the tank and attacker roles are fulfilled by other members. I checked baka updates to see if there was a manga released but no dice.

There's also a light novel about a boy who was reincarnated in another world as a hot spring. Yes, a hot spring, I can't make this up. Obviously he's not a combatant but a support character/healer for the other characters in the series.

And there's always Hai to Gensou no Grimgar if you want to know why healers don't usually become the main characters of this kind of story...

Edit: Google also suggested Life Howling, The Gamer and Jin.
And a web-novel called Seijo no Kaifuku Mahou ga Dou Mitemo Ore no Rekkaban na Ken ni Tsuite.
And another called I Work As A Healer In Another World's Labyrinth City.
Web novel Isekai Yakkyoku has a manga version.

It seems they're out there, you just have to dig a little deeper.

[AntonKutovoi]

One of Atelier games, Escha & Logy has an anime series and a few had a manga adaptaions. I wouldn't really call protagonists "healers" there, since it's only a part of their job. They are support characters and non-combatants, though, that's for sure.

[Sackett]

Huh... technically... wouldn't Sailor Moon count?

I mean, she used her Moon Tiara as a chakram (like Xena) extensively in the first season, but pretty much everything after that was a healing spell wasn't it? And even during the first season didn't she use healing attacks to free people from possession?

I admit I'm not too knowledgeable about Sailor Moon, I mainly remember it from when I was a kid and my sisters watched it. We only had one TV so we had to take turns as to which shows we watched. Still... as I recall, once the other girls showed up with more combat power, didn't Sailor Moon basically become the exorcist/healer of the group?

While still being the main character, leader, and key role in combat. (Since I think possession of people was one of the common enemy tactics.)

[Kafriel]

Zhan Long is a LN where the hero, an irl bodyguard, becomes the healer of his target (pop idol/assassin), BUT he changes to a hidden swordsman class, keeping only the basic heal skill, while basically becoming OP in every aspect (attack, HP, defence and heals). Does that count?

[kari-no-sugata II]

It's been mentioned already but the "I Work As A Healer In Another World's Labyrinth City" WN/LN is one of the few where the MC is a true healer specialist - he's basically an ordinary person otherwise. At least as far as I've read (the first volume). I like the story too.

There's also the shoujo/josei WN/LN "In Another World I'm Called the Black Healer" but I'm pretty sure the MC can use a wide variety of magic and is just more well known for her healing skills.

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by Animefangirl

And a web-novel called Seijo no Kaifuku Mahou ga Dou Mitemo Ore no Rekkaban na Ken ni Tsuite.

Self-quote. I started reading this recently and it's... not very good. MC develops a harem super quickly and then somehow or the other his healing skills make him a fighting genius who feels almost no pain and can heal from anything that doesn't knock him out or insta-kill him. It's ridiculous. And yet I just keep reading...

[Nicaea]

I think that finding a strict healer will be difficult, mainly because healers aren't really built on the principle of being heroes. In the case that they are, as has been told earlier, they've usually picked up something that makes them frighteningly tough (this is basically mixing healer with mage or support class so that they can fry you, cripple you to death or cast a barrier on a sword to make it slice more than a swordsman's sword. It's also possible to write the healer as someone who discovered how to reverse the effect of healing skill and uses loopholes to turn healing spells into strong curses).

More often than not, a healer on a high level party will usually be someone who's originally good at some other class or a jack of all trades, who had to switch jobs for the sake of the team.

You're right that the pain of being healer would be an interesting story, but wouldn't most high level groups (in games, manga, anime, LN) be quite appreciative of healers? I mean they're pretty much indispensable so I'm not sure if the tension you're looking for can be recreated this easily.

[AnimeFangirl]

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is really his best bet if he wants drama and tension revolving around healers. The main character is not a healer but other important characters are.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is really his best bet if he wants drama and tension revolving around healers. The main character is not a healer but other important characters are.

Yeah, admittedly the healer at the start of that series was a really good candidate. But I'm not really into series where the best characters have barely any plot armor. I want to watch my favorite hero grow, I don't want to watch him die.

I know healers are appreciated by their parties, but it's a different level of appreciation than other members. They're recognized as essential for the party, but not on the same level as the front line. Yes, you'll probably have them thanking the healer and all, but generally his actions aren't likely to be seen as the highlight or the game-changer. As a result, the most fame and admiration generally goes to the "hero", the swordsman. And that's kind of what I want. The healer doesn't have to be looked down on as "just a healer" or made fun of as unnecessary, but still he's given less attention and appreciation than the others. The heroine runs up to him and cheerfully thanks him for saving her with that spell, but she gushes and squeals over the swordsman. This is a problem tanks face to some extent, but healers would probably have it even worse.

[mashingan]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

I know healers are appreciated by their parties, but it's a different level of appreciation than other members. They're recognized as essential for the party, but not on the same level as the front line. Yes, you'll probably have them thanking the healer and all, but generally his actions aren't likely to be seen as the highlight or the game-changer. As a result, the most fame and admiration generally goes to the "hero", the swordsman. And that's kind of what I want. The healer doesn't have to be looked down on as "just a healer" or made fun of as unnecessary, but still he's given less attention and appreciation than the others. The heroine runs up to him and cheerfully thanks him for saving her with that spell, but she gushes and squeals over the swordsman. This is a problem tanks face to some extent, but healers would probably have it even worse.

I don't know if what you want exists. Healer is "support" in any parties. Unless the hero has some other offensive attack/magic, hero healer is still at behind battle-line supporting other characters.

The best "commander" that fit description I think Shiro in Log Horizon who fight from behind coordinating/controlling chain of command. However he's not healer. He's support too but not healer and has some offensive magics in his arsenal.

The another most obvious reason why no healer hero exists is the healing techniques are rarely "cool". If by any chance there's hero uses that "uncool" or "plain" techniques, I guess it's more weighted to drama instead of adventure or action.
Because nothing is impossible, it's possible if the targeted demographic to Shoujo but for Shounen or Seinen, the probability closes to zero.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by mashingan

I don't know if what you want exists. Healer is "support" in any parties. Unless the hero has some other offensive attack/magic, hero healer is still at behind battle-line supporting other characters.

The best "commander" that fit description I think Shiro in Log Horizon who fight from behind coordinating/controlling chain of command. However he's not healer. He's support too but not healer and has some offensive magics in his arsenal.

Shiro is however a good example of how a "support role" (in gameplay terms) can be the main character and leader of the party.

He could be a healer instead and still function in the very same way storywise.

Nothing says that healers can't have supportive magic or even some offensive magic, by the way, in fact in many MMORPG they do have both.

It's just that fantasy stories tend to focus a lot on the individual skill of the main character and very little on the combined efforts of a party. See Kirito (SAO) and how he soloed a high level boss and see even Grimgar and how in the end the major threat was defeated by the MC working alone.

This makes it so that the MC is usually someone who can cause a lot of devastation by himself, and not someone who can create the conditions to make his group overcome the trials and defeat powerful monsters.

Log Horizon is almost unique in this sense, and that's due to the fact it is grounded, more than any other story of this kind, on how MMORPG actually work and less on how traditional storytelling dictates.


Now if the concept of "healer" was more like what you get in traditional western tabletop RPG, you could very well have very destructive healer characters, since in D&D Druids and Clerics are notoriously overpowered.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by mashingan

I don't know if what you want exists. Healer is "support" in any parties. Unless the hero has some other offensive attack/magic, hero healer is still at behind battle-line supporting other characters.

The best "commander" that fit description I think Shiro in Log Horizon who fight from behind coordinating/controlling chain of command. However he's not healer. He's support too but not healer and has some offensive magics in his arsenal.

The another most obvious reason why no healer hero exists is the healing techniques are rarely "cool". If by any chance there's hero uses that "uncool" or "plain" techniques, I guess it's more weighted to drama instead of adventure or action.
Because nothing is impossible, it's possible if the targeted demographic to Shoujo but for Shounen or Seinen, the probability closes to zero.

I agree, Shiro is the closest I've seen to a healer/support hero. But again, that's part of the reason I want to see such a story. It's easy to win the people's hearts and gain praise when you're the one whose sword sliced the demons to pieces, but the healer and support character in the back is working his butt off too and in some cases may arguably be as important or MORE important to the success of difficult battles than the front-liners. And you can be sure that those guys are just as interested in finding love and recognition as the people at front that everyone pays attention to.

Frankly, I think this might be part of the reason that you often have healers the opposite gender from the hero. This makes them a potential love interest who's busy fighting the others for the hero's affections rather than fighting the hero for others' attention.

Also, it's OK if they EVENTUALLY grow some degree of power. Plenty of RPGs already have healers/clerics able to wield maces and deal a certain amount of damage, albeit far less than a proper swordsman or a mage using his spells. Just as long as this takes a long time and his main task is still healer. And most certainly, he doesn't have to never do anything but sit in the back. There's something impressive about the dude who can't fight jumping in to save his comrades at the risk of his own life. Just so long as he does actually survive.