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- The hero blows up a building because it doesn't conform to his standards. - Hero brazenly enters the room of a woman, has passionate sex and leaves. Then barely remembers it the next day. - Hero calls a strike, gathers only his closest friends and waits out total disaster. Not a single f*ck is given as the world burns. - The hero is being tortured, during the process gives the torturer instructions on how to do his job. Not shedding a single tear. Stunning examples? They are all scenes of either Howard Roark or John Galt in their respective novels taking action. A clear pattern is set: A total refusal to bow down or even compromise. A defiant, rebellious character. Some would call them rascals, rapscallions and rogues. Wild men. In America we call them "bad boys". Men who, as the stereotypical depiction goes, ride Harley's, get tattoo's and cause trouble. They are "rebels without a cause" so the saying goes. You could call O'ist heroes "rebels with a cause", they are profoundly purpose driven, but this is just the stereotypical depiction. I've seen bad boy's with a productive purpose (i.e. rockstars) so that is not an essential difference. Why this connection has not yet been made is interesting in and of itself. But the connection is there. It's a fun connection to explore. The author herself gave clues to her love affair with bad boy's throughout her writings, personal or otherwise. (Rand had a raging boner for men on the extreme ends of independent thinking, she even once penned a journal entry admiring the traits of a particular serial killer). What's also interesting to note is they O'ist heroes and bad boy's share the almost total disregard for the concept of status or prestige (they also tend to come from lower-class backgrounds). A person's bearing, stock, class or pedigree holds little of interest to them, except as a vehicle for mocking or a show of defiance, and (correctly assumed) is not metaphysically important. Ironically through mocking status ("traditional power" as I call it), they gain a kind of status of their own. Are Objectivist heroes the epitome of "bad boy" archetype? Is this accidental or deliberate? Thoughts?