The coming of age story and the fantasy adventure have the potential to combine in very interesting ways. Often, in these types of stories, the hero's journey is also an inward quest to address the protagonists' own insecurities. The price for the responsibility taken by one young person in science fiction and fantasy epics can be high; it can cost them their innocence, or even their lives. Paul Atreides, the main character of Frank Herbert's Dune, and Aerin, the heroine of The Hero and the Crown, are forced to grow up far sooner than they have to, and some growing pains occur as a result.
Paul Atreides, in Dune, is faced with both the inheritance of one great House of humanity and the responsibility of being the Messiah of Arrakis. Being torn between his loyalty to his House and the pressure of the Bene Gesserit sisters to be the Kwisatz Haderach, Paul wishes to prove himself a man and maintain loyalty to his father, while he is kept distant from everything that makes him innocent; "One of the most terrible moments in a boy's life is when he discovers his father and mother are human beings who share a love that he can never quite taste. It's a loss, an awakening to the fact that the world is there and here and we are in it alone. The moment carries its own truth; you can't evade it" (Herbert, p. 420).
One of Paul's earliest trials and vulnerabilities is shown near the beginning of the book, when the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam performs a test of pain resistance on him. Placing his hand in a 'pain box,' then threatening him with death, the Reverend Mother trains him about pain and death in order to fight his reflex to pull his hand out of the box. This gesture prefaces the tremendous sacrifice and hardship he will have to endure, and shows just how unaware he is of his own strengths - he withstands more pain than the Reverend Mother has ever seen, but he is still afraid.
After this, Paul experiences many of these hardships - the loss of his father, the destruction of his House, and his being forced to flee to the protection of the desert Fremen. In this time, he becomes their leader, using his imperial training to turn the Fremen into a formidable fighting force against their enemy, the Harkonnen. His abilities and his messianic nature are enhanced when he takes the Water of Life, a dangerous substance that raises his awareness of the universe. He does this as a reaction to his own uncertainty about the future; he did not predict that Gurney would try to kill his mother, whom he mistakenly thought betrayed the Atreides. This is what the pain box trained him for, as the Water of Life would either confirm him to be the Kwisatz Haderach, or it would kill him. However, his uncertainty about his ability to lead his people and beat the Harkonnen drives him to this desperate move.
Once the day is completely won, and Paul asserts himself as the new Emperor of the Great Houses of the Landsraad, Paul seems to fulfill his destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach. However, this is tempered by the realization that the jihad will never end - he has created a legend around himself that he simply cannot escape. His status as a visionary prophet shows him a war without end, something he cannot control - what he has been hoping to avoid all throughout the novel. This thought terrifies him, and it shows just how much power this boy is asked to wield, seemingly without any sense of control.
This vulnerability in the face of young heroism also occurs with the character Aerin in The Hero and the Crown. The daughter of the king of Damar, Aerin starts the book as a young, shy girl who is incredibly awkward and not very skilled. She is already extremely fearful and clumsy, far from the mature, skilled hero of Yvain. Despite this, she enjoys training herself on the sword - her real strength comes from her willingness to learn and discover new things to help her fight.
Early on, we see the pitfall of not being an expert in heroism and cunning, as Aerin attempts to make a batch of kenet, which is supposed to help her resist fire (which would allow her to slay dragons). Because the recipe does not say just how much of each ingredient should be used, she gets the proportions wrong; she instead has to keep learning, experimenting and trying new things to perfect the kenet. This shows even the basic training of a hero; as opposed to more mature protagonists, adolescent protagonists are still finding out how to be a hero.
After she becomes Aerin the Dragon-Slayer, she moves on to try and slay the great dragon, Maur. In the case of Yvain, the dragon would be no problem - he would simply slay the beast and move on. However, Aerin has a much harder time of it, as she is badly burned even with the kenet. Her struggle to kill the dragon is fierce, and she almost does not make it out alive. Far from a hero's errand, Aerin fights for her life and barely escapes with it. She has to spend many weeks recovering from that battle, eventually having to go on her own quest just to heal herself, showing the dramatic toll that the battle with Maur had on her.
Finally, even her own victory at the end does not come without cost. After defeating the Northerners, at the cost of many lives, Aerin and her friend Tor work to destroy the last remaining piece of Maur, which had been clouding the people's heads - however, this also turns Damar into a desolate desert. Despite their future work to rebuild the land, this dramatic destruction of the protagonist's home is a strong metaphor for Aerin abandoning her innocence. In sacrificing her home to save the world, she truly becomes an adult, willing to take responsibility for others.
In conclusion, many adolescent heroes have to give up something of themselves and grow up a little faster in order to fulfill their destinies as heroes. Paul Atreides understands the frailty and fear of pain and destruction that he has, which plagues him even after he becomes the Messiah to his people. Aerin, meanwhile, has to deal with her own mistakes and foibles along the way to defeating dragons and protecting her people. These two examples demonstrate the vulnerability that young heroes have to go through; they are not celebrated veterans, but people who are growing up as they are saving the world.
