Maddies Manga

Four years after the death of the hero, the crown princess is determined to figure out exactly what caused his death. We follow her as she begins interviewing all of the members of his party—was there a traitor amongst them?

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Author

This series is written by Daken. X

Genre & Tropes

Adventure, mystery, “what makes a hero, a hero?”.

Info about this volume (ongoing)

There are currently two volumes of the light novel released in English. Volume three will be released this Summer.

TL;DR rating

I was worried about whether I would enjoy this one as it’s not a genre I would typically reach for. I ended up really enjoying it! It was written beautifully.

Official synopsis:

Four years have passed since the Demon Lord was defeated. The kingdom, now at peace, has undertaken the task of compiling the fallen Hero’s many great deeds, starting with interviewing the members of his former party: Leon the Sword Saint, Maria the Holy Maiden, and Solon the Sage. Only one question remains—how did the Hero die? Reading between the lines of these epic tales about the Hero’s past and the party’s adventures together will slowly bring the truth to light. Who killed the Hero? Was it the Demon Lord…or a comrade?

My thoughts on this volume

While I am more open with new genres in manga, I typically only like a certain genre of novel/light novel—romance. I’m not ashamed to say I typically really only enjoy novels where romance plays an integral part in the story. When I heard some friends talking about Who Killed the Hero? it at first didn’t interest me at all. I ended up picking volume one on a whim when I found it at Indigo, and set it on my bookshelf.

Once I started reading, it took me no time to understand all of the praise this book has been getting. The way the story is told is incredibly captivating! We follow the crown princess as she’s trying to figure out what happened to the hero four years after his death. Four adventurers went off to kill the demon lord, but only three came back. Of course the three remaining adventurers were questioned about what happened to the hero, but most of society seemed happy to accept “he died” as enough of an answer. The princess, unable to accept his death without knowing the exact cause, sets off to get some answers for herself.

The format of the story follows something like this: the princess interviews a member of the hero’s party, we get a glimpse of the past through that characters eyes, and we then get a glimpse of the same past from the hero’s eyes. By the end of every cycle we’re given a vast viewpoint of every scenario, making it possible to really understand all included character’s emotions and motivations. There’s not a lot of guessing to do by the end of each cycle because of this, and I found this method allowed me to understand exactly why the hero did what he did.

This novel tackles the idea of “what makes a hero, a hero?”. Is it an innate physical ability one must be born with? Is it something you can become if you work hard enough? Does it depend on one’s personality? All of these questions are at the heart of the story. Everyone agrees that the hero was the only one who could become the hero, but why is that the case? By the end of the volume it will be explained!

I would say the second half of the volume is much stronger than the first, but that’s only because all the build-up pays off. Once the novel covers the different relationships all the members of the hero’s party had/has with each other, it is then able to tackle new themes and introduce new characters. We’re also gifted with quite a bit of lore regarding the world of this series—something that is incredibly interesting (to me, at least.)

All in all, I would highly recommend this light novel. Prior to purchasing, I noticed there are currently two volumes of this series out. I was confused at the time, as the title had me convinced this should be a one and done kind of story. After reading though, I really want to learn more about the world of this story! I can completely understand why this was later stretched out to be a series

You can pick up volume one here!