while they did live happily ever after

I agree about Hero--I enjoyed it, but it's less about the characters and more about how legends come about (see: the main character does not have a name! we tell the same story fifteen ways!), and so you spend more of it trying to piece the stories together, rather than caring about the people within. Whereas CTHD is all about people's hidden motivations and what we do and do not allow ourselves to feel and how people are connected and THE SCENE, WHERE HE TAKES HER HEAD. Especially knowing what happens. *sobs*

I was sitting there going HEY LOOK, HE IS AN OTHER, except then it is totally subverted re: her being more emotionally hardcore.