Having passed the ordeal, the hero appears as the rescuer, the saviour of entire populations. His greatness becomes such that he acquires the status of a political leader. He takes back the throne that was intended for him (Oedipus, Theseus, Cyrus), or confronts the political power. The hero, as the prophet, tends to be asocial, to be above the law, in the Iliad as in the western.