Action Figures in Literature

[potioncat]

Carol responds:
 I *have* seen "Moses figure" used to describe a certain type of hero, but I can't think of an example offhand. (Quite possibly, there are David, Abraham, and Joseph figures, too, at least in older European literature in which the author can assume familiarity with the Bible.)

Potioncat:
So, to summarize the part of Carol's post that I snipped, we have stock characters, and we have hero types: epic, anitheroes, Byronic/Satanic, romantic, reluctant, and tragic. We have Christ and Moses figures. 

I suspect the nature of the HP Christ figure discussion has been our own difficulty in separtating faith (whether ours or not) from literature. Can anyone think of other Christ figures in literature? Is a Christ figure or a Moses figure a part of the list, or could it be a sub-type?

The only Moses character I can think of is from a movie, and to my mind that doesn't count. I think maybe Watership Down, except I read it so long ago, I'm not sure of the plot. 

But the Bryronic/Satanic hero---there's a contrast to the Christ figure, at least in a religious sense. Tell us more about that. Had Snape's role turned out differently, would he have met this category? Although, even had Snape lived, Harry is still the hero. So I guess Snape would remain the stock character cruel school master?

I'm starting to think I should go back to school, just to get the opportunity to discuss literature again.