Where is the line between Hero and Vigilante? Villain and Rogue?

Just a discussion question.

Sum up in one sentence what is the difference between a Hero and a Vigilante, a Villain and a Rogue.

Feel free to then elaborate on it... but give a one sentence answer (ok, one sentence for each side, if that makes a difference. )

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A vigilante is a hero who cares more about punishing the guilty than protecting the innocent.

A rogue is a villain with just enough empathy to care who they hurt but to much greed to stop committing crimes for a living.

A Vigilante is someone who will pass by the symptoms and go to the source of the problem, ending it as soon as possible.

A Rogue is primarily concerned with self gain regardless of the means; but if a potential ally is in trouble, they're willing to lend a hand.

Edit:

A Hero can't stand to see wrong-doing and will selflessly put themselves in harms way to resolve it, with as few casualties as possible.

A Villain is just extremely goal-oriented; only those goals revolve around causing pain and striking fear into the masses.

A hero puts the good of society and the respect of the law before his own safety.

A vigilante does not care for the law, only for his own conception of Justice.

A rogue does not care for society nor the law, but will help others if it suits his goals.

A rogue does not care for society nor the law, and see others as being detrimental to his own goals (i.e. will not help anyone if he can do otherwise).

hero - lawful good
vigilante - chaotic good
villain - lawful evil
rogue - chaotic evil

A Vigilante is a person who isn't afraid to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

A Rogue is a person who pursues his goals breaking only what eggs are necessary to make the aforementioned omelette.

To be fair, though, vigilante and rogue are two names for the same thing from a layman's perspective. It's like trying to explain the difference between Jedi and Sith to someone who's never seen/doesn't care about Star Wars. To the unknowing eye, it's the same thing (i.e. people who run around w/ laser swords and move stuff w/ their minds ).

Hero vs. Vigilante

I believe that the line between a Hero and a Vigilante is the Law (the rules of society governing the country in which he lives and operates). A hero does what must be done, but within the confines of the Law. A vigilante, however, lives by a Code (a set of principles or morals) that in most regards adheres to the Law, but always follows his Code when it conflicts with the Law.

A good example of a vigilante and this Code vs the Law in the comic book world would be someone like Rorschach from The Watchmen. Murder, in that world is illegal, but he does not have a problem killing a villain, even after subduing him. His Code would not allow him to allow this criminal to live, knowing what the criminal had done and would do yet again if given opportunity.

While both the Hero and the Vigilante do what is "right", the Hero has limits to what he will do once the criminal is subdued; The Vigilante, however, does not have that restriction and is willing to play the proverbial role of "judge, jury, and executioner."

Villain vs. Rogue

In my opinion, the difference between the Villain and the Rogue is similar to the difference between the Hero and the Vigilante: the existence of a Code; but in this instance regardless of the Law. A classic Villain would have no problem hurting or injuring innocent people and bystanders to forward his plans. A Rogue may have a problem with such a plan because of the potential for collateral damage and injury to bystanders; any action that violated his code would be unacceptable to him.

For example, both the Villain and the Rogue would rob a bank or kill someone for profit. The Villain would have no problem walking in the front door shooting at everyone in the building in order to gain access to the vault or destroying an entire occupied building to murder a target. The Rogue, however, would seek an alternative method to avoid endangering bystanders if it violates his code.

A Vigilante is a Scrapper wanting to get the Ghost of Scrapyard badge.

Aw dammit!

Did no one change the locks like we were supposed to?!

...

I mean: hi there GA!

How you been, good buddy?

That up there? Yeah...

That's a ... herm ... a typo.

Yeah.

I'll go ahead and answer my own question. I think Grey made a good point when saying soldiers take lives and are still heroes.

I think, for me, the line becomes the REGARD for life. A think a hero will try to avoid killing, while a vigilante isn't going to worry about whether a bad guy lives or not (n fact, the vigilante may be deliberately seeking to end a bad guys life. )

A villain will have no regard for anyone's life but his own (or perhaps those he's close to), while a rogue will try to avoid taking life when possible.

Of course, it's a complicated question... but that's my take on it.

Read my stories!

I'm going to borrow a wise man's words...

"...you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." - if you don't know who said this, leave here. Now.

Back to the question at hand, one's actions might be cheered by others or they may be reviled for them. It all comes down to your own perspective.

At the end of the day, that's the absolute of the situation. Heroes, Villains, and all labels in between are opinions based on society's views. Change the society and/or the perspective, and you've changed the equation.

But it's still a fun subject to manipulate.