Editing Hero

|caption        = [[File:DragonQuestSymbol.svg|50px|class=invert]]<br>Official artwork of the Heroes from the first 11 installments of the mainline ''Dragon Quest'' series.

|lastappearance = ''{{iw|wikipedia|Dragon Quest Treasures}}'' (2022, all)

|interwikipage  = Erdrick

Like the previous installment, the player can choose the gender of the protagonist. The default names for the male and female Heroes in-game are '''Solo''' <ref name=HeroInfo/> ({{ja|ソロ|Soro}}) and '''Sofia''' ({{ja|ソフィア|Sofia}}), respectively; these names are also used for their appearances in later games. In the audio drama, the Hero is named '''Ray''' ({{ja|レイ|Rei}}), and in the official novelizations, his name is '''Yuuril''' ({{ja|ユーリル|Yūriru}}).

Both the Hero and their sibling live in the small village of Etene. During a raid on the village, said sibling is kidnapped by monsters, and the Hero is killed in an explosion. The Hero's soul is then revived as one of five non-human species, launching a nontraditional quest in the world of Astordia.

According to a Famitsu column by [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]] creator [[Masahiro Sakurai]], there are restrictions from Square Enix regarding which ''Dragon Quest'' protagonists can encounter each other. However, ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' was given special exception in order to have the different Heroes as alternate character costumes. Eight's addition as an alternate character, in particular, was due to his popularity with Western fans for the character.<ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1143909847630409729</ref> Additionally, the Luminary was added and made the default Hero due to wanting to promote the then-upcoming ''Dragon Quest XI S'' coming out on the Switch. In a later interview with series creator Yuji Horii, it was revealed that the team did toss around the idea of adding the series mascot [[Slime]], but they realized its limited moveset potential, so they went with Hero. Originally only two Heroes were planned, being Luminary and Erdrick, but it was decided this was too few to represent the series at large, so the number was doubled to four. The Hero from ''Dragon Quest V'' was also considered, but he was ultimately decided against due to his default weapon being a staff instead of a sword, and he was instead reduced to a cameo role in Hero's Final Smash and referenced as an alternate costume for Erdrick.<ref>https://twitter.com/pushdustin/status/1177192298846674945?s=21</ref> The Hero from the first ''Dragon Quest'' was also considered, but was dropped as there isn’t a unified image for ''Dragon Quest I''{{'}}s main character across media.

When Hero originally began development, he was planned to be silent, similar to previous ''Dragon Quest'' protagonists. However, with the addition of voice acting in the Japanese version of ''Dragon Quest XI S'' (as the localized version of the original ''Dragon Quest XI'' had voice acting from the beginning), plans were changed and voices for all four Heroes were added.<ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1143911723356676096</ref> In addition to being the first game with official voice acting for Erdrick, Solo and Eight, Sakurai shared some interesting pieces of trivia about each of the Heroes' voice actors and their recording sessions:

*Erdrick's voice actor, {{iw|wikipedia|Nobuyuki Hiyama}}, notably voiced the adult {{iw|zeldawiki|Hero of Time}} in ''{{iw|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time}}'', ''[[Link (SSB)|Smash 64]]'', and ''[[Link (SSBM)|Melee]]''. Of the four Heroes, his recording session was completed the fastest because of his extensive experience. Sakurai also notes that his performance can be recognized as Guy Shishioh from ''{{iw|wikipedia|The King of Braves GaoGaiGar}}''.

*Eight's voice actor, {{iw|wikipedia|Yūki Kaji}}, apparently dreamed of doing voice work for the ''Dragon Quest'' and ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, and he was enthusiastic to fulfill both at the same time in ''Ultimate''.