John Rambo

John James Rambo (born July 6, 1947) is a fictional character in the Rambo franchise. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous as the protagonist of the film series, in which he was played by Sylvester Stallone. The portrayal of the character earned Stallone widespread acclaim and recognition. The character was nominated for American Film Institute's list 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains. The term "Rambo" is commonly used to describe a lone wolf who is reckless, disregards orders, uses violence to solve all problems, enters dangerous situations alone, and is exceptionally tough, callous, raw and aggressive. Creation and background David Morrell says that in choosing the name Rambo, he was inspired by "the sound of force" in the name of Rambo apples, which he encountered in Pennsylvania. These apples, in turn, were named for Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, who sailed from Sweden to America in the 1640s, and soon the name would flourish in New Sweden. The name Rambo was likely derived from a shortened form of Ramberget (a hill on the Hisingen island in Gothenburg, where Peter Gunnarsson was born) plus "bo" (meaning "resident of"). Today, many of his descendants can still be found in this region of the US. Morrell also felt that its pronunciation was similar to the surname of Arthur Rimbaud, the title of whose most famous work, A Season in Hell, seemed to him "an apt metaphor for the prisoner-of-war experiences that I imagined Rambo suffering". Furthermore, an Arthur J. Rambo was an actual U.S. soldier in Vietnam, but he never returned. His name can be seen on the Vietnam War Memorial wall in Washington, DC. He was granted the first name "John" as a reference to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again". In the novel and first film, Rambo appears as a soldier who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and has difficulty adjusting to normal life. He is shown to be prone to violence because of the torture he suffered at the hands of North Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War. In the next films and novelizations, he is displayed as a man who wants to stay away from conflict but is willing to do anything to save his friends and the people he cares about from any danger. Due to his violent nature, many civil people tend to fear him.