I was just reading through some hand analysis both here and other sites. I've noticed this before and kinda always wondered why people call themselves "Hero" and whoever plays the hand all the way through "Villain." I just always imagine some anime sequence where someone's yelling "I will bet 1/2 the pot because I believe my hand will defeat yours" and "I will call for I do not believe your hand will dominate my hand in the end." Maybe some floating at showdown. It's just a pretty funny mental image to me when someone is showing basically they hit trips on flop but someone else chased a flush.

Just curious if anyone knows where these came from or why these words seem to be the norm.

Hero is the player whose cards you can see and is the person displaying the hand or describing the play.
Villain is any other player in the hand or your opponent.

They are basically just names made up to replace actual names. (Usernames)
Most players don't wont Usernames displayed.

Yeah I knew who was who. It just seems extreme to be a hero and a villain in a hand of poker you know.