The Banality of Heroism

[Ironside]

...which then explains why if you ask most soldiers who are labelled a hero by society if they consider themselves heroes, they will most likely answer that they do not.

It probably is also influenced by not wanting to appear as glory hunters. The people knowing the hero would probably know if it's the case, but not the population at large.

I would say that the difference you're after Horetore, is exceptionality. Can you make a structure with more heroes? Yes, by making every move made more exceptional, so in the eye of the normal population, it's huge, while in the eye of those inside this structure, it's a much smaller step. By constantly risking your life, the step of doing something extremely risky to save someone is less extreme, for example.

But the difference compared to banal evil is that heroics are always exceptional. The reverse, in the prison of hell isn't the normal guards, it's those everyone finds much crueler than the rest.
Banal heroics on the other hand is a nice world, that would have less of the grand heroics, since it's needed less exceptionality in such a world.

So the boring conclusion is that outside forces and the specific situation are major players and so is also the personality.