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{{quote|''When ''[[Star Wars]]'' makes a bazillion dollars, people want to know: what is its secret? And that's the shimmer of [[Joseph Campbell]]'s work. It has this air of numinosity, it has this air of almost religious truth to it, and something vaguely special and sacred. And Hollywood eats that up. It's a great story.''
'''Hero's Journey'''—sometimes also called the "Monomyth"—is an archetypal story pattern, common in ancient myths as well as modern day adventures.▼
...
''That's, I think, the political danger. If everyone is thinking that they're the hero, then there's no possibility of thinking with compassion from the point of view of other people who are [[Hero of Another Story|experiencing completely different stories]] as you are.''|Sean Hood, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California, quoted in "[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-mythologist-joseph-campbell-made-luke-skywalker-a-hero-1.5262649 How mythologist Joseph Campbell made Luke Skywalker a hero]"}}
▲The '''Hero's Journey'''—sometimes also called the "[[Monomyth]]"—is an archetypal story pattern, common in ancient myths as well as modern day adventures.
The concept of the Hero's Journey was described by mythologist Joseph Campbell in his book ''[[The Hero with a Thousand Faces]]'' and refined by Christopher Vogler in his book ''The Writer's Journey''.
== The Journey itself ==
It can be boiled down to three stages:
* Departure: the Hero leaves the familiar world behind.
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* '''[[So What Do We Do Now?|Freedom to Live]]''': The Hero grants the boon to his people.
== Use of the Hero's Journey in fiction ==
The pattern of the Hero's Journey can be found in shows ranging from ''[[Star Trek]]'' to ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. George Lucas claims to have used it as a guide when writing ''[[Star Wars]]''. Traditionally, the Hero's Journey was cyclic; a female Hero's Journey is more likely to be cyclic than a male's. ''Buffy The Vampire Slayer'' fits this to a tee; the movie is the first cycle, and each season roughly corresponds to one additional cycle.
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Compare Campbell's description of the journey with Booker's ''[[The Seven Basic Plots]]'', especially the plots of ''Overcoming the Monster'', ''The Quest'', and ''Voyage and Return''. Like Campbell, Booker invests a lot of symbolism in the various elements, to the point where messing up the symbolism kills the story for him (for example, he calls ''[[Star Wars]]'' flawed because they rescued the princess way before they killed the [[Big Bad]], when ideally those should happen at the same time, since the death of the Monster ''causes'' the release of the Anima).
{{Noexamples|we could potentially list ''every'' story in human history.}}
== Flaws of the Hero's Journey, or why you might want to avoid using this narrative structure ==
As pointed out [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-mythologist-joseph-campbell-made-luke-skywalker-a-hero-1.5262649 here], the Hero's Journey is about the Hero - it leaves no room for contrasting points of view or the meaningful involvement of a [[deuteragonist]] in the story. Thus, it is a poor choice for a narrative structure in any cooperative work (such as a [[tabletop RPG]]), or for a story that seeks to depict more than a single point of view.
It also relies on turning stories into myths. Not every story needs to be a myth, even if you disagree with Prof. Keith Dickson of Purdue University who says that myths "are basically stories that are told by those in power in order to convince others that they should have power." Not every story needs to be an epic tale.
== Compare and Contrast==
Compare [[The Quest]]. See also [[Propp's Functions of Folktales]]. If you experience a [[Heel Realization]] mid-Journey and realize your efforts so far have been for the wrong side or wrong reasons, please take the detour to your [[Redemption Quest]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
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[[Category:Narrative Tropes]]
[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:The Hero's Journey]]
[[Category:Books on Trope]]
[[Category:Monomyth]]
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
[[Category:Tropes on a Trip]]
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