Hero's Journey: Difference between revisions

Line 2:

[[File:heros_journey4_8462.png|frame]]

[[~~The~~ Hero's Journey]] -- sometimes also called the "Monomyth" -- is an archetypal story pattern, common in ancient myths as well as modern day adventures.

[[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''.

Line 20:

* '''The [[Herald]] brings a [[Call to Adventure]].''' The Hero learns that s/he must leave the known world behind and travel into the land of adventure.

* The Hero must then decide how to answer the Call:

** [[Refusal of the Call]]: More common in classic stories. The Call will often try again because [[The Call Knows Where You Live]].

*** [[Can't Stay Normal]] is a special case of call refusal.

** [[Jumped At the Call]], sometimes even in the face of [[Adventure Rebuff]]: More common in modern stories.

Line 48:

** Ultimate Boon: getting the reward the hero's been chasing all this time, often but not always a [[MacGuffin]].

* '''[[I Choose to Stay|Refusal of the Return]]''': At this point in the story, the Hero has mastered the strange world he was thrust into at the beginning of the story. He probably has earned a permanent place here, if he wants it. He may even ''want'' to stay, but usually there are forces at work that propel him home.

* '''The Return''': Also called the ''[[Shapeshifter Showdown|Magic Flight]]''; the Hero now has the boon and high-tails it away, with the villain or his forces in hot pursuit; while they engage in a battle of wits and magic ([[Shapeshifter Showdown|especially shapeshifting]]) during the chase. (See the Celtic story of Taliesin's escape from Cerridwen for a textbook example of this.) The Hero's escape may not require actual magic, but ''will'' [[Final Exam Finale|require all of the new skills he's learned]] and new [[How to Gather Characters|allies he's made.]] Or alternately he could realize the [[Awful Truth]] that [[You Can't Go Home Again|he can't return home]] because sometimes [[Failure Is the Only Option]]...

* '''Crossing the Return Threshold'''

** Sometimes a fight against the forces of the [[Muggle]] world, which the Hero wins thanks to help from his [[Muggle]] allies.

* '''[[So What Do We Do Now?|Freedom to Live]]''': The Hero grants the boon to his people.

Line 59:

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).

Compare [[The Quest]]. See also [[~~Propps~~ 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]].

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]].