The Hero’s Journey

1. The Hero’s Journey The path to discovery

2. What is a classic hero? • One who achieves beyond common obstacles • Displays courage in the face of adversity • Operates for the greater good • Serves as a moral compass • Has a quest!

3. More Heroic Characteristics • Mysterious identity/origin: no record of parentage/info. about hero’s past; unknown true identity • Special powers: physical/mental/spiritual • Obstacle/challenge/foe (defines the quest): person/journey/redemption/salvation • Assistance: helpers/advice/aid from gods/new source of power • Personal flaw, i.e. prideful/impulsive/fearful • Descent into the Underworld/domain of evil • Realization of the quest: turning point; discovers self-identity • Reluctance to continue: fear/risks/choices/dilemma • Overcomes obstacles: internal or external • Triumphs: saves a group of people or the world or an idea/returning honor/achieves a destiny of greatness or wealth

4. Types of Heroes • Physical deed/hero - is able to perform feats of great strength, speed, etc. Sacrifices self. • Spiritual deed/hero - comes to a point of self-realization or enlightenment, experiences supernatural range of human psychological life and shares with community

5. Hero’s Journey • Joseph Campbell: A Hero with a Thousand Faces • Basic pattern found in myths/narratives throughout the world • Universal pattern • Important myths which have survived for thousands of years all share the same basic structure/stages • A.K.A. “Monomyths” • Include ‘archetypes’ • generic, idealized model of a person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned. A bit like a stereotype, but more complex.

6. Graphic Organizer of Journey

7. Separation & CallDeparture-The Call to Adventure! • SEPARATION: Hero dragged from the comforts of home to experience growth and change; the hero may no longer be content with the comforts of home. • THE CALL: realization of imbalance or injustice in the hero’s life that invites him into the adventure, the unknown. • Given a task to complete, a person to rescue, or a quest to fulfill • Can be by choice or forced upon the hero • Begins in the “Known World”

8. The Preparation • the hero prepares for the journey because she/he needs to do so. His/her needs may be physical (i.e. training, supplies, equipment, etc.) or knowledge-based (i.e. information). Sometimes the training is internal or psychological (mental, i.e. mustering courage).

9. Threshold & Guardians • THRESHOLD: the jumping off point for the adventure; the point between known and unknown (a new and unfamiliar world). • GUARDIANS OF THE THRESHOLD: The threshold may have guardians (obstacles) that interfere with or delay the start of the journey. Can be literal (physical barriers, people, animals, etc.) or figurative/internal (doubts, fears, etc.). Sometimes these are necessary because the hero is not yet ready for the journey (i.e. because of youth).

10. Initiation: Challenges/Temptations/”The Road of Trials” • Set of tests/trials/ordeals/obstacles/difficult experiences that test and trip up the hero. • It may even seem that he/she has no hope or chance of getting out of a dangerous situation, but he/she emerges stronger after each challenge. • Begins the transformation • Sometimes the hero fails • Often comes in 3s • test the courage, strength, intelligence, determination, and wisdom of the hero in the “underworld.” • Help the hero prepare for the greatest challenge

11. Supernatural Aid: Mentor, Helpers, & Talisman/Saving Experience • MENTOR: Once the quest is accepted, there is often a guide who acts as mentor, teacher, trainer and gives hero a focus, hints on how to succeed. Guide keeps the hero focused on goal. Helps hero obtain the skills to overcome challenges. Must die so that hero can face biggest challenge alone. • HELPERS: Help & support hero along the way; are not present during the final battle. Individuals who assist the hero during the journey. They may be acquired at any point during the journey and may be family members, friends, guides, animals, or even gods. • TALISMAN: Just when things are at their worst, help in the form of a supernatural gift that produces magical effects that ‘saves’ the hero (SAVING EXPERIENCE). Often this occurs when things are at their worst for the hero, and he/she meets a special person, has a powerful experience, or receives a special gift that “saves” him/her, enabling him/her to achieve the journey’s goal. Can be a person or thing (tools, weapons, magical items to assist the hero on the quest).

12. The Abyss • greatest challenge of the journey where one must "slay the dragon” alone • Usually includes the archetype “Belly of the Whale,” which symbolizes how just before or during the abyss, the hero appears to have been “swallowed” by opposing forces/negative powers, with difficulties “closing in” on him/her. It is the descent into the darkness. The whale represents all that is in the unconscious (water is the unconscious) that is dangerous and powerful and needs to be controlled by consciousness (it must submit to the consciousness). Can be literal or not. Examples: the bowels of (under the) school in Harry Potter, the closing trash compactor in Star Wars, the whale in Pinocchio • Usually includes the archetype of the Journey to Underworld, which equates the abyss with facing death • The abyss can include both the belly of the whale and underworld archetypes but not necessarily (the abyss may also have neither) • This can be in an unknown place • Hellish, purgatory, feeling of doom • Establishes a turning point for the hero • Catalyst for transformation • Represents the separation of hero from the known world • Stepping over the threshold and accepting transformation • Recognizes the potential of The End or a new world/self

13. Meeting with the Goddess/Temptress • The hero is tempted by love • Is a distraction from the trials that threatens completion • Offers unconditional love, but may threaten the hero’s ability to pass the trials • Choice to accept or reject

14. Revelation, Transformation, Atonement with the Father • REVELATION: a sudden change in the way one thinks or views life • TRANSFORMATION: The hero is “killed” or experiences a death & rebirth. A part of initiate dies so another can be born (transformation occurs through death and rebirth); the hero changes (mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually); it is symbolic of an old part of the hero dying and a new one being reborn; hero may become psychologically more mature/independent • ATONEMENT: Encounter with a father figure or being with ultimate power. The hero must make a sacrifice or choice. The hero is in perfect harmony with life and the world.

15. (Symbolism of) The Ultimate Boon • The quest or task is completed • What the hero found is only a representation of what was really needed • The item or person saved was just a vehicle for the hero to transform into who he must ultimately become

16. Magic Flight & The Return with Gift • Sometimes must escape with the boon • Can be dangerous • Sometimes there are rescuers or assistants to help the hero make the escape • final stage where the hero contributes to society. • shares the gift, i.e. experience, knowledge, and wisdom, gained through the journey with the broader community and sees life differently. • The hero must now retain the wisdom, strength of character, etc. after crossing the threshold • Hero is now competent or capable in both worlds • Hero is now free to live as intended