The+Hero's+Journey

The Hero's Journey Joseph Campbell, a university professor, noticed that many of the great stories of myths and legends follow a similar pattern. From Greek myth to modern movies, this pattern is repeated over and over. Thousands of years ago, this may have been accidental, but in the modern day, writers and filmmakers follow this formula on purpose--because it tends to make very interesting and engaging narratives. Sometimes the steps are taken out of order (some of them can be shuffled around), but usually MOST of the steps occur. In these sorts of stories, the hero is a symbol of important ideals and values of his or her home culture. The steps of the hero's journey are as follows:

(Please note: Heroes can be male or female. I've used "he" in odd-numbered steps and "she" in even-numbered steps to be fair!)

1. Unusual Birth Often the hero is born in a special or dangerous situation. He may be the son of a king, or have a goddess or god as a parent. Sometimes, the hero is in danger at birth, and has to be hidden or disguised.

2. The Call to Adventure There are many different ways for the call to happen, but usually there is a traumatic event that makes the hero want to leave The Ordinary World (or forces her to leave it). When the hero is made to leave, she may **refuse to leave at first** (this is sometimes considered a separate step), only to be convinced, tricked or forced to leave later. The journey away from home and into adventure can even happen by accident.

3. Meeting with the Mentor The hero is usually helped by someone, often old and wise, with great power. Often, the power is magical or mystical. This person serves as a guide and teacher as the hero goes into a new world and faces challenges to his life and character.

4. Special Weapon or Protection The hero often has a weapon or protective object given to her that will be useful on the journey. The mentor may be the one to give her the weapon, or tell her about it (and how to find it).

5. Crossing the Threshold At some point, the hero leaves his safe childhood world and enters fully into his journey.

6. Trials The hero has to succeed at a series of tasks that challenge her and build her moral strength and her character. Usually, one of these trials involves a descent into the underworld, where the hero may experience a wound that cannot be healed.

7. Approach The hero has hit setbacks during the tests and may need to reorganize his helpers or rebuild their morale with the rallying cry (or personal motto) of the mentor. Things get tense here!

8. Ordeal The biggest life or death crisis. Our hero faces her greatest fear and only through some sort of death (real or symbolic) can the hero be "reborn", getting even greater powers to see the journey to its end. At the end of this event, the hero has earned her reward.

9. Road Back The hero must recommit to completing the journey and travel the road back to the Ordinary World. Often the hero meets one more big challenge, and shows that he is bringing back a lot of wisdom from the Special World.

10. Return with Elixir The hero now returns from her journey with the "elixir". This elixir can be the secret to living happily ever after, or it can be a real item, like a potion or food. It is the solution to the big problem of the story--the hero uses it to help everyone in the world heal their physical or emotional wounds.