Hero's Journey - Episode III: The Return

Once the Hero has gone through his initiation, found his treasure or defeated the villain, he still has to return.

Just like Bilbo had a challenge of dragging the dragon Smaug's treasure back home. It wasn't a simple task and the worst challenges, such as The Battle of Five Armies, were still ahead.

The Return from Hero's Journey can be as tough for the audience as to the Hero. It's not a coincidence that third parts of movie trilogies are usually concidered the worst.

The story must come to a conclusion as the Hero must return from his Journey. Though the Hero is now a master of his trade, so are his opponents. He still must overcome them, to return triumphant.

So no rest for the wicked. It's time to Return

1: Refusal of the Return

Just like with call to Adventure, the Hero, who has now grown to his full potential, has a hard time getting out of his comfort zone.

The Dark Knight Rises showed us a broken man, who used to be Batman. Now he was neither Batman or Bruce Wayne. Though a new threat lurked Gotham City, he refused to return before Bane showed himself by attacking Wall Street (or whatever it's called In this version of Gotham).

2: The Magic Flight

As said, the Hero has now all his powers. But so does the Villain. The Hero has to flee or fight.

There are many literally example, like Frodo's Rescue from Mount Doom, as well as Bastian's flight on the back of Falkor. Both of these examples are In the next phase.

Harry Potter also got out of Gringotts, the most secure bank of The Wizarding World, on the back of the dragon that was guarding its vaults.

3: Rescue from Without

Once again, the Hero needs to outside help, when all the odds are against him.

Like Frodo, who after successfully destroyed The Ring In Mount Doom, needed to be saved by the Eagles.

The movie Neverending Story showed an interesting version of the Hero's Journey, where The actual Journey was taken by the warrior Atreyu, but the actual Hero was a boy reading his quest.

As Atreyu failed his Mission of stopping the Nothingness wiping his world from existing, it was this boy, Bastian, who had To save the world of Fantasia. This was literally Rescue from Without. 

4: The Crossing of the Return Treshold

As he had To begin his Journey by Crossing the first Treshold into unknown, the Hero now has to cross the final one into the old world, where he left from.

The challenge is to fit his wisdom and powers to the normal world.

It was fitting that Luke Skywalker returned to his home planet of Tatooine as a fully skilled Jedi Knight, to save his friend Han Solo, whose Hero's Journey now needed resquing from Without.

In Lord of The Rings book, Frodo and his Hobbits friends returned to The Shire very changed, only to see that the old Shire was changed beyond recognition by Saruman.

5: Master of the two worlds

As The Hero has finally overcome all his obstacles and has reached balance with his powers and the normal world.

Luke Skywalker is once more the best example, as he was fully powered Jedi Knight In the end, but also shared the world with his friends.

Katniss Everdeen had To live with her pain after surviving Hunger Games and killing president Coin, before she became a full tyrant.

Life of The Mocking Jay wasn’t easy, but neither was motherhood. All it took was survival. And that's what Katniss was master of. Balance of these two were what brought Katniss to the next, and final phase.

6: Freedom to Live

Now The Hero has reached balance and learned to live In the now. The Journey has reached its end

Just as Katniss had learned to live with her traumas and provide a better world to her children, Luke had To burn Darth Vader's armor to fully free his father Anakin Skywalker.

Sam Gamgee earned perfectly his freedom, after saying farewell to Frodo, who continued to the Gray Havens. Sam on the other hand returned home, living happily ever after with his family. There he edited Frodo's memoir of their Journey, called Lord of The Rings.

In Conclusion...

Now that this three-part Journey has come to an end, I really hope you've enjoyed reading it. There are countless more examples, as Hero's Journey has been around for thousands of years and will be around for thousands more.

Stories and Heroes either become legends or fade into oblivion, as times change, but their Journey remains the same. It's the perfect story. The stuff myths are made of.

If you enjoyed this, please share. Also, whatever examples you have In mind, Please comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-Alex

Hero's Journey - Episode II: The Initiation

The Hero's Journey continues with The Initiation. This part is where The Empire Strikes Back and the Hero's true challenges start. If you missed the previous one, the Call to Adventure, check it out here.

Now, let's get on with the Initiation

1: The Road of Trials

In the road of Trials, the Hero really gets to test the tools he got from Supernatural aid.

That was Luke's encounter with the snow monster In Hoth. When he lifted his lightsaber with the Force, we saw what Obi-Wan had really given him.

Of course his encounter with the ghost of Obi-Wan is literally another Supernatural aid. There's no reason, why the elements couldn’t be used more than once, as long as they serve the story.

Trials are what mold the Hero towards what he will become, or what he would become if he fell

2: The Meeting with the Goddess

When the Hero has won his Adventure, he meets with a "Goddess", that could be a reward or a marriage.

Katniss hooking up with Peeta, after winning her first Hunger Game (Although their actual happiness came after all three books, over a decade later) is a reminder, that "The Goddess" doesn't have to be a female. It doesn't have to be a character either.

The treasure Bilbo finds In The Hobbit is just part of his Journey. He has to get it home too.

3: Woman as the temptress

We all know Syreens, at least as a concept. The same thing with Circe the witch. The Odyssee is ingrained to our back ones since primary school. 

The Hero is lured off the trails by something sweet and tempting. Noir trophe Femme Fatale is a Modern equivalent of a Syreen

Like with all, this doesn't have to be a Woman. It's temptation, like Luke had with the Dark Side, when he met Emperor Palpatine, almost striking him down.

The same thing happened in The Dark Knight, when the Joker lured Batman nearly breaking his one rule: No killing

4: Atonement with the Father

As The Hero moves on, he encounters the Father figured, that he must either defeat or ally with.

Just like Luke Skywalker left his Jedi training and went to Cloud City to save his friends, only to encounter his enemy and literal father.

Despite of his wrecklessness, his decicion Led him on the Journey to save his father a long with winning the Empire.

The same way Katniss had to encounter her figurative Father figured, as She met President Snow in Catching Fire. Together these sworn enemies agreed on not to lie to each others. A promise she kept until the end In The Mocking Jay, when Snow made her understand, that he wasn’t the only, or worst, enemy of Katniss.

5: Apotheosis

As The name suggests, Apotheosis is the climax of Hero's Journey. He has gained full wisdom and knowledge. Now he just has to use it in his final battle.

One of my all time favorite games, Batman: Arkham Knight had an excellent example (the plot of this game is really intense, so if you haven't played it, but want to, skip this part! It has some heavy spoilers!).

At the end of the game, Scarecrow finally had Batman at his mercy. He finally had To show the world, who was behind his mask. But little did Scarecrow know, that throughout the story, Bruce Wayne had been fighting with demons In his head, In the form of the late Joker.

Scarecrow's fear toxin was supposed to breakdown Batman with his worst fears. Instead it freed the demon In his head, allowing The Joker to break out. In a conflict fought In his mind, Batman finally defeated The Joker for good.

And with his secret out, he no longer had nothing to fear. He was able to beat Scarecrow.

As I mentioned earlier, Katniss Everdeen's final meeting with President Snow In The Mocking Jay opened her mind to see the truth about the Revolution she had been fighting: It was just a coupe by another would-be-tyrant, Alma Coin.

As she was ready to execute the former president Snow, Katniss made her final harsh decision: She turned her arrow towards The New president Coin and fired, hopefully freeing Panem for real this time.

6: The Ultimate Boon

Finally, The Hero has made it! Luke's become a Jedi Knight, Katniss has become The Mocking Jay and Batman's become The Dark Knight.

The Hero has achieved his goal and now it's time to rest. Time for reward. And...

Time for Return

Tune In next time, as it's time to wrap up the Hero's Journey with the return. I really hope you enjoyed this second part. I also hope it helped with your story. If it did, please share the good word in your social media.

Also, if you have something to add, correct or just want to bring out your thoughts, Please comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-Alex

The Hero's Journey: Episode I - The Departure

Storytelling has always been part of humanity and will always be. Stories shape our culture, no matter what the political or economic system is. They're what drive people, despite their religion or creed. The best stories pass through time, while others are just forgotten, as times change.

But one story has endured since Ancient Greece. Well, not so much a story, as a model for one. That's the Hero's Journey. I've been meaning to write about it since starting this blog. If you're familiar with Joseph Campbell's works, you probably guessed that by this blogs name.

I covered Hero's Journey briefly in my previous blog, which I've since terminated, but hopefully, since then, I've gained more wisdom and, maybe, can cover it a bit better.

Either way, it's good to know, whether you're a writer or reader, because this is what our stories are made of. Joseph Campbell covered it throughly in his book, Hero With A Thousand Faces. A bit too throughly, maybe?

I might get all sort of hatred for this opinion, but frankly, I find it boring. Read it and judge yourself. Even better: Listen to the Audible! That's How I prefer

Or you can just take the quick lesson and watch the original Star Wars!

To me, the Hero's Journey is incredibly difficult to grasp in all its simplicity. With this trilogy of posts I hope to dress it throughly, but simply, using modern examples.

I'm learning it myself, so please take it with a grain of salt, but I believe this will make your story better if you're a writer and if you're a reader, it will allow you To enjoy it even more.

Ready for the Journey? Then let's go!

1: Call to Adventure

Every story ever made began from one place: normal world. It could be set in Chicago of 2020, or it could happen "A long time ago In a galaxy far, far away", the point is the same: it's a normal world to the Hero, until he gets the call.

Luke getting Princess Leia's message is one of the best examples. "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope" leads him to seek out old Ben Kenobi, who turns out to be more than just the old hermit he seems.

A classic example is from Lord of the Rings, when Frodo gets the ring of his uncle Bilbo and Gandalf tells him it's The One Ring To Rule Them All and it must be destroyed. In its prequel, The Hobbit, the call couldn’t get more literal as Gandalf travels to the door of Bilbo, and simply calls him on an Adventure

2: Refusal of The Call

Hero, as a normal and sensible person, naturally would refuse the call. Nobody leaves the comfort of their home, unless absolutely necessary. The same goes with the Hero.

Hobbit offers also a brilliant example of the refusal, as Bilbo says 'No thank you!' to Gandalf and closes the door in front of him.

Luke wouldn't even dream of fighting The Empire, before he sees the charred bodies of his uncle Owen and aunt Beru. Till then it's all his comfort zone.

Only when the Hero realizes, that everything has changed, and there's no going back, will he take his Journey. With Bruce Wayne, the Journey began, when he kneeled at his parents still warm bodies. This is the same, regardless of the mythos.

3: Supernatural Aid

After setting his feet to the larger world, the Hero needs all the help he can get. Traditionally it's been an old man, possibly the Hero's Guardian or fairy godmother, who offered some item, like a key, that helped the Hero on his Journey.

Often the supernatural aid is also a mentor, but not always. His most important role is to provide aid to Hero, to get through his Journey.

Obi-Wan giving Luke his father's lightsaber and teaching the basics of The Force helped him enormously later on, though not before The Empire stroke back. The help usually doesn't, or shouldn't come in handy right away. The Hero needs to grow first.

The supernatural aid doesn't have to be friendly. Gollum tried to eat Bilbo and Bilbo had to cheat him out of his little ring of invisibility (that never caused anyone trouble later, right?)

In Superman, Clark Kent knew his powers for some time, before encountering the projection of his long-dead real father Jor-El. He gave Clark his purpose as Superman, while Clark's foster father Jonathan Kent gave him his values, the love for Truth, Justice and The American Way.

Of course supernatural aid doesn't have to be supernatural. Though James Bond hasn't done Hero's Journey, at least before Graig, the original Q fit the supernatural aide perfectly.

His sole purpose was to provide Bond with the gadgets he needed to defeat the bad guy. Usually Bond didn't even need them before the final scene with the villain.

4: Crossing of The First Treshold

This is, where The Hero has to try his own feet. He usually stumbles, so he can learn to get up. This is the Hero's first real challenge. He often encounters a treshold Guardian, that he has to get through.

The Hobbits stepping out of The Shire in Lord of the Rings and then entering The Old Forest, where the trees lived and moved (the movies understandably cut this whole episode, so you'll find it only from the book).

These trees, as well as the ghost they encountered in the burial mounds offered the treshold Guardian.

Luke met his nightmarish treshold Guardian moment in Dagobah, when he ventured to the cave and encountered Darth Vader - Only to find out it was a vision of what he would become. 

The point is for the Hero to learn to fend himself, so the Guardian doesn't have to be a monster or a living adversary, but it helps. 

In Batman Begins the first treshold would be the prison Bruce Wayne is thrown, with its inmates being the Guardians.

5: Belly of The Whale

As The Hero stumbles through the treshold, he falls to the pit. The belly of the Whale. When I was a kid, I had a little pictured book of Disney's Pinocchio. I remember vividly the terrifying Whale consuming Pinocchio and Gepetto.

In mythologies it's often been quite literal, like with Jonah In The Bible. But Modern mythologies have all variations of it, such as the prison In The Dark Knight Rises.

In the 1978 Superman movie, he found Lex Luthor's underground hideout. Naturally this was a trap set by Luthor, who tricked Supes to open a case of lead, something Superman's X-Ray vision can't see through. Inside the case was a piece of Kryptonite, that immediately rendered Superman helpless, killing him slowly. This was one sort of Whale's belly.

Of course, modern mythologies can also  go literal in times. We all remember Millennium Falcon staying in the asteroid field and hide in the cave from Imperial pursuers, only for Han Solo to realize, that they're in the belly of a giant space slug.

Star Wars is Luke Skywalker's Journey, but Han Solo has a Hero's Journey as well. His Journey is to grow from cynical scoundrel to a loving man, sacrificing himself for his friends.

In the belly of the Whale he first shows protectiveness towards Leia, his one True love.

With Luke, the belly of the Whale was the moment he threw himself down to the shaft, after Darth Vader telling him the truth about his father.

Luke was completely trapped, only to be saved by his intuitive connection to Leia, who would turn out to be his twin sister.

READY FOR INITIATION?

I hope you've enjoyed this Journey so far. Because The departure is only the beginning. It's simply training for the Hero to become a jedi master or learn to defeat six hundred men.

Next week we'll get to the real deal: the initiation. Meanwhile you should study the Hero's Journey by reading or watching your favorite tales. Star Wars, Matrix, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are just the few that comes in mind.

But if you want just one book that sums up the whole thing, read The Hero With A Thousand Faces. That's what myths are made of.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

-Alex

Hero's Journey coming up!

It's been a couple of weeks since my previous post, but I'm back on track now! This is just a Quick update on what to expect.

Next week will be epic, as I'll give my first take on Hero's Journey. Something I covered briefly In my previous blog, but have wanted to give the full attention for a while now. After all, this blog is The Hero With A Modern Face.

Hopefully I can presented something fresh to anyone familiar with Joseph Campbell's epic. If not, I hope I can at least presented it so, that the writers can use it with their stories and readers can hopefully get more out of their stories.

September will be dedicated to Hero's Journey. In October I'll be covering one of my favorite superheroes of all time, as She finally gets her second movie installment. That's right, It will be Wonder Woman 84. Can't wait! Hope you can't either!

Anyway, thanks for reading! See you next week!

-Alex