The “Heroic Cycle” The “Heroic Cycle” is a pattern that most action and adventure books or movies follow. It shows the progression of the hero’s life from a young man to adulthood by undergoing incredible trials. This cycle was discovered by Joseph Campbell. The Odyssey is one of the oldest written texts that so closely follows this cycle

1. Call: Return to Ithaca after the Trojan wars 2. Preparation: Leaving Troy and making sacrifices to the Gods for safe journey 3. Allies: Odysseus's crew and Athena 4/5. Guardians of the Threshold/ Crossing the Threshold: Polyphemus the Cyclops is the guardian of the threshold and crossing the threshold would be Odysseus telling him his real name, because after that point Poseidon cursed his journey. 6. Road of Trials: Odysseus and is crew is first stopped by the Ciconians, then his crew is lured by the lotus eaters, they are then trapped by the Cyclops Polyphemus, then the men get a gift of wind an destroy it out of greed, they then are attacked by the Laistrgonans, the crew is tricked by Circe, they make a journey t the underworld to talk to Teiresias, they have to avoid Sirens and Charydbis and Scylla. Odysseus’s men are killed by Helios because they ate his cattle and Odysseus must go on alone to the island of Calypso and eventually through several days of aquatic travel to Phaiacia. 7. Saving Experience: Odysseus does not eat Helios’s cattle and is spared by Zeus 8. Transforming Changes: Odysseus becoming a poor beggar in order to infiltrate his house. 9. The Return: Odysseus revealing himself to the suitors, then kills them 10. Sharing the Gift: Being reunited with his family

The Odyssey compared to others The Odyssey follows Joseph Campbell's “Heroic Cycle” almost to a tee and even though it was written thousands of years ago. Since then many stories have been written that also mirror the cycle. The Harry Potter series is an example of the “Heroic Cycle” being used in the world of literature today!

Harry Potter Heroic Cycle 1. The Call: Harry gets an acceptance letter from Hogwarts 2. Preparation: Harry attends Hogwarts for six years learning about his past ands special abilities 3. Allies: Ron and Hermione, Harry’s two best friends, along with Dumbledore’s Army and Dumbledore himself 4/5. Guardians of the Threshold/ Crossing the Threshold: the guardian of the threshold would be Dumbledore because he first tells Harry about destroying Horocruxes in order to kill Dark Lord Voldemort. Crossing the threshold would be Harry and His friends leaving school to search for Horocruxes 6. Road of Trials: Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione search for months for the remaining of 7 Horocruxes (pieces of Voldemort’s soul that he broke off ) in order to make Voldemort vulnerable enough to kill him. They finally find all but one Horocrux and have to return to Hogwarts to kill it. 7. Saving Experience: Harry realizes that he is actually the eighth Horocrux and he must die in order for Voldemort to die, so Harry sacrifices himself for the good of the whole 9. The Return: Harry retunes to Hogwarts and kills Voldemort in a one on one combat 8. Transforming Changes: Harry comes back to life because only the piece of Voldemort inside him was defeated 10. Sharing the Gift: By defeating Voldemort Harry makes the entire world safer for humanity

Works Cited “Acceptance Letter.” image. TheDailyDot. N.p Web. 2 May < “Deathly Hallows.” image. SnitchSeeker.com. N.p Web. 2 May news/new-harry-vs-voldemort-final-battle-photos-harry-and- hagrid-deathly-hallows-promos-74196/index4.html “Dumbledore’s Army.” image. Harry Potter Wiki. N.p.. N.d Web. 2 May 2012.< “Horcrux.” image. HarryPotterWiki. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May <

Works Cited (cont.) “Odysseus and Cyclops.” image. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May “Odysseus and Mentor.” image. Observed. N.p.. 29 August Web. 2 May < “Odysseus.” image. About.com. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May < sey1/ss/062508POdyssey_9.htmhttp://ancienthistory.about.com/od/odys sey1/ss/062508POdyssey_9.htm>. “Trojan Horse.” image. AltraPoint. N.p.. 26 August Web. 2 May y-trojan-war/