1. The Hero’s Journey

2. The Hero’s Journey The Hero Journey is a paradigm.
A paradigm is a model or standard form that governs our experience and sense of reality. The Hero Journey is both a physical as well as a psychological or emotional experience.
Not all hero journeys will follow this paradigm exactly.

4. Joseph Campbell
"Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation..." (Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces)

5. From The Hero with a Thousand Faces
The mythological hero, setting forth from his common day hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark (brother-battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the opponent and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion). Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which give magical aid (helpers). When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero's sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator (father atonement), his own divinization (apotheosis), or again—if the powers have remained unfriendly to him—his theft of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire-theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination, transfiguration, freedom). The final work is that of the return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight). At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread (return resurrection). The boon that he brings restores the world (elixir).

6. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 1: The Ordinary World
This is the Hero’s home, the safe haven from which he must leave and seek to return to
Get to know and identify with the Hero’s drives, urges, and problems
Identify the problem (outer or inner) which disrupts the Ordinary World

7. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 2: The Call to Adventure
Disrupts the comfort of the Hero’s Ordinary World
Often delivered by the Herald archetype
May come in different forms (a message, an action, an arrival, etc.)

8. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 3: Refusal of the Call
The Hero has fears or insecurities
The Hero prefers the safe haven of the Ordinary World
The refusal demonstrates the risks involved in the Journey
Each call and refusal escalates the stakes until the Hero has no choice but to accept

9. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 4: Meeting the Mentor
The Mentor provides confidence, insight, advice, training, or magical gifts
The Mentor may not be a person. It could be an object or an inner force such as a code

10. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 5: Crossing the Threshold
Signifies that the Hero has finally committed to the journey
The threshold separates the Ordinary World from the Special World

11. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 6: Tests, Allies, Enemies
The Hero learns the rules of the Special World
The Hero must learn who can be trusted
The Hero needs this stage to test

12. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 7: Approach to the Abyss
The Abyss leads to the journey’s heart or central Ordeal
The Hero has survived his descent into the Special World
The Hero often takes a respite before facing the Ordeal

13. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 8: The Ordeal/Revelation/Abyss
The central life-or-death crisis or crises
The Hero faces his greatest fear; experiences “death”
Only through “death” can the Hero be reborn
The resurrection grants greater powers or insight

14. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 9: Reward
Having survived “death”, the Hero receives what he sought
It comes in many forms (a magical sword, an elixir, knowledge, reconciliation)
This allows the Hero to replenish himself and the audience to “catch its breath”

15. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 10: The Road Back
The Hero must accept the Road Back to Ordinary World
Like crossing the threshold, the Hero needs an event that will push him back (a force to chase him out of the Special World)

16. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 11: The Resurrection
The Hero’s most dangerous meeting with death
A cleansing or purification that must occur
The Hero is reborn or transformed
It may be a physical Ordeal with the entire world at stake
Must prove he has reached Heroic Status and accept his sacrifice for the benefit of the Ordinary World

17. Stages of the Hero’s Journey
Stage 12: Return with the elixir
The final Reward
The Hero has been resurrected and purified and has earned the right to be accepted back into the Ordinary World
The Hero shares the Elixir of the journey with others or heals a wounded land
All celebrate the journey’s end with revelry or marriage
Harmony and balance are restored to the Ordinary World

18. The Archetypes
Archetypes describe the function or role the characters play in a story.
Think of an Archetype as a mask a character wears.
In a story, characters may change masks with other characters from time to time. The following slides list the Archetypes that occur most frequently along with their functions.

19. Archetype: The Hero The Hero (“to serve and sacrifice”)
His/her purpose is to separate and sacrifice self for the service of the Journey
He/she does not have to be all good (antiheroes, outlaws, loner heroes)
He/she grows or learns the most during the Journey

20. Mythic Hero Elevated parentage Gods or nobility Exposed as an infant
Grow larger/stronger than most others
First heroic deed/test

21. Mythic Hero Adopted by poor foster family
What myths have we read where we have seen this?
Perseus
Theseus
Hercules
Atalanta

22. Mythic Hero Has marvelous adventures
Saves a princess from a dreadful fate
Marries her

23. Mythic Hero
Eventually meets with a mysterious death

24. Archetypes of the Tragic Hero

25. The Tragic Hero is Noble
He has greatness about him
Outstanding quality
Must fall from a height

26. The Tragic Hero is good, but not perfect
His fall results from his committing Hamartia (tragic flaw)
He is responsible—even if he is totally unaware and act out of the best intentions
His fall is the result of his own free choice

27. The Hero’s Misfortune is Not Wholly Deserved
His punishment for acting on his tragic flaw exceeds the crime
We realize, with sadness, the waste of human potential

28. The Tragic Fall is Not Pure Loss
The hero gains significant insight

29. Tragedy Arouses Solemn Emotions
Audience feels pity and fear, compassion and awe
Audience is exhilarated with the appalling sense of human waste, and has a fresh recognition of human greatness

30. Archetypes of the Anti-Hero

31. Traits of the Anti-Hero
Deprived of the rules and consequences of society
Is an outlaw and has no status in society so he must wander on the fringes of society

32. Traits of the Anti-Hero
Rejects the values, rules, and attitudes of society and political establishment
Seeks to establish his own rules and ethics

33. Traits of the Anti-Hero
A failure, crude, sometimes stupid or even dishonest
Often angry

34. Traits of the Anti-Hero
The anti-hero can fit some of the traits of other heroes, or possibly even started out as a hero but made a selfish choice along the journey that ruined him.

35. Archetype: The Mentor
The Mentor
(“to guide”)
The Mentor provides motivation, insight, training, guidance
Has traveled the road before
May provide the hero with magical gifts
May be an Inner Mentor like a code of honor or justice

36. Archetype: Threshold Guardian
The Threshold Guardian (“to test”)
Protects the Special World and its secrets from the Hero
Provides Tests which the Hero must pass to prove commitment and worth
May be characters, objects, or forces

37. Archetype: The Herald The Herald (“to warn and challenge”)
Issues challenges or announces the coming of significant change
Often appears at the beginning of the Journey

38. Archetype: The Shapeshifter
(“to question and deceive”)
Misleads the Hero by hiding a character’s intentions and loyalties
Presence causes doubts and questions in the Hero’s mind
Creates suspense

39. Archetype: The Trickster
The Trickster (“to disrupt”)
Disrupts the “status quo”, turning the Ordinary World into chaos
Uses laughter to help the Hero see the absurdity of a situation
Often is the Hero’s sidekick

40. Archetype: The Shadow The Shadow (“to destroy”)
Represents our darkest or rejected desires
Symbolizes our greatest fears and phobias
May not be all bad
May be another character or something lurking within the Hero that must be accepted or purged