The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey is the first plot type that I looked at when it first occurred to me that there was such a thing. I think it may have been the first one that appeared when I began a search. I feel like this plot type ends up in so many places, because it is so easy to recognize. Once I read about it, I immediately thought of Lord of the Rings. Joseph Campbell wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This book goes through all the stages of this plot type. Without further ado, here are the seventeen stages:

The Hero’s Journey: Stages

1. The Call to Adventure

As we’ve seen with Plotting: Freytag’s Pyramid, Plotting: The Three-Act-Structure, and Save the Cat Story Structure plots have a tendency to begin with a “day in the life,” The Hero’s Journey is no exception. Our hero starts out living their normal life, and then something happens, changes, or someone invites them to do something that starts them on their journey.

2. Refusal of the Call

This is also a typical moment. The hero doesn’t want to go on an adventure. They want to keep on living their life, but there are reasons that they cannot say no, or other forces that keep them from saying no.

3. Supernatural Aid

The hero receives some kind of otherworldly help in the beginning of their journey.

4. The Crossing of the First Threshold

This is where they take their first steps into the new world. They really begin their journey at this point.

5. Belly of the Whale

This stage represents the final separation of the hero from their known world and self. The hero is showing their willingness to fully immerse themselves in the unknown and change themselves for the better. The hero may have a minor setback at this stage, or some other struggle where they lose something.

6. The Road of Trials

The hero experiences a series of trials, usually in threes; before he is able to move forward in their journey. These are fluid and ambiguous. They will lose some and have to keep moving forward and gaining confidence in order to move successfully through the story.

7. Meeting with the Goddess

The hero meets someone who provides them with something that will help them later on.

8. Woman as the Temptress

Despite the poor name for this stage; essentially it’s about something that the hero wants, but shouldn’t have. It’s really about the differences between what should be and what is.

9. Atonement with the Father/Abyss

The point of the story that everything has been moving toward. This is a confrontation with an entity that holds the power of both life and death within it. The hero has to trust in the figure that they will be able to confront whatever it is they need to confront, and come out on the other end better/unscathed, etc. The thing given by the other figure earlier in the story will be helpful at this point. The two figures should be mirror images of one another.

10. Apotheosis

The hero reaches a greater understanding. They have learned the lesson that they needed to learn.

11. The Ultimate Boon

The goal of the quest was achieved. Whatever the hero set out to do, was done.

13. The Refusal of the Return

Having found success in the other world, the hero does not want to return to the ordinary world.

14. The Magic Flight

The hero may have to run with the boon, if they have angered the gods, or have made them jealous by winning it.

15. Rescue from Without

Just as they needed aids and helpers to begin their journey, the hero may need help getting back to the ordinary world. This is particularly true if they were wounded or weakened.

16. The Crossing of the Return Threshold

This one seems a bit overly complicated. The hero, not only needs to return to regular life. But, they also need to retain the wisdom they gained on their journey. And they need to share that wisdom with the people around them. That’s a little hard to fit into the last chapters of your novel.

17. Master of Two Worlds

In the end, the hero will be a master of both their inner and outer worlds. They will be happy in both.

So, those are the stages of The Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell’s book on the subject was published in 1949, so you will forgive a lot of outdated phrasing. However, you can easily see how any adventure story can fit into the stages. Campbell studies a lot of myths from a lot of different cultures to come up with the ways in which we tell stories across cultures.

This information is always good to know as a teller of tales, because, no matter what kind of stories you want to weave; you are adding to the tapestry of your own culture. You are putting your own mark in your way, making your own folklore if you will. Adding your own voice to the many that have come before you. And it matters. Allow your voice to be heard, remember that the way you see the world is important, your views are important. Your way telling of Beauty and the Beast or that incident that happened a couple of years ago that’s now family legend; it’s yours, and it’s important. I suppose that’s a post for another day though.