The Hero’s Journey

Stages of the Hero’s Journey The Innermost Cave Seizing the Sword Re-emergence/ Rebirth Crossing the Threshold

Crossing the Threshold The journey begins in the ordinary world;

Crossing the Threshold The hero is called to adventure by some external event or messenger. The hero may accept the call willingly or reluctantly, consciously or accidentally. The initial step is a ‘Call to Adventure’ where the heroic figure is made aware of a place beyond the world he has known his whole life. A herald is encountered that gives the hero a reason to rethink what he (or she) "knows." This herald usually provides some direction to enter into the adventure and may remain with the hero as a guide. Often, the hero at first balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown.  The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored – All of these constitute a ‘Refusal of the Call.’ The initial step is a ‘Call to Adventure’ where the heroic figure is made aware of a place beyond the world he has known his whole life. A herald is encountered that gives the hero a reason to rethink what he (or she) "knows." This herald usually provides some direction to enter into the adventure and may remain with the hero as a guide. Often, the hero at first balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown.  The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored – All of these constitute a ‘Refusal of the Call.’ The initial step is a ‘Call to Adventure’ where the heroic figure is made aware of a place beyond the world he has known his whole life. A herald is encountered that gives the hero a reason to rethink what he (or she) "knows." This herald usually provides some direction to enter into the adventure and may remain with the hero as a guide. Often, the hero at first balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown.  The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored – All of these constitute a ‘Refusal of the Call.’ The initial step is a ‘Call to Adventure’ where the heroic figure is made aware of a place beyond the world he has known his whole life. A herald is encountered that gives the hero a reason to rethink what he (or she) "knows." This herald usually provides some direction to enter into the adventure and may remain with the hero as a guide. Often, the hero at first balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown.  The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored – All of these constitute a ‘Refusal of the Call.’ The initial step is a ‘Call to Adventure’ where the heroic figure is made aware of a place beyond the world he has known his whole life. A herald is encountered that gives the hero a reason to rethink what he (or she) "knows." This herald usually provides some direction to enter into the adventure and may remain with the hero as a guide. Often, the hero at first balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears – fear of the unknown.  The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo. The heralded event may even be ignored – All of these constitute a ‘Refusal of the Call.’

Crossing the Threshold: Hero Moves from Ordinary World to the Unknown Alice

The Innermost Cave: The Dark Moment of Truth This is the critical moment in the hero’s journey in which there is often a final battle with a monster, wizard or warrior, which facilitates the particular resolution of the adventure. Sometimes it’s a final victory over a nemesis and sometimes just over self The hero touches bottom, appearing to die and be born again Approach to the Inmost Cave is like the second act turning point of the Three Act structure. The hero must now face the greatest test and must be fully committed to meeting the challenge they were given in the Call to Adventure.

The Innermost Cave

The Innermost Cave: Obstacles

The Final Confrontation: The Innermost Cave

Seizing the Sword Finds it in the innermost cave Often an inner quality that the hero didn’t know he had Sometimes the boon is knowledge and experience.

Re-Emergence and Rebirth: The Road Back The hero again crosses the threshold of adventure and returns to the everyday world of daylight. The return usually takes the form of an awakening, rebirth, resurrection, or a simple emergence from a cave or forest. Resurrection is the final proof and accomplishment of the mission in the Call to Adventure. The hero is now master of his/her world.

Re-Emergence and Rebirth: The Road Back

Re-Emergence and Rebirth: The Road Back

From Joseph Campbell: 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).  

The Hero’s Journey in Movies Click on the picture for a film clip I am your father. Final Battle