1. The Monomyth
The Hero’s Journey

2. Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth
Monomyths (one myth) look surprising alike.
A cyclical story
Hero undergoes a transformation
Offers a sacrifice to save the world

3. The cycle has multiple steps that most heroes follow.
The hero learns the truth about his world and himself.
The journey symbolizes the search for individual identity and the culture’s concept of the idealized member of society.

4. The Broad Stages of the Monomyth
Departure (Separation) from the real world
Initiation into a symbolic, psychological shadow world
Return to the real world – with some kind of transformation that will help that world

5. Departure (Separation)
Call to Adventure
Helpers/Amulets
The Crossing of the first Threshold
The Belly of the Whale

6. The Call to Adventure Hero is introduced
In a relatively safe place (though we recognize he cannot stay there forever).
The hero doesn’t fit or is ostracized, or danger is lurking.
Though we see some obvious good traits in our hero, he is also imperfect.
We recognize that he has some growing to do before we can accept him as an ideal member of society.

7. Examples of the Call to Adventure

8. The Lion King
Simba in The Lion King is a rather doted upon and bratty prince, therefore he is imperfect – not our idealized concept of a hero, a productive member of society.
We also see that the Pride Lands are not safe for him, since Scar is determined to remove Simba from the line of succession; therefore, the real world is only relatively safe for him – the danger of Scar is lurking.

9. Harry Potter
Harry is a cast out orphan who is greatly in need of saving.
Strange things happen around Harry that he can’t explain. The audience knows of his magical connections through a flashback of story telling.
Hagrid’s iconic line: “You’re a wizard, Harry”—not to mention a mountain of Owl Mail.

10. Other Examples of the Call to Adventure
Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
- happy with Aunt Em, but the nasty old lady down the street wants to get rid of her dog, Toto.
 Odysseus in The Odyssey
- happy in Ithaca
- is called to rescue Helen from Troy.
cannot refuse the call, since he is a
tributary king to Agamemnon who
swore allegiance to Menelaus

11. Neo in The Matrix
- a gifted hacker who senses there is something “more” than the world he lives in
- needs to step out of his comfort zone is he wants to truly accept the truth
- he is safe, but he serves as a Christ figure as he realizes he must become “the one”
- Note: Christ also follows the cycle of the monomyth, so of course, Neo will as well.

12. The Call to Adventure Begins
The Herald arrives
a character or event that entices the hero to leave his real world.
Hero may accept the invitation or he may refuse the call.
to achieve heroic status, he must accept the call, even if, like Frodo, it is an unwilling acceptance. 
Think Harry Potter going to Diagon Alley or Luke Skywalker leaving home with Obi-wan.

13. The Herald as an Event

14. The Twister pulls Dorothy out of Kansas and lands her in the land of Oz
 Morpheus helps Neo “wake up”
in the real world.
The Golden Apple incident forces Odysseus away from Ithaca

15. In The Matrix his computer screen “talks” to him while he is working.
He is told to “follow the white rabbit.” A woman with a white rabbit tattoo shows up at his door shortly after
Trinity (Christ-figure connection) gives him instructions to follow if he wants to escape his world
This all culminates in an iconic scene: the red pill or the blue pill…

16. Helpers/Amulets

17. hero encounters helpers, (inanimate and animate)
these help hero achieve his goal (saving his world) and help him find his sense of self

18. Amulets (Inanimate helpers)
magic device that confers supernatural power on Hero
famous amulets
- Dorothy’s shoes
- Harry’s invisibility cloak
- Odysseus’ bag of winds

19. Characters (animate helpers)
either human or nonhuman
help Hero achieve goal. (Some of these characters may die in their efforts.)
helpers include
Timon and Pumbaa,
Tinman, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow
Hagrid, the Weasleys, Hermione and Ron
Morpheus and Trinity for Neo

20. The Herald (Helper)

21. a powerful mentor who helps the hero both physically and mentally.
Sometimes an ominous character that can be scary (Gandalf)
Heralds include
The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella
Rafiki in The Lion King
Glinda, The Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz
Athena in The Odyssey

22. The Steadfast Friend

23. hero’s constant friend
keeps Hero’s spirits up and helps Hero stay focused on achieving the all-important goal
Well-known steadfast friends include
Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings
Ron in The Harry Potter series
Toto in The Wizard of Oz

24. The Corruptible Everyman

25. fairly rare, character is quite important
symbolically represents flaws within the hero
starts out on the side of the hero, eventually betrays Hero
redeems itself by sacrificing itself for the hero or quest
Corruptible Everymen include:
Boromir from The Lord of the Rings
Judas from The New Testament
Cypher from The Matrix
(spoiler alert!) Severus Snape??