I have written about the Hero’s Journey a number of times. This concept is one of my favorite elements in literature.  This model of the Hero is what touches all of us at our core.  The Hero’s Journey begins with a call.  This call can come from any source: a letter, a feeling, a witness, a crystal.  This call represents the journey.  Like many of us when we are confronted with a task we deem too difficult, the Hero is often reluctant to take up the challenge.  There are any number of reasons the Hero may not take up the Quest right away.  Perhaps he doesn’t want to leave the family he loves, or maybe the family who has kept him enslaved won’t let him go.  Sometimes it’s his own fears holding him back or he isn’t ready to accept his place in the Universe, yet.  Whatever the reason, the hero is unwilling to embark on the journey, at least until something happens to force him over the first threshold into adventure.

In order to be considered a true Epic Hero the young adventurer must be endowed with some supernatural ability.  He must have some trait that makes him special beyond anyone of his peers.  He needs to be equal to the quest put before him and so he needs to be granted the strengths and abilities to defeat his enemies. The power can be manifested in any form and can be either internal or external.  Usually the hero has a special weapon he can use to focus his power.  This can be a wand, sword, jewel or any number of special devices.  Despite the special weapon, the hero can, and frequently does, use his special powers without the aid of this device.  The wand of power is used only as the hero learns to focus and use his abilities. As he progresses through the journey he finds he needs to rely on this device less and less and often learns to focus his abilities on his own.  The step away from this crutch can be the hero’s first step from childhood onto the path of adulthood.

The steps in the Hero’s Journey can be fulfilled through many varieties of paths, depending on the plot twists of your story.  As the Hero learns to build his strengths he will go through many trials and confront his demons on a variety of levels.  These trials may include a time of initiation when he first learns about his new role in society.  I love the Cyclops’ book in the Odyssey because essentially Homer is using the Cyclops to mirror everything about Greek society and highlight how the Cyclops is the epitome of everything a Greek citizen would not be.  Essentially Homer was telling the youth of Greek society ‘if you want to live in caves without laws, live off the land without understanding the laws of harvest, not work, not participate in the governing body you’re no better than a Cyclops’.  I can just imagine all the little Grecian boys sitting around thinking ‘did he just call us a Cyclops?’  Nothing has changed much in the past oh, thousand or so generations.

The Hero’s Journey is essentially the quest given to the hero.  He has a goal he must achieve in order to return home.  The goal is really just the outward symbol for the inner journey.  The real goal for the hero is for him to find his own inner strength, to overcome whatever inner demon is lodged within his own soul and defeat the evil inside of his heart.  Every step on the journey leads to the discovery of his own weakness and eventually he gathers enough knowledge, resources and power to overcome this demon and defeat it.  In order to defeat this inner demon the hero needs to go into the inner recesses of his existence and find where the beast is hiding.  Usually this concept is demonstrated by the hero entering a cave or a cavernous underground and fighting the evil found in the darkness.  The battle here is the physical manifestation of the hero’s inner fears.  It is only when the hero overcomes his own fears can he truly confront the antagonist in the real world.

The hero needs to overcome the final obstacle facing humanity.  The hero needs to overcome Death.  In the Hero’s Journey the only way the hero can return home is if he dies and is born again.  This death can be physical or symbolic.  In this phase of the journey the hero needs to realize his fear of death is just the fear of another unknown.  He needs to accept death as just another step on the journey.  This final obstacle is the only thing holding him back from completing his journey.  Once he confronts death, and faces it down, he no longer fears what the enemy can do to him.  If the hero no longer fears death evil can no longer harm him.  “What’s the worst you can do to me?” The hero asks.  “I’ve already died and the afterlife isn’t all that bad.  Come and get me.”  The final battle is glorious because the hero holds nothing back and the antagonist is now the one who is afraid.  He no longer holds any power over the hero because there is nothing more to fear.  This is why the hero always wins, not because he’s so righteous, but because he’s not afraid.  Although the death and rebirth can vary in length of time the hero is traditionally in the tomb for three days.

All throughout this journey the hero has confronted evil, overcome weakness, and learned what it is to be a good Greek, or soldier, or American, or Christian or any other iconic symbol representing a contributing member of acceptable society.  Once he has overcome the evil he still needs to return home and clean house.  We talked about this concept in the chapter on falling action and resolution.  The hero needs to prove he is worthy of ruling his kingdom, no matter how big or small this kingdom may be.  The proverbial house cleaning is nothing more than a demonstration of his worthiness and reclamation of his throne. Although his exploits may have been well documented he needs to prove he has learned his lesson and can now rule the universe, or at least be willing to take his place in it.