The “Heroic Cycle”
 The “Heroic Cycle” is a pattern that most
action and adventure books or movies
follow. It shows the progression of the
hero’s life from a young man to adulthood
by undergoing incredible trials. This cycle
was discovered by Joseph Campbell. The
Odyssey is one of the oldest written texts
that so closely follows this cycle
1. Call: Return to Ithaca after the Trojan
wars
2. Preparation: Leaving Troy and
making sacrifices to the Gods for
safe journey
3. Allies: Odysseus's crew and
Athena
4/5. Guardians of the Threshold/ Crossing the
Threshold: Polyphemus the Cyclops is the
guardian of the threshold and crossing the
threshold would be Odysseus telling him his real
name, because after that point Poseidon cursed
his journey.
10. Sharing the Gift: Being
reunited with his family
9. The Return: Odysseus
revealing himself to the
suitors, then kills them
8. Transforming Changes:
Odysseus becoming a poor beggar
in order to infiltrate his house.
7. Saving Experience: Odysseus does not eat
Helios’s cattle and is spared by Zeus
6. Road of Trials: Odysseus and is crew is first
stopped by the Ciconians, then his crew is lured
by the lotus eaters, they are then trapped by the
Cyclops Polyphemus, then the men get a gift of
wind an destroy it out of greed, they then are
attacked by the Laistrgonans, the crew is tricked
by Circe, they make a journey t the underworld to
talk to Teiresias , they have to avoid Sirens and
Charydbis and Scylla. Odysseus’s men are killed
by Helios because they ate his cattle and Odysseus
must go on alone to the island of Calypso and
eventually through several days of aquatic travel
to Phaiacia.
The Odyssey compared to others
 The Odyssey follows Joseph Campbell's
“Heroic Cycle” almost to a tee and even
though it was written thousands of years
ago. Since then many stories have been
written that also mirror the cycle. The Harry
Potter series is an example of the “Heroic
Cycle” being used in the world of literature
today!
Harry Potter Heroic Cycle
1. The Call: Harry gets
an acceptance letter from
Hogwarts
2. Preparation: Harry attends
Hogwarts for six years
learning about his past ands
special abilities
3. Allies: Ron and Hermione,
Harry’s two best friends, along
with Dumbledore’s Army and
Dumbledore himself
4/5. Guardians of the Threshold/
Crossing the Threshold: the guardian
of the threshold would be Dumbledore
because he first tells Harry about
destroying Horocruxes in order to kill
Dark Lord Voldemort. Crossing the
threshold would be Harry and His
friends leaving school to search for
Horocruxes
10. Sharing the Gift: By
defeating Voldemort Harry
makes the entire world safer
for humanity
9. The Return: Harry retunes to Hogwarts and
kills Voldemort in a one on one combat
8. Transforming Changes: Harry comes back to
life because only the piece of Voldemort inside
him was defeated
6. Road of Trials: Harry and his
friends Ron and Hermione search
for months for the remaining of 7
Horocruxes (pieces of
Voldemort’s soul that he broke
off ) in order to make Voldemort
vulnerable enough to kill him.
They finally find all but one
Horocrux and have to return to
Hogwarts to kill it.
7. Saving
Experience:
Harry realizes
that he is actually
the eighth
Horocrux and he
must die in order
for Voldemort to
die, so Harry
sacrifices himself
for the good of
the whole
Works Cited
• “Acceptance Letter.” image. TheDailyDot. N.p.. 2011. Web. 2 May
2012. <http://www.dailydot.com/news/harry-potter-etsy/>.
• “Deathly Hallows.” image. SnitchSeeker.com. N.p.. 2009. Web. 2 May
2012. <http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potternews/new-harry-vs-voldemort-final-battle-photos-harry-andhagrid-deathly-hallows-promos74196/index4.html>.
• “Dumbledore’s Army.” image. Harry Potter Wiki. N.p.. N.d Web. 2 May
2012.<
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Dumbledore%27s_Army>.
• “Horcrux.” image. HarryPotterWiki. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Horcrux>.
Works Cited (cont.)
• “Odysseus and Cyclops.” image. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May 2012.
<http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/L8.3.html>.
• “Odysseus and Mentor.” image. Observed. N.p.. 29 August
2010. Web. 2 May 2012. <
http://doug-stern.com/blog/tag/tangible/>.
• “Odysseus.” image. About.com. N.p.. N.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/odys
sey1/ss/062508POdyssey_9.htm>.
• “Trojan Horse.” image. AltraPoint. N.p.. 26 August 2011. Web.
2 May 2012. <http://altrapoint.com/2011/08/mytholog
y-trojan-war/>.