JOSEPH CAMPBELL’S HERO CYCLE

JOSEPH CAMPBELL’S JOURNEY OF A HERO
Based on The Hero with a Thousand Faces: a Theory for All the Ages.

= = = =
Gilgamesh Odysseus Aeneus Buddha Moses
Joseph Campbell, a historian/writer/linguist/mythologist, studied ancient texts and traveled the world to understand myths from both eastern and western cultures.
He noticed uncanny connections among the heroes of the ancient world.

THE MONOMYTH
“It will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told.”
(Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949.)
Campbell found connections and patterns among characters, which are called
ARCHETYPES . Writers should not be frozen by the fear of repeating the same old story, because every hero brings new details or circumstances that will interest the reader. The Hero Cycle is not a formula…it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon that humans have been repeating as long as stories have been told!

ARCHETYPES arch = first, orginal and type = model
Around the same time that Joseph Campbell was writing about the hero’s journey, Carl Jung theorized that different character types are a part of our psyche – we’re all telling the same story based on our
“collective unconscious.”
Archetypes:
The hero
The innocent
The caregiver
The explorer
The shadow
The anima/animus
The trickster
The child
The maiden

Modern-day writers and filmmakers often study Campbell’s work to create characters who represent archetypes like: the hero, the mentor, the villain, the trickster, etc.
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You’ve already experienced the hero cycle if you’ve seen or read:
• The Matrix
• Star Wars
• Excalibur
• Superhero movies like
Superman, Batman, etc.
• Pinocchio
• The Odyssey
• The Legend of King Arthur
• Indiana Jones movies
• Several biblical parables
• Aladdin (and most other
Disney movies)

Star Wars is often used as an example of the hero cycle because
George Lucas stumbled across a copy of Hero with a Thousand Faces and then consulted with Joseph Campbell as he developed his master blueprint for the films.

OVERVIEW OF THE HERO CYCLE
• Each chapter within the book Hero with a Thousand Faces can be interpreted as a substep of the hero cycle (there are 17 substeps).
• Some writers/mythologists have condensed the steps or they may call them by different names. The gist the hero’s tale is always the same!
• The steps of the hero cycle do not have to unfold in a specific order, but they do typically follow these three major steps: separation, initiation, and return.

Here’s a condensed version of the hero cycle that displays the most important steps!

Here’s a really, really, really condensed graphic image of the hero cycle!

HOW ARE YOU LIKE HARRY POTTER, FRODO BAGGINS,
AND KATNISS EVERDEEN?
Link to TED Ed Lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler#watch

CALL TO ADVENTURE
• There are 4 major types of calls :
1) Something has been taken: the quest is to find it
2) Something is “missing” in life: the quest is to find what is lacking
3) Honor has been sullied: someone’s good name or reputation must be restored
4) Something is not permitted: the quest is to right the wrongs of the world

CALL TO ADVENTURE
• Some heroes are willing to go on the adventure (like Harry Potter or
Ender); others are reluctant or unwilling, at least at first (like Bilbo
Baggins).
• “transformative crisis” v. gradual call
• heralds (often a stranger or an animal) may deliver the call
Harry’s call to adventure is announced via an animal (owls), then a stranger
(Hagrid).
Transformative crisis:
Prim’s name is called at the Reaping.

REFUSAL OF THE CALL
The hero may not be 100% on board right away!
• Look for an obvious negative reaction OR just a last moment of hesitancy before the hero leaves the ordinary world
• based on fears of the unknown or societal/familial/cultural constraints
• may be manifested through a regret or desire for normalcy
• the call may be refused on behalf of the hero by someone else
• can only result in stagnation, disintegration, and death, so this always leads up to an ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALL

"We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them...we don't want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.“
~ Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit

SUPERNATURAL AID (MENTORS AND HELPERS)
1) Mentors are protective figures who counsel or teach the hero.
2) Helpers or sidekicks are sometimes called the loyal companions .
3) Aid can arrive in the form of a magical object called a talisman (sword, map, helmet, ring, light saber, etc.)

MENTORS: Mentors don’t always wear pointy hats and long, white beards. Can you identify these mentors?

SIDEKICKS: Can you name the sidekicks for these heroes?

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
• passage must be earned by overcoming some kind of obstacle
• threshold is often blocked by an adversary or guardian who requires the hero to rethink the plan
• threshold = the territory between the known and the unknown

The Star Wars cantina scene is a famous “crossing the threshold” moment, because Luke encounters strange beings and must overcome obstacles to leave his ordinary life behind.
Click on the image above or on this link to see a Lego rendition of the cantina scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ieXVs3AfCQ

BELLY OF THE WHALE/INTO THE ABYSS
1) The final stage of leaving the ordinary and moving into the known world is called the BELLY OF THE WHALE (if the hero is in an enclosed womb-like space) or INTO THE ABYSS (if the hero is alone and wandering). It’s a time of contemplation, and often includes imagery of death (of the old self) and birth (of the hero, ready to face trials and challenges).
2) The “Belly of the Whale” step =
• a symbol of the womb
• a form of self-annihilation
• a near-death (or death of the old ways/the old self) and a resurrection

THE ROAD OF TRIALS
1) Common types of TRIALS include: brother battle, dragon battle, abduction/sea/night journeys, symbolic dismemberment or death.
2) Campbell noted that:
• tests may be physical or spiritual
• the trials become progressively more difficult
• the hero “discovers and assimilates his opposite either by swallowing it or by being swallowed” (Cambell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces).
3) Another test for our hero is facing TEMPTATION (often represented by a temptress character distracting the hero from the intended quest.)

THE ROAD OF TRIALS
The ultimate trial or challenge is called the Supreme Ordeal

“You mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?”
-- Wesley, The Princess Bride

MEETING WITH THE GODDESS
1) Be on the lookout for a female character who offers aid/nurturing/healing to the hero in a time of need.
2) Sometimes this character is a love interest, and the story incorporates a mystical marriage .
3) Sometimes the goddess is more of a fairy godmother/nurturer.
4) A hero may find intuition; a heroin may rely more on logic.

THE TEMPTRESS
1) the meeting with a woman may be another obstacle to overcome
2) woman = a symbol of life, so recognizing the woman as temptress = a revulsion of the flesh or earthly self

TRANSFORMATION
1) Ultimately, the hero must come to grips with the thing that held the most power over him in life. For many, that’s the father figure. In the
ATONEMENT stage, the hero becomes “at one” with himself and his new identity as a hero. He realizes (often after encouragement or recognition) that he has replaced his father – he is in control of his destiny.
2) APOTHEOSIS happens to some hero figures, when they reach a moment of such triumph that they temporarily feel god-like, like they can accomplish something that ordinary humans could not.
3) The ULTIMATE BOON is the realization of the quest, but it’s not always what the hero was looking for (love, truth, justice, etc.).

TRANSFORMATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_OMPrqhA_4

THE RETURN
1) REFUSAL OF THE RETURN: the hero may not feel ready to return to ordinary life (Nobody gets me!!)
2) RESCUE FROM WITHOUT: an outside source (sometimes supernatural) helps the hero return home safely
3) MAGIC FLIGHT: the journey home is often miraculously shorter than the journey away from home (a blessing from the gods)
4) MASTER OF TWO WORLDS: the hero reconciles their experiences on the journey and their existence in the everyday world

AND THE ADVENTURE NEVER ENDS…