Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This video of Hero Notes is based on Joseph Campbell's Monomyth from his book the, The
Hero with a Thousand Faces. A hero's journey starts out with some type of extraordinary
birth or origins. This could be that the hero's parents are royalty or gods or that they come
from some mysterious background, or nobody's quite sure where the hero came from. But at
some point during the hero's life, he or she feels like they just don't quite fit in and
there's something more for them. So then they experience the Call to Action, which would
be the first occurrence in a chain of events that will separate the hero from home and
family. Anything that would show the person that there's more to this world than what
they're currently experiencing. Then usually once someone is given the opportunity to go
somewhere and prove themselves, they have all kinds of reasons for why they wouldn't
want to do it. The timings not quite right; it's going to cost them too much and they
may be afraid and loaded with excuses for why this can't really be accomplished. But
then at some point, the hero, or potential hero, meets a guardian or guide. This is someone
that gives them wise words or training, or something that will help them along the path
that might arise. Once the hero has that and he or she decides to go on the path, there's
a Threshold. This point-of-no-return, usually some kind of obstacle that pushes them closer
to their goal (or they would fail completely and we would never hear about them because
nobody tells stories about people who aren't heroes, generally). After the Threshold, the
hero faces a number of trials. Anything along the way that is a stumbling block to the final
battle or conflict. This is also called the Initiation. Once the hero has faced a number
of trials, they get to this final battle and achieve a Decisive Victory. The evil or whatever
circumstance they were looking to overcome has finally been defeated. But that's not
it. Sometimes they'll have to get home, and the trip home can be just as perilous as the
trip to defeating the evil to begin with. So the hero begins that path. Once the hero
returns, they usually bring back something in the form of a benefit to the community.
Either the people have been freed; there's something that will heal some kind of sickness;
the hero has achieved either the wealth or riches that were sought after. See if you
can think of how heroes you're aware of fit into this mold. One of the reasons you can
see this diagram play itself out over and over in all kinds of stories, from movies,
comic books, religious texts, mythology is because our own lives may fit into this model
as well. This is one of the oldest stories that we as humans tell and it’s that connection
to our own lives that makes it so popular today.