THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES — Monomyth and the Hero’s Journey
INTRODUCTION
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”
In today's article, we'll take a dive into the structure of fictional stories by following the hero's cycle.
In all the adventures we tell, there is usually one motif or narrative that, some people may have noticed, keeps repeating itself. This might be because stories are influenced by other stories. These plots may also be the best way to send a certain message home or share our experiences. Then again, perhaps there just happens to be something very human about these plots.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the story of these stories. This book, originally published by Joseph Campbell, investigates the fact that despite their superficial differences, most stories share a very similar structure.
You know the deal; it's the sort of story where an imaginary kingdom falls into ruin. It's where our hero sets off on a journey to kill the dragon and take the magical or divine boon, returns home, and brings prosperity back to his people.
Stories that follow the hero cycle are not only limited to fiction. They are also found in mythological tales and are present in almost every religion, big or small. In this article, we'll briefly analyze this "hero cycle" and all its components. But beyond that, and maybe most importantly, we'll reflect on what those stories mean, why they are important, and why we seem to care so much about them. I want to avoid making story writing formulaic and cold. On the contrary, my goal is to bring those stories back to life—to find a deeper understanding and meaning behind the physical deeds they often portray.
But before we do all that, we should start by getting to know our protagonist.
Who is a hero? The hero, as we see it here, is someone who exceeded the normal range of accomplishments. He went somewhere or did something that most people are not willing to do or go. His journey is not common, and that's what makes the hero special. Often, that's also what makes the story of his journey worth telling.
Not all heroes wear capes and brandish swords, though. We can have heroes of two kinds; there is a physical hero, the one who slays monsters, defeats evil, and saves the city. But there is also a spiritual hero. He is the one that slays his inner demons and who explores the most inner parts of his psyche to find wisdom, only to bring it back and share it with the community. Both heroes, to truly be such, must bring their gifts back and share them to help improve society.
After his journey, the hero will be forever changed, and even when returning home, the effects of the adventure will remain inside of him.
In the following chapters, we will first analyze the hero's physical journey and how the story is structured around it. Second, we'll cover the same adventure but focus on the inner growth of the hero in his journey. Last, we'll discuss one particular set of stories—myths—and cover their importance in shaping culture and social ideas.
I've chosen two movies that we will follow during our description of the hero's journey: The Lord of the Rings, and Frozen 2. Some clips of those movies will be presented in the article so that we can ground the ideas visually.
This article is heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell's work on mythology and will be contoured by some of his clips where I felt that they would help convey my intended meanings.
THE PHYSICAL JOURNEY OF THE HERO
The hero's journey passes through two major realms that, depending on the story, can take on different representations: the surface and the underground, the land and the waters, the earth and the skies, the known and the unknown. They can have different names, but they always represent the same things. In these two realms, our story is usually divided into 3 acts: the departure, the initiation, and the return.
DEPARTURE
The hero's adventure begins with "just another day in the village." We are presented with the status quo and see the hero in his realm of competence, the one he knows and controls; this is home. We feel a sense of calm and tranquility. Everything is and will be as it has always been. We get acquainted with the character of our hero and the environment.
We can often meet our hero's mentor here: the wise, old, bearded man of the village, training our hero either physically or by giving him a moral compass. This mentor is the one preparing the hero for his big journey. He gives him not only powerful magic tools but also psychologically prepares the hero for what is ahead, strengthening his commitment to the quest.
One day, something occurs that has never happened before, and our hero receives his urge to action, the call to adventure. This can often happen in three different main ways:
The hero can choose to consciously start his adventure, physically hearing an external calling (by something or someone) or by hearing his inner voice calling. In either case, he is the one to consciously undergo the adventure.
Our hero has no choice; he gets thrown into the adventure against his will, and even if he refuses this journey at all costs, and heroes often do try, destiny has a way of forcing him on the right path.
The hero accidentally stumbles into it. He might get lost in the forest or fall into a cave in the ground (in Alice in Wonderland's case, that happens in the shape of a rabbit hole). The hero has now entered the unknown.
Once the adventure begins, there is no turning back. The hero is clearly out of place in this new environment and needs some help. It is here that he receives aid. Someone already living in this realm is here to help as a guide, at least for a portion of the path. Our hero crosses the threshold, and he's been put to the test.
INITIATION
This is the second step of the story. The hero enters the land of adventures, filled with trials that he needs to surmount if he is to have a chance of completing his quest. Trials can have a multitude of shapes and forms, from the fully physical tests of his abilities to something more psychological, such as overcoming fear or displaying courage, patience, or love.
Other times, the trials can take the form of temptations, corrupt wealth, corrupt power, the chance to turn back and return to the safety of his home, and giving up his quest in exchange for peace and security. Whatever the form of the trials, they are always tailored to the readiness and capacities of the hero. They are something we know our hero can conquer, and they play on the main character's weak points and fears.
It is here, on the road of trial, that our hero often meets the lonely ranger, the person who lives here in a cave or has been here for a long time. He is the practical guide to this place, helping the hero navigate the obstacles and maybe cheat some trials when he can. But eventually, our hero must separate from his companion and move toward his final trial alone.
It is at this point that the hero approaches the abyss, and he meets the last obstacle between himself and the completion of his quest. He must face this last challenge alone, showing the world that he can apply all the competencies and skills he has learned so far, and there is no cheating or help this time.
This final encounter often represents the hero's worst nightmare: his greatest phobia, the big scary dragon he feared since childhood. But the match between the evil overlord and our hero is not in our protagonist's favor. To our surprise, the hero fails, meets his doom, and dies (physically or metaphorically).
To defeat evil and be fully capable and mature, the old hero needs to die and be born again. Until now, the hero's journey led him to multiple transformations of body and consciousness that he has only half assimilated. It is in his death and rebirth that he finally makes his transformation complete and permanent.
In his new and final shape, the evil overlord is no match for the hero and is quickly defeated. The hero finally lays his hands on the boon he came for. He gets access to pure, uncorrupt power and fortune.
RETURN
The hero accomplished what he set out to do, and at this point, he needs to decide how he wants to conclude his story. Will he share his gift with the rest of humanity, or will he go back home and keep it for himself?
The story can often be resolved in three different ways.
Refusal of Return
Once you find bliss and enlightenment, leaving paradise and returning to this realm of existence is hard to share the gifts you fought so hard to get with the rest of the world. If he decides to come home, the hero sometimes needs to fight his way back to bring the fruits of his labor to humanity, where he can use it to improve society.
It's not uncommon that the hero decides it is not worth undertaking the trip back, instead remaining in bliss. The journey back can be dangerous, and it is not certain that people will appreciate what he fought so hard to share with them.
"The hero comes back with gold, and it turns into ashes" - JC
The Magic Flight
If the treasure is something he was not supposed to take, like the fire Prometheus stole from the gods, the hero might have to flee from their raging anger. If the hero took the treasure with the permission of the guardians instead, then he would be able to travel home as he pleases.
Rescue from Without
Just as the hero needed help initiating his journey, in dire times, the hero could need extra help getting out of trouble. When all energies are used to achieve his quest, the sage or the people themselves may support the hero by coming to get him and rescuing him as a sign of admiration and appreciation. On his way home, the hero needs to once again cross the threshold between the land of adventure and the homeland.
For the quest to be a success, the hero must maintain the wisdom and powers he's gathered from the underworld and integrate them into his daily life.
The hero will finish his adventure right in the land where it started but in a new and improved way. The village is saved and prosperous, peace is restored, the hero is stronger, and everything is better than ever. But he's not the same person, and he needs to find a new mode of being in the old world that suits both the place he lives in and his newly acquired wisdom and powers—at least until the hero is called to the next adventure, where the cycle will repeat once again.
THE INNER JOURNEY OF THE HERO
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
Our hero's journey is not only sprinkled with physical threats. One might argue that it also includes an even more important aspect: emotional challenges. If the hero's journey template has been duplicated so many times and still strikes our interest, it's probably because it speaks to us personally in ways we are not always conscious of. The true hero's journey transforms consciousness from the old self to the new one, passing from the known to the unknown and back again. These stories often represent the process of change and maturity.
Once again, let's quickly look at the hero's cycle from a slightly different perspective.
The journey of the hero starts from the place we call home. Home can be a safe and secure place for the hero, but this isn't strictly the case; home can also be disruptive and abusive. What is important is that what home always represents is the familiar. This is what the hero knows and can predict. Home can be painful, but it's a pain that we know and have learned to somewhat control and accept. This is where we find the hero's immature old self.
Essentially, this is us getting stuck in our routines. It is our stagnation. We might be surviving and nourishing the body, but our spirit is slowly rotting away in the monotony of daily life. Subconsciously, we want and need change, adventure, and new opportunities, but we are also scared of them. Our consciousness tries to protect us from the threats of new adventures by silencing the inner voice that is metaphorically calling us to them.
This is where the hero hears his first call to adventure, a voice calling him to the woods, a mysterious letter on his doorstep. But, just as we often do, he first tries to ignore the voices or burn the post letters, silencing them as much as he can. This usually has only one result. The voices keep getting louder and louder, or the letters more frequent and invading. They push the hero to the breaking point until he has no choice but to take the only option that will bring him peace of mind. He says yes to the calling voice, and we say yes to our need for change because we have no other option.
The journey now leaves the familiar territory and ventures into the unknown (the dark forests and caves), where we don't know what to expect. We don't know if we will be ok or if we will survive, physically and spiritually. The journey into the dark caves is often a representation of the subconscious, sometimes also represented by water, a dark forest, and so on. That is where all our scary monsters and the things we would rather not have to look at lie.
Here we have a drastic change in landscape, and the environment plays a part in telling the story. These landscapes represent an inexpressible mood that pervades the stage the hero finds himself in. They set the tone of the story at this point in time. Will the hero be able to retain his sanity, not get lost in the darkness, and find his way back into the light?
Venturing into change and the unconscious is no easy task, and we are often immediately met with challenges that put our strength and our commitment to the test. We often call for help in these dark times, from friends, professionals, and family, to anyone who had taken this journey before and helped us navigate the landscape.
The hero matures during these trials. He learns new tricks, overcomes fears, and becomes stronger. But behind all this superficial improvement, the hero (us) still retains his old self hidden within the core, the same self we met at "home" in the earlier stages of the story.
Sometimes we think we are changing and getting better, but we are simply tricking ourselves into using cheap "improvements" that don't address the core of the issue. When this happens, change won't last long. The hero and we don't often realize this until we meet our final challenge and enter a crisis. We enter our inner dragon's den, the scariest, most dangerous, most lethal obstacle of them all. The one place we denied and hoped to avoid at all costs, the issue we never want to acknowledge.
In this regard, the stories make it clear that we must enter the den alone. We can have people help us in our journey to maturity, but as Joseph Campbell said, "ultimately, the last trick has to be done by you.” You need to want this transformation. You need to be so committed to the process that you are ready to face your greatest fears, and nobody other than you can help if you can't help yourself.
This is the final test of the hero, to give up the last piece of his old, childish self, surrendering to the dragon and psychologically dying to the monster. From the death of our old self, we can be reborn anew, reforged from the ashes in a stronger, more mature version of ourselves from which we can slay our dragon and greatest fears.
And then, we must drink the dragon's blood to hear the song of the universe. That means we cannot forcefully kill our fears and scars by suppressing them; we must acknowledge, accept, and forgive them and integrate them into our new selves. We don't get better despite them, but because of them. It is only when the hero absorbs the power of the dragon that he realizes the dragon is within him and is an integral part of him, that its power is within him, and he's one within it, that he is the dragon. That is his final boon.
On his return home, the environment might remain the same, but the hero is deeply changed, and life at this point starts again. Home is not the same anymore. He has transcended himself and can now see new layers of reality that were previously hidden.
heroes and MYTHS
“All religions are true for their time, if you can find what the truth is and separate it from the temporal inflection”
Anthropologist Malinowski divided stories into three categories. First, we find the adventure stories, narratives of special experiences that are regarded as real or at least somewhat realistic. Second, we find the world of fairytales, these are stories that are seen as magical and fictitious. Both these categories of stories have the purpose of entertainment, their goal is to delight and captivate the listener, but they are never taken too seriously.
The third category of stories enters the realm of myth, which tends to have more complex repercussions.
The first service of myth is to guide the individual through the stages of life, helping the individual transition from childhood into a self-reliant adult. Then it goes from the productiveness of adulthood to the sunset of life.
Myths do not only consider the growth of the hero but also incorporate society in their stories. The second service of these tales is to shape society and its social order, to define what is valued, helping relate the individual to the group and the group to the individual.
The ultimate service of myth is to create and maintain a sense of awe and appreciation for the universe and its mysteries. In myths, we try to understand the origin of the universe and our place within it.
Myths act as metaphors that point to a truth deeper than our words can describe, a place those words can only point at but never enter. How do we then convey to other people a truth that cannot be expressed with words? How do you show people something that cannot be seen? Hear something that cannot be heard? That's what myths are for.
Think of it this way; when we tell a story, we aim to share something with others. There are two ways we can share things: we can share information as if we were in a class, or we can share experiences. If we want to share simple data that the other person should remember, we have no use in embellishing our words. But if we aim to share something deeper than simple words and numbers, if we want to share a particular experience made out of certain emotions, then we tell a story.
As we move forward in our life, we have experiences that change us. We face certain difficulties, and if we survive those trials, we grow stronger and wiser. Naturally, we will grow wise enough to consider it important to share that wisdom with our tribe. This is where we want our story to hit deeper than a simple recollection of facts; we want to share experiences and the wisdom contained within them so that the next generation can apply the same insight to their specific context.
If our story is impactful enough, then it might be told and spread for generations to come, becoming a myth. Whether the story is factually true or not doesn’t matter anymore as long as the wisdom it contains remains valuable.
THE TREE OF IMMORTAL LIFE
In all those old mythological stories, there is one place that the hero wishes to find, a place we can never enter but only contemplate. That place has been given different names: the garden of Eden, nirvana, the tree of immortal life … This is the place that transcends the duality representing this plane of existence, made of cold and hot, male and female, is and is not, time and space. This is the place that words cannot access but only point to.
For the ancient Greeks, before anything was, the universe was in a state of eternal nothingness that they called chaos.
For Christians, "when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate."
For the Chinese, we find the Tao (From Lao Tzu: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; The named is the mother of all things").
For the stoics, we find the Logos ("universal divine reason, existing within nature, yet transcending all oppositions and imperfections in the cosmos and humanity").
In myths, we find the eternal forces that go beyond time and space, from which all things were created in their mortal form as we know them. It’s a place from which our minds, which are limited by their own logic and category of thinking, remove us, but that we can sometimes glimpse through spiritual experiences.
From the unshaped form, duality is often created, light and dark, heaven and earth, sun and moon, male and female, life and death. To find God, follow the Tao, or reach enlightenment is to transcend the duality that fills our existence so we can experience eternity while recognizing ourselves as part of it. The ultimate journey of the hero is to reunite himself with the eternal forces of the transcendent.
“The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth. Art, literature, myth and cult, philosophy, and ascetic disciplines are instruments to help the individual past his limiting horizons into spheres of ever-expanding realization. As he crosses threshold after threshold, conquering dragon after dragon, the stature of the divinity that he summons to his highest wish increases, until it subsumes the cosmos. Finally, the mind breaks the bounding sphere of the cosmos to a realization transcending all experiences of form - all symbolizations, all divinities: a realization of the ineluctable void.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces
“The best things cannot be told, the second best are often misunderstood, because those are the one that point the one that cannot be told”
“When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process.”
“Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed.”
“Find out what a person fears most and that is where he will develop next.”
“The achievement of the hero is one that he is ready for, and it’s really a manifestation of his character. The adventure that he’s ready for is the one that he gets.”
“Deep down, below the surface of the average man’s conscience, he hears a voice whispering, “There is something not right,” no matter how much his rightness is supported by public opinion or moral code.”
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Bibliography and references
Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. Published: 1949.
Campbell, Joseph. The power of myth. Published: 1988.
Campbell, Joseph. The masks of god: Primitive mythology. Published: 1959.
Campbell, Joseph. The masks of god: Oriental mythology. Published: 1959.
Campbell, Joseph. The masks of god: Occidental mythology. Published: 1991.
Campbell, Joseph. The masks of god: Creative mythology. Published: 1968.
Campbell, Joseph. Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation. Published: 2004.
Campbell, Joseph. A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living. Published: 1991.
Jung, Carl. Modern man in search of soul. Published: 1933.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Published: 2012.
Malinowski, Bronisław. Myth in primitive psychology. Published: 1926.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Published: 1974.
https://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/theogloss/logos-body.html
Lectures:
Joseph Campbell - World Mythology & The Individual
Joseph Campbell and Jamake Highwater - Myth and Metaphor in Society
Joseph Campbell - The Myths and Masks of God
Joseph Campbell - Myths to Live By
Joseph Campbell - Man and Myth
Pictures:
Apollo and Diana Attacking the Children of Niobe by Thomas Hawk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/48970900617
Elephanta Caves:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trimurti,_Cave_No._1,_Elephanta_Caves_-_1.jpg#/media/File:Trimurti,_Cave_No._1,_Elephanta_Caves_-_1.jpg
Panorama Middle Ages Campaign by Schäferle
https://pixabay.com/photos/panorama-middle-ages-campaign-to-2962730/
Sunset Dragon Knight by rauschenberger:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/sunset-dragon-knight-fight-monster-3988885/
Black Dragon Statue Near Brown Building by Eva Bronzini
https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-dragon-statue-near-brown-building-5778816/
Black Hilt and Brown Sword by Susanne Jutzeler :
https://www.pexels.com/photo/closeup-photo-of-black-hilt-and-brown-sword-1383766/
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Tondo Minotaur:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tondo_Minotaur_London_E4_MAN.jpg
Otgonbayar Ershuu Buddha Painting:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otgonbayar_Ershuu_Buddha_Painting.jpg
Spartans:
https://depositphotos.com/408740332/stock-illustration-orange-black-figures-pottery-amphora.html
https://www.photojoiner.net/ for the photo edit
https://www.draw.io/ for the diagram
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