There and Back Again: The Hero’s Journey

Vercingetorix is a national hero in France, but his life was more Freytag’s Pyramid than Hero’s Journey.

I my last post I discussed Gustave Freytag’s famous pyramid, which is often used and mis-used by screenwriters even now, over 150 Years since its invention (or I prefer discovery). In this post I will discuss another very popular trope called the Hero’s Journey. Which is also often used and mis-used by writers of all stripes.

Like Freytag’s pyramid, the Hero’s Journey is best applied to certain stories, in particular the single-hero adventure tale that generally has a happy ending: The hero returns home victorious (think Luke Skywalker.)

The Hero’s journey was developed by Joseph Campbell (1984-1987) and laid out in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, First published as an academic treatise by the Boddington Foundation in 1949.

Campbell was a professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College and as a young man travelled to India and became fascinated by the mythology there. He recognized that the Indian myths, though apparently isolated from Western stories, held many themes in common with them. On graduating college with a degree in Medieval Literature he spent five years in his family’s cabin reading and studying stories from all over the world. He discovered that stories, especially mythology had several common tropes across many cultures. The Hero with a Thousand Faces was his attempt to explain his theories. It might have ended at that, with Campbell living out a quiet academic life, except that over 20 years after it was published a little movie called Star Wars (you may have heard of it) hit screens across the world. Its creator, George Lucas, mentioned that he used the principles in Campbell’s book as a template for his story. Campbell was immediately launched into prominence as a story guru, and neither he nor Lucas ever looked back.

Campbell’s book is not an easy read, and his idea of the hero’s Journey, which he calls The Adventure. Or the Monomyth, Is complicated. Luckily, John Yorke (1962—) simplified it into 12 steps in his book Into the Woods (Overbrook Press, 2015) and it was further simplified by Dan Harmon (1973—) in his Story Circle, which we will discuss in a later post.

The Yorke version consists of twelve plot points and is usually pictured in a circle. The story advances in a clockwise fashion around the circle (though in Campbell’s version the path is reversed.)

I will lay out the plot points below, and as a way of showing the universality of the trope, I will apply it to the Bible story of the Exodus.

Plot Point One: The Ordinary World

This is where we find our hero living his normal everyday life. He is an orphan working on is uncle’s water farm, a hobbit enjoying his life in Hobbiton. Often something is bothering him; he wants more out of life than his dull hum drum existence, or he feels he is destined for greatness, Often, he has a problem that he is running away from.

In the Book of Exodus: We see Moses on the lamb. Literally, tending his father-in-law’s sheep, but it wasn’t always this way. He was once an up-and-comer in Egyptian society until he killed a slave driver for mistreating a slave. He is hiding out from his accusers.

Plot Point Two: The Call to Adventure: Something happens to disrupt the hero’s life: It may be a visitation from a Wizard, a hologram projected from a newly acquired robot, or some other event that requires the hero to leave his home and face a challenge of some sort.

The Exodus: Moses is out tending sheep one day and sees a bush that is on fire, but not being consumed. He approaches the bush and the voice of YHWH emerges from the conflagration and tells him to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from the Pharoah.

Plot Point Three: Refusal of the Call: The hero tries to avoid the challenge. She’s too weak, too scared, too young, etc.

The Exodus: Moses tell YHWH that he can’t go. He is inarticulate and a stutterer, and the Egyptians will laugh at him.

Plot Point Four: Meeting the Mentor: Just when the Hero feels he is over his head and can’t do the job, someone appears who will assist him on his journey. He may be given special knowledge, A talisman, or a magic device like an invisibility ring, or a Laser sword that will help him on his way.

The Exodus: YHWH tells Moses that Aaron will go with him and speak for him if necessary. He is given a magic staff that he can use to perform miracles before the Pharoah to show that YHWH means business.

Plot Point Five: Crossing the Threshold: Our hero finally sets off on her quest, often after a period of preparation proceeding the journey. He may go off to a nearby town to hitch a ride to another planet, or set off with his crew to destroy a magic ring. He crosses from the Ordinary World to the Special World, where things are often topsy-turvy.

The Exodus: Moses sets off with his family for Egypt to face the Pharoah.

Plot Point six: Tests, Allies, Enemies: The hero is confronted with ever more difficult tests, but also may gain some new allies; a renegade space-ship captain and his fuzzy buddy, or a motley crew of dwarves, elves and mercenaries.

The Exodus: Moses engages in a battle of wills with the Pharoah and his wizards. He finally gets the Pharoah to relent and release the Israelites, but the fickle Pharoah quickly has a change of heart and sends the army after them.

Plot Point Seven: Approaching the Innermost Cave Our Hero faces a threat to his being, either physical, mental or both. He must face up to the danger. He may have a period of preparation before entering. He may have to fight the urge to keep the magic ring and all its power, or he may enter an actual cave and face his enemy, only to find out it is himself.

The Exodus: Moses climbs up the mountain to meet with YHWH, even though he knows if he looks on His face he will die.

Plot Point Eight: Ordeal: A metaphorical “death” the hero must endure in order to be resurrected. It may be physical, emotional, or psychological.

The Exodus: Moses battles with YHWH for forty days, and finally returns to his tribe with the Ten Commandments only to find his people have turned from the LORD. In a fit of rage, he smashes the Ten commandments. (for those of you keeping score, this signifies the death of civilization).

Plot Point Nine: Seizing the Sword (the Reward) Our hero survives death and is transformed into a new state of being. Her reward may be a valuable physical object, new idea, a secret, or insight. She may finally understand the evil power of the ring, or may be accepted into a secret society of mystical warriors.

The Exodus: Moses returns to the mountain and is given a new set of the Commandments for his people.

Plot Point Ten: The Road Back The hero prepares for the trip home. He must decide between self-preservation and a higher cause.

The Exodus: Moses leads his people to their new home in the Promised Land (this scene is out of place from the Hero’s Journey)

Plot Point Eleven: Resurrection: Our hero faces their final challenge and emerge a changed person.

The Exodus: Moses faces off with YHWH to save his people from YHWH’s wrath

Plot Point Twelve: Return with Elixir Our hero returns from her journey a changed person. He may bring new hope, new Knowledge, or salvation to those left behind.

The Exodus: Moses returns from his ordeal with YHWH with the new tablet of the Ten Commandments. The people notice that his face is glowing from being in His presence. He has struggled with the Lord and come out victorious. His people have been spared and given a new chance at becoming a civilized people.

Writing the Monomyth

The Journey is just a guideline. You do not have to include all the steps, nor complete them in the same order.

A given story may have more than one journey. There may be successive journeys, or parallel journeys by different characters.

Some steps may be repeated.

This may seem formulaic. it is important not to try to fit your story to the template. Go ahead and write your story and then compare it to the template to see if your tale can be enhanced by adding or deleting certain plot points.

This is a recipe, not a formula. Like all recipe’s you may feel free to add or delete ingredients, make substitutions, or change quantities of ingredients to make it your own.

I my last post I discussed Gustave Freytag’s famous pyramid, which is often used and mis-used by screenwriters even now, over 150 Years since its invention or I prefer discovery). In this post I will discuss another very popular trope called the Hero’s Journey. Which is also often used and mis-used by writers of all stripes.

Like Freytag’s pyramid, the Hero’s Journey is best applied to certain stories, in particular the single-hero adventure tale that generally has a happy ending: The hero returns home victorious (think Luke Skywalker.)

The Hero’s journey was developed by Joseph Campbell (1984-1987) and laid out in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, First published as an academic treatise by the Boddington Foundation in 1949.

Campbell was a professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College and as a young man travelled to India and became fascinated by the mythology there. He recognized that the Indian myths, though apparently isolated from Western stories, held many themes in common with them. On graduating college with a degree in Medieval Literature he spent five years in his family’s cabin reading and studying stories from all over the world. He discovered that stories, especially mythology had several common tropes across many cultures. The Hero with a Thousand Faces was his attempt to explain his theories. It might have ended at that, with Campbell living out a quiet academic life, except that over 20 years after it was published a little movie called Star Wars (you may have heard of it) hit screens across the world. Its creator, George Lucas, mentioned that he used the principles in Campbell’s book as a template for his story. Campbell was immediately launched into prominence as a story guru, and neither he nor Lucas ever looked back.

Campbell’s book is not an easy read, and his idea of the hero’s Journey, which he calls The Adventure. Or the Monomyth, Is complicated. Luckily, John Yorke (1962—) simplified it into 12 steps in his book Into the Woods (Overbrook Press, 2015) and it was further simplified by Dan Harmon (1973—) in his Story Circle, which we will discuss in a later post.

The Yorke version consists of twelve plot points and is usually pictured in a circle. The story advances in a clockwise fashion around the circle (though in Campbell’s version the path is reversed.)

I will lay out the plot points below, and as a way of showing the universality of the trope, I will apply it to the Bible story of the Exodus.

Plot Point One: The Ordinary World

This is where we find our hero living his normal everyday life. He is an orphan working on is uncle’s water farm, a hobbit enjoying his life in Hobbiton. Often something is bothering him; he wants more out of life than his dull hum drum existence, or he feels he is destined for greatness, Often, he has a problem that he is running away from.

In the Book of Exodus: We see Moses on the lamb. Literally, tending his father-in-law’s sheep, but it wasn’t always this way. He was once an up-and-comer in Egyptian society until he killed a slave driver for mistreating a slave. He is hiding out from his accusers.

Plot Point Two: The Call to Adventure: Something happens to disrupt the hero’s life: It may be a visitation from a Wizard, a hologram projected from a newly acquired robot, or some other event that requires the hero to leave his home and face a challenge of some sort.

The Exodus: Moses is out tending sheep one day and sees a bush that is on fire, but not being consumed. He approaches the bush and the voice of YHWH emerges from the conflagration and tells him to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from the Pharoah.

Plot Point Three: Refusal of the Call: The hero tries to avoid the challenge. She’s too weak, too scared, too young, etc.

The Exodus: Moses tell YHWH that he can’t go. He is inarticulate and a stutterer, and the Egyptians will laugh at him.

Plot Point Four: Meeting the Mentor: Just when the Hero feels he is over his head and can’t do the job, someone appears who will assist him on his journey. He may be given special knowledge, A talisman, or a magic device like an invisibility ring, or a Laser sword that will help him on his way.

The Exodus: YHWH tells Moses that Aaron will go with him and speak for him if necessary. He is given a magic staff that he can use to perform miracles before the Pharoah to show that YHWH means business.

Plot Point Five: Crossing the Threshold: Our hero finally sets off on her quest, often after a period of preparation proceeding the journey. He may go off to a nearby town to hitch a ride to another planet, or set off with his crew to destroy a magic ring. He crosses from the Ordinary World to the Special World, where things are often topsy-turvy.

The Exodus: Moses sets off with his family for Egypt to face the Pharoah.

Plot Point six: Tests, Allies, Enemies: The hero is confronted with ever more difficult tests, but also may gain some new allies; a renegade space-ship captain and his fuzzy buddy, or a motley crew of dwarves, elves and mercenaries.

The Exodus: Moses engages in a battle of wills with the Pharoah and his wizards. He finally gets the Pharoah to relent and release the Israelites, but the fickle Pharoah quickly has a change of heart and sends the army after them.

Plot Point Seven: Approaching the Innermost Cave Our Hero faces a threat to his being, either physical, mental or both. He must face up to the danger. He may have a period of preparation before entering. He may have to fight the urge to keep the magic ring and all its power, or he may enter an actual cave and face his enemy, only to find out it is himself.

The Exodus: Moses climbs up the mountain to meet with YHWH, even though he knows if he looks on His face he will die.

Plot Point Eight: Ordeal: A metaphorical “death” the hero must endure in order to be resurrected. It may be physical, emotional, or psychological.

The Exodus: Moses battles with YHWH for forty days, and finally returns to his tribe with the Ten Commandments only to find his people have turned from the LORD. In a fit of rage, he smashes the Ten commandments. (for those of you keeping score, this signifies the death of civilization).

Plot Point Nine: Seizing the Sword (the Reward) Our hero survives death and is transformed into a new state of being. Her reward may be a valuable physical object, new idea, a secret, or insight. She may finally understand the evil power of the ring, or may be accepted into a secret society of mystical warriors.

The Exodus: Moses returns to the mountain and is given a new set of the Commandments for his people.

Plot Point Ten: The Road Back The hero prepares for the trip home. He must decide between self-preservation and a higher cause.

The Exodus: Moses leads his people to their new home in the Promised Land (this scene is out of place from the Hero’s Journey)

Plot Point Eleven: Resurrection: Our hero faces their final challenge and emerge a changed person.

The Exodus: Moses faces off with YHWH to save his people from YHWH’s wrath

Plot Point Twelve: Return with Elixir Our hero returns from her journey a changed person. He may bring new hope, new Knowledge, or salvation to those left behind.

The Exodus: Moses returns from his ordeal with YHWH with the new tablet of the Ten Commandments. The people notice that his face is glowing from being in His presence. He has struggled with the Lord and come out victorious. His people have been spared and given a new chance at becoming a civilized people.

Writing the Monomyth

The Journey is just a guideline. You do not have to include all the steps, nor complete them in the same order.

A given story may have more than one journey. There may be successive journeys, or parallel journeys by different characters.

Some steps may be repeated.

This may seem formulaic. it is important not to try to fit your story to the template. Go ahead and write your story and then compare it to the template to see if your tale can be enhanced by adding or deleting certain plot points.

This is a recipe, not a formula. Like all recipe’s you may feel free to add or delete ingredients, make substitutions, or change quantities of ingredients to make it your own.