THE HERO CYCLE

(Abstracted From Joseph Campbell's hero with a Thousand Faces)

The notion of the Hero Cycle is fully developed by Joseph Campbell in what is frequently
called his best book ever, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Published in 1949; this text
continues to be the most fully developed examination of the Hero as he/she appears throughout
the world. Surprising in some senses and reassuring at the same time is the realization that
beyond cultures beyond the individual, and beyond the specific event, Heros the world over
have some common, that is shared; characteristics. No wonder, then, when George Lucas
sought to create the story of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Lucas turned to the master of
myth, Joseph Campbell. And, all the glitz, glamor, and computer graphics aside; Star Wars is
a characterization of the progress of the Hero, and as such may help to explain why the film
enjoyed such world wide success.
According to Campbell, Heros develop in stages, whether the hero is Native
American, African, Welsh, or Chinese, each hero passes through phases which change the
adventurer in many visible and invisible ways and that ultimately return him/her to his
starting place-though "e/she is change-.: and brings with him/her the boons of the journey.
The following is an abbreviation of what Campbell calls the Hero Cycle.
Departure
The Call to Adventure:
There are several ways the adventure may begin: one may stumble into an adventure, that is
without intending, one may find him/herself in an unfamiliar place and facing an unfamiliar
challenge. One might think of such things as one's happening upon a burning building from
wherein are voices calling for help or one happens upon good or bad luck and has to
redefine him or herself in relation to this discovery. In the blunder, comes the call and the:
caller is known as the herald of the call.
Some calls to adventure are more overt, that is one is requested by tribe or community
to perform and life-giving or life-saving task, such as happens in the The: Little Tailor or Luke
Sky Walker in Star Wars.
Refusal of the call:
Often the call to adventure is refused, put off; denied. Those who refuse the call are frequently
trying to hold on to what is familiar to them, trying to keep the world from changing, but are in
the end left to watch the deflowering of their world-view. But, just as frequently, the call may
come again, and again, and again, until purposefully or accidently the adventure is begun or
the call goes ultimately unanswered.'
For those who respond to the call, there is help.
Supernatural Aid:
F
or those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a
protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets
against the dragon forces he is about to pass" (69).
Yet, all is not promised, for the adventurer must find a use for the guide or amulets
which are both helpful and dangerous and will lead the adventurer into realms until then
unforseen, unconscious (a personification of his destiny (77)), mystical. For Luke: perhaps his
uncle; the amulet, the Force or the light saber.
Crossing the First Threshold:
With guide and talismans, the adventurer encounters the threshold guardians: "the entrance to
the zone of magnified power"(77), Crossing this threshold, often portrayed as a doorway,
portal, state-of-mind, the adventurer steps out beyond t he boundaries of the village, beyond
the boundaries of accepted truths; perhaps, beyond Good and .Evil (Neitzsche). Beyond the
threshold is the New World.
Belly of the Whale:
Beyond the threshold, the adventurer is lost, beyond reason,' unfamiliar with the tools
needed to progress. The adventurer is "swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to
have died" (90). At this point in the progress, the adventurer must abandon what was-the
laws of nature, the: knowledge of self-one must die in order to be reborn (Sartre,
"Existentialism is a Humanism"). Here, the adventure must acquire new insight, the codex or
rosettes stone of this new life.
Initiation
The Road of Trials:
This segment of the Hero Cycle is often the most exciting. Here the adventurer encounters the
challenges of the journey. Here the adventurer must find uses for the amulets and advice
provided by the benefactor encountered prior to the hero's moving toward the threshold Or,
Campbell, notes, the adventurer's promise of success is sometimes more ubiquitous, a
pervading sense of goodwill.
The challenges of the Road of Trials are enhancements, continuations of the Threshold
crossing, that is, while there are surprising obstacles to be overcome and dragons to be slain,
the question remains as to whether or not the adventurer will be able to overcome him or
herself. "Meanwhile there will be a multitude of preliminary victories, unretainable ecstasies,
and momentary glimpses of the wonderful land"(109).
Meeting with the Goddess:
Meeting the Goddess usually comes "when all the barriers and ogres have been
overcome" ( 109). This "mother" goddess encompasses both extremes of woman: the
creator and the destroyer: the nubile beautv and the old, menopausal_ hag. She makes
herself visible to the extent of the observers comprehension. The is the "guide to the
sublime acme of sensuous
adventure" (116). Campbell goes on to note, "The hero who can take her as she is, without
undue commotion but with the kindness and assurance she requires, is potentially the king, the
incarnate god, of her created world" (116).
The hero must recognize the full, dualistic, self-reflective nature of the mother figure
in himself. By incorporating this apprehension into his "self," the hero achieves a balance.
This woman never becomes more than the hero, but promises: more to the hero who
can know her totality. She frees him and is the motivation for the hero's going on, beyond the
initiation.
Woman as Temptress:
The woman as temptress appears after the "mystical marriage of the queen goddess" (120).
When the hero realizes his paternal powers, takes his place as capable of husbanding his
mother, there seems to be post-victory depression, lull, and what was once a goal becomes a
tormentor.
Tnis temptress is in many ways a distraction from The Good. The temptations may
represent the hero's uncertainties. These uncertainties are a glitter of misdirection that serve
to keep the hero from reconciliation with the father, with whom the hero now shares the
goddess.
Atonement with the Father:
The hero at some point must make peace with the Father God. As the father is possessor of
the secrets to control and learns the secret agonies of God.
Once the son knows the secrets of the father, the world is at hand and the hero can
become the world redeemer. He will transcend his obsession with the physical world's revulsion
and see through to the spiritual-God is Love.
Apotheosis:
As the hero becomes. one with the Father, so the hero must also become one with his other
self, his female self, Yin with Yang_ 1n this unification the hero goes beyond self-focused
success and reaches out the whole of his society. "_ . . the meaning of the bisexual god ... He is
the mystery of the theme of initiation. We are taken from the mother, chewed into fragments
and assimilated to the world-annihilating body of the ogre for whom all the precious forms
and beings are only the courses of feast" (162). That is, the hero is both feast and feaster,
Father and Mother, the essence of both good and' bad; the hero is the creator and the created.
Recognition of the fatherly qualities pass on into a recognition that one is the father. The hero
is now godlike, temporal and eternal, and the bestower and the bestowed.
The Ultimate Boon:
"A life-transmuting trophy" ( 19
3
)).
As the godhead, the hero can brim the ch.Crr ()/ /t/e. This gift_ often as not an insight. is the
prize
of the adventure. It Is a gift for one and all at the same time. It is oven the gift of life,
an awareness of the eternity of things.
The Ret ur n:
"The full round, the norm of the monomyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of
bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or his sleeping princess, back into the
kingdom of humanity, where the boon may redound to the renewing of the community, the
nation, the planet, or the ten thousand worlds" (193 ).
Refusal of the Return:
Magic Flight:
" . . . if the trophy has been attained against the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero's
wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or demons, then the last stage of the
mythological round become a lively, often comical pursuit. . . [with] marvels of magical
obstruction and evasion" (197).
Rescue from without:
Return Threshold:
Master of Two Worlds:
This phase of the hero's journey is evident in the hero's "Freedom to pass back and forth across
the world division" (229)_ Campbell goes on to cite Nietzsche. . . "The Cosmic Dancer does
not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another"
(9).
_
Freedom to Live: