The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

Joseph Campbell

SUMMARY:
Campbell’s seminal work argues that many notable myths from around the world
share the same fundamental structure. This core structure, known as the monomyth,
provides the outline or archetype of the character understood as the ‘hero’ and directs
the missions and quests that hero will undertake. The hero, a mythical or destined
individual sent out on a quest to obtain some object or achieve some goal, is not only a
character used to teach values and principles to those who listen to the myth. Campbell
argues that the hero also symbolically represents man’s psychospiritual quest to
connect this plane of existence with the spiritual world.
This ‘Hero’s Journey’ or ‘Myth Cycle’ is transcendent - it holds true across the
global and throughout time. This fact makes Campbell’s work able to delve into the
human experience, particularly in relation to essential human truths about love, fear,
trust, maturity, and loyalty. The text at times delves deeply into psychoanalysis of
various stages of the myth, moving past literary critique to interpretative symbology.
Campbell drew heavily from Freud and Jung to connect contemporary developments in
psychology with folklore studies and cultural analysis.
Campbell argues that myths provide the foundation for understanding how
societies cope with physical challenges (suffering and death) through the self-
awareness gains from describing hero’s pursuit of spiritual success. He concludes his
book by warning the reader that modern, Western societies appear to be abandoning
the self-understanding gained from appreciating myth, causing a disconnect between
our understanding of the physical and the spiritual. He prescribes a reinvigorated
interest in myth as a way of helping modern man reconnect to his psychological and
spiritual foundations.

IMPORTANT POINTS:
 According to Campbell, all cultural systems contain two core ideas: that there is a
spiritual world which runs parallel to the physical world and that connecting those
two worlds is the goal of the human experience. Myths are stories which help
humans discuss and comprehend that parallel world and its pursuit.
 The ‘Hero’s Journey’ is the monomyth (ultimate archetype) for all societies. It
follows a clear trajectory of Departure, Initiation, and Return, carefully explained
and demonstrated by Campbell in the first half of the book.
 The title of the book demonstrates the author’s core argument: though many
different societies have their own version of the hero, in the end, these are all just
 faces of the same archetypal character manifesting from the human
subconscious.
 One of the strengths of Campbell’s text is that he drew from examples across
many cultures and time periods. He compares them skillfully and uses these
examples throughout the text to illuminate his points. Unlike his contemporary
mythologists, Campbell did not limit himself to Western myths, instead proving
his theory was universal by integrating Asian, African, and Oceanic mythologies
into a discussion of the Western canon.

WALKTHROUGH:
The Hero With a Thousand Faces is a text which draws heavily from a wide
variety of mythical traditions around the world to present the theory of the monomyth -
the Hero’s Journey that helps man connect his physical life with the spiritual realm
through shared, universal experience. After the Prologue, Part 1 focuses on the Hero’s
Journey of the god-hero, seeking to fulfill some sort of quest before returning to his
homeland an improved man. Part 2 focuses on other universal myths, including the
myths relating to the man-hero, already enlightened, seeking to interact triumphantly
with his physical world. Campbell concludes with a call for more modern individuals to
embrace mythology, arguing that there is an inherent psycho-social benefit from tapping
into universal subconscious experiences through the exploration of mythical archetypes.

PROLOGUE: The Monomyth

1. Myth and Dream: Campbell begins by drawing from the work of psychologists
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who argue that the subconscious connects to individual
to all humans through universal shared experiences. Campbell argues that these
universal experiences that all humans face cause them to subconsciously express
universal ideas through stories, religions, and myths. The result is the creation of
archetypes - universally recognized broad narratives that everyone connects to, on a
subconscious level, because they resonate with key aspects of the human experience.
Campbell then progresses through several cases examples, comparing dreams
to myths, that demonstrate how archetypes are repeated in disparate situations
precisely because they help the observer cope with life experiences. He argues,
Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream; both
myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamics of
the psyche. But in the dream the forms are quirked by the peculiar
troubles of the dreamer, whereas in myth the problems and solutions
shown are directly valid for all mankind. (18)
He also introduces what he considers to be the most fundamental and important
archetype - the journey of the hero, which Campbell considers to be the monomyth (the
ultimate archetypal myth).
2. Tragedy and Comedy: here, Campbell briefly, and somewhat ineffectively, argues
that comedy and tragedy are one in the same because all comedy is celebration of joy
aside from suffering, and all tragedy is the celebration of pain that will eventually give
way to joy.

3. The Hero and the God: in this section, Campbell begins explaining his main
argument, the hero archetype. Campbell borrows the tri-part formula of rites of passage
from anthropologist Victor Turner and Arnold Van Gennep: separation, initiation, return.
These will serve as the organizational structure for Campbell’s outline of the stages of
the Hero’s Journey.
Campbell clearly articulates these three steps:
 A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
supernatural wonder
 Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won
 The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to
bestow boons on his fellow man. (27)
Campbell then broadly illustrates this argument using several well-known
mythical heroes (Buddha, Moses, and Jason) before moving to his discussion of the
structure of the book. He provides basic discussions of the character of the hero and his
destined adventure, then notes that he will delve into the psychological and symbolic
meanings behind the various steps of the journey.

4. The World Navel: Campbell argues that in all worldview mythical systems, there is a
central point, which serves as a core point from which all truth emanates. This ‘world
navel’ or epicenter is sometimes a geographic center or a high point. Campbell gives
examples from several world religions. He concludes by arguing that this navel
symbolically represents the subconscious, the shared understandings of humanity.

PART 1: The Adventure of the Hero

In this first part of the text, Campbell focuses on one type of hero he calls the
god-hero, who goes on a mystical, impossible journey to accomplish a profound and
magical goal. This monomyth exists in nearly all societies’ mythical systems.
It should be noted that the hero is always described or discussed by Campbell in
the masculine, though there is nothing inherent in the Hero’s Journey that necessitates
the hero being a male character.

DEPARTURE
1. The Call to Adventure: the Hero’s Journey begins with some specific event which
occurs. This event causes a change in circumstances that necessitates the hero to
begin the journey. Campbell illustrates this step by using the European fairytale of The
Frog Prince. He notes that there is often some archetypal character, which he calls the
‘Herald’, who calls on the hero to make the journey. Because of the event which kicks
off the story, “destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of
gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown” (52).

2. Refusal of the Call: immediately after the call to adventure, the hero will decline. In
some cases, Campbell notes, this is a physical refusal to answer the call to adventure;
in other cases, it is an emotional or psychological rejection of the hero’s destiny. The
hero usually ends up detained, trapped, or imprisoned, forced to come to terms with his
destiny. In

3. Supernatural Aid: the hero will accept the call, either by choosing or after a period of
refusal, and then he/she will meet a figure who will provide mental and spiritual
guidance. This figure does not need to be female, but often is a female because the
guide represents the maternal, protective nature of destiny. Sometimes, Campbell
notes, the figure can be a male trickster if the hero needs be deceived for the story to
work. This Oracle (an archetype) provides wisdom and guidance, giving direction to the
hero and orienting the quest.
Campbell provides a number of examples from Western mythology, including
both fairy tales like The Frog Prince and Biblical stories, but the lion’s share of this
section is spent dissecting an Arab myth about a prince. The reader is able to learn new
myths while relating to myths from their cultural imagination, a technique employed
heavily in the subsequent sections.

4. Crossing the Threshold: Campbell argues that the journey then begins with a physical
departure from the place of comfort for the hero. This often means a literal physical
departure from the hero’s homeland, and allows the hero to enter new environments
and face new challenges. Drawing from examples from sub-Saharan African and
Russian folklore, Campbell illustrates how the hero will usually face a terrible challenge
early on his journey. This evil force, unyielding guardian, or monumental physical task
will call into question whether or not the hero truly has the desire and courage
necessary to go on the journey. Defeating the guardian or conquering the physical
challenge presented to the hero will not only require physical skill, but often also
psychological and spiritual prowess.

5. Belly of the Whale: In order to continue on his quest, the hero must travel beyond the
known into the unknown. As soon as the hero passes beyond the threshold of the
guardian or dangerous challenge, he will be consumed or swallowed up either
figuratively or literally. Campbell writes, “the hero, instead of conquering or conciliating
the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have
died” (82).
 While this may sound like an odd premise, Campbell immediately lists a number
of examples which demonstrate his point: the Eskimo tale of the Raven; a Zulu fable;
the Irish Finn McCool; Little Red Ridinghood; Jonah and the Whale; Kronos swallowing
his children, etc. Campbell also illustrates examples where the hero is swallowed in a
more metaphoric sense, such as the Egyptian hero-god Osiris. In all cases, Campbell
argues, the goal is for the hero to need to be born again, transformed by his journey.

INITIATION
1. The Road of Trials: this section of the Hero’s Journey is, in many myths, the ‘meat’ of
the story. This section of the story consists of a series of trials and tribulations that the
hero must overcome using all his capabilities. Campbell writes,
once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream
landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a
succession of trials. This is a favorite phase of the myth-adventure. It
has produced a world literature of miraculous tests and ordeals. The
hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the
supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region.
(88)
Campbell argues that these trials exist so that the hero can be physically and
psychologically cleansed. He then dedicates a lengthy section to dream analysis of
modern dreams, arguing that modern society is still in need of mythical heroes in order
to experience the catharsis of the road of trials.

2. The Meeting with the Goddess: Campbell argues that the next stage of the Hero’s
Journey is an encounter built from a series of paired choices as the hero discovers a
woman with power. The hero will meet a female archetype (the Goddess) who will
change the trajectory of the quest. She will be described as:
 Either excessively beautiful or excessively ugly
 Either patient and kind or argumentative and cruel
 Either extremely maternal or violent toward children
The dichotomies occur, Campbell argues, because “woman, in the picture language of
mythology, represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who
comes to know... Woman is the guide to the sublime acme of sensuous adventure”
(105).
Campbell then argues that the hero will have one of two fates. Either he will
mistreat the goddess and be punished, or he will honor the goddess and be
enlightened. As Campbell notes, “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” (105). He illustrates these points with a number of
rich examples from cultures around the world, giving the reader an opportunity to enjoy
a number of myths familiar and new.
3. Woman as Temptress: Campbell then argues that the hero’s relationship with the
goddess always inevitably becomes tainted by man’s inability to separate the physical
world of the flesh with the spiritual world. He is again demonstrating the idea of the
woman as the totality of what can be known: first, she is the goddess, then she is the
temptress. In this brief section, Campbell uses examples as far flung as Hamlet,
Oedipus, and Cotton Mather to illustrate his point.

4. Atonement with the Father: after interacting with the compassionate if challenging
female character, the hero will encounter a father-like entity, powerful and mighty.
Campbell calls this archetype the ‘Ogre-Father.’ Campbell introduces this idea by
quoting from a sermon by Jonathan Edwards about a wrathful God. The hero must
come to terms with the aspects of his own character that remind him of his father. At
this stage, the hero is maturing into a figure that can connect with the spiritual realm and
interact with his own psychological identity.
This process, Campbell writes, is more like an initiation, and he walks the reader
through initiation myths from several cultures, including Christian mythology. He also
heavily discusses Christian ideas of God, examining the dual nature of the powerful
Father. He articulates this duality as the vengeful Ogre-Father of the Old Testament and
the loving compassionate-father of the New Testament. The Ogre-Father is also usually
portrayed as the opposite of the Goddess Mother.

5. Apotheosis: Campbell continues on this theme of duality in this next section, which
looks at how the hero deals with contradictions and opposites. He discusses the notion
of the Buddhist Boddhisattva as both enlightened and extant on Earth. He also
discusses characters which seem to embody both sides of a dichotomy, such as Adam
(whose rib turns into Eve), Hermaphrodite, and Shiva/Shakti.
Campbell returns to some of the psychoanalysis that began the book. He argues
that the female goddess and the male father figure represent Freudian concepts of the
ego and the libido. While Freud sees these two forces as oppositional, Campbell argues
that myth combines the two.

6. The Ultimate Boon: this stage is the ultimate goal of the Hero’s Journey - the
connection with the spiritual. This manifests as physical attainment of the object of the
quest, enlightenment for the noble seeker, or accomplishment of a goal which sets
events into motion. This moment is the connection of the two sides of the hero, a union
representing man’s struggle to reconcile the dualities of his life (joy/suffering, life/death,
nourishment/cruelty).
This lengthy section provides readers with numerous examples of this final stage
of the hero’s initiation. Campbell compares the Osiris myth of Egypt with the myths of
Vishnu, Maui, and Gilgamesh. He also looks at Daoist texts as well as Dante’s Divine
Comedy before returning to one of his most consistently used examples, the myth of the
Buddhist Boddhisattva.
He also argues that the purpose of myth is to help man to achieve his connection
with the spiritual by symbolically representing that experience. Campbell argues that,
“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”
(175). Though these expressions of the subconscious, man is able to more successfully
attain connection to the spiritual realm which exists parallel to his experience.

RETURN
1. Refusal of the Return: before examining how the hero returns to his homeland and
the starting place of the journey, Campbell briefly argues that there are some hero
myths that end after the ultimate boon. He notes, however, that in these cases, the hero
chooses to make the sacrifice or actively refuses to return, usually for some enlightened
reason. He draws examples from Christian saint myths and Hindu myths to demonstrate
this point.

2. The Magic Flight: for the majority of heroes on the monomythic journey, after
achieving their goal, they must return to their homeland, victorious. This journey back is
an adventure in and of itself. For heroes achieved their ultimate boon by pleasing the
powerful spirits within the myth, they will usually be protected and guided on their return
home.
More likely, however, the hero accomplished his ultimate boon in spite of some
powerful figure or force, and so his return journey will be fraught with dangers and
punishments for what he has done. Campbell also presents two interesting examples of
magical flights which compare compellingly: the Greek myth of Jason and the Golden
Fleece, and the Chinese myth of Izanagi.
Perhaps more importantly, Campbell argues that the struggles of the magical
flight are necessary to humanize the hero so that the person consuming the myth can
relate. Only by relating to the hero’s quest to unite the physical and spiritual worlds can
the consumer of the myth begin to reflect on his/her own spiritual understanding of the
world. Campbell notes that, “myths of failure touch us with the tragedy of life, but those
of success only with their own incredibility. And yet, if the monomyth is to fulfill its
promise, not human failure nor superhuman success but human success is what we
shall have to be shown” (191).

3. Rescue from Without: in some cases, the hero neither refuses to leave nor takes
flight; instead he is trapped and requires an outside ally to come to his rescue.
Campbell demonstrates this by comparing three compelling by very diverse myths:
 The Eskimo story of Raven
 The Japanese Shinto story of Amaterasu
  The Sumerian story of Inanna
His descriptions of all three myths are detail-rich and evocative. He engages in symbolic
analysis of the duality in each story as the hero struggles to connect his newfound
spiritual freedom with the physical limitations preventing him from taking flight.

4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold: in this section, Campbell reminds readers that
it is likely that when the hero returns to his homeland, with new learning and
enlightenment, he will likely be rejected or at least mocked for his new worldview. Thus,
the hero does not return home because he wants to, but because he is destined to. The
hero, even knowing his message will be rejected, returns anyway.
Campbell provides a detailed symbolic analysis of the myth of Rip Van Winkle.
He psychoanalyzes the story and describes Van Winkle’s sleep as a spiritual and
psychological withdrawal into the self, only to be forced to return and find himself at
odds with society when he awakens. Campbell notes that many mythological systems
have physical divides which protect heroes from complete reintegration with their home
societies, lest they forget their wisdom or lose the enlightenment gained in their journey.

5. Master of Two Worlds: Campbell argues that there are some myths in which the hero
gains a special ability to be able to move between the physical and spiritual worlds. He
says these are especially powerful heroes, both within their myths and as cultural
symbols, because of their ability to move between realms. “The myths do not often
display in a single image the mystery of the ready transit. Where they do, the moment is
a precious symbol, full of import, to be treasured and contemplated. Such a moment
was that of the Transfiguration of the Christ” (212).
Campbell continues by explaining how the Christ myth reflects the duality of the
physical and spiritual finally brought together: after the Christ crosses the threshold and
is rejected for his wisdom, he gains the ability to exist as both physical and spiritual,
body and spirit. Campbell then compares this myth to that of the Hindu hero Arjuna,
who is imbued with the ability to move between the physical and spiritual realms by the
god Krishna.

6. Freedom to Live: Campbell closes the Hero’s Journey with a denouement stage in
which the hero is able to return to the physical realm and reengaged with everyday life,
but with spiritual enlightenment and an understanding of the spiritual world parallel to
his own. The hero finds a balance between the ultimate duality: the physical and the
spiritual.

THE KEYS
Campbell closes out this half of the book, which outlines the Hero’s Journey, by
presenting a strong condemnation of Christianity. He argues that myths cannot be
trapped in their specific historical circumstances, and instead should be reimagined and
reinterpreted in the modern era. He argues that,
wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or
science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a
distant time or sky. Furthermore, it is never difficult to demonstrate that as
science and history mythology is absurd. When a civilization begins to
reinterpret its mythology in this way, the life goes out of it, temples
become museums, and the link between the two perspectives is
dissolved. (229-230)
He proceeds to argue extensively that modern Christianity is doing exactly this -
considering their myths only as historic tales, not adapting them for the modern era or
living according to their core principles. He argues that myths and rituals are the keys
which can open psycho-spiritual life, and exist in all major religions and belief systems,
if only their practitioners were willing to analyze their symbolisms.

PART 2: The Cosmogenic Cycle

In this section, Campbell focuses on certain classes of myths that appear to be
universal, as they exist in a wide variety of mythical systems across time and space. He
looks at types of myths which resonate in many societies such as creation myths and
the mother-womb myth. He also uses this part to discuss the other class of hero he
analyzes, the man-hero, who has already been provided with wisdom and security by
higher powers and must now learn lessons and pass values on to the group.

EMANATIONS
This section focuses on creation myths. First, Campbell continues his discussion
of myth and psychoanalysis by noting that, “With their discovery that the patterns and
logic of fairy tale and myth correspond to those of dream, the long discredited chimeras
of archaic man have returned dramatically to the foreground of modern consciousness”
(236). He argues that the main difference between dreams and myths are that dreams
are expressions of the individual subconscious whereas myths are the expressions of
the universal human subconscious.
Campbell argues that myths, through their material and their retelling, create
cosmogenic cycles of emerging, living, and returning, which relate to physical realities.
The individual experiences these cycles in the brief period of their life, in the process of
the universal round. Even non-human objects experience their own version of the
universal round within the physical experiences of the universe.
Then Campbell focuses on the four steps of emergence/creation that appear in
most mythological systems:
 "Out of the Void - Space" - creation usually begins out of silence or nothingness.
Campbell uses examples from the Maori, Hebrews, and the Chinese.
  "Within Space - Life" - out of the nothingness, some source of power creates the
basic physical and spiritual aspects of the universe. Campbell notes that, “the
first effect of the cosmogonic emanations is the framing of the world stage of
space; the second is the production of life within the frame: life polarized for self-
reproduction under the dual form of the male and female” (252).
 "The Breaking of the One into the Manifold" - there must then be a stage during
creation in which various forces of nature and the spiritual world compete and
collide, causing tension and separation.
 "Folk Stories of Creation" - finally, Campbell argues that many mythological
systems include light-hearted, whimsical morality tales to transform archetypal
creation myths into stories directly related to the unique identities of the people
who created the given mythical system.

THE VIRGIN BIRTH

In this section, Campbell analyzes the many ways in which women appear in
myths as life-giving forces. He notes the ubiquity of the idea of the virgin birth, using as
his case example a collection of myths from Finland.
Campbell argues that in many mythologies, women serve as the “personifications
and precipitators of [man’s] destiny” (283) by representing nearly any powerful aspect of
the human experience through her myriad faces - mother, goddess, harlot, witch,
monster, queen. Women provide an opportunity for new ideas to be born, as both
physical and spiritual vessels. Campbell provides nearly a dozen different examples
from around the world of the diverse folk understandings of the impregnation of the
universal woman as a powerful symbol in mythology.

TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE HERO

In this section, Campbell argues that, although myths may exist for many
generations, their meanings and archetypes evolve as societies evolve. Thus, the hero
does not evolve in the myth, but the meaning of the hero in his given society evolves as
his society evolves. Campbell also discusses the man-hero, who has already been
provided wisdom from the universe. Instead of the journey, then, the man-hero has
three main goals:
 To break his dependency on his physical form
 To transcend the physical and elevate the spiritual in his life
 To manifest the power inherent in his spiritual destiny
While the man-hero is far more grounded in the physical world than the god-hero on his
journey, they both are striving to connect the spiritual world with the physical world of
their existences.
Campbell then describes various flavors of the man-hero story, providing
examples from various world mythologies to illustrate each archetype. Examples include
the warrior hero, the hero as a lover, the hero as emperor and tyrant, the hero as world
redeemer, and the hero as saint. Particularly insightful is Campbell’s note that, “the hero
of yesterday becomes the tyrant of tomorrow, unless he crucifies himself today,” (325).

DISSOLUTIONS
Here Campbell deals with the last class of myths - myths surrounding death and
a return or reunification with the essential power of the universe. In many myths, the
journey to the afterlife can be just as perilous as the Hero’s Journey in life, which is why
there are so many rituals and practices surrounding death. Campbell uses the ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead as a mythical text to illustrate the complex ways death was
understood in mythical systems.
He also discusses end-of-times myths, which appear in many mythologies. He
compares Mayan, Scandinavian, and Judeo-Christian eschatological myths. He again
reiterates his point that all Heroes’ Journeys come to the end, when knowledge returns
to the source.

EPILOGUE: Myth and Society

Campbell ends his book by presenting some of his personal thoughts on the role
of myth in modern society. He argues that there are many valid systems with which one
can analyze myth, and that psychoanalysis and symbology are just some approaches.
These universal myths unite disparate societies that, while experiencing the physical
world differently, share common archetypes and monomyths.
He then argues that the identities and physical displays humans exact are simply
costumes man wears on his spiritual journey through life: “the differentiations of sex,
age, and occupation are not essential to our character, but mere costumes which we
wear for a time on the stage of the world. The image of man within is not to be
confounded with the garments” (355). He criticizes modern man for becoming too
fixated on these physical costumes at the expense of contemplate self-understanding.
While these first two sections are largely positive, reflecting on man’s universality
of experience, Campbell’s concluding section of The Hero With a Thousand Faces is a
section entitled “The Hero Today.” In this section, Campbell presents a scathing critique
of Western societies, which he deems to be too materialistic and too individualistic. Man
has become too obsessed with the material to be able to disconnect from the physical
long enough to contemplate the spiritual plane as articulated in mythology.
Campbell closes by arguing that societies would benefit from a revitalization of
heroic myths, explaining that there is deep psycho-social benefit to encouraging people
to engage with myths and heroes. Campbell presses his reader to recognize that, “it is
not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse” (391).
Only through an active engagement with myth can modern man contemplate,
comprehend, and interact with the spiritual aspects of his existence.
CRITIQUES AND COMMENTARY:
One of the controversial aspects of Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand
Faces is that the text discusses all myths as equally valid and equally true. They are
used interchangeably as evidence of his arguments. This means that ancient Greek,
Roman, and Egyptian myths are discussed with the same tone as Asian religious myths
from Buddhism and Hinduism and the religious myths from the monotheisms of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While it is completely normal within the social sciences
(including anthropology, folklore studies, and psychology) to consider all religions and
beliefs systems to be equal, some readers of the book were not pleased that Biblical
stories were discussed as functional equivalents of other myths.
In his text, Campbell argues that Western society during his life (the first half of
the 20th century) was disconnecting with the subconscious because it was losing its
appreciation of mythologies and the monomyth. Yet subsequent examples of the
monomyth have notably appeared in Western media: the character of Neo in the Matrix
is widely discussed as a modern imagining of Campbell’s archetype, as is the
Gunslinger from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. In addition, George Lucas has
stated publicly in interviews that he was heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell’s work,
particularly The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Lucas admits that the story of Luke
Skywalker, as told in the Star Wars franchise films, was written to directly follow the
Hero’s Journey in an attempt to make the story feel more mythic and epic.

AUTHOR NOTES:
Joseph Campbell was a 20th century American mythologist best known for his
work in comparative mythology, psychoanalysis, and literary critique. His works provide
cross-cultural analysis of myths, and examine the roles myths play in modern society.
He is recognized for his theory of the monomyth, sometimes known as the ‘Hero’s
Journey’, in which he argues that all epic mythologies have heroes who follow a clear
cycle, which is repeated in various circumstances and conditions. Campbell’s work
serves as the foundation of modern mythological studies, and bridges the gap between
folklore studies and other social sciences, particularly psychology and anthropology.

BOOK EDITION:
Campbell, Joseph. (2008 [1949])
The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 3rd ed. San Francisco: New World
Library. [9781577315933]