The Hero’s Journey

The Steps of the Hero’s Journey pattern as outlined by Joseph Campbell

Stage One: The Departure

• • • • • The Call to Adventure The Refusal of the Call Supernatural Aid Crossing the First Threshold Entering the Belly of the Whale

The Call to Adventure

Luke Skywalker finds the hologram of Princess Leia.

Harry Potter receives letters inviting him to Hogwarts.

Dorothy is told to find a place where she won’t get into any trouble. She sings about going over the rainbow.

The Refusal of the Call

Jonah runs away after God told him to go to Nineveh.

Harry’s Uncle Vernon refuses to let Harry read his letters.

Bilbo Baggins informs Gandalf that he doesn’t want to go on any adventures.

Supernatural Aid

Hagrid arrives to find out why Harry hasn’t answered his letters.

God sends a storm as punishment against the ship in which Jonah is attempting to escape.

Dorothy meets a “Fortune Teller” who insists that she go home to her family.

Crossing the First Threshold

Marty McFly gets the Delorean up to 88 mph and travels back in time.

Percy Jackson enters Camp Half Blood, but his mother cannot cross the threshold.

Indiana Jones picks up the trail where his father was last seen and breaks through the floor to find the tomb of Sir Richard.

Entering the Belly of the Whale

Jonah is swallowed by a large fish and must repent before being released.

Dorothy finds herself in the Land of Oz and must go to the Emerald City to find a way home.

A young Indiana Jones falls into a boxcar filled with snakes, which forces him to move forward in an attempt to escape.

Stage Two: The Initiation

• • • • • • • The Road of Trials Meeting with the God/Goddess Facing the Tempter Companions on the Journey Atonement with the Father The Apotheosis Receiving the Ultimate Boon

The Road of Trials

Hercules must complete twelve labors to atone for the sin of killing his family.

Dorothy must travel the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City.

Greg Mortenson and his crew of workers from the village of Korphe in Pakistan must carry the lumber to build their school when the trucks are unable to get through with the supplies.

Meeting the God/Goddess

Luke Skywalker learns the wisdom of the Jedi from Yoda.

Korphe village chief Haji Ali teaches Greg Mortenson about the life of the Pakistani and helps him to assimilate.

Harry Potter relies on Dumbledore to guide him through his trials at Hogwarts.

Facing the Tempter

Luke Skywalker must resist Darth Vader’s frequent attempts to lure him to The Dark Side.

The Wicked Witch of the West tries to foil Dorothy’s attempts to get home.

Marty McFly constantly runs into his nemesis, Biff Tanner, throughout his travels through time.

Companions on the Journey

The Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow all sought the same things that Dorothy needed to find in herself.

Luke Skywalker could count of Chewbacca and Han Solo to get him out of a jam.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley traveled the same road as Harry Potter throughout their time at Hogwarts.

Atonement with the Father

Harry is able to see his parents and make peace with his past through the Mirror of Erised.

Indiana Jones realizes that he might lose his father forever and does what he needs to do in order to save him.

Dorothy finally admits how badly she wishes to be back home with her family.

Apotheosis

Harry must defeat Voldemort in each of the adventure novels.

Greg Mortenson’s completed Korphe school.

The Grail Knight tells Indiana Jones that he must “choose wisely” in order to claim the Holy Grail and save his father.

Receiving the Ultimate Boon

Arthur draws Excalibur from the stone and becomes King of all England.

After rising to the Green Knight’s challenge, Gawain is permitted to keep the magical Green Girdle.

In “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull”, Indy learns that he has a son only after the two have survived several adventures.

Stage Three: The Return

• • • • • • The Refusal of the Return The Magic Flight Help From Without Crossing the Return Threshold The Master of Two Worlds Freedom to Live

The Refusal of the Return

Harry hates having to return to the Dursleys at the end of each school year.

Even after Indiana warns Elsa Schneider that the Grail cannot cross the Great Seal, she decides to try to take it anyway.

Dorothy hesitates when she says good-bye to the Scarecrow, telling him that she will miss him most of all.

The Magic Flight

Neo “jacks in” to the Matrix to fight the agents.

Luke Skywalker escapes the Death Star in the Millennium Falcon.

Dorothy attempts to ride in the balloon with the “Wizard” of Oz, but when she jumps out to catch a runaway Toto, the balloon leaves without her.

Help From Without

Henry Jones, Sr. tells Indy to let the Grail go in order to save his son.

Glinda returns to tell Dorothy how to use her ruby slippers.

Luke Skywalker hears Obi Wan Kenobi's encouragement in his head: “Use the Force, Luke!” as he tries to escape the Death Star.

Crossing the Return Threshold

Dorothy clicks her heels together three times and says, “There’s no place like home…” When the clock tower is struck by lightning, Doc Brown sends 1.21 gigawatts of electricity into the flux capacitor, sending Marty back to the future.

The Goonies escape from the Pirate Cave minutes before the wall collapses, freeing the long-hidden pirate ship.

The Master of Two Worlds

Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are rewarded at the Yavin Ceremony Dorothy wakes up and remembers that all of her friends and family were part of her dream Bilbo Baggins writes his memoires of his adventure and entitles them “There, and Back Again”

Freedom to Live

Jack Sparrow and Will Turner survive to continue their adventures Harry Potter continues his education at Hogwarts School of Magic Peter Parker turns away from MJ in order to protect her from Spiderman’s enemies as he continues to fight crime