A Primer

The Hero’s Journey, a concept developed by Joseph Campbell, is a storytelling framework that outlines the transformative path of a hero. The most important aspects of the Hero’s Journey are:

1. The Ordinary World: The hero’s initial state, where they are introduced in their everyday environment, which is often mundane and comfortable.
2. The Call to Adventure: An event or circumstance that disrupts the hero’s ordinary world, introducing a challenge or opportunity that sets the journey in motion.
3. Refusal of the Call: Initial hesitation or resistance to embark on the journey, often due to fear, insecurity, or a sense of inadequacy.
4. Meeting the Mentor: A guide or wise figure who provides guidance, wisdom, and encouragement, helping the hero prepare for the journey ahead.
5. Crossing the Threshold: The hero leaves the ordinary world and crosses into the special world of the journey, marking a point of no return.
6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The hero encounters various challenges, makes new friends and allies, and confronts formidable enemies that test their courage and resolve.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave: The hero approaches a critical, often symbolic, moment of reckoning, where they must face their greatest fear or challenge.
8. The Ordeal: The climax of the journey, where the hero confronts their greatest fear, faces a severe test, or undergoes a transformative experience.
9. The Reward (Seizing the Sword): The hero achieves a triumph or gain, often symbolic or literal, as a result of their ordeal.
10. The Road Back: The hero begins their journey back to the ordinary world, but with a newfound perspective and wisdom.
11. The Resurrection: The hero faces a final test or confrontation, often with their greatest fear or enemy, to emerge reborn and transformed.
12. Return with the Elixir: The hero returns to the ordinary world, bringing with them the wisdom, power, or knowledge gained on their journey, which they can now share with others.

These stages can be adapted and modified to fit various storytelling forms and genres, but they provide a foundational framework for understanding the Hero’s Journey.