hero's journey

The Hero’s Journey is a common narrative archetype, or story template, that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, faces and overcomes a crisis, and then returns home transformed. This concept was introduced by Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” (1949).

The Hero’s Journey usually consists of several stages such as:

1. Ordinary World: The hero starts off in their familiar surroundings.
2. Call to Adventure: Something occurs that disrupts the hero’s familiar life and presents a challenge or quest that must be undertaken.
3. Refusal of the Call: The hero may initially resist the change.
4. Meeting with the Mentor: The hero encounters someone who can provide advice, training, or magical aid.
5. Crossing the Threshold: The hero leaves their ordinary world for the first time and crosses into the adventure world.
6. Trials, Allies, Enemies: The hero learns about this new world by encountering challenges and characters who either help or hinder them.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave: The hero reaches the edge of a dangerous place where they will face their biggest challenge yet.
8. Ordeal/Crisis: A major confrontation occurs which tests the hero in some way - this could be a physical battle or an inner conflict.
9. Reward/Seizing the Sword: After overcoming this crisis, the hero achieves their goal or receives some type of reward or power.
10. The Road Back: With their quest complete, it’s now time to return to their ordinary world.
11. Resurrection/Rebirth: Another test may occur where they must apply what they’ve learned before they can return home.
12. Return with Elixir: The hero returns home transformed and uses knowledge or power acquired on the journey to resolve any lingering problems.

This structure is often used in many different forms of storytelling including novels, movies, TV shows and video games.

Note: The names of the stages can vary slightly depending on the source.