The Hero’s Journey is a story structure derived from Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth from his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces. It was built by analyzing similarities in many proven by time stories and tales. Many successful works have used this structure since then.

Movies that use it: Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Avatar, Fight Club, etc, etc, etc.

The 12 steps of the Hero’s Journey

Ordinary world – The hero is shown as a normal person having a normal life. Stories generally take place in a new, more interesting world, in order to understand why this world is different the audience has to be shown the normal world first. The call to adventure – A problem presents itself to the hero, a challenge that will take him/her out of the ordinary world. Refusal to the call – The hero refuses the call or takes some time, usually because of fear of the unknown and of not being up to the challenge. This serves to approach us to the protagonist by showing his/her insecurities. Meeting with mentor – A wise figure provides guidance and/or training, commonly provides an item or new knowledge and points the hero towards the adventure. Crossing the threshold – The hero abandons the ordinary world (commonly under pressure), entering a special or magical one. There is no coming back. Tests, Allies, Enemies – A series of ever more difficult challenges are in the hero’s way, his/her skills are tested, alliances are made and enemies are met. These steps prepare the hero to the great dangers ahead. Approaching the Cave – This is the last preparation before facing the big challenge. Entering the perilous dungeon. This may invoke the doubts and fears that caused the hero to first refuse the call to adventure. The purpose is to build up tension and to make the ordeal seem more significant. Ordeal – In a crisis of life or death, the hero must use all he/she has learned so far in order to succeed this challenge.Commonly the audience is led to believe that the protagonist has died, only to show a moment later that he/she has survived. Reward – The hero survives death and is granted a big prize. The reward can be a magical sword, a great knowledge or insight, or reconciliation with a lover or ally. The road back – With this new knowledge or power, now the hero returns home with the anticipation of acclaim and absolution. The villains may chase the hero down in order to get the reward back. Resurrection – This is the climax of the story, the last and most dangerous battle. The ramifications of this encounter should be greater than just the survival of the protagonist. The lives of many people are at stake here. The integrity of the natural world depends on it. There may happen another “fake death” as in step 8. The hero emerges victorious, transformed into a new being by this experience. Return with the elixir – The hero returns to the ordinary world as a changed person. Something significant was brought back or something powerful was learned. This is the resolution to the story, the final boon is usually the answer to the problem that called the hero to adventure in the first place.

The character archetypes of the Hero’s Journey

These characters may appear as people, objects or events. It is very common for some characters to fulfill several roles at the same time.

Hero – The audience follows this person through the adventure and hopefully identifies themselves with him/her. Mentor – The wise one who will provide guidance to the hero, and point him towards adventure. Ally – Someone who not only helps the hero in adventure, but is critical in order for the protagonist to have someone to talk to in order to express his/her feelings. Herald – The one who calls the hero to adventure and foreshadows the conflicts that are to come. Trickster – The comic relief of the story. Can bring a new perspective to the protagonist. Shapeshifter – If everyone were always what we expect them to be that would be very boring. Someone good who turns bad, or vice versa. Guardian – A person who tests the hero’s skills. Before they’ve passed the guardian, the hero may not face the great ordeal. Shadow – Usually is the villain. The shadow is not necessarily evil, but more importantly reflects some aspect of the hero that he/she does not yet understand, but must overcome in order to complete the journey.

How not to use the Hero’s Journey

So I can simply use this template as a basis for my work and build my own unique elements around it, and then I’ll have a great story right?

Well, no.

It may be tempting to go that route, but we should acknowledge that this is a very easy way to build a soulless, uninteresting cliche.

Ideally the story is a means to an end. You have a powerful idea in your head and the narrative is a way to convey that idea to the reader. This is the core of your experience, and should be what drives your work.

The stronger the feelings you have about that idea the better it is, because it will become a lot easier to find ways to build story elements that reinforce it.

When you have that concept laid out with a rough draft, then you can compare it to the hero’s journey and analyze what elements you are missing in relation to the Monomyth.

Since the elements of the Hero’s Journey are infinitely mutable, you can insert those missing links into your story in a way that will be relevant to the experience, making it more complete to the audience and not suffering for not having a unifying core.