Written by Stephen Turner | 28 April 2009

I have always been fascinated by the aspects of the Hero's Journey which can be found in fiction, legend and fairy tale. The Hero's' Journey, for those not familiar with it, goes something lie this:

The Hero (our protagonist) is introduced in the Ordinary (or everyday) World, where they receive the Call to Adventure. The Hero is reluctant to go at first and may Refuse the Call, until they are encouraged by a Mentor, or other force, to cross the First Threshold into the Extraordinary World, sometimes called the World of Adventure, where they encounter an assortment of Tests, Allies and Enemies. Then they cross the Second Threshold, into the Inmost Cave, where they undergo an Ordeal, such as a symbolic death. They take possession of their Reward or the Elixir (knowledge, a boon, treasure) and are chased back to the Ordinary World, crossing the Third Threshold, and experience a transforming resurrection. The Reward or Elixir allows them to benefit the Ordinary World in some way. In The Hero With A Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell identifies these aspects and themes, though most writers are probably more familiar with The Writer's Journey by Christopher Volger. Both Star Wars: A New Hope and Disney's The Lion King closely follow the Hero's Journey, which is sometimes credited with being the reason for their worldwide appeal.

The Ordinary World
Beginnings are important, and it is in the common, everyday world where the hero of the story begins his journey. The Ordinary World contains the familiar, is easily understood (by the protagonist at least) and quite often is their home or the place where they grew up. The protagonist knows the rules of this place, how things work, who to go to for help and information, who too avoid and where dangers or pitfalls lie. It will become the contrast with the extraordinary world of adventure and will give us a mirror and point of reference to show what is extraordinary about this other world.

Just as important, the function of the Ordinary World, is to introduce the hero and show us their nature and background, who and what they are, what dreams and aspirations they hold, what disappointments they have suffered, their strengths, their weaknesses and any tragic flaws they may posses. Showing how they are regarded by their neighbours, what frustrations they have over the lack of control in their lives, their struggles to establish their own identity, how they make their way in the world, what expectations they and others have of themselves, how they deal with boredom and frustrations, should ring true with the reader, as the reader needs to identify with them and will see the world through their eyes.

In fairy tales the protagonist begins in the Ordinary World with some kind of lack, and the story is about the search for completeness. It may be that they have lost a family member (a dead parent, a stolen sibling in need of rescue, or they may be orphans with no family at all), be unable to perform a task (an inability to speak to the fair maiden or other love interest is common, the lack of ability to dance, whistle, show fear or have children is not unusual in fairytales), to have been born into poverty or to have fallen from high status and rank. While the purpose of journeying into the Other World is to fill the missing piece and make them whole it is in the Ordinary World that the lack is shown and sympathy is created to help identify with the protagonist, whether they be Snow White or King Arthur.

In my experience the Ordinary World seems to come in three general flavours, which I classify as the Shire, the Professor's House and the Cupboard Under the Stairs.
The Shire tends to be a safe and familiar environment that, traditionally is rural, but can be an inner city flat or suburban home that is safe, comfortable and remote from the rest of the world. The protagonist will, quite possibly, have grown up in a sheltered environment with little understanding or knowledge of what lies beyond their home.

Protagonists from the Shire will often be reluctant to leave but will be willing to go to great extremes to protect their home, as the Shire is prone to disaster or the greedy ambitions of bandits, invaders, developers or fast food franchises. The protagonist must sometimes draw the line in the sand and cry 'No more. No further' or go out to seek the source of the evil to put a stop to it.

Other reasons to leave the Shire include exile (for actual crimes or because they were framed), being kidnapped, searching for someone or something lost or taking someone or something back to where they belong. Once they have left the Shire the protagonist will dream of going home and will hold the Shire in their heart as a banner or anchor that will supply strength in moments of great need. It's as much his love for his home as his devotion to his master that keeps a certain hobbit named Sam going when others about him fail.

Also in The Lord Of The Rings Frodo takes the ring to Rivendell to keep the Shire safe by leading away the Black Riders. When Frodo comes home he finds servants of the evil he helped defeat have seized and befouled his beloved home. It is through the things that he and his fellows have done and learned that they are able to both free and heal their homeland. Sometimes, as with Frodo, the journey changes our hero and leaves them unable to settle back down into the life they once knew.

The Professor's House is a place of boredom, isolation and frustration that the hero wants to escape to achieve their dreams or to take part in the adventures offered by the other world. They may know the other world exists but don't know how to get there, or there is something that keeps them from escaping their lives of drudgery.

The Pevensie children of Narnia fame are sent from London to the Professor's House to escape The Blitz and find themselves with little to do, until Lucy stumbles upon a certain wardrobe. Luke chaffs at the bit to be free from his uncle's moisture farm, dreaming of the adventures to be had out in the galaxy. And in Treasure Island Jim Hawkins grows up in the Admiral Benbow, his father's inn, dreaming of sailing away on the ships he sees in the harbour, before finding the map that takes him on his journey

The protagonist can escape their dreary world only to find that the extraordinary world does not live up to expectations, or is something worse, and there is really no place like home.

Cupboard Under the Stairs is a world where even the ordinary things are just plain terrible. Examples include Cinderella and her abusive stepfamily, and Harry Potter, with his aunt and uncle (obviously this is where the Cupboard Under the Stairs name comes from).

In such settings the protagonist may be an orphan or he/she may have been found cast adrift with no memory of, or clue to, their past. Such protagonists are usually found to be a the secret heir to some kind of special gift (magic for Harry Potter), a heritage that means they are meant for better things (a lost princess) or, conversely, a heritage they must be hidden from (a hostage held against a parent's good behaviour). This is not to say the rest of the world is really any better but for the protagonist at least there may be more opportunities for advancement.

The most notorious such world is that of the infamous Warhammer 40K universe where the faceless masses toil in grinding poverty, tending ancient and barely understood machines, and die of misery, disease or alien invasion – but only if they are lucky.

Whatever the form of the Ordinary World, it is the starting place for the hero and will often provide motivation and background for who and what they are. Someone who has escaped from the Cupboard Under the Stairs, where life is harsh and difficult, is going to react differently to someone who has grown up in the Shire, where people are kind and generous. For instance, when Lucy first enters Narnia and meets her first faun she never suspects that he may have good intentions, and Jean Valjean, from Les Misérables, while still fresh from prison, steals from a priest who has showed him nothing but kindness. Lucy's naivety causes a change in the faun while the ongoing generosity if the old priest causes Valjean to reassess his life.

This, then, is the foundations of a story and is also the basis of the character of the protagonist, and we see what the hero must overcome, both within themselves and from the outside, in order to drive the story on.

This is the first of a proposed series of essays that will look at the Hero's Journey. If you've enjoyed these musings please provide feedback to the author. If the feedback is positive then he will continue the series. Please email your comments to the editor. Your comments will be passed on