“The Hero’s Journey” redirects here. For other uses, see [The Hero’s Journey (disambiguation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero%27s_Journey_(disambiguation) “The Hero’s Journey (disambiguation)“.
Not to be confused with Hiero’s Journey.
In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero’s quest or hero’s journey, also known as the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
The concept of “The Hero’s Journey” has also become a popular framework for understanding the inner self in psychology. In Carl Jung’s view, the hero’s journey is an inner quest that involves descending into the unconscious psyche to face challenges and gain self-awareness. Jung believed that the individual’s entire experience should be respected, including unwanted aspects like aggression or envy.
The Treasure you seek is in the cave you fear.
Unless...that treasure is three taco supremes from taco bell
In that case the treasure you seek is at Taco Bell.
Such is the way of a humble warrior.
But be you such a humble warrior, after filling your stomach with your spoils for $3.27, would you not be emboldened to find some other treasure?
Indeed you may. And if this is so, you may play the little game where you drop the coins on the rotating plastic platforms. And you may win, as a reward from the heralds of the Bell of Tacos, a sword of cinnamon twists, the work of a master taco swordsman, unknown by name beyond that of
taco. And though you carry it vainly, you may find that it is not a sword at all - nay, it is an invitation. An invitation to right what is wrong in this world. But how, you might ask. How, in this weighty world of ambiguity in which I may be sated by Tacos and let the rest pass as some absurd dream, how could I carry this burden of the weight of the world that surely crushed atlas before the mantle of that same world was placed back upon the giant world turtle?Well, ha HA, you be asking the right questions then, wouldn't you! And I could not grace you with an answer for that is of you and your cause to determine, in a wisdom that is not yet of the hour, but shall it be? I do fancy myself a man, a poor peddler fool enough to hope that yes. Yes, it shall be.
But this is, of course, a matter for your decision only. Shall you leave the taco bell with your sword, or -- dare I say, for the twisting vicissitudes of fate follow the twists turns and shakes of manics dancing to a madman's quartet - would you be so indulgent as to use the bathroom before you leave?
Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychoanalyst Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan.[1] Eventually, hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung’s analytical psychology. Campbell used the monomyth to analyze and compare religions. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), he describes the narrative pattern as follows:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.[2]
Campbell’s theories regarding the concept of a “monomyth” have been the subject of criticism from scholars, particularly folklorists, who have dismissed the concept as a non-scholarly approach suffering from source-selection bias, among other criticisms. More recently, the hero’s journey has been analyzed as an example of the sympathetic plot, a universal narrative structure in which a goal-directed protagonist confronts obstacles, overcomes them, and eventually reaps rewards.[1][3]