The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana, Part 2

The Story Arc—or Circle

So, where does it all begin?

The Hero’s Journey always begins in the ORDINARY WORLD. Even if the tale begins in the midst of things, back-story must be added to let the reader know where the hero came from and what motivated her. And that motivation has got to be a big deal—at least to her. Being a hero is hard, dangerous work, not something one does on a whim.

Then comes THE CALL TO ADVENTURE. Obi Wan Kenobi shows Luke Skywalker Princess Leia’s desperate plea for help. All he has to do is defeat Darth Vader and a few hundred storm troopers. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Luke says. This is the REFUSAL OF THE CALL. It doesn’t always happen, but if our hero has any sense or choice in the matter it usually does. Luke changes his mind when he returns home to find that the Empire has barbecued his Aunt and Uncle. With no home and no family and a belly full of anger, Luke chooses the path of the hero and CROSSES THE FIRST THRESHOLD. This is when the story takes off, the die is cast, the hero sets forth on his adventure, the romance begins, the detective takes the case, etc., etc.

The MEETING WITH THE MENTOR usually occurs somewhere in the above paragraph. In Star Wars Luke’s first Mentor, Obe Wan Kenobi, delivers the Call to Adventure. A Mentor is someone who gives the hero advice or special equipment to help him on his way. Mentors can be wise or old or beautiful or tricky. They may not always have the hero’s best interest at heart.

Before she can hope to accomplish her goal the hero must learn the skills she needs, assemble a group of friends to help her along the way, and find out who her enemies are—the TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES part. Now she is ready to APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, the lair of her archenemy. This is when Luke, et al, get sucked into the Death Star and Dorothy and her friends arrive at the Wicked Witch’s castle.  This is where THE ORDEAL happens, the nadir of the story, the blackest hour. The hero dies, is reborn, and somehow transformed. Luke is grabbed by the octopus monster in the sewage system of the Death Star and held under for so long that we are sure he’s dead, The Wicked Witch is about to flambé the Scarecrow.

But wait! All is not lost! Listen! That’s the theme song from Raiders of the Lost Ark crescendoing up in the background. DA DA DUT DA! Luke bursts up to the surface of the sewage and they escape the Death Star with the princess; Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch and takes her broomstick. THE REWARD.

But the enemy is unwilling to part with its treasure—this is where the big chase scenes happen. Or perhaps there are one or two things that must be done or decisions that must be made before the hero can return home. This is THE ROAD BACK.

And then there is one last ordeal that the hero must face. He has been to the “Otherworld” and must be purified by one final death and RESURRECTION. This is the biggie. It often involves a revelation of some sort about what the journey was really about or a test to see if the hero learned his lessons.

The final ordeal passed, the weary hero, RETURNS WITH THE ELIXIR (or whatever it was she set out to get/achieve), and lives happily ever after in the ORDINARY WORLD. If she doesn’t make it back, or if she doesn’t return with the reward, the writer better have a heck of a good reason why not; and he better have foreshadowed the failure a few times during the journey. The reader needs to be able to look back and say, “Of course! It had to happen that way. How could I have missed it?” As Bill Johnson says, A Story is a Promise, and the writer must fulfil that promise.

Credit: The information in this blog came from Christopher Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey, Mythic Structure for Writers, highly recommended reading.