Heroes Journey

Quite a few people still don't get that Star Wars was based on this so I'll write it out here. I got it from a web site and there are plenty on the subject. I'll add in how it relates to SW.

ORIGIN - The hero has an unusual birth. Sometimes a virgin birth, sometimes the son of a god or royalty. His birth means that he is different from other children and is destined for greatness.

Luke: Was the son of Anakin so he was different and destined for greatness.
Anakin: Was conceived by the midi-chlorians and fullfilled a prophecy.

SEPERATION : The hero is seperated from his world. Usually parents are killed or is forced to flee his land because of his origin.

Luke: Was hidden with Owen and Beru who were later killed.
Anakin: Had to leave his mother.

CALL TO ADVENTURE : The journey begins. Through circumstance or choice, the heroe starts his quest.

Luke: Started his training and saved Leia and the rebels.
Anakin: Helped save Naboo.

JOURNEY INTO HELL: The hero is forced to enter "hell" to overcome his fears and prove his worth.

Luke: Fought Vader on Cloud City.
Anakin: ????

THE UNHEALABLE WOUND: The hero suffers a terrible wound which leaves him scared for life. Could be phsycological or physical.

Luke: Looses his hand. Learns Vader is his father.
Anakin: His mother is killed.

HERO MUST PROVE HIMSEL: The hero must succeed despite everything and triumph over adversary.

Luke: Defeating Vader.
Anakin:????

TRIUMPHANT RETURN: The hero returns to society and is adored by all.

Luke: Defeats the Empire and is hailed a hero
Anakin:????

ATONEMENT WITH FATHER: Often the hero had to avenge his father ofr make up for his mistakes.

Luke: Had to do both

APOTHEOSIS OF THE HERO: The hero is rewarded spiritualy by spending a life of bliss with other heroes.

Luke: ???
Anakin; Appearing as a ghost at the end of ROTJ.

I posted this because it helps explain where Anakin is going.

You can use this to see what will happen to Anakin right up to Triumphant return because after that it's when he goes bad.

Where did you get this?

You're amazing King Jedi!

Hmm... KJ, that version of the Hero's Journey seems to have been altered to better suit SW.

The principle still stands, of course, but I must say I never really liked the idea of the Hero's Journey; Campbell's research never quite rang true for me. It's amazingly generalised stuff.

to many ifs ors ands

But Lucas himself said taht without Campbell SW would not have been. I even saw that on film.

A few additions to your list, KJ:

JOURNEY INTO HELL: The hero is forced to enter "hell" to overcome his fears and prove his worth.

Luke: Fought Vader on Cloud City.
Anakin: BECAME VADER AND WAS BOUND IN THE SERVICE OF EVIL

THE UNHEALABLE WOUND: The hero suffers a terrible wound which leaves him scared for life. Could be phsycological or physical.

Luke: Looses his hand. Learns Vader is his father.
Anakin: His mother is killed, AND HE LOOSES PART OF HIS RIGHT ARM (SPOILER!!!! HEheheehehhheheheh)

HERO MUST PROVE HIMSEL: The hero must succeed despite everything and triumph over adversary.

Luke: Defeating Vader.
Anakin: KILLING Palpy

TRIUMPHANT RETURN: The hero returns to society and is adored by all.

Luke: Defeats the Empire and is hailed a hero
Anakin: CHUCKS PALPY DOWN THE SHUTE

The stories are similar, but Luke's the REAL hero of course. 😉

i don' think Luke is the real hero, Luke doesn't kill Palpatine, the real villain, even without Anakin Palpatine obviously thought he was going to get into power hence the the training if Maul, although in ep4 and ep5 Luke is the hero, throughout the whole 6 eps I am sure Anakin/Vader will prove to be the real hero.

I think KJ is right..I think Luke is a hero.. It all boils down to he saved his father. He's simply a hero.

was it not more a case of the father saving the son, Vader only turned back because he saw Luke in so much pain.

Nah, without Luke Vader would have never left the Dark side...

I know it's weird that the focus isn't on Vader in this..but look at it this way, we've elevated him to the status of a god.

No, that's the good thing. The end is fairly complex really. There is not one hero. Vader could not have turned without Luke and Luke would not have survived with Vader turning.
But Luke is MY hero because he stuck to his principles all the time, despite the hard times and temptation. Vader fell for it and became horribly evil.

that version of the Hero's Journey seems to have been altered to better suit SW.

I left some parts out because it didn't mean anything to SW. There was about 7 or 8 more steps but I didn't have time to post them yesterday and the didn't fit the SW story anyway. Lucas just picked what parts he liked. I'll post the rest if you like as you might see things I don't.

An easier version is :

ORIGIN
SEPERATION
QUEST BEGINS
HELL

That's what happens to both Luke and Anakin but after this it's different. Luke finishes the journey whcih is-

QUEST ENDS
HERO TRIUMPHS
HERO IS REWARDED

But Anakin goes bad for a few years only to finish the journey by killing Palpatine at the end of ROTJ.

Originally posted by King Jedi

and the didn't fit the SW story anyway.

so, it is not 100% true ...
Can you still trust it than?
Just because a few steps are sw related?

It is completley 100% true. It's what SW was based on. Lucas just took the steps that he liked and that's the ones I've posted.

And now you can start with the used mythology, GL based Star Wars on A LOT of things!!

The structure of myth is the same from culture to culture..it's just a natural for a storyteller to borrow from mythology. Just because every single idea doesn't fit neatly only shows that we don't know much about myth. I bet an anthropology expert would do much better.

Well, some of the terminoligy seems different from Campbell's, KJ. Where is the Keeper of the Keys? I thought that had always been equated to the Tusken Raiders, Luke's first test.

Yes, Campbell was a big influence on GL. But I still think the man was talking cobblers. Especially the later extraploation he made of his theory when he was trying to make out that this was why people liked stories.

Proponents of Campbell spend time trying to explain why 'anomalies' like Casablanca (which breaks this apparent 'liked story' structure entirely) are popular at all and it really bugs me.

We still didn't talk about 'The Fortress' wich was ALSO a big influence!

The Hidden Fortress you mean? Well, that is another major inspiration, yes.