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9) THE HERO SIEZES THE SWORD.

Having survived death, beaten the dragon, slain the Minotaur, the
hero now takes possession of the treasure he's come seeking.
Sometimes it's a special weapon like a magic sword, or it may be a
token like the Grail or some elixer which can heal the wounded land.

Sometimes the "sword" is knowledge and experience that leads to
greater understanding and a reconciliation with hostile forces.

The hero may settle a conflict with his father or with his shadowy
nemesis. In RETURN OF THE JEDI, Luke is reconciled with both, as he
discovers that the dying Darth Vader is his father, and not such a
bad guy after all.

The hero may also be reconciled with a woman. Often she is the
treasure he's come to win or rescue, and there is often a love scene
or sacred marriage at this point. Women in these stories (or men if
the hero is female) tend to be SHAPE-SHIFTERS. They appear to
change in form or age, reflecting the confusing and constantly
changing aspects of the opposite sex as seen from the hero's point
of view. The hero's supreme ordeal may grant him a better
understanding of women, leading to a reconciliation with the
opposite sex.

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Originally posted by SarahB
yh.... u might think im dumb but like i dnt rly get who calypso is?

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This stage is also sometimes referred to "Meeting with the Goddess" or "Woman as the Temptress", these titles can sometimes be misleading since it implies the presence and participation of a female or feminine force. If the hero is a female the SACRED MARRIAGE would be with a male or masculine force. In this stage there may be an actual meeting with the a goddess (Frodo meeting Galadriel, Luke meeting Leia). Or the marriage may be between the two halves of the hero in order to make him or her whole. For instance, the male hero is seeking out the anima, their inner feminine qualities, like intuition, which may have previously remained unrecognized. The female hero will be seeking the animus, the male qualities of reason and authority which she has had to suppress due to society. In either case, the hero will come out of the ordeal whole and complete for the first time in the adventure and it is in this stage that the hero will come to recognize inevitable truths regarding his situation within the scheme of things. It is also at this stage that the "goddess" will grant the hero another boon, that which Nietzsche called amor fati, the love of your fate. This is not fatalism, this is more like taking what is given to you and making the best of it. One of the best ways I've heard it put is in the film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" when Gandalf tells Frodo, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

In addition it is a mistake to think that a hero does not need the Goddess. Man is but a half-finished creature. That's why marriage exists. The human animal instinctively seeks out the pair bond because on a subconscious level we know we are flawed half-creatures at best. There is a biological need for the pair-bond when regarding sexual relations, but that is not SACRED MARRIAGE. SACRED MARRIAGE is bringing the two halves together, it is the recreation of the Androgyn. SACRED MARRIAGE is a meeting of souls and not bodies. It is what Yoda is alluding too when he tells Luke, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." It is what people talk about when they claim to have found their soul mate. Myth is the unconscious way of discovering the truth.

Even the stoutest male hero needs the goddess. In "Star Wars: A New Hope", Luke is rash and cocky (ie. "You bet I could, I'm not such a bad pilot myself."). He actually thinks that he can succeed at anything he does without calculating the actual risk that goes into the endeavor. It is only after he meets Princess Leia that she adds reason and logic to the adventure. Thus keeping Luke and Han from being completely suicidal. Note that it is Leia that shoots out the wall and leads the escape from the certain death of the detention block hallway. Even though Neo is capable of almost magical feats, when he first battles an Agent, he calls to Trinity for help. It is she who defeats the Agent and strikes him when he is incapable of dodging. The most macho masculine hero I can think of, Conan the Barbarian, needs Valaria to convince the wizard to resurrect him. It is she that pays the Gods, not Subotai. But it works in reverse too. Ripley needs Hicks to remove the Facehugger that is trying to kill her in "Aliens". Although Ripley is a very capable and formidable woman, she and Newt are powerless until Hicks comes to help them.

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APOTHEOSIS begins with the hero's recognition of of the divine within himself. It is the beginning of the Hero (with a capital "H"). It is the beginning of the HERO being able to accomplish that which ordinary men and women cannot. APOTHEOSIS means 'exhaltation to divine rank or stature; deification'. The Hero becomes god like...like unto a god...in the sense that afterwards they are capable of feats and acts which surpass their old selves and other normal beings. The best example I can think of in recent films is in "The Matrix", once Neo comes to recognize the divinity within himself, the power that he already has contained within him, once he believes that he is indeed "the One", then he literally becomes unstoppable. Another APOTHEOSIS story (to a certain extent) is "Harry Potter: And the Sorcerer's Stone", once Harry comes to the realization of the Wizard within him, nothing seems to stand in his way, he wins victory after victory with only minuscule setbacks.

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Originally posted by LovelyOne
LOL no one is ever interested when I post these kinds of things about the hero's typical journey in a movie

PS thanks Alina and SarahB for replying

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Originally posted by Swann&Sparrow
AWE is not going to follow the hero's steps?! NO, impossible.

But...that would just shatter alot of our theories, Jack's already gone through most of it, why would they not use it.

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Originally posted by Swann&Sparrow
T&T SAID WHAT?!!?!?!?!?!

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Originally posted by ladyofthesilent
No, I think it's very interesting - but unfortunately, TnT said at wordplayer that there is no such thing as a hero's journey in AWE.