12 Stages Of The Hero's Journey - Christopher Vogler
Summary
TLDRIn this script, Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood development executive, screenwriter, and author, explains the 'Hero's Journey' narrative framework. He breaks it down into 12 stages, starting from the 'Ordinary World' and progressing through the 'Call to Adventure', 'Refusal of the Call', and 'Meeting the Mentor', to the climax at 'The Ordeal' and the resolution in 'Return with the Elixir'. Vogler emphasizes the transformative power of the journey, where the hero confronts fears, learns, and ultimately shares their experiences to benefit others, promising a rewarding experience for the audience.
Takeaways
- 😀 The Hero's Journey is a narrative framework that outlines a 12-stage journey for a hero in storytelling.
- 🌐 The 'Ordinary World' is the first stage where the main character and their world are introduced, setting the scene for the story.
- 📣 The 'Call to Adventure' is a pivotal moment that signals the start of the hero's journey and often involves a problem or desire that needs to be addressed.
- 🙅♂️ 'Refusal of the Call' is a stage where the hero resists the adventure, expressing the natural fear of the unknown.
- 👨🏫 The 'Mentor' stage introduces a wise figure who provides guidance and reassurance, often equipping the hero with tools or knowledge for the journey.
- 🚀 'Crossing the Threshold' marks the hero's departure from the ordinary world into a new, special world, signifying the start of their adventure.
- 🔍 'Tests, Allies, and Enemies' is a stage where the hero faces challenges that help them understand the rules of the new world and identify who can be trusted.
- 🛤️ 'Approach' is a phase where the hero and their team travel towards the central conflict, deepening relationships and revealing character dynamics.
- 💀 'The Ordeal' is a critical stage involving a near-death experience or a confrontation with the hero's greatest fear, leading to transformation.
- 🏆 'Reward' follows the ordeal, where the hero reflects on their journey, gains a new understanding of themselves, and often receives a prize or recognition.
- 🏃♂️ 'The Road Back' is a high-energy phase where the hero must return to their ordinary world, often pursued by antagonistic forces.
- ⚔️ 'Resurrection' is the climax where the hero faces their final test, using all they've learned to confront the antagonist and achieve resolution.
- 🔄 'Return with the Elixir' is the final stage where the hero returns to their ordinary world, bringing back wisdom, power, or a solution to benefit the community.
Q & A
What is the 'Hero's Journey' according to Christopher Vogler?
-The 'Hero's Journey' is a narrative pattern identified by Joseph Campbell, which Vogler simplifies into 12 stages to analyze scripts. It outlines the journey of a hero from their ordinary world to a transformative adventure and back.
What are the 12 stages of the Hero's Journey as described by Vogler?
-The 12 stages are: 1) The Ordinary World, 2) Call to Adventure, 3) Refusal of the Call, 4) Meeting the Mentor, 5) Crossing the Threshold, 6) Tests, Allies, and Enemies, 7) Approach, 8) The Ordeal, 9) The Reward, 10) The Road Back, 11) Resurrection, and 12) Return with the Elixir.
Why is the 'Call to Adventure' important in a story?
-The 'Call to Adventure' is important because it announces a problem or desire that needs to be addressed, generating energy and drawing the audience into the story.
What is the significance of the 'Refusal of the Call' in the Hero's Journey?
-The 'Refusal of the Call' signifies the hero's natural fear of the unknown and sets up the audience's expectation of the challenges the hero will face.
How does the 'Meeting the Mentor' stage serve the hero's journey?
-The 'Meeting the Mentor' stage provides reassurance and guidance to the hero, often offering knowledge or tools that will aid them in their journey.
What happens during the 'Crossing the Threshold' stage?
-During 'Crossing the Threshold,' the hero leaves the ordinary world and fully enters the special world, marking a significant turning point in the story.
What is the purpose of the 'Tests, Allies, and Enemies' stage?
-The 'Tests, Allies, and Enemies' stage challenges the hero, revealing their strengths and weaknesses, and helps to define their relationships with other characters.
Why is the 'Approach' stage necessary in the Hero's Journey?
-The 'Approach' stage allows the hero and their team to develop deeper relationships and understand the rules of the special world, preparing them for the ordeal ahead.
What typically happens during the 'Ordeal' stage?
-The 'Ordeal' stage involves a confrontation with death or a near-death experience, leading to a rebirth and transformation of the hero.
What does the 'Reward' stage signify in the Hero's Journey?
-The 'Reward' stage signifies the hero's reflection on their transformation and the gains they've achieved after facing their greatest fear.
How does the 'Resurrection' stage differ from the 'Ordeal' stage?
-The 'Resurrection' stage is the climax where the hero faces the final test, often a showdown with the antagonist, using all they've learned, unlike the 'Ordeal' which is a transformative experience.
What is the significance of the 'Return with the Elixir' stage?
-The 'Return with the Elixir' stage signifies the hero's return to the ordinary world, sharing the wisdom and transformation gained from their journey, often benefiting the community.
Outlines
🎬 Introduction to The Hero's Journey
Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood development executive, introduces the concept of 'The Hero's Journey', a narrative pattern found in many stories. He simplifies it into 12 stages to aid in script analysis. The first stage, 'The Ordinary World', sets the scene and introduces the main character. It hints at the upcoming adventure and the challenges the hero will face. The second stage, 'Call to Adventure', presents a problem or desire that propels the story forward, engaging the audience's interest.
🚫 Refusal of the Call
The third stage, 'Refusal of the Call', shows the hero's initial reluctance to embark on the adventure. This stage is crucial as it humanizes the hero, showing their fear of the unknown. It also serves to heighten the tension and stakes of the story, making the audience more invested in the outcome.
🧙♂️ The Mentor's Role
In the fourth stage, a 'Mentor' character is introduced who provides guidance, reassurance, and often gifts or tools to aid the hero. This character is experienced and wiser, having faced similar challenges before. The mentor's role is to prepare the hero for the journey ahead and to instill confidence in them.
🛫 Crossing the Threshold
The fifth stage, 'Crossing the Threshold', marks the hero's decision to commit to the adventure. This is a significant turning point where the hero leaves the familiar 'Ordinary World' and enters the 'Special World'. This stage is often accompanied by a change in music or energy to signify the shift to a new phase of the story.
🔍 Tests, Allies, and Enemies
The sixth stage involves the hero facing 'Tests, Allies, and Enemies' within the Special World. These challenges are not life-threatening but serve to test the hero's skills and reveal who can be trusted. This stage is crucial for building the hero's team and understanding the dynamics of the new environment.
🚶♂️ The Approach
In the seventh stage, 'The Approach', the hero and their team travel towards the central conflict of the story. This phase allows for character development, deepening relationships, and the introduction of subplots such as romance or intrigue. It sets the stage for the climactic events to come.
💀 The Ordeal
The eighth stage, 'The Ordeal', is a critical moment where the hero faces their greatest fear or challenge. This often involves a near-death experience or a confrontation with death, leading to a transformation or rebirth of the hero. It is a pivotal scene that tests the hero's growth and resilience.
🏆 The Reward
Following the ordeal, the ninth stage is 'The Reward', where the hero takes time to reflect on their experiences and the changes they've undergone. This stage often involves a moment of realization or self-discovery, where the hero gains a new understanding of themselves and their capabilities.
🏃♂️ The Road Back
The tenth stage, 'The Road Back', sees the hero returning from the Special World to the Ordinary World. This stage often includes a chase or a race against time, highlighting the urgency of the hero's mission and the stakes involved. It is a period of high tension as the hero faces the final obstacles before their return.
🔥 Resurrection
The eleventh stage, 'Resurrection', is the climax of the story where the hero confronts the main antagonist or challenge. This is the final test of the hero's growth and learnings, often involving a decisive action or choice that determines the outcome of the story.
🌟 Return with the Elixir
The final stage, 'Return with the Elixir', symbolizes the hero's return to their ordinary life, now transformed by their experiences. The 'Elixir' represents the wisdom, power, or boon the hero brings back to benefit others. This stage emphasizes the hero's role as a protector and server of their community, sharing the transformative lessons of their journey.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡The Hero's Journey
💡Ordinary World
💡Call to Adventure
💡Refusal of the Call
💡Mentor
💡Crossing the Threshold
💡Tests, Allies, Enemies
💡Approach
💡Ordeal
💡Reward
💡Resurrection
💡Return with the Elixir
Highlights
The Hero's Journey is broken down into 12 stages for script analysis.
Stage 1: The Ordinary World - Introducing the main character and their world.
Stage 2: Call to Adventure - Announcing a problem or desire that generates story energy.
Stage 3: Refusal of the Call - The hero's initial fear and resistance to the adventure.
Stage 4: Meeting the Mentor - Introducing a wise character to reassure and guide the hero.
Stage 5: Crossing the Threshold - The hero leaves the ordinary world for the special world.
Stage 6: Tests, Allies, and Enemies - The hero faces challenges and discovers who can be trusted.
Stage 7: Approach - The hero and team travel towards the central conflict, deepening relationships.
Stage 8: The Ordeal - The hero faces their greatest fear, often resulting in a near-death experience.
Stage 9: Reward - The hero reflects on their transformation and gains a new sense of self.
Stage 10: The Road Back - The hero must return to the ordinary world with their newfound wisdom.
Stage 11: Resurrection - The climax where the hero confronts the antagonist and applies their lessons.
Stage 12: Return with the Elixir - The hero shares their transformative experience with the community.
The Hero's Journey is a flexible system that can be adapted to various story structures.
The absence of certain stages can create tension and intrigue for the audience.
The Hero's Journey pattern promises a payoff for the audience, potentially shifting their worldview.
Transcripts
Film Courage: Chris, can you please give us a 10 minute version of what The Hero's Journey is?
Christopher Vogler, Hollywood development executive, screenwriter, author and educator: Yes,
The Hero's Journey, I'm going to give you the quick down a dirty version there are in the
way I look at it. I broke it into 12 stages and it doesn't necessarily have to be chopped
up that way you can describe it in 10 stages or as Campbell did sometimes he would take 16 or 32
because he was interested in telling you every possible thing that could happen but I cooked
it down into this rough outline of 12 stages because I was trying to get something that could
be useful in many many many cases for analyzing scripts basically so I came up with this 12 point
proposal of of what the story really is down deep so the first stage is
The Ordinary World you need to introduce the character the main character the story is about
you have to introduce the world they live in and let us know what's been going on there up to this
point so this is like a stage that you create on the screen and you bring your characters out
and introduce them to the audience and show the character doing something characteristic their
characteristic Behavior a way of getting on in the world but in that opening section there should be
some kind of clue we're going someplace else or there's a problem here that needs to be solved or
there's a question will the hero escape from this world will the hero get what he or she
wants will they learn what they need so this is an opportunity to set those things in motion and kind
of set the table for the audience of what they need to know to get involved and drawn into the
store story the second bit is the stage of Call to Adventure because you really need to announce
to the audience that there's a problem that needs to be solved or there's a desire somebody has and
that generates a lot of energy in the story and draws us in because we are just programmed to
observe anybody even stick figure drawings and plug ourselves in to the desires of that stick
figure if if it's reaching its little stick hands out to pick up a baby or something or to get food
we automatically plug into that so the call to adventure is announcing to us hey here's
somebody who's kind of like me and they want something or they're in trouble or they need
something or their world is in trouble so it's a way of announcing that and I've noticed there is
a strong tendency to play certain kind of music at this point they go to the brass section and they
play horns you'll hear a lot of horn calls like bugle calls on the soundtrack at this point so
the composers are instinctively going for that kind of sound so the next thing that typically
happens in stories is there's a reaction so the call comes how does the hero react and that's
the third stage which is usually refusal of the call most of the time they put up a fight about
it of saying I don't want to go or I can't go or I already went once and I didn't like it there'll
be some kind of statement like this or turning away from the adventure that's being offered
and I think this is there for a very important reason it's to tell the audience this is scary
and your hero is naturally afraid because he or she is being asked to go into the unknown
they don't know what's ahead and we're all afraid of that we might want to get out of our situation
in our ordinary world if we're uncomfortable as most heroes are but what's next is unknown and
so it's natural to express fear and there are some variations on this some heroes are really
into it and they want what they want and they are just ready to go and nothing's going to stop them
but somebody else in the design will often jump up and say you can't do that don't you know this
is terribly dangerous everybody who tried this was killed and there are a lot of things in fairy
tales and myths that suggest this the hero will be walking along the path trying to get what he wants
to get into a castle or to rescue a princess or something like that and notices that the
ground underneath is very crunchy and making all this noise under his boots and he looks down and
realizes he's walking on the bones and skulls of all the heroes who went before and didn't make it
so it is signaling to the audience this is serious this is dangerous and we really need that to get
involved in the story or else we just go oh well it's you know some cartoon or you know uh
string of images that I'm observing that aren't really meaningful to me it when we get scared
for the hero then we're involved so now we have to overcome this fear and a typical way is stage
four introducing a mentor and the mentor is a character often who is wiser and more involved
than the hero has been around the block once or more times has been through the whole hero cycle
of 12 stages more than once and they're there with really one job which is to reassure the hero and
give the hero something you could equally call this type of character a donor character because
often they give something to the herald might be knowledge might be a map might be a magic sword
might be a weapon or a vehicle of some kind or just reassurance that no I've I could I'm here
to tell you it's scary of over there in this other world but it can be survived and I went
there and I know because you look I'm here so you know that someone can survive this so that
often is used to give the heroes some reassurance and there can be stories that don't have this uh
where there's no mentor and that's kind of a scary story when there's nobody to look up to nobody to
ask about what are the rules in this other world what can eat me what should I eat and you know
who's a friend and who's an enemy when there's nobody to ask that's kind of a horror story and
that makes an interesting variation and I think that's a good point for all of these stages that
this is a very flexible system and if you take out or leave out certain parts it creates a very
interesting tension where the audience kind of expects it and they want to know why isn't that
there usually that's there and that I see there isn't any helper or mentor so this is maybe a
different story that I should pay more attention to so it's good to be flexible about these things
so next thing up stage five is now that you have sort of loaded up your with equipment and
reassurance and you know where you're going you know what you want you face your fear you've been
reassured now it's time to get up and go and when I was working for the movie studios especially for
Disney they talked about this like an airplane taking off and they said you've spent all this
time in what they call the first act the first three or four or five movements those first steps
you've loaded the plane up and you've fueled the plane and you've told everybody to belt their seat
belts and you know all the safety things now get the wheels up and get the plane in the air so this
is the feeling of lifting up that you get when all the preparation is ready and now we're going
into that new world or special world as Joseph Campbell calls it he says every story he ever
looked at seems to take place in Two Worlds either environments or states of being two different
states of conditions so now we're going to really launch into that special world and this is a big
turning point in a story that signals the audience all the prep is done now we're really going for
it and the audience likes that and they feel a nice lift there and sometimes it's backed
up by changing the music or the change in the energy of the scene to say we're leaving Kansas
we're leaving the ordinary world and now we're going someplace very very different and exotic
so now you're in this special world and you have to figure out what is special about it so there's
a stage number six that's called tests allies and enemies and the idea is that it's like you've been
thrown into a college class and you don't know much about the subject but they've given you a few
chapters to read and some problems to work out and now you're tested but it's a small test it's like
a pop quiz that just focuses on certain skills and abilities and so the hero will be put through some
kind of challenges that aren't fatal necessarily but they're a little scary and a little dangerous
and they bring attention to the fact I don't know the rules here and I've got to figure it out fast
so I got to figure out who can help me with this and and who will be in my way and that's where the
allies and enemies come and often you will find teams are built at this stage you think about
in Star Wars the Cantina sequence where you're on the threshold of this world of space and the hero
Luke Skywalker finds you know the rules are very different here there's weird creatures and quick
moments of violence so the hero is alerted that he's going to someplace quite exotic and different
so having been through some of those tests there's a stage now because number seven which I call the
approach and this is a period of time in movies and in a lot of stories where the hero is not
quite to the center of the whole thing yet but there's a period of traveling there and on that
travel the hero and the rest of the team get to know each other better and the first impressions
that you made of people and the impression you have of yourself may start to change because
you're getting to know them better so it's a period I would call another name for it is
getting to know you where people develop deeper relationships the friendships get deeper or they
get tested and you become suspicious you might be paranoid about the other person or you know
somebody sabotaging us and you know who is it and you start looking around for suspects so this is
a place where comedy can develop and where romance and Intrigue can develop it's a Time
in stories where you sort of let your belt out as a Storyteller and take some time to go deeper with
the characters so this all is by way of leading up to sort of the heart of the whole thing the
mainspring is stage eight which is the ordeal and this is composed really of two beats one is death
or a near-death experience or a confrontation with death and then a rebirth that comes out of
that and it may be stretched out over two scenes one for the death and one for the rebirth or it
can all happen in one scene but this could be a very drastic very dramatic scene often you
will have physical combat at this stage or legal dispute or a big argument in the family something
like that and it there's blood on the floor and it looks like somebody's gonna die or sometimes
somebody does die and in a lot of the myths that's exactly what happens the hero actually
dies and goes into an underworld or is swallowed by a creature and you know to our eyes to ordinary
humanize is dead and over with but they're living in this other world and in the underworld or they
get a second shot at life and are brought back transformed because the ordeal they went through
was so intense that it shatters the old self and now they get to be something different and this
will sometimes come as a surprise to the heroes and to the audience that oh I I didn't know I had
that in me I didn't know I could survive and face something like that I thought that would
wipe me out and it did but I still have something left and and I feel differently about myself now
so those are are huge transformative scenes and sometimes very violent and sometimes very dramatic
the simple way to say it is that the hero faces his or her greatest fear whatever it is they're
afraid of should be established earlier in the picture earlier in the show but at this point
they they face that fear and keep going so the next stage number nine is reaping the benefits
of that it's called the reward Stage Nine and here is where sometimes you have the rebirth or
this is the aftermath of that death and rebirth where you take some time and reflect on what
just happened and sort of recompose yourself and begin to experiment with this new identity that's
come because you went through a crucible you went through something transformative and scary and now
you're not quite the same person anymore and you need to reflect on that and often it's literally
reflecting by looking in a mirror there are a lot of scenes in movies where people at this
stage take a good look at themselves and begin to realize you know I thought I couldn't do the
X Y or Z and you know what I can and maybe that means I could do something else too so they'd be
begin to dream bigger or have a better idea of themselves and it will often be expressed in a
long speech and thoughtful speech where they're going over what just happened and and reflecting
on you know when I was in the jaws of the monster or when the bad guys were about to beat me up
I I had a thought and that thought comes out and sometimes it's a profound thing that the
hero realizes about himself or herself so having done all this sort of operation there is a kind
of a party atmosphere almost at this stage you might celebrate on this moment of rebirth but
this reward phase but at some point you kind of have to collect yourself and the energy of
the story to focus now on finishing and this is something that mirrors or or corresponds really
well to what goes on the life of the artist the artist dives into something not knowing what it's
going to be they pull something out of themselves that's very intense they almost die doing it I
think almost every artist has that feeling that it wasn't easy to get it out of me but now it's out
there it's wonderful but now I have to publish it now I have to bring it home now I have to polish
it and finish it so that it can be presented and the same is true for the heroes and the stories
they sometimes have to rededicate themselves to finishing and there's a increase in energy here
and often in movies you find Chase scenes at this point where the urgency becomes apparent that we
better hurry up because the bad guys are almost home and they're going to claim the victory before
us so we have have to race them to get home or the bad guys stole the treasure that we came to get
and you know we had it in our hands but now it's gone and we have to go chase after it or somebody
we love has been kidnapped by the villains and we have to pursue them so the the energy of the chase
often comes up if you looked at 100 Hollywood movies you would find at least 80 of them have
a very exciting chasing at this point so this is a a place where you can almost see home but there's
a lot of trips and possible flaws and outcomes that can yet trip you up so with that increase in
energy now we come skidding into the next to last phase number 11 which is the resurrection which
is an umbrella kind of phrase that covers a lot of possible operations but basically it's the climax
of the movie where all the questions are brought to the fore and are answered in one particular
choice that the hero makes or one action that the hero takes to stand up to the villains or
to seize their Birthright and there might be a big Showdown or a conflict physical fight sword fight
gun fight or courtroom battle or big argument between the generations but it serves to focus
the heroes energy on how have I changed them what have I learned and I'm going to be tested here to
the Max this is the final exam stage eight was kind of the midterm exam this is the final and
if I flunked this final I'm doomed I'll have to either repeat it or I'm going to end up killed
so it's as drastic as it can be but it has this wonderful effect if the hero faces it faces Their
Fear and calls on all the things they've learned in the story then they end up transformed and
can express all these things they've learned in a single action and bring out a wonderful feeling in
the audience that the hero is now fully realized and has learned the lessons and has defeated the
the bad forces although it should look like the bad guys are going to win and we should be
tricked almost into thinking that they have the upper hand and then the hero pulls out one last
burst of energy or gets help from somebody and is able to overcome and then the final step stage 12
is what Campbell called return with the Elixir and the idea here is once you've been through
such a transformative experience that's churned you up you have an obligation and sometimes a
desire to share it with everybody else and that's what really makes a hero according to Campbell's
idea of the word hero is that it's someone who protects and serves and doesn't do it selfishly
that they do it with a sharing kind of attitude and that that's what really distinguishes a good
hero is that they take responsibility for a group that they step up or that they sacrifice something
at the last movement that was very dear to them but which is good for the community so
there's often a sense of expansion here that the hero's little world and their little desires and
needs have a bigger Dimension and because I went through something dangerous and faced my fears
I have something to share I have something to give and it might be a good story or it might
be love or it might be a new way of doing things new idea of yourself but it must be
shared and transmitted and that's the idea of the elixir which is elixir is a word from Arabic that
means a magic potion or magic dust that has this quality like the Holy Grail of healing
all wounds or solving all problems and it's a a universal antivirus that that is everything
so that's the 12 stages as I see it and it's a beautiful pattern that kind of promises you if you
observe these things and celebrate them in your story that they'll be a payoff in the audience
that they will feel something and that their life will be shifted or their view of the world will
be shifted just a little bit and maybe they'll have a bigger idea of what's possible for them.
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