the Hero's journey

The Hero's journey as a concept was first introduced by Joseph Campbell in his piece “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” in which he explores common basic stages of a cycle that is often seen in heroic tales, while outlining simple variations. It is a circle in which the Hero goes through both the known and unknown world, in the end returning to where he started but reformed into a new person.
The journey has three main points, Separation or sometimes Departure, Initiation, and Return accompanied by more minor points that can vary. (The Hero With A Thousand Faces)

"There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew it is foolish to shut oneself into a wardrobe. Soon she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one. She took a step further in - then two or three steps - always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. "I wonder is that more moth-balls?" she thought, stooping down to feel it with her hands. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air."  (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)

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 men. (The Hero With A Thousand Faces, page 23)

"To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf's hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him sown the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more."  (The Hobbit, page 36)

Works Cited: 

https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-heros-journey
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. New World Library, 2008

Lewis, C. S.. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, chapter 1. Grafton, 2002

Tolkien, J. R. R.. The Hobbit, page 36. HarperCollins Publishers, 2006

author of this page: Viktorie Veselá