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Hero

The hero is Richard Cypher.

Plot Summary

Richard Cypher is a young woods guide living in Westland, the only part of the world that has no magic. It is separated from the rest of the world by a magical boundary preventing anyone with powerful magic to pass through it. The magical part of the world consists of the Midlands (which are many nations who are united) and D'Hara, the big empire. Shortly after his father is murdered, Richard happens to find the woman Kahlan in the woods. She is hunted by four men and Richard decided to help and save her. Then they go to see Richard's old friend Zedd. Zedd turns out to be the First Wizard of the Midlands, and Kahlan is no other than the Mother Confessor. She has come to look for Zedd, as she needs his help in finding the new Seeker. The Seeker is destined to fight and try to defeat evil in the world. Zedd appoints Richard to be the new Seeker and gives him the Sword of Truth. Richard now has to stop the leader of D'Hara, the evil Darken Rahl, from opening the magical boxes of Orden which would give him absolute power over life and death. His quest takes him to the most remote parts of the world, through many adventures and dangers.

Departure

The Call to Adventure is when Richard first sees Kahlan in the forest and decides to help her escaping the quad - four men with the task to murder her. Had he not taken this decision, it is possible that Kahlan would either have been killed, or that she would have taken a completely different route and not have found neither Richard nor Zedd. In that case, Richard wouldn't have been made the Seeker and been given his mission.

The next two steps, Refusal of the Call and Supernatural Aid, are well entangled. Actually, Richard is given his Supernatural Aid - the Sword of Truth - before he refuses the Call to Adventure. He gets the sword at the same time as Zedd tells him that he is the new Seeker. Richard questions it all - what is a Seeker, why is he to be the new one, surely he is not the best choice? He accepts his mission after Zedd has put him through the final test, which also meant that Richard got to know the truth behind his father's murder, and made him want to avenge his father.

My interpretation of the Crossing of the First Threshold is that it is when Richard, Kahlan and Zedd leave Zedd's home and set out to find the passage from Westland to the Midlands. That's when Richard sets out into the unknown, not knowing what dangers and unknown things he will encounter.

The Belly of the Whale is then when Richard and Kahlan have reached the Midlands. Now, Richard has left all that is well-known behind him, and he has entered the Midlands that are full of magic, dangers, unknown creatures and unfamiliar cultures.

Initiation

Road of Trials: Richard faces a lot of trials. The first major trial is when he and Kahlan meet the Mud People and he has to convince them to first make him and Kahlan members of their people, and then to hold a gathering of seers. He wants the help of the dead to find the third box of Orden. He then has to find his way through the Midlands on his mission to find the box of Orden. He has to learn the customs of the Midlands, he has to face death and destruction, he has to get rid of a binding spell that James draws around him, he has to survive being held captive by a Mord-Sith, he has later to find his friends and convince them to turn around and not go to the People's Palace, even though Darken Rahl has put an Enemy Web on him so his friends see him as an enemy. He succeeds in most of the tasks, but not all of them.

Meeting with the Goddess: Richard has already met his true love during the first part of the story - Kahlan. During their journey together and through all that they have to go through, their love only grows stronger and stronger.

Woman as Temptress: During the gathering of seers, Richard is told to go to the Agaden Reach, to talk to the witch woman Shota who knows something about the Boxes of Orden. When he and Kahlan gets there Shota transforms into Richard's dead mother. This makes him less capable of thinking clearly in the beginning, because he gets so confused. Shota doesn't want Richard to go on with Kahlan, she says that Kahlan will have to die, otherwise she will use her power against Richard. Shota tries to make Richard realize that he might have to kill his friends to be able to complete his mission. But he gets himself free of her attempts to talk him over, and refuses to do as she says. He continues to go with Kahlan.

Atonement with the Father: I'm not sure if this element can be found in this book, at least I couldn't find an obvious situation.

Apotheosis: Richard is taken captive by the Mord-Sith Denna who trains him to be completely submissive. A part of him kind of dies as she's breaking him down. He only survives and can regain his full mental health and strength again because he managed to shut off one small part of his mind and hide it, or however I could explain it.

Ultimate Boon: Richard manages to trick Darken Rahl into opening the wrong Box of Orden, causing Rahl to die. The Ultimate Boon was originally the third Box of Orden, but Darken Rahl ended up having all three Boxes. The only way to defeat him was to make him open the wrong Box.

Return

There is no Refusal of the Return.

The Magic Flight is Richard's realization that there is a way for him to love and be loved by Kahlan without being confessed - and that he can use that fact to defeat Darken Rahl.

Rescue from Without comes with Zedd and Kahlan. He defeats Rahl on his own, but he wouldn't have been able to do that if Kahlan hadn't been around. Darken Rahl also helped Richard - it was he who said the thing which made Richard realize how to defeat him.

There is no clear Crossing of the Return Threshold as I see it.

In the end, Richard defeats Darken Rahl, reveals to Kahlan what he did and that they can love each other without worrying about him getting confessed, he gives orders to the people around him (who to execute, what to do, where to go) as a leader, and he and Kahlan leave to go to the Mudpeople. Richard has become a Master of Two Worlds - where he comes from and what he has become through his journey - and he has gained the freedom to live, with Darken Rahl being dead and nothing stopping him from being with Kahlan.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun project - and it got me reading The Sword of Truth series again! After watching The Legend of the Seeker for so long on TV, I realized I had almost forgotten the original story that it was based on. Of course I couldn't let that happen, and that's why I took this chance to refresh my memory and once again meet the original characters, see the original relationships and connections between them, and to "see" the original adventure.

This story does follow Joseph Campbell's Hero Quest, but not very closely all the time. There are many elements of it that appear in the novel, but sometimes they don't follow the correct order (as I interpret the story) as said by Campbell. And as this was only the first part of a long series, the adventure is still not finished and Richard doesn't cross a return threshold. There were some stages that I had a hard time trying to find in the story, so I didn't think all of the stages really were present here - or at least not very obvious. I think many of the stages are more apparent in The Legend of the Seeker TV series than in this novel. But this is still a great fantasy novel - and series - about Richard's journey and adventures, and I would choose it before the TV series a hundred times over!

As a reader of mostly fantasy literature, I would say I have seen elements (few or many) of the Monomyth in perhaps not all the novels I've read but in most of them. Some that I come to think of are The Lord of the Rings, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, The Wheel of Time, The Belgariad - just to name a few. I also come to think of the Star Wars movies, especially Episode IV. Superhero movies in general have Monomyth elements.