Class Notes 9/11/09

Mythic Heroic Archetype: Quest for Enlightenment

Mythic #6 (Guides)

• There is a guide or guides.
• Once the hero passes an initiatory test, the guide will be revealed.
• It will usually be a revered but unlikely person offers important advice/tools to the hero.
• Either really old or really young or neither... usually older. Many guides are also blind.
• Ex: Yoda, Gandolf, Oracle (from Matrix)
• These things will be offered ambiguously; their meaning will not be spelled out for the hero.
• Nor will the hero be warned of all the dangers ahead in order to force the use of common sense and allow the hero's group to figure it out for themselves.
• The guide will generally be suspected of having some unknown connection to the opposing forces.
• They always possess great power- but not enough to defeat the enemy, sometimes leave info out. Ex: Darth Vader being Luke's father.

#7 (Descent into Darkness)

• There is a descent into darkness (final battle) (alone)
• Can be literal or figurative darkness, but will always prey upon the fears of the hero.
• Ex: Star Wars- Dark Throne Room, where Luke is usually half lit in the scenes and Darth Vader uses Luke's fear for his sister.
• This is the hero's lowest point.
• The victory of the hero is symbolized by the return to the light, cleansed and renewed (a rebirth of sorts)
• Examples: 1) Huckleberry Finn deciding to rescue Jim. 2) Pinocchio in the belly of the whale. 3) Young Goodman Brown in the dark forest. 4) The gunfight in Highnoon, Shane, or any western. 5) Holden Caulfield coming out of the mummy crypt.
• The darkness usually represents a crisis within the hero.

#8 (Hero's New Found Wisdom)

• There is a difference in the hero after the descent.
• The hero possesses new maturity and wisdom that were not the original object of the Quest.
• The other characters will never fully understand this new knowledge, or that the original "goal" was only a symbol.
• "Good does not destroy evil, evil kills evil, or evil collapses into itself. Good must grow and change itself while evil kills itself."
• ^^ Something Mr. Lazarow said...

#9 (Wounds)

• The hero suffers from a physical wound, and is always less than 100%, usually a reminder of the pain from growing and changing, and can sometimes be a mortal wound.
• The hero may be wounder - or even killed - as part of the process of achieving the goal.
• The hero does not view their own suffering as important, when compared with the value of their new knowledge.

#10 ( Knowledge Passed On)

• The hero's knowledge is brought back to the community.
• The hero returns home, bearing the new found wisdom, in order to teach others what they have learned.
• Or, if the hero has died while achieving the quest, the hero's companions return home to carry on the legacy.
• Ex: Saving Private Ryan, Ryan comes home and shares the wisdom of those who saved him... Ex of a Heroic Death: Maximus from Gladiator.

Hope this covers everything, if anyone has any additional information feel free to comment.

-Matt Mollo