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Week Six: A Rich Fantasy Life

The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey is a tried and true method of storytelling, specifically used for myths and legends, or stories trying to emulate a similar effect. The Hero’s Journey is not a necessary trope for telling a fantasy tale but it is definitely the most popular. The Dark Crystal is prime example of the Hero’s Journey. The main character starts his quest due to his old master telling him to fulfill a destiny and he travels to hell and back, fulfilling that destiny. Though a very fun movie to watch, the Hero’s Journey trope makes it much to easy to compare what should be unrelated tales. Something I noticed while watching the Dark Crystal is how many comparisons you could make to Star Wars, for example. Completely different story. Comparing a Fantasy to a Sci-Fi Fi epic. But it’s possible and quite easy thanks to the Hero’s Journey trope used in both films. Both start with the hero taking on a higher destiny after meeting their old master (dead or not) and end with an evil super weapon being destroyed. 


The Lord of the Rings is a fascinating twist on the Hero’s journey because the journey has already happened by the time the books (or films) begin. The tale of Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit is the predecessor to Lord of the Rings but isn’t necessary to read. It’s a very straightforward Hero’s Journey, whereas Lord of the Rings is much, much more complicated and greater than a simple Hero’s Journey, partly due to the ring. The hero must go to hell and back, in this case Mordor, but the goal isn’t necessarily there. The goal and villain is with the hero the entire time—the Ring. Frodo must destroy the ring, which seems simple. But there are doubts. If the Ring were to persuade Frodo, the quest would be over and it has a constant presence as the villain that is on this journey along with the hero.

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