Welcome to Folklore and Mythology Part 8: Guiding Mentors

What do Obi-Wan Kenobi, Albus Dumbledore, and Merlin have in common?

Hint: it's not just the awesome supernatural powers.

They're all mentors to the young protagonist of their respective stories. Obi-Wan is a mentor to Luke, Dumbledore to Harry Potter, and Merlin to King Arthur (unless it's the BBC TV version in which case BFFs for life!!!). They teach their respective charges important lessons and guide them in their journey to become heroes.

Mentors often represent the older generation in stories. They have the wisdom of a long life and teach the younger generation what they probably should and should not do. Mentors aren't infallible beings either. They are known for making mistakes, mistakes that the hero may have to face and rectify for the mentor.

The mentor is often known to die before the end of these stories.

I often took that trope to show how the older generation (the mentor) will eventually have to make way for the younger generation (hero) to take charge of society (narrative). This trope is seen in Harry Potter, Star Wars, Buffy, and even Lord of the Rings (though Gandalf is eventually resurrected).

Chiron is one of the most famous mythological mentors in Western culture (much like Merlin, but he lives in his story). He was responsible for teaching many of Greece's greatest heroes including, Achilles, Ajax, Jason, Theseus, and, of course, Heracles. It's Heracles who is ultimately responsible for Chiron's death with a poisoned arrow, allowing Heracles to exchange Chiron's life for Prometheus's (versions of this story vary and I'm using Wikipedia as my main source as I can't find my mythology book with this story in it).

Chiron and Achilles

Mentors don't even have to be "good guys" necessarily, though this is a more modern trope. They just have to be guiding force and teacher to the protagonist. In the Anime/Manga Black Cat, the hero, Train, is trained by the man who murdered his parents. The man takes Train in with the explicit purpose of teach Train how to kill him one day. Train eventually grows up to become one of the best assassins in his organization.

Another example of this modern trope would be Littlefinger from Game of Thrones choosing to look after and mentor Sansa Stark. He mentor's Sansa in the art of The Game of Thrones so that she will survive and possibly win. He is without doubt a morally ambiguous character (even by his universe's standards), but that doesn't stop him from trying to teach and guide Sansa in the world she has found herself in. Just don't think too hard about his creepy attraction to her because she looks like her dead mother.

Even villains need mentors.

Darth Vader had Darth Sidious. Sauron had Morgoth. Light had Ryuk. Each teaching and tempting them to the ways of the villain.

Mentors are as important in mythology and folklore as they are in our modern society. Seriously, one of the first pieces of advice I was given when I joined the workforce was to find a good mentor to teach and guide me. Every few months Business Insider usually has one or two articles about how to find good mentors. Even I wrote a blog post about this in the first year of starting this blog (I'm not sure how good it is anymore, but click here if you're curious).

People can have many mentors throughout their life. Mentors can be relatives, family friends, teachers, or complete strangers who live on an island and you have to seek out because someone told you to. They pass on wisdom and knowledge, but ultimately it is up to the person to decide what they do with these lessons.

I am still at a time in my life where I still feel that I would benefit from having a mentor. I wouldn't feel comfortable being a mentor myself, but that's not often my decision to make. Mentorship is often an inevitable part of a person's life cycle. At some point I will likely have to pass on my knowledge to someone else. I will eventually be a member of the older generation.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Folklore and Mythology Part 7: A Tale As Old As Time

I was recently asked by my therapist to go see the movie "The Shape of Water". It's a beautiful masterpiece, created by Guillermo del Toro. An adult fairy tale about a mute woman who falls in love with a sea "monster" (though I prefer the designation River God). He deserves every award he gets for this film.

It bears more than a few similarities to "Beauty and the Beast".

I was first introduced to Guillermo del Toro's work through the "Hellboy" movies and later "Pan's Labyrinth", one of my favorite movies by him. His work tends to be on the darker side. Well, that's not quite what I mean. He creates beautiful stories, full of life and light, against a backdrop of the dark, grim reality his heroes live in.

I could go on and on about del Toro's work, but that's not why I'm writing this post. I'll save that for a later date. I'm writing this post to talk about one of the most common stories in the public contentiousness.

The story about how beauty comes to love a beast.

There have been a number of modern retellings of this story, from TV shows to movies. One of the most famous movies to come out of the Disney Renaissance was "Beauty and the Beast", which was remade last year as a live action production. There's even a song in both versions (which I'm sure most of my readers are familiar with) that contains the lines "tale as old as time".

I've written about "Beauty and the Beast" before in this blog (click here to view if you're curious). I didn't go back and reread that blog post before writing this, so I might repeat myself a bit. It's a movie and story that I deeply enjoy, especially the Disney version. This story is what actually inspired me to write this series of blogs on folklore and mythology in the first place.

There are the very straight forward tellings of this story, including the Disney versions and "La Belle et la Bête" created by Jean Cocteau and also remade a few years ago (you can find the remake on Netflix as of this posting). There's a great analysis on YouTube comparing these two versions to one another by Some Jerk with a Camera and Kyle from Brows Held High. I cannot recommend this three part series more (click here for part 1, part 2, and part 3). It's hilarious and done to the Disney's musical version while they are running around Disneyland.

Then there are the tragic tellings of this tale. They usually take the form of thriller or horror stories, such as "King Kong" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon". It's where we get the famous quote "it was beauty that killed the beast".

But these are all more modern examples of this fairy tale. I'm supposed to be looking at folklore and mythology too.

Well, in the oldest known written story, "The Epic of Gilgamesh", there is a version of the story (sadly I'm not super familiar with it and can't write much on it). So, we know that the story of a beauty falling for a beast is as old as the written word.

The oldest version of the story that I am most familiar with, is the Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche (literally translates as Love and Soul). It has all of the classical myth troupes such as why you shouldn't piss off a powerful god, tasks that the hero (Psyche in this story) must complete, and the general god shenanigans we're used to from these stories.

But it also has all of the classic Beauty and the Beast troupes. There's a mysterious "monster" (really Cupid in disguise), an amazingly beautiful young woman who falls in love with him after a set amount of time, invisible servants who maintain a luxurious palace, and jealous family members nearly destroying the couple's happiness. It's honestly become one of my favorite versions of the story.

Because the story doesn't end with Cupid turning into a handsome prince. The story keeps going for a while. Cupid has already proven his love to Psyche, but Psyche must prove her love and devotion to him by convincing his mother, Venus, that she is worthy to love her son. And boy, oh boy, does Venus hate Psyche. The story ends, when Cupid and Psyche are able to convince all the gods (including a still kind of pissed off Venus) just how much they love each other and how far they are willing to go to be together.

It's a beautiful story.

It's also a story with a few problems. Like the majority of folklore and mythology, they are a product of their societies. They contain the morals and ethics that that society has. And, despite popular belief, morality and ethics are not a universal constant. As Mabel Pines said in an episode of "Gravity Falls": "morality is relative".

These stories change over time with each retelling. New generations bring new lessons and morals to the table and remove the ones that no longer fit within their society. We can even see this change over the past few decades with all the jokes being made about the Disney version having elements of Stockholm Syndrome (I personally don't think it does, but better people than me have pointed this out - click here for more information from Lindsey Ellis). Regardless of how I feel about it, this is a discussion/debate that still plagues the internet.

But it is true that it isn't the healthiest example of a relationship in the stories we constantly retell.

"The Shape of Water" is proof of this metamorphosis. Guillermo del Toro took a story we were all familiar with and told it in a way that was new, exciting, and reflected how our society has changed.

And this is what makes folklore and mythology so powerful. It isn't just that these stories are old and at one time taught as religious truth, but how we retell these stories. Beauty and the Beast really is a tale as old as time and it will continue to be a tale we tell. And so is the Hero's Journey and of Death. They teach lessons, explain the unknown, and reflect what are our values.

If you haven't seen it yet, go check out "The Shape of Water", "Beauty and the Beast" (both versions), and Jean Cocteau's "La Belle et la Bête" (the original and the 2014 remake). I can't recommend these movies enough.

I think I'm almost finished with this series of posts. I'm not sure how many more myths and folklore I'll look at. If there's anything you guys feel that I missed or a story/folklore/myth or topic you feel very strongly about, let me know and I'll look into it. I am planning on ending this series with a look at stories that go into the "End of Times" (spoken with a big booming voice and echo effect).

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Folklore and Mythology Part 6: The Rise of Villains

Do you find heroes boring and one note? Would you prefer to explore the darker side of humanity? Do you enjoy laughing with an evil flare? Do you miss the days when Disney Villains were actually intimidating?

Then you might want to explore THE RISE OF VILLAINS!

They are coming for you!

Except, there aren't a lot of villain stories in folklore and mythology, are there? I mean there are a few examples of villains having stories in classic mythology. There's the story of Medea who murdered her children, but is she really a villain or tragic character? Or what about the origin story for Medusa? All of the versions of the story I'm familiar with indicate that Athena punished her after being raped by Poseidon (basically the ultimate rape shame story I've ever read).

But I don't really think of Medea and Medusa as villains.

When I think of folklore and mythological villains, I think of that evil entity that needs to be defeated so that the hero can live happily ever after. They're sort of one note entities that only exist to do bad things and showcase what is not okay behavior in the society the story was written for.

Heroes defeat villains. Every Disney movie made before 2010 made this very clear.

Who wants to join Captain Hook's crew?

Some of the stand out villains that I can name from my childhood are Lord Voldemort, Ursula, Maleficent, Gaston, and Darth Vader. They are all evil and the heroes need to defeat them to end the story. Villains might be redeemed before the end (Darth Vader), but it's not always the case. The villain also might not be the central focus of the plot, but forces attention on themselves because they are the drama queen villain (Gaston and Ursula).

But what makes a villain, a villain? The Hero's Journey has been studied to death and it's still everywhere in popular culture. So what's the opposite? Is there a Villain's Journey?

The Internet answers that question with a solid yes.

And if you guys want a solid example of the Villain's Journey, look no further than the manga/anime "Death Note" (not the Netflix movie, it doesn't exist in my universe). It completely focuses on the transformation of Light Yagami from genius student to self declared god. His path to villainy almost perfectly mirrors the Hero's Journey with a few exceptions.

So here's my version of The Villain's Journey:

WARNING - SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME/MANGA DEATH NOTE - THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!

1. Ordinary World - Starting out in the ordinary world is essential to both the Hero's and Villain's Journeys. Light starts out as a normal extremely smart high school student. All of that changes on one fateful day...
2. Call To Adventure or The Temptation - Once again we see the similarities in the two Journeys. One random day, Light finds a strange book on the ground with weird rules about how he can kill someone just by writing their name in this book. This is the opening for Light to leave the Ordinary World and enter the Extraordinary.
3.  Skeptical of the Call - The first step that I think separates Heroes and Villains is how they respond to the Call To Adventure step. In Light's case, he doesn't reject the call, but he is skeptical of it. He's intrigued and wants to know more about what he's been presented with. He is tempted to answer the call, but doesn't really believe what he is being offered.
4. Meeting The Mentor - The two paths meet again at the mentor step. Much like Harry Potter has Dumbledore to guide him, Light has Ryuk. Ryuk was the one who dropped the Death Note Notebook in the first place, all because he was bored and wanted to know what a human would do with it. He tempts Light into using the notebook's powers and then guides him on how to best use them. He is entirely indifferent to how successful Light is because he can just find another human to mess with if Light proves to be too boring. Mentors don't necessarily have to be villains, but they often are. Mentors are often another challenge to overcome. Sometimes the villain has to kill their mentor to gain ultimate power or be killed by their mentor.
5. Embracing Temptation - Villains don't cross a threshold, so much as embrace their temptation. In the case of Light, it's when he chooses to use the Death Note and kill anyone who breaks the law. He will be the one to punish them, especially if the powers at be can't punish the criminals. He takes out mobsters, murderers, and thieves left and right all while believing he is doing the right thing. He becomes the mysterious killer known as Kira.
6. Addiction, Minions, and Adversaries - Heroes have tests to see how committed they are to their cause. Villains often find that their success comes naturally, almost too easily. They like this success, this power. It's thrilling and they want to keep feeling that thrill. It becomes an addiction. And unlike heroes, who find strength alongside their friends, villains don't need friends. They have minions. People who do things for them. Minions can be willing or unwilling. Some might be fanatical devoted fans of the villain. Misa's devotion to Light is unquestionable, neigh fanatical. She loves Light's alter ego, Kira, and will do anything to prove her love. Finally, there are adversaries. They're the ones who fight back against the villain. At first they're unsuccessful, like the police force and FBI agents looking for Kira. But then someone worthy shows up to challenge the villain. For Light, that worthy adversary is L.
7. The Point of No Return - This is the step where a villain truly diverges from the path of redemption and heroism. They might still think they are doing the right thing, but everyone else knows the truth. The villain has fully embraced evil. Light hits this point when he chooses to kill the FBI Agent, Raye Penber, and Raye's fiance, Naomi Misora. They weren't criminals. They hadn't broken the law. They were trying to find and arrest Kira. This is when Light showed that he didn't care who got in the way of his goals. He would kill them.
8. The Confrontation - This is when the villain is finally confronted by the hero or heroes. It could be the final show down, but it's usually not. This is when the villain is confronted by his greatest adversary. In my example, it's when Light and L start playing their games, trying to out do each other. Waiting for the other to slip up. 
9. The Conquest - Heroes have their rewards, villains have their conquests. Here's the biggest spoiler of Death Note, despite L being Lights greatest adversary and should be the one to defeat Light/Kira. He isn't. L is ultimately killed by Light. And Light becomes the god he always wanted to be.
10. The Reign of Terror - Villains ultimately end up in a high seat of power. We see this with Lord Voldemort, Darth Vader, and Light Yagami. Light through his alter ego Kira secures his power. He gets to decide who lives and who dies in his world. Crime virtually goes away. Some people see Light/Kira as a hero, someone who made the world a safer place. Others see the truth, that in reality, Light is an evil dictator who can choose to kill someone on a whim. What Light is doing is wrong.
11. The Resistance - This leads to the rise resistance against the villain. This is usually external, but there are cases where there is an internal resistance, such as if the villain is seeking redemption. New heroes rise to challenge the villain and remove them from power. Near and Mellow are L's successors. They are the new leaders of the resistance against Light/Kira. Though I didn't find them as awesome as L (as did almost everyone else who followed the series), they are the ones who will ultimately bring Light/Kira down.
12. End of the Villain - All villains will eventually be defeated. This is true of any story. Some villains end up redeeming themselves at the end of their stories. Most are either imprisoned or killed. Light is ultimately defeated by his own ego. He doesn't think as highly of Mellow and Near as he did L. This leads him to making mistakes and is eventually cornered. Ryuk, seeing that this is the end of his fun, write's Light's name in the Death Note, killing him. 

This 12 Step Guide is really just that, a guide. Villains are known for taking short cuts and finding the path of least resistance. But I think that you could take the journey that I've outlined above and find a way to apply to many different villain stories. Lord Voldemort would easily fit this outline, as would Darth Vader. 

Prince Zuko from "Avatar - The Last Airbender" would also be an interesting case to look at. He's one of those cases where chooses to redeem himself at the end of his journey to become part of Team Avatar. (Actually "Avatar - The Last Airbender" is probably one of the greatest examples of epic modern storytelling).

What makes Light such a cool villain isn't that he ever thought he was evil. He never once thought he was doing the wrong thing. He wanted a world rid of crime and he got what he wanted. Light thought he was a good guy, but he wasn't. He was the villain of his own story. 

Like I wrote above, most villains in classic mythology and folklore don't get a story arc. They are simply The Villain. But I can think of at least one example of the this journey in folklore and religion, that of the Fall of Lucifer. He is the ultimate villain for a lot of people and he had to have gone on some kind of journey to go from most beloved angel to greatest adversary to God.

Stories about heroes and villains have always been popular. They are the stories about good versus evil that we loved as children. Though they can be complex at times, they're usually fairly simple in premise. 

Villains teach us a lot of things. They show us how not to act. They show us what can happen when someone has ultimate power. And they can show us how someone who believes they doing good are actually evil.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if there's something you'd like me to cover in my series on Folklore and Mythology. I can't promise to work it in, but I'll try to get to it before I move on to a new topic.

Welcome to Folklore and Mythology Part 5: The Path of Heroes

Happy 2018!

It's a new year and I'm still writing about Folklore and Mythology. And why not? Storytelling is in a fundamental part of our humanity. I don't think I know a single culture that doesn't have a culture of story telling. It's how we pass down our history, morals, and dreams to the next generation.

And wouldn't you guys know it, there was a documentary on mythology on Netflix that popped up the minute I got home. I watched all six episodes of Myths and Monsters in the span of two days. I wasn't super impressed that they only really focused on European mythologies, though. There are a lot of great myths from all over the world, but I digress.

The first episode of this series was about Heroes and Villains, specifically the Hero's Journey. The theory was first introduced by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (note to self: find a copy of this book asap). In it, he claims that most myths and legends about heroes follow the same 12 steps, known as the Hero's Journey.

The call of the adventure! Thank you Dr. Seuss.

The episode then uses Star Wars as an example of this journey. Since the latest Star Wars movie came out less than a month ago, I found this very appropriate. Star Wars has become a modern myth and the first three movies are a classic example of good versus evil often found in myths from our ancestors. Looking deeper at the stories I consumed as a child, I realized that there are many other examples of the Hero's Journey, including Harry Potter.

Since Star Wars has been used to death to show this journey, I'm going to use Harry Potter to showcase the 12 step program to become a hero. For the record the Hero's Journey is flexible and doesn't have to follow the steps as I have listed here. By the way, this will contain spoilers if you haven't read all of the books. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.

1. Starting off in the Ordinary World - Harry is in the Non-Magical World or Muggle World when we first meet him as an 11 year old boy.
2. The Call to Adventure - Harry is given a letter telling him he's been accepted to Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
3. Refusal to Answer the Call - So, I don't like the wording of this one. I wouldn't call it a refusal, so much as a hesitance to answer the call. For example, Harry has to go to school no matter what. He can't refuse to go to school. His refusal instead takes two different forms. The first is his aunt and uncle telling him that the whole thing is crazy and that he can't possibly be going to a magical school. The second is his aversion to being treated like a celebrity once he gets there.
4. Meeting the Mentor - Or in Harry's case mentors who are his teachers. Yes, Dumbledore takes a special interest in Harry because he's "The Boy Who Lived" and is the main mentor, but Lupin or McGonagall or Hagrid also mentor Harry from time to time. 
5. Crossing the Threshold - One can argue that Harry does this when he steps through the barrier to Platform 9 and 3/4 or when he sees Hogwarts for the very first time, but I disagree. I think that this moment happens the instant he is sorted into Gryffindor. This is when Harry makes his first active choice in the Wizarding World (no going to school doesn't count). He chooses to be placed in Gryffindor house over Slytherin. It's Harry's first decision and sets the tone for the rest of the series.
6. Test, Friends, and Enemies - Throughout Harry's time at Hogwarts he is constantly tested (inside the classroom and out) in his magical abilities. He always has finals at the end of the school year as well as one major battle against Voldemort or one of his followers that shows how much he's grown throughout that year. He also makes a lot of friends. Ron and Hermione are without doubt Harry's two best friends, but they aren't his only friends. By the end of the series he has so many people who are willing to fight for/with him that it could easily compare it to a Shonen Manga (think Naruto or One Piece). The same goes for his enemies, starting out with Draco Malfoy and leading up to Voldemort and all of his Death Eaters. For the record, I think this is the largest and most time consuming of this 12 step program.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave - Despite the confusing name to this step, I think it's pretty clear which step this corresponds to for Harry and his Friends - the entire first two thirds of the seventh Harry Potter book. By this point in the series, things have become desperate for our hero. He can't go back to Hogwarts, a place that had always been safe in the past, and instead must find seven objects that must be destroyed so that he can vanquish Lord Voldemort for good. I'm sure others could argue that when Harry chooses to confront Voldemort in the woods one last time, but I think this takes away from the growth Harry has to go through in the seventh book.
8. The Ordeal - This is the metaphorical and occasionally physical "death" of the hero. For Harry, it's the first part of the Battle of Hogwarts. He's just put all of his friends in danger by returning to the school, found out that Dumbledore knew he was the final "object" that needed to be destroyed, and that he had to die so that everyone he loved would be able to live. The Ordeal ends when Voldemort ends Harry's life in a flash of green.
9. The Reward - Harry is allowed to chose whether he wants to live or die. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I was all for Harry choosing to die and finally be at peace. If this had happened, Neville or Ron could have stepped up to lead the final charge, creating a new hero for everyone to rally behind. It would have been a fitting ending, but not necessarily completed the Hero's Journey. Instead he chooses option two: to come back to life. His "reward" isn't just that he gets to make this choice. It also includes protection for his friends because he sacrificed himself to save them.
10. The Road Back - Basically when Voldemort makes Hagrid carry Harry back to Hogwarts. 
11. Resurrection - Part 2 of the Battle of Hogwarts. As Voldemort and his followers arrive back at Hogwarts, everyone thinks Harry is dead (his body is lying limp in Hagrid's arms after all). But then, Neville makes an amazing speech, rallying the remaining good guys. Voldemort responds by placing The Sorting Hat, while it's on fire, onto Neville's head. Neville pulls the sword of Gryffindor out of The Hat, allowing Harry to make his grand entrance as newly resurrected. This step ends when Voldemort dies when the curse he killed Harry with rebounds onto himself (this scene was so much better in the books).
12. The Return - Technically this step has a longer name, but I'm ignoring it. Harry defeats Voldemort, we're given a comforting scene in the Headmaster's Office with just him, Ron, and Hermione. Harry is at peace, but he's not the same 11 year old boy who started his journey. He's older, wiser, and ready to live a somewhat normal life in the Wizarding World. We're then given an epilogue 19 years later with Harry sending two of his children off to Hogwarts. It's the happy ending the fans wanted and JK Rowling gave us (ignoring the play that recently came out of course).

Well that was long and sure some of the Steps in this 12 Step Program to go on your very own Hero's Journey don't always align. Heck, Harry isn't the only one to go on the journey in this series. Neville also goes through it, even if we only see part of his journey (most of it takes place off screen during the 7th book). Cedric Diggory starts his own, but is tragically killed before he can complete it. 

And Harry's journey doesn't exactly fit the steps as they are presented. I had to make a few examples fit and arguments could be made for different events in Harry's story to be used. 

This also isn't the only way to define how a hero is made. It's just a theory (more like a pattern) that was noticed by the scholar, Joseph Campbell. It's heavily skewed towards European myths and legends. Though there are examples of this pattern showing up in the ancient world outside of Europe, it isn't a general rule. I would argue that the story Journey to the West (as I remember it) doesn't quite fit this mold. The story of David and Goliath could also be considered a Hero's Journey story and doesn't seem to fit the pattern (again, I'm going off of memory...it's been a while since I read it).

Harry's story is both modern and ancient. It's unique and new, while giving us a sense of familiarity. His story pushes our cultural boundaries, while also passing on a story telling tradition that goes back thousands of years. Fitting, as JK Rowling is a fan of classical literature. 

My point is, the heroes I am most familiar with in both ancient mythology and modern stories, often follow similar journeys to become a hero. It's a pattern that some of us really like and can easily identify with. 

Because if we know the 12 Step Program to becoming a Hero, we might be able to follow it and become Heroes ourselves. Now wouldn't that be a dream come true.

Next week, we'll look at a slightly different journey: The Villains Journey.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week! Muahahahaha!