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!

Welcome to Empathy

Emotions are a part of being human. Every single person has the ability to feel their own emotions. We like to experience happiness. We try to avoid disappointment. We want to be loved. Emotions, no matter how much some of us might try to deny it (*cough me *cough), play a major role in the decisions that we make.

We cannot escape the emotions we feel.

Emotions are often the driving force behind my actions. I go to amusement parks because I love how roller coasters make me happy. I read mysteries because solving the plot before the main character does makes me feel smart. I tend to go hide when I'm angry because I've been known to do some pretty stupid and destructive things when I'm feeling extreme anger.

These are all valid emotions I have felt at one point or another. I am also not the only person who acts upon the strong emotions. I might forget that on occasion (which is not one of my better traits), especially when I'm arguing with my sibling about something. These arguments tend to quickly descend into screaming matches and it can take a while for us to forgive each other.


Emotions are what separate us from machines and computers. Granted, artificial intelligence is getting pretty good at recognizing and responding to human's emotions, but there is one thing a machine can not be programmed to do. A machine cannot be empathetic.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share feelings with another individual. I've also heard it described as feeling the exact emotions another person is feeling. It shouldn't be confused with sympathy, which is feeling pity or sorrow for someone's misfortune.

One of the best quotes or analogies I've heard for empathy is that you can never know what someone else is going through until you've walked a mile in their shoes. It's a good analogy. After all everyone has a slightly different world view and might have a different perspective to share.

 But is it the best analogy?

The funny thing about shoes is that they are made to fit the size of a person's feet. A person can't control the size of their feet, so they need to be able to find shoes that fit well enough not to pinch their toes and aren't so large that they trip. Just because I can fit perfectly into one pair of shoes doesn't  mean that I can fit into sibling's shoes, or my coworker, or even the shoes of my readers.

How can I walk a mile in someone else's shoes, when I can't get my feet to into them?

Sometimes I need a little help.

Books and movies (and comic books) are great mediums for evoking emphatic emotions. The ones that are the most popular and have the most staying power are also usually the ones that connect best with us on an emotional level. There's always at least one character (hopefully the protagonist) that we, as an audience, can identify with and root for throughout the course of the story.

These stories can become so powerful, that they start to take on a life of their own. They gain fans who celebrate the characters and how they overcame their challenges. Conventions might start popping up, so that fans can gather in groups and discuss how these stories changed their lives.

A good example of stories that touched lives for my generation would be the Harry Potter books. We, the audience, are introduced to a magical world along side Harry in the first book. When he is amazed by the moving pictures, so are we. We, the audience, are able to empathize with Harry's experiences and opinions because the books are told from his perspective. We are figuratively in Harry's shoes throughout the entire series.

 Harry is introduced to a lot of new and wonderful people when he arrives in the magical world at the same time we are. He's also faced with tough challenges and people who want to see him silenced (Dolores Umbridge) or dead (Voldemort and his Death Eaters). Throughout all of these encounters we are seeing everything through Harry's perspective and emotions.

Harry starts out as a wide eyed curious kid in the first few books. His innocence is shattered at the end of the fourth book with the death of Cedric Diggory. We have to put up with him being an angsty teenager throughout the entirety of the fifth book (and a few parts of the third book). We also get to witness him destroy Dumbledore's office while he is trying to work through his anger and pain at the death of Sirius Black. We're able to understand the relief and happiness he feels when he's finally defeated Voldemort.

Through Harry's perspective, we know who the bad guys are and we know who the good guys are. We also know there are people who aren't good or bad, but they do cause a lot of problems for Harry (an example would be Fudge). There are also the people we see make choices out of anger that later turn out to be really bad mistakes (Percy Weasley).

We tend to ignore or miss the same things Harry does. For example, Harry hero worships his father and his godfather, to the point where they can almost do no wrong in his opinion. However, there are clear signs that that wasn't the case. James Potter and Sirius Black were good people, there's no denying that. They probably wouldn't have befriended Remus Lupin if they weren't. They were also bullies.

Oh, I'm sure James and Sirius didn't think they were the bullies. If I were to guess, I'd say they felt that they were targeting the "real bullies". Snape was a known favorite target for them to harass and he hung out with a lot of people who would eventually become Death Eaters. James and Sirius did push Snape too far with their bullying and Snape lost his best friend and love interest Lily Potter (nee Evans) because of it. Snape called Lily a "mudblood" in front of a large group of people and I'll bet right then and there that James and Sirius felt that what they were doing to Snape was completely justified. Snape proved he was hateful against muggle born wizards. James and Sirius would never use such hateful words to describe someone, they felt that they were better than that.

Throughout the fifth book, you start to see some of the signs that Sirius was extremely flawed. There were a couple of comments made by Lupin at the very beginning after Harry isn't picked to be a prefect. There's Sirius's treatment of Kreacher, someone who has no rights and had been neglected for years. Finally there's Harry's journey into Snape's memories where we see a confrontation between James, Sirius, and Snape. Despite all of these signs, Harry still continues to idolize Sirius and his father.

It isn't until much later that Harry realizes these very obvious flaws led to Sirius' downfall. And it does take him a while to figure this out (two more books longer). At first Harry is totally consumed by anger. He tries to use the cruciatus curse to torture Bellatrix and even comes close to casting the killing curse while Voldemort is goading him on. He destroys much of Dumbledore's office while he rages.

Dumbledore is able to stop Harry from taking his anger out on Kreacher. Yeah, about Kreacher, the movies don't really get into it, but he was the key to Sirius' death. After dealing with Sirius' abuse for half a year, Kreacher goes to Narcissa and Bellatrix for comfort. They were kind to Kreacher and maybe even sympathetic. It probably didn't take much convincing to get Kreacher to tell them everything about Harry and Sirius' father-son relationship. They in turn told Voldemort all of this and Voldemort convinced Harry that Sirius was in serious danger. When Harry tries to check on Sirius, he is met with Kreacher, who lies and says that Sirius is missing. Harry walks right into a trap which leads to Sirius dying.

It takes Harry over a year to forgive Kreacher and he almost doesn't. Dumbledore and Hermione have to point out to Harry how awful Sirius treated Kreacher and there was very little Kreacher could do to stop the abuse. He also has to learn about Kreacher's relationship with Regulus Black (the most unsung hero of the entire series I might add) for him to reach a turning point with his own relationship with the house elf. He is also able to empathize with Kreacher's experience in the cave from the sixth book.

Harry finally realizes that despite all of the good things his godfather did, he also did a lot of bad things. Remus even tells Harry that he never stood up to his best friends because he was scared that they would turn on him and tell everyone that he was a werewolf. This realization also probably helped Harry realize that other people he looked up to had flaws. He gets mad at Remus when he offers to join the golden trio hunting for horcruxes and would leave his wife and unborn child behind. Harry understands why Aberforth was estranged from his brother.

We are only able to realize these things because we are walking in Harry's shoes through all of it. J. K. Rowling did a fantastic job teaching us that the good guys didn't always do the right thing and that sometimes the bad guys did (Narcissa and Snape are the two best examples). She wrote a story that we were able to identify and empathize with.

We all see the world differently. We are the main characters in our own personal stories (though I occasionally feel like a side character, but that's another blog post). Unfortunately we are the only ones who understand what we feel at every second. It can be really hard to understand why someone else makes a choice that you yourself would never make.

Empathy is tough. There are some shoes that I will never be able to fit into, but boy oh boy will I try. The emotions people feel are very real. They can't always be controlled.

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.