As a film major and a creative writing minor, I have gone over the Heroes Journey SO. MANY. TIMES. Every version of it, and a few remixes (The Heroines Journey exists apparently). Now, I’ve never read the ‘Lord of the Rings’ books, but I’ve seen the films, and I’ve never seen ‘the Hobbit’ films, but I’ve now read ‘the Hobbit’.
Tolkien’s work follows the Heroic Journey like the formula was written for him. In ‘The Hobbit’, the first part of the Journey (the ordinary world, the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, the meeting the mentor, the crossing the threshold) are all pretty clearly laid out. The call is Gandalf (and the dwarves) asking Bilbo to join him, the refusal is Bilbo refusing to sign the contract, the mentor is Gandalf, the crossing is Bilbo running after the dwarves, etc. The ordinary world is the Shire and Bilbo’s home and the new world is the rest of the world.
The tests are mainly all the mini-quests that show Bilbo becoming the burglar that Gandalf and the dwarves were hoping him to become. Him stealing the ring from Gollum is what cements this part of him.
The coming back around is the hint of him being able to go back to the Shire and being accepted by all of the dwarves and as a part of the group.
The other smaller parts of the Journey are represented as well, and there really aren’t very many parts of the circle that aren’t in some way representing in this story.
On the topic of the Heroes Journey, there are some people who say every story fits this mould (they don’t) or that every good story needs to fit this mould (they don’t). Usually, my favorite stories are the ones that don’t fit it so closely, or that don’t fit it barely at all. I think the Call to Adventure part is the one most stories fit, because generally you want to see a main character go through change and we have to understand them before the story starts. That being said, there are a lot of good stories that start with a character who is either already a part of the other world who we just learn about their call to adventure or who willingly accept the call to adventure.
I’m always concerned when the Heroes Journey is taught like an end-all be-all of storytelling, because you should NOT try and write a story to fit a step-by-step method like this. At most, you should aim for the ‘exposition, rising action, climax, falling action’ mould. Anything like the Heroes Journey is VERY limiting, and it why there are so many fantasy stories that are forgettable. They are trying to tell a story by putting it through a writers ad-lib instead of just writing a story the way it feels right and possibly hitting some of these points by accident.
‘The Hobbit’ was unintersting because of how many times I’ve seen it and the Heroes Journey ripped off. And while both were original at some point, because I never read it while I was young or before I saw the things inspired by it, it now just feels cliche.
Is the Heroes Journey Overused?
