The Journey Every Hero Faces

by Steph · October 9, 2026

In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell explains how his studies of the various cultures across the world, made him realize that every one of these cultures had stories and myths with a very similar pattern. It didn’t matter what culture it came from, every myth he analyzed closely followed the same pattern or roadmap to transformation; every hero encountered the same pattern. He called this pattern the Hero’s Journey:

0 – Status Quo / Ordinary Life

The hero starts off in his ordinary life, in his native city or village, often longing for change.

So far, this sounds familiar as we can all relate and empathize with the hero. The desire for change is universal.

1 – Call to Adventure (outsider prompts the Hero onward) & Resisting the Call

Something disrupts the hero’s life and forces him to make a choice, to go into the unknown to do something about the situation or accept life as it currently is.

Often the hero refuses to accept this calling, which worsens the current situation or leads to stagnation.

2 – Supernatural Aid / Meeting the Mentor

Suddenly, something or someone comes along that helps the hero from sitting on the fence, and finally justifies taking the drastic decision of going on the proffered quest. This dispels the hero’s misgivings and gives him the courage and strength to start his journey.

NOTE: no one will do this for you in your own life! No one will come up to you and show you they way, nudge you out the door..! Unlike our favorite characters, we must decide to start the journey ourselves!

3 – Crossing the Threshold / Into Chaos / Self-discovery Begins

The Journey begins, there is no turning back, the hero has to venture into the great unknown and face his fears, and so should we!

4 – Road of Trials, Enemies, and Companions

Obstacles force the hero to chose sides. He can no longer be neutral. The hero finds out who his allies and enemies are as he faces a series of hurdles and challenges, each of which prepare him to face his greatest challenge and fulfill his destiny.

5 – Preparation

By now, the hero has found out what he must now do. He must prepare to face what lies ahead. The hero is likely fearful of what is to come and doubts his abilities.

7 – Ordeal

The hero survives an important ordeal by drawing on all the knowledge and experience he has gained on the road of trials by putting to use what he has learned.

8 – Revelation / Reward / Knowledge / Transformation

After surviving the ultimate challenge, the hero goes through a transformation. He grows stronger, gains knowledge or power.

9 – Flight, Enemy in Pursuit; The Road Back

Having won the challenge, he must now deal with the aftermath of his actions. The enemy is in hot pursuit, and he must now flee with his prize in order to return home.

10 – Resolution: the final test, using all that he has learned to succeed.

The final test often represents something greater than the hero’s continued existence. The outcome of the final test has far-reaching consequences to the hero’s world and the family and friends he left behind when he first started his quest. All will suffer if he does not succeed.

Ultimately, the hero returns from this final struggle and the world is changed forever.

0b – A new Status Quo (cycle ends and begins anew).

The hero has been changed by his journey. He has grown, faced many dangers and challenges, but he looks forward to living a new life. The Hero’s enemies are punished, his allies rewarded.

A Journey That Every Hero Faces?

Ensuring these stages are in your text is fine, but the more interesting question is never whether a story follows the pattern. It’s where an author bends or breaks this pattern, and why. The following three writers are excellent proof:

Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t read James Clavell’s Shōgun, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicle, or Kim Harrison’s series, The Hollows, you might want to skip on ahead.

James Clavell, Shōgun. Blackthorne’s path looks textbook. He’s shipwrecked into a strange world, has mentors in Mariko and Toranaga, and goes through trials and transformation. But Clavell denies him the return. Blackthorne never goes home, and the “boon” he gains is understanding rather than treasure. The deeper twist is that he isn’t really the hero of the story. He’s a piece on Toranaga’s board. Clavell uses the hero’s journey as bait, then reveals that the real story is politics. King Rat goes further: the “return” at liberation is hollow, and the man who thrived in the camp is diminished by freedom.

Patrick Rothfuss, The Kingkiller Chronicle. This series is essentially about the hero’s journey. We meet Kvothe after the journey has gone wrong. He’s hiding as Kote, an innkeeper, and he’s telling his own legend. The return has already happened, and it’s broken. Rothfuss keeps asking how much of a hero comes from deeds and how much comes from story. Kvothe is also a narrator you shouldn’t fully trust. That’s rich essay material: the gap between the myth and the man.

Kim Harrison, The Hollows. Rachel Morgan crosses her threshold in the first chapter of Dead Witch Walking when she quits the I.S. From there, Harrison runs the cycle in small loops, one per book, inside one long arc across the series. Rachel never returns to “normal,” because the journey is about becoming who she actually is, not about going home. And her mentor is Al, a demon. Harrison takes the wise-mentor figure and makes it dangerous and transactional. That’s a sharp subversion worth writing about.

Suggestion on how to use the Hero’s Journey in your own writings:

Use the pattern as a lens, not a grid. Name the stages briefly, then spend most of your words on the deviation.
Build your thesis around tension. For example: Clavell gives Blackthorne every stage of the journey except the return, and that absence is the novel’s argument about belonging.
Question the model itself. Does it fit women’s stories, communal stories, or stories without a single chosen one? That’s where your writing gets original.