The Hero’s Twelve Step Program

All of us have grown up hearing stories about heroes. Thanks to modern day cinema we are closer to our heroes than ever before. Superman, The Flash, Harry Potter, Tris Prior, King Leonidas, Thor, or even Oh, the purple alien who finds his courage and saves the planet in the new Disney movie Home, all of these characters, though different at first glance, share one major characteristic; they are all heroes. According to Campbell all heroes must journey through twelve distinct steps, not unlike Herakles twelve labors. The hero begins in the ordinary world, in their ordinary life. The monotony of daily life is broken by the Call to Adventure, usually brought forth by a herald of some sort. After the Call, the hero is plagued by doubts, fears, or trials and has second thoughts or is swayed from their path. This changes when the hero accepts their fate and begins their journey. Before the quest can truly begin our hero meets with a mentor who gives them the tools they need, and finally our hero crosses the threshold from the ordinary world into the adventure world. While in the adventure world the hero experiences test, and gains allies and enemies who help or hinder them on their journey. Then the main battle or test begins: our hero approaches the inmost cave preparing to meet their greatest fear, and then the hero battles with the other force in a desperate fight which the hero narrowly wins or escapes. After the fearsome battle it’s time for our hero to collect their well-deserved reward, and start the journey on the road back. After this adventure life can never be the same for our hero, so even though they return to the ordinary world their life is forever changed. After this realization comes the resurrection, either literal or figurative where the hero is brought back and finally completes his quest with the return of the elixir, or whatever our hero started out their quest in search of.
Theseus and Herakles are two very well-known heroes who had very different hero journeys. Theseus was the son of a king and Herakles was the son of Zeus. Theseus’ call to adventure occurred when he volunteered as a tribute to the Minotaur. Herakles began his cycle of killing and cleansing with the death of his music tutor and was sent to his step-father’s ranch to grow up, where he eventually killed the Kithairon lion and led to his first wife Megara. Theseus’ refusal of the call came in the form of his father who he was recently reunited with. Herakles’ was the temporary happy life he lived with Megara and their children, the only time he took a break from heroics. This lasted until his first fit of temporary insanity, after which he left on his quest for cleansing. Theseus’ meeting with the mentor was in the form of a go-between. Daedalus gave Theseus the idea he needed to defeat the Minotaur through King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne. Herakles mentor was the Oracle at Delphi who set him on the road to redemption with the assignment of becoming his cousin’s servant. Theseus crosses the threshold from the ordinary world into the special world by stepping into the labyrinth, Herakles sets out to begin his labors for his cousin Eurystheus. Over the course of their beginning adventure Herakles and Theseus overcome many trials, Theseus defeats the Minotaur, kills the fifty sons of Pallas, strengthens Athens, and joins Herakles on his quest to the Amazons. Herakles undergoes his twelve labors: the Nimean Lion, the Hydra, the Hide, The Boar, the Stables, the Birds, the Bull, the Mares, the Amazons, the Cattle of Geryon, the Golden Apples of Hesperides, and the fetching of Kerberos.
After the trials the heroes are on the path to their main ordeal. Herakles approaches the inmost cave when he is told to fetch Kerberos, Theseus when he makes a pact with Peirithoos to marry a daughter of Zeus. Herakles ordeal is in the midst of the Underworld where he takes Kerberos with Hades blessing, and then rescues Theseus. Theseus’ ordeal is intertwined with Herakles’, it takes place in the Underworld and ends with being rescued and losing his best friend. Their rewards: Theseus gets Helen through his pact, and Herakles is finally free of his sin. Both of our hero’s road back involve a lot of disappointment and tribulation. Theseus returns to find his kingdom taken from him, Herakles wins a wife, loses the wife, and spends years in a state of constant movement, never ceasing his adventures. Theseus resurrection came in the form of exile after he gave up the rights to his kingdom. Herakles was more literal, he was given immortality by the gods. Theseus return with elixir was the final revenge fated to King Minos. Herakles elixir was the happiness he was constantly denied in life. As a god he became close with his father, made peace with Hera, and married the beautiful Hebe, goddess of eternal life.