Back to AI Flashcard MakerEnglish /A Hero's Journey: The Odyssey
What are the 12 stages of a hero's journey?
1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor
5. Crossing the First Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. The Supreme Ordeal
9. The Reward-Seizing the Prize
10. The Road Back
11. Threshold Crossing 'Resurrection'
12. Return with Elixir
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What are the 12 stages of a hero's journey?
1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor
5. Crossing the First Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Appro...
Ordinary World: The ordinary world is the context, home base, and background of the hero.
Odysseus is the king of Ithaca and married to Penelope; they have an infant son named Telemachus.
Call to Adventure: Establishes the stakes of game and makes clear the hero's goal.
After Paris abducts Helen of Troy, Odysseus is called to make good on a promise he made and go with Menelaus and Agamemnon to retrieve her.
Refusal of the Call: The hero is not yet fully committed to the journey, some other influence is required to get past the turning point of fear.
Odysseus plows his fields with salt in an attempt to prove his insanity to Palamedes but fails when Palamedes places Telemachus in front of the plow.
Meeting with the Mentor: Introduce Mentor(s) to prepare the hero to face the unknown.
Palamedes convinces Odysseus to fight. Later (20 years), Athena advocates for Odysseus' release from Ogygia, mentors Telemachus, and oversees Odysseus...
Crossing the First Threshold: The hero commits to adventure, fully enters Special World, no turning back.
Odysseus agrees to honor his oath and leaves Ithaca to fight the Trojan War. This starts his 20 year absence from his family.
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are the 12 stages of a hero's journey? | 1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor
5. Crossing the First Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. The Supreme Ordeal
9. The Reward-Seizing the Prize
10. The Road Back
11. Threshold Crossing 'Resurrection'
12. Return with Elixir |
Ordinary World: The ordinary world is the context, home base, and background of the hero. | Odysseus is the king of Ithaca and married to Penelope; they have an infant son named Telemachus. |
Call to Adventure: Establishes the stakes of game and makes clear the hero's goal. | After Paris abducts Helen of Troy, Odysseus is called to make good on a promise he made and go with Menelaus and Agamemnon to retrieve her. |
Refusal of the Call: The hero is not yet fully committed to the journey, some other influence is required to get past the turning point of fear. | Odysseus plows his fields with salt in an attempt to prove his insanity to Palamedes but fails when Palamedes places Telemachus in front of the plow. |
Meeting with the Mentor: Introduce Mentor(s) to prepare the hero to face the unknown. | Palamedes convinces Odysseus to fight. Later (20 years), Athena advocates for Odysseus' release from Ogygia, mentors Telemachus, and oversees Odysseus' journey home. |
Crossing the First Threshold: The hero commits to adventure, fully enters Special World, no turning back. | Odysseus agrees to honor his oath and leaves Ithaca to fight the Trojan War. This starts his 20 year absence from his family. |
Tests, Allies, Enemies: The hero begins to learn rules of the Special World. | Odysseus fight foes (Polyphemus), suffers the consequences of his action (Poseidon's rage: storms and a difficult journey home, Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis), and finds friends in times of need such as Ino, Circe, and Calypso. |
Approach to the Inmost Cave: The hero comes to the edge of a dangerous place where object of quest is hidden. | Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar and reunites with Telemachus for the first time in 20 years. |
The Supreme Ordeal: Fortunes of the hero hit bottom in direct confrontation with the greatest fear...brought to the brink of battle with hostile force with possible death. | Odysseus and Telemachus must fight the suitors with the loyal help of friends. |
The Reward-Seizing the Prize: The hero celebrates surviving death and taking possession of the sought out reward: treasure, knowledge, experience. | Odysseus is back home and has killed the suitors and women of Penelope, getting his power and family back. |
The Road Back: The hero deals with consequences of confronting dark forces of Supreme Ordeal. | Odysseus must 'give reward to people'. In this sense, his homecoming is the reward, and he gives it to his father, Laertes. He also finds out that he has to deal with the angry fathers of the dead suitors, his consequences of coming home. |
Threshold Crossing 'Resurrection': The hero is transformed by moments of death and rebirth and is able to return to ordinary life reborn as a new being with new insights. | Odysseus faces his second life or death moment fighting his final enemy, and also feels a change when Athena gives him new strength to win. |
Return with Elixir: The elixir may be treasure, love, freedom, wisdom, or knowledge that the Special World exists and can be survived...unless something is brought back from the Inmost Cave, the hero is doomed to repeat the adventure. | The people now have the freedom to live without fear since the final enemy is defeated and Athena makes a treaty that will cause no more problems. |