Noah Halili - What Hero's Pass On

    When reading Chapter 3 of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, my mind immediately considered how often the hero’s journey ends with them returning home. The reading itself mentioned stories of Gautama and Moses who both returned to where they started after encountering some higher power. In both of their stories, their encounter left them with new found wisdom that they then passed on once they returned from their journey. The first story that I connected to this was the Rumi poem that we discussed in class. In that story, the protagonist undergoes a journey to Cairo. However, he realizes that the thing he was searching for already existed in his home at Baghdad. Campbell mentions in this chapter that perhaps the adventure of the hero is about rediscovery instead of discovery. In the case of the Rumi poem, the protagonist realizes that the satisfaction he was seeking had always been where he started. Although the story ends with him making this realization, its ending does suggest that the man would return to his home in Baghdad and complete his journey.

    Besides the poem, I also found these ideas in chapter three to be applicable to popular stories today. The two that came to mind for me were the stories of Bilbo Baggins and Luke Skywalker. In the case of Bilbo, his story literally follows the structure of the examples discussed in this chapter. He embarks on his journey alongside Gandalf and the dwarves with the goal of aiding them in reclaiming their kingdom. However, once he succeeds in his quest, Bilbo ultimately returns to his quiet home until eventually triggering the start of Frodo Baggins’ heroic journey in the Lord of the Rings. From a more abstract perspective, Luke Skywalker embarks on a journey to defeat the evil Galactic Empire. In his story, he gradually gains maturity and discipline throughout his journey before ultimately reaching his goal and bringing peace to the galaxy. Though Luke does not return to a physical “home”, he does return to a new home as a part of the Rebel Alliance. Similar to Gautama and Moses, he begins passing on everything he has learned to rebuild the Jedi Order. Both of these characters take part in a long journey where they grow in some way and they pass on those experiences in some way. 

    The last connection I’d like to make in regards to this topic is one from my own life. Growing up, I played lacrosse for various teams and eventually spent my first three years of high school on their lacrosse team. In many ways, that time spent in high school acted as my own journey as a lacrosse player. However, since I stopped playing the sport, I have begun coaching it in the form of lacrosse camps run by one of my former coaches. Similar to all the aforementioned stories, I now return to a “home” in the form of my high school to pass on the things I learned from my journey as a player. Having made these connections, I do feel that Campbell makes an important point to understanding the hero’s journey by discussing the idea of gaining something to pass on. This makes me wonder if a hero will always have something to pass on by the end of their journey. If that is the case, are all the stories of heroes built from the journey of someone before them?


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