Line #22 Main/TheQuest


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LOTR_fellows_5788.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:Without a monster or two it's hardly a quest!\
6	[[WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure Merely a gaggle of friends wandering about!]]]]
7
8	->''"Where the road is dark and the seed is sowed''
9	->''Where the gun is cocked and the bullet's cold''
10	->''Where the miles are marked in the blood and gold''
11	->''I'll meet you further on up the road"''
12	-->-- '''Music/BruceSpringsteen,''' ''Further On Up The Road''
13
14	The ''defining'' HighFantasy storyline. The quest means business.
15
16	Quests feature TheHero and a bunch of supporting cast members traveling across the world with a firm goal in mind: to recover a McGuffin, collect all the {{Plot Coupon}}s, SaveThePrincess, defeat the BigBad, [[IWillFindYou locate a loved one]] or all of the above. Quite possibly an ImpossibleTask, to get rid of him. Will usually involve lots of [[WackyWaysideTribe incidental]] [[SideQuest minor adventures]], running into [[BlindSeer oracles]] and [[OldMaster wise men]], fantastic creatures and [[DamselInDistress damsels]] [[TheLadysFavour dispensing]] [[ItWasAGift items]] that may [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest help you on your quest]]. A great device, because it allows the writer to do character interaction and showcase exotic locations, and give TheHero a good reason to WalkTheEarth. Used mostly in a fantasy world, but can also take place in a modern or mundane setting with enough work-around.
17
18	Older versions just set the character off on his quest in [[GhibliHills the wilderness]] about them.
19
20	Often undertaken by HitchhikerHeroes or people on TheHomewardJourney.
21
22	The problem with such a story from a modern perspective is that they can actually tail off too ''much'' into the various side-stories and forget the main goal that the characters originally started out on. This was less of a problem before, as Medieval writers often deliberately wrote a network of plots, subplots, and sub-subplots branching out like a tree. Examples of this are Spenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', ''Literature/ArabianNights'', and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
23
24	Christopher Booker's ''Literature/TheSevenBasicPlots'' separates ''The Quest'' from ''Overcoming the Monster''. While both involve a journey, the ''Overcoming the Monster'' plot is far more focused on heading straight for the [[BigBad Monster]] (with perhaps a side quest for [[AppliedPhlebotinum magic weapons]]), while ''The Quest'' concentrates on a variety of obstacles including Monsters, Temptations, [[ScyllaAndCharybdis Deadly Opposites]], and a Journey to TheUnderworld. (This probably indicates that if the heroes don't realize there's a BigBad to fight until after the halfway point, it's following ''The Quest'' plot.) Also, ''The Quest'' is the plot most likely to include companions (a small group, or just one companion – or, as with ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', a RedShirtArmy).
25
26	Compare TheHerosJourney. Though separate and distinct tropes, the two don't just overlap, they have adjoining apartments and raid each other's refrigerators [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Kramer]]-style. The main difference is that a quest has a stated goal, and the focus is mainly on the adventures had along the way to that goal; a hero's journey tends to be undertaken in response to events thrust upon the hero(es), and focuses on the personal growth of the characters as they find ([[ScrewDestiny or overcome]]) their destiny.
27	----
28	!!Examples
29
30	[[foldercontrol]]
31
32	[[folder: Anime & Manga ]]
33	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': A ragtag pirate crew seek out a massive treasure horde.
34	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
35	** ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': A boy and his partner Pikachu travel across the land to compete in league tournaments and become the world champion like no one ever.
36	** ''Anime/PokemonHorizonsTheSeries'' A girl travels across the globe with an airship crew to unlock the secrets of her grandmother's mysterious pendant and the legend of the ancient hero.
37	* ''Anime/WolfsRain'': Four wolves traveling the earth to find the fabled paradise.
38	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' involves this in each of its [[StoryArc eight]] [[ArchivePanic parts]].
39	** In Part 1, it is to kill Dio (who is an evil vampire) and destroy the [[ArtifactOfDoom Stone Mask]], which can create vampires such as him.
40	** In Part 2, it is to kill the Pillar Men, the creators of the Stone Mask, and to stop them from obtaining the Red Stone of Aja.
41	** In Part 3, it is to rescue Holly Joestar by killing Dio, who survived from Part 1.
42	** In Part 4, it is to find and stop Kira Yoshikage (a serial killer) before he can claim more victims.
43	** In Part 5, it is to find the Stand arrow and to stop Diavolo from obtaining it, or killing Trish.
44	** In Part 6 it is to stop Pucci from realizing his plans and resetting the entire world.
45	** Part 7 starts off with the Quest being an EpicRace, but as it goes on it becomes a matter of finding the Corpse Parts.
46	** Part 8 is so far a JigsawPuzzlePlot focusing on various mysteries relating to "Josuke".
47	* ''Manga/InuYasha'': A group of demon slayers venturing through Japan to reclaim every shard of a shattered jewel.
48	* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', which started out as a RoaringRampageOfRevenge plot, has turned into one of these, as Guts and his companions seek the land of Elfheim in search of a cure for Casca's post-Eclipse insanity.
49	* ''Manga/DragonBall'' started out as one of these, with Goku originally leaving his home with Bulma to find the titular PlotCoupons.
50	* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' begins with Kenshiro seeking his lost love Yuria and then seeking his brothers of Hokuto while opposing Souther and the eldest brother Raoh.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder: Comic Books ]]
54	%%* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''
55	* Common for the more "epic" stories in the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse. Though there are many, perhaps the most notable variant is the one where Scrooge and/or his nephews search for a lost legendary treasure or something similar. These exist in more than one variant, too, from Creator/DonRosa's [[ShownTheirWork historically well-researched]] stories to the Italian ones where Scrooge typically kidnaps his relatives to go along against their will to search for something bizarre like the key to time or the gigantic coins of the cyclopes.
56	* A large part of ''ComicBook/LostAtSea'' is devoted to finding Raleigh's soul.
57	* The first arc of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' has Diana leave Themyscira to defeat Ares' current plan, gathering a supporting crew of ComicBook/SteveTrevor, Etta Candy, Julia Kapatelis and Matthew Michaelis who help her on her quest.
58	* In ''ComicBook/{{Sojourn}}'', Arwyn and her companions are on a quest to find the fragments of the arrow killed Mordath.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder: Fan Works]]
62	* The Vasyn quest in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. [[spoiler: Even though it turns out to be a setup.]]
63	* The first part of ''Fanfic/AllThatGlittersOthellia'' revolves around searching for a mysterious artifact that supposedly has the power to end an EndlessWinter.
64	* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily'' deconstructs the basic concept of this with Gladion wanting to become stronger to fight off Nihilego. It's not glamorous at all, what with the training and fighting and sleeping alone in hotel rooms all the time. The fairy-tale that introduces the story even notes that quests rarely ever mention the boring or exhausting parts of them. This doesn't stop Gladion from going on his own knightly quest across the Infinity Train to end the Apex and by the 400 Rabbits Car arc, it becomes a quest to collect the memory tapes of the Apex and trap them within their own pasts in the hopes of them realizing their mistakes and getting their numbers to drop.
65	* ''Fanfic/{{Austraeoh}}'': [[{{Tagline}} Rainbow Dash flies East]]. She has a goal, but you don't learn about it for a good while and [[DeathSeeker she]] [[DespairEventHorizon doesn't]] [[ImmortalitySeeker really]] [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts care]].
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
69	* ''Anime/ChildOfKamiariMonth'': Kanna is tasked with gathering offerings of food from the ''kami'' at Shinto shrines and ''bodhisattva'' at Buddhist temples across Japan, and taking them to a feast of the gods at Izumo-taisha Shrine. Failure to do so will result in Japan suffering a year of calamity and misfortune.
70	* Creator/{{Pixar}} does this often:
71	** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'': Two toys are whisked from their home and attempt to find their way back.
72	** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': Buzz Lightyear goes to rescue his friend Woody from the kidnapping hands of a toy collecter.
73	** ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': A clownfish goes to find his kidnapped son.
74	** ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'': A blue tang goes to find her lost parents.
75	** ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': A waste management robot falls in love and follows her into space.
76	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'': An old widower travels to South America to fulfill a promise he made to his deceased wife... by tying eighty balloons to his house and making it fly.
77	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'': Two elf brothers find a spell that brings their late father back to life for one day; when the spell goes awry and only brings back his bottom half, the brothers set out to find the magic gem that will finish the spell before the 24 hours are up.
78	** ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Four friends raise $800 to go to a BoyBand concert.
79	* Franchise/{{Shrek}} has many adventures:
80	** [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 The first movie]] has him and Donkey try to find Princess Fiona for Lord Farquaad in return for the fairy tale creatures leaving his swamp alone.
81	** ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' has Shrek, Donkey, and frickin' ''Puss in Boots'' try to make Shrek turn into a handsome prince.
82	** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' has the trio sail to find Fiona's cousin Arthur (yes, King Arthur himself) and get him to become King of Far Far Away… just so Shrek won't have to be king.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
86	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': particularly the two JJ Abrams-directed films of the sequel trilogy, which both feature a clear and specific MacGuffin: respectively, Luke Skywalker and the Sith Wayfinder.
87	* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' in general, but most explicitly in [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade the third movie]], as it involves following an intentionally left puzzle trail to locate the HolyGrail.
88	* Ironically, probably not ''Film/TheQuest'', Jean-Claude Van Damme's esteemed directorial debut.
89	* ''Film/{{Willow}}'': Willow initially undertakes the seemingly unspectacular task of returning the infant Daikini to those of her own kind. He doesn't yet realize that she's TheChosenOne, and the evil Queen wants her head.
90	* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', which parodies various elements of the trope, such as following a series of clues and battling monsters, all hilariously adapted Monty Python style.
91	* The original ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which involves the duo out to save an orphanage.
92	* ''Film/TheGoonies'': A group of teenagers seek the treasure of One-Eyed Willy in order to save their town.
93	* ''Film/{{Yeelen}}'' ("Brightness"), Souleymane Cissé's 1987 classic of Malian cinema.
94	* In ''Film/SaintJacquesLaMecque'', a group of siblings has to walk the Way of St. James together in order to inherit their mother's money, facing mostly mental and social obstacles.
95	* ''Film/KaamelottPremierVolet'': A guy named Kolaig wants to become a knight and thinks he has to kill Myth/KingArthur and free Guinevere from a tower to do so. Since he's pretty stupid and has a bad case of ComplexityAddiction, from there it's just a HumiliationConga and ends on an EpicFail for him, despite the help he gets from Arthur.
96	* ''Film/RiddleOfFire'' injects MaybeMagicMaybeMundane fantasy themes into an otherwise conventional events. Our three heroes are kids who embark on a quest to fetch a speckled egg to complete the ingredients to a blueberry pie to bake for their mother so she'll give them the password to their television so they can play video games. Along the way, the run afoul of a witch and her Enchanted Blade Gang.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Folklore]]
100	* Innumerable fairy tales. In his analysis of Russian fairy tales, Vladimir Propp described the basic functions as revolving about a quest. Some of these include:
101	** "Literature/EastOfTheSunWestOfTheMoon": a quest for a lost husband.
102	** [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/swanmaiden/stories/lang.html "The Nine Pea-Hens and the Golden Apples"]]: a quest for a lost wife.
103	** "Literature/KateCrackernuts": a quest for her fortune, and her stepsister's (although getting away from her mother, who was a WickedStepmother to her beloved stepsister was a major factor).
104	** "Literature/{{Catskin}}": an escape from an ArrangedMarriage.
105	** [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/stories/greekprincess.html "The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener"]]: a quest for a magical bird.
106	** ''Literature/TheFeatherOfFinistTheFalcon'': to find and cure her love.
107	** ''Literature/TheBuriedMoon'': to find the moon of the title.
108	** "Literature/TheLoveOfThreeOranges": To find a bride, in most variants, often the one he's cursed to have to find.
109	** "Literature/SoriaMoriaCastle", the search for the lost wife.
110	** "Literature/TheFireBirdTheHorseOfPowerAndThePrincessVasilissa": to get the princess, and then her wedding gown.
111	** "Literature/TsarevichPetrAndTheWizard": To find the MissingMom.
112	** "Literature/TheBrownBearOfTheGreenGlen": To find a cure for the king.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Literature]]
116	* J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and its predecessor ''Literature/TheHobbit''. ''Lord of the Rings'' has actually been called a 'reverse quest' as the hero was not on a quest to acquire some item of great power, but [[MacguffinEscortMission already had one]] and was seeking to ''destroy'' it.
117	* ''Literature/NightfallSeries'': Subverted. Myra, whose limited knowledge of the outside world is based on books, imagines herself going on one. Nothing goes as planned.
118	* As its title indicates, this is the main plot of ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The Quest for Saint Camber]]''.
119	* Stephen King's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. (The protagonist is such a {{Determinator}} that we're never really allowed to forget the main thrust of the quest, no matter what tangents he falls afoul of.)
120	* In ''Literature/TheDreamsideRoad'', most of the story revolves around the ongoing journey to find [[ArchaeologicalArmsRace the eponymous treasure trove]], a collection of anomalous artifacts and items reclaimed from [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction the IHSA]].
121	* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', somewhat unusually, the protagonists' quest is simply to find a new home where they can live in peace.
122	* During the {{denouement}} of Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Red Fury'', Rafen is told that Fabius Bile got away with some "sacred vitae" and is charged with preparing a ship and going after him. [[SequelHook The book ends there.]]
123	* In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel is sent, as punishment, on a quest to find and deal with a vision that a Chapter Librarian had. The vision contained neither locations nor names for him to identify.
124	* ''Literature/EmpireOfTheVampire'': A large part of Gabriel' retelling revolves around his part in a quest seeking the Holy Grail, the ancient artifact thought to be mankind's last hope at defeating the Dead for good.
125	* ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' -- possibly the first novelistic Quest in the West -- to return home and defeat his wife's suitors.
126	* ''Literature/BookOfExodus'' -- a quest to escape Egypt and found a new nation in the Promised Land.
127	* ''Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth''
128	** Also a musical example if you count the Rick Wakeman version
129	* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldIn80Days'' -- a quest to do [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly that]].
130	* ''Literature/TheBelgariad''
131	* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and its many adaptations, including ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''.
132	* In John Barnes's ''Literature/OneForTheMorningGlory'', all knights are supposed to go on a quest. Sir John is sent after [[SoulJar Waldo's heart]] because he had never performed a proper quest before.
133	* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', Prince Zorn is sent for a thousand jewels, to be found within ninety-nine hours.
134	* ''Literature/QuestForFire'' follows a group of prehistoric humans trying to [[TheDiscoveryOfFire find a source of fire]].
135	* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': The voyage of the Quicksilver in ''Reynard the Fox'' is one of these. The object is a MacGuffin [[SoulJar that may be alive]].
136	* The first few ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' books.
137	* In the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' books, the occasional quest is standard for the demigods being trained at Camp Half-Blood. The books themselves follow the various quests of [[TheHero Percy Jackson]], with the quests heavily influenced by ones undertaken in Myth/ClassicalMythology.
138	* All Literature/{{Redwall}} books will include a quest as one of their TwoLinesNoWaiting.
139	* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm The January Dancer]]'', the harper claims that the quest is not important, since the object must be a MacGuffin: it's Jason and Medea that matter, not the Golden Fleece. Donovan disagrees; the qualities of the object matter and affect the nature of the quest.
140	** The narration at the opening of ''On the Razor's Edge'' describes it as a quest.
141	* In Creator/EDBaker's ''Literature/TheWideAwakePrincess'' and its sequel ''Unlocking The Spell'', Annie goes on a quest in each book to break a spell.
142	* In Creator/RuthFrancesLong's ''Literature/TheTreacheryOfBeautifulThings'', Jenny tells Jack that she's looking for her brother Tom. That invokes his promise to help those on a quest.
143	* In Creator/SusannaClarke's ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', Mr. Honeyfoot and Mr. Segundus go looking for Mr. Norrell in part because of the tales of medieval magicians who would go looking for things and return after AYearAndADay.
144	* In Creator/JulieKagawa's ''Literature/TheIronKnight'', Ash is on a quest for a soul.
145	* ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles'': Essentially, how Agawin's story begins: a pilgrimage to see a dragon leads to a quest to save a girl.
146	* The titular character Zahrah of ''Literature/ZahrahTheWindseeker'' ventures into the [[DontGoInTheWoods Forbidden]] [[HungryJungle Greeny Jungle]] for an unfertilized elgort egg because it's the only thing that will cure her friend of a venomous snake bite.
147	* In Creator/SusanDexter's ''Literature/TheTrueKnight'', Wren and her master are forcibly recruited to help retrieve the prince in swan form. After they escape the attack and realize that the queen will have Galvin killed for failure, Wren and Titch go to retrieve him.
148	* The last book of ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' has Alanna meeting several new companions as she goes on a quest for the Dominion Jewel so she can return to Tortall as a hero rather than a disgrace or a curiosity. It was added at the behest of Pierce's editor because "fantasy books always have quests," although the Jewel is mentioned in the subsequent series.
149	* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': In ''Literature/LoomingShadow'', Dragon's Lair Mercenary Team Four is hired to travel to the island nation of Ceiha to investigate a castle that may or may not be [[TheArchmage Dengel's]] final lair. If it is, then they are to raid it for things that are magically, historically or economically valuable.
150	* ''Literature/TheRamayana'''s Kishkinda section focuses on Rama and Lakhsmana's search to find the kidnapped Sita, as well as the army they assemble along the way. Since Sita's abductor could fly, the quest takes several months.
151	* In the comic fantasy ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'', the quest for the Dragon Hoard is a spoof of the Argonauts' quest for the golden fleece.
152	* Several in ''Literature/WarriorCats'', with the most prominent one being at the start of the second series, ''The New Prophecy'': a group of [[TheChosenOne Chosen Ones]] (plus two tagalong friends), following a prophecy, quest through unknown territory to follow the setting sun to the sea and "listen to what midnight tells them".
153	* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' becomes this, as [[TheHero Harry]] and his friends set off to destroy all of [[BigBad Voldemort's]] [[SoulJar Horcruxes]].
154	* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Near the start of the series, Lindon receives a vision of his home being destroyed in thirty years, and he sets out to stop it. Notably, Suriel, the one giving him the vision, intended it only as a comfort; at the time, his life was terrible, so she was showing him that he lives a happy life before his entire home is destroyed. However, when he refuses that future in favor of trying to save his home no matter the cost, Suriel gives him a tour of the most powerful people on the planet, ending with Yerin, a girl about his age and power level, who can journey with him to become stronger and eventually save his home. After Lindon sees a [[PersonOfMassDestruction Monarch]] fighting a [[PhysicalGod Dreadgod]], he realizes a similar battle is what levels his home. Or rather, he's pretty sure that a god accidentally steps on his home and kills hundreds of people during a much more important battle.
155	* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': The centerpiece of most Tours. Usually a magical object is sought to use in defeating the Dark Lord and or saving the world. Many clues will have to be followed, with numerous barriers and also foes which are overcome while doing so.
156	* ''Literature/DaughterOfTheSun'': Orsina has been on one for two years, searching for a great evil in Vesolda that she must fight. However, she's had no luck at the start of the story. Then she comes across a chaos goddess, and it seems she's finally found the great evil... but things are more complicated than they first seem. [[spoiler:It turns out her quest is not from Orsina's god Iolar. Instead, she was sent away with this excuse by her lover's father, who lied about having a vision Iolar sent which ordered it.]]
157	* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The protagonists go in search of [[MacGuffin the Spectrum Key]], an object split into six pieces which can reopen the [[HellGate Dark Gate]] and save the world before it's too late if reassembled.
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
161	* In a two-parter on ''Series/CriminalMinds'', "The Fisher King", the unsub frames his crime in the pattern of a quest, including macabre clues and even a damsel in distress...one chained to a bed and scheduled to die if the team doesn't find her.
162	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
163	** ''Doctor Who'' fits the classical Odyssey structure early on, when the Doctor is trying to return the teachers home and they face temptation ("The Aztecs"), hard journeys ("Marco Polo"), tests of character ("The Keys of Marinus"), ScyllaAndCharybdis ("The Aztecs", "The Sensorites"), monsters ("The Daleks", "The Web Planet", and [[MonsterOfTheWeek a lot more]]), and even a journey to the Underworld in "The Space Museum" when they are JustOneSecondOutOfSync, can't interact with anything or anyone and see their own corpses. Once the teachers get PutOnABus, these elements are discarded in favour of just a neverending story full of aliens.
164	** Subverted in "The Keys of Marinus" in which TheChooserOfTheOne informs them that they are the chosen people who must rescue the PlotCoupons and save their planet. GilliganCut to them walking off down the beach, Barbara remarking to Ian that "it's a shame we can't do anything for that poor man and his planet. Well, back to the TARDIS." Double subverted when it turns out the man has put the TARDIS behind a force field to force them into doing it.
165	** In the serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E5Underworld Underworld]]", the Minyan crew's guiding principle is "The quest is the quest." [[spoiler:They are rather stunned with success, but when they realize it will only take three centuries to get where they are going, they are delighted.]]
166	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
167	** Arya's attempts to reunite with her family.
168	** Bran's journey to the Three-Eyed Raven.
169	** Brienne's search for the Stark girls.
170	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': After the death of her brother, Galadriel took over his mission to find Sauron.
171	* In "The FisherKing" episode of ''Series/{{Merlin\|2008}}'', Arthur goes on a Quest to get the [[GoldenFleece Golden Trident]] and prove himself worthy of the throne. {{Subverted}} as it turns out Merlin was the one really on the Quest and the Fisher King gives him [[AllThatGlitters water]] from the Lake of Avalon. Arthur still gets the Trident and Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine are named Magic/Courage/Strength as a Trio by Grettir, the watcher of the bridge.
172	* Season ten of ''Series/StargateSG1'' has a two-part episode called "The Quest" where SG-1, Ba'al, and Adria set out to find the HolyGrail. The journey is largely framed as an Arthurian-style high fantasy, though many elements are subverted since what the primitive folks think of as magic is actually very advanced technology.
173	** Most of Stargate revolves around this. SG-1 are almost always on a quest to find something - the Asgard, the Ancients, various lost or hidden superweapons, Atlantis, Daniel's wife, etc.. While episodes tend to follow the MonsterOfTheWeek format as obstacles in a longer quest, they often also take the former of smaller quests of their own, with the quest being established in the opening scenes before the title credits.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Music]]
177	* ''Happiness Stan Suite'' by Music/TheSmallFaces.
178	* "The Fountain Of Lamenth" and "Xanadu" by Music/{{Rush\|Band}}.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
182	* OlderThanDirt: [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]] went on a quest for {{immortality}}, travelling through dangerous supernatural locales to find the survivor of TheGreatFlood.
183	* Every single hero myth ever, across any culture, relies on this. The Greeks and Romans had stories like Jason and the Argonauts, Hercules, and the Aeneid, with heroes being sent on quests by a god or a king. The Middle Ages had many legends based around knights going in search of holy objects or to save a kingdom or a damsel or something to that effect.
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder:Webcomics]]
187	* ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', based on FairyTale "The Buried Moon" involves a quest to retrieve the moon.
188	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s whole story is pretty much kicked off by Roy's quest to defeat Xykon. Needless to say, things got a little more complicated...
189	** ''Overcoming the Monster'' turned out to be only the first Act; just finding out they have a Quest, to protect or destroy the Gates, was one of the obstacles they had to overcome. The Act I Monster, NotQuiteDead, is still there as an obstacle, so the final Act could easily turn back into ''Overcoming the Monster''.
190	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Build up, get through the gates, fight the denizens, kill the Black monarchs...though the kids are often more concerned with their own hijinks.
191	* ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' has Cale's epic-expanding quest to settle and rebuild [[ThePromisedLand Kethenecia]].
192	* In ''Webcomic/{{Ananthalos}}'', Gruvalg and his companions are seeking a fabled hammer.
193	* In ''Webcomic/ConsequencesOfChoice'' The Characters are on a continuously changing quest, all with the same intent, keeping the Invisus hidden.
194	* ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'': To defeat the evil queen and save the realm. [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/cq/page-113/ Almond insists on doing it the hard way.]]
195	* In ''WebComic/YokokasQuest'', presumably Yokoka has one, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin judging from the webcomic title]], but it's not revealed what the quest is yet (unless it was the FetchQuest started in chapter 2 and resolved by chapter 3).
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Web Original]]
199	* After his magic gun and all of his magical defences stop working, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] sets out of a quest to find a magic user to help him out.
200	* The whole point of ''Literature/GreekNinja''. Sasha Hunter sets out on one with her team, well, several of them, all leading to the ultimate goal of eliminating a power dangerous to the world.
201	* The eponymous quest in ''WebAnimation/ChronicleOfTheAnnoyingQuest'': where a group of Paladins within the Pious Patron Bar task John Ellars sends him off on a Quest to find and kill ''"A Black Dragon of at least 2000 years of age"'' in order for Ellars to be allowed to drink at the bar. While the "Quest" itself is in-reality a SnipeHunt combined with an ImpossibleTask, Ellars and Guy efforts to actually ''find'' a Black Dragon takes them up-and-down the width and breadth of Azeroth in pursuit of steps that'll lead to the location of a Black Dragon.
202	-->'''Guy:''' I hate this quest!
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder:Western Animation]]
206	* The main quest in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' revolves around the Avatar named Aang and his mission to master all four elements and defeat the Fire Nation, which has been waging a war of conquest against the other nations for a century. Aang's role as the Avatar is to maintain balance in the world by bringing peace and harmony among the nations. Aang and his friends - the waterbender Katara, her brother Sokka, blind earthbender Toph Beifong, and later on, firebending prince Zuko - travel across the world seeking out masters to teach Aang the different bending powers. Ultimately, Aang must confront Fire Lord Ozai, the leader of the Fire Nation and the Big Bad of the series, in a battle to save the world. With the support of his friends and the knowledge he has gained, Aang faces his fears and fulfills his destiny as the Avatar, bringing an end to the war and restoring balance to the world.
207	* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': Features a young boy and his five animal friends trying to find the boys parents during World War II.
208	* Parodied a few times in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''.
209	** In the episode "Witches before Wizards", a wizard gives Luz a quest to retreive a magical whatsit. Along the way, she encounters hillariously generic companions and solves comically easy challenges, only to discover that the entire thing was a ruse by a shapeshifter to lure in Luz' mentor, Eda. The show isn't cynical about this trope, however, as the core message of the episode is that no one ever became great by waiting around for someone else to declare them the ChosenOne. You have to get up and start your ''own'' quest.
210	** In the episode "Sense and Insensibility", Eda and her sister Lilith are competing to retrieve the [[FountainOfYouth Bloom of Eternal Youth]], both following maps they bought from a stall at the market. The show's upfront about how obvious a scam it is, and neither sisters are particularily surprised when the scam artist turns out to be a vampiric being luring them to his nest. [[MuggingTheMonster They then kick his ass]].
211	** The show's season 1 two-part finale is a [[TheHerosJourney Night Sea Voyage]] variant, as Luz and her friends have to infiltrate [[BigBad Emperor Belos']] castle in order to find a magical item that can cure Eda. [[spoiler:They fail, and the result is that Eda is captured. In the next episode, Luz infiltrates the castle alone to save her, even managing to land a strike on Belos, but she's severely outmatched. She does save Eda, but only by striking a deal with Belos]].
212	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / TheQuest