History Literature / TheHeroWithAThousandFaces

The work became a lot more well-known after Creator/GeorgeLucas cited the work as a '''major''' source of inspiration when writing the first six ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies (which also served as a pretty big ColbertBump for the work as a whole). Since then, it has become a major source of UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia for anyone involved in creative writing careers, and its themes are commonly discussed in many literature courses.

* SpiritualHeroRebirth

* BellyOfTheWhale

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and Wiki/ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his [[TheHerosJourney journey]]. In essence, it's his attempt to render these stories down to their common tropes, then demonstrate how these tropes originate from archetypes encoded within the human brain.

The work became a lot more well-known after Creator/GeorgeLucas cited the work as a '''major''' source of inspiration when writing the first six ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies (which also served as a pretty big ColbertBump for the work as a whole). Since then, it has become a major source of SchoolStudyMedia for anyone involved in creative writing careers, and its themes are commonly discussed in many literature courses.

* IChooseToStay: The hero is tempted to but usually doesn't and instead brings the boon back to their people.
* MessianicArchetype: The classical hero is often one or at least aids one.
* StandardHeroReward: The boon they find is often represented by a woman.
* TheUnderworld: The hero might wind up here, either while spending time dead or entering it themselves without dying.

* VisionQuest: Again, the hero might find themselves on one.

The work became a lot more well-known after Creator/GeorgeLucas cited the work as a '''major''' source of inspiration when writing the first six ''Film/StarWars'' movies (which also served as a pretty big ColbertBump for the work as a whole). Since then, it has become a major source of SchoolStudyMedia for anyone involved in creative writing careers, and its themes are commonly discussed in many literature courses.

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his [[TheHerosJourney journey]]. In essence, it's his attempt to render these stories down to their common tropes, then demonstrate how these tropes originate from archetypes encoded within the human brain.

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his journey. In essence, it's his attempt to render these stories down to their common tropes, then demonstrate how these tropes originate from archetypes encoded within the human brain.

'''TropeNamer for:'''
* BellyOfTheWhale - Itself named for the story of [[Literature/TheBible Jonah]].
* TheDragon - In addition to naming it he speculated that it was a metaphor for the hero's struggle before finally confronting the BigBad
* {{Herald}}
* TheHerosJourney - Later refined by Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey".
* RefusalOfTheCall
* SupernaturalAid
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!Tropes Discussed in this work:
* BackFromTheDead - The hero usually dies and returns, either literally or figuratively.
* BigBad - Every journey needs one to drive the plot.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin - Buddha, Jesus, and others become this after apotheosis.
* EternalHero - This is what the phrase "hero with a thousand faces" describes, the idea being that all mythological heroes are facets or reflections of one heroic archetype.
* EternalRecurrence - In many cosmologies the world is in cyclical decline and improvement.
* IChooseToStay - The hero is tempted to but usually doesn't and instead brings the boon back to their people.
* MessianicArchetype - The classical hero is often one or at least aids one.
* StandardHeroReward - The boon they find is often represented by a woman.
* TheUnderworld - The hero might wind up here, either while spending time dead or entering it themselves without dying.
* VisionQuest - Again, the hero might find themselves on one.

'''Works that reference ''this'' work in some form:'''
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Jack Rakan's [[UpgradeArtifact Pactio Artifact]] is named after the Greek translation of this work's name. Ironically, the literal meaning of the name fits him, as he's an IdiotHero (ObfuscatingStupidity, though) whose Artifact consists of [[spoiler:[[SwissArmySuperpower the power to create any kind of weapon or armour that he wants]], in ''any'' quantity that his massive spiritual/magical energy reserves can sustain (which is to say, a '''[[StormOfBlades lot]]'''), and ''any'' size that he wishes (his "Warship-Cutting Sword" is practically '''[[BigFreakingSword the size of a small skyscraper]]''').]]
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* ''MahouSenseiNegima'': Jack Rakan's [[UpgradeArtifact Pactio Artifact]] is named after the Greek translation of this work's name. Ironically, the literal meaning of the name fits him, as he's an IdiotHero (ObfuscatingStupidity, though) whose Artifact consists of [[spoiler:[[SwissArmySuperpower the power to create any kind of weapon or armour that he wants]], in ''any'' quantity that his massive spiritual/magical energy reserves can sustain (which is to say, a '''[[StormOfBlades lot]]'''), and ''any'' size that he wishes (his "Warship-Cutting Sword" is practically '''[[BigFreakingSword the size of a small skyscraper]]''').]]

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his journey. In essence, it's his attempt to render these stories down to their common tropes, then demonstrate how these tropes originate from archetypes encoded within the human brain.

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his journey.

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream, and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments, one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949: ''TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'', a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his journey.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'': Jack Rakan's [[UpgradeArtifact Pactio Artifact]] is named after the Greek translation of this work's name. Ironically, the literal meaning of the name fits him, as he's an IdiotHero (ObfuscatingStupidity, though) whose Artifact consists of [[spoiler:[[SwissArmySuperpower the power to create any kind of weapon or armour that he wants]], in ''any'' quantity that his massive spiritual/magical energy reserves can sustain (which is to say, a '''[[StormOfBlades lot]]'''), and ''any'' size that he wishes (his "Warship-Cutting Sword" is practically '''[[BigFreakingSword the size of a small skyscraper]]''').]]

'''Tropes Discussed in this work:'''

'''TropeNamer for:'''
* BellyOfTheWhale - Itself named for the story of [[TheBible Jonah]].
* TheDragon - In addition to naming it he speculated that it was a metaphor for the hero's struggle before finally confronting the BigBad
* TheHerosJourney - Later refined by Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey".

'''Tropes Discussed in this work:'''

* BigBad - Every journey needs one to drive the plot.

* EternalHero - This is what the phrase "hero with a thousand faces" describes, the idea being that all mythological heroes are facets or reflections of one heroic archetype.
* EternalRecurrence - In many cosmologies the world is in cyclical decline and improvement.
* IChooseToStay - The hero is tempted to but usually doesn't and instead brings the boon back to their people.

* StandardHeroReward - The boon they find is often represented by a woman.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'': Jack Rakan's [[UpgradeArtifact Pactio Artifact]] is named after the Greek translation of this work's name. Ironically, the literal meaning of the name fits him, as he's an IdiotHero ({{obfuscating stupidity}}, though) whose Artifact consists of [[spoiler:[[SwissArmySuperpower the power to create any kind of weapon or armour that he wants]], in ''any'' quantity that his massive spiritual/magical energy reserves can sustain (which is to say, a '''[[StormOfBlades lot]]'''), and ''any'' size that he wishes (his "Warship-Cutting Sword" is practically '''[[BigFreakingSword the size of a small skyscraper]]''').]]

* DeityOfHumanOrigin - Buddha, Jesus, and others become this after apotheosis.

Many things are OlderThanTheyThink, and ThisVeryWiki is no exception. In the days of yore where the mere idea of the Internet was a pipe dream and the secrets of the first computers were either lost to history or covered up by nervous post war governments one Joseph Campbell published his seminal work in 1949.

''TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'' was a comparison of classical mythology that focused on the archetypal hero and his journey.

* MahouSenseiNegima: Jack Rakan's [[UpgradeArtifact Pactio Artifact]] is named after the Greek translation of this work's name. Ironically, the literal meaning of the name fits him, as he's an IdiotHero ({{obfuscating stupidity}}, though) whose Artifact consists of [[spoiler:[[SwissArmySuperpower the power to create any kind of weapon or armour that he wants]], in ''any'' quantity that his massive spiritual/magical energy reserves can sustain (which is to say, a '''[[StormOfBlades lot]]'''), and ''any'' size that he wishes (his "Warship-Cutting Sword" is practically '''[[BigFreakingSword the size of a small skyscraper]]''').]]

'''TropeNamer for;'''

'''Tropes Discussed in this work;'''

* MessianicArchetype
* TheUnderworld
* VisionQuest