History Main / TheQuest

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Ash goes on a voyage spanning the entire globe to bring glory to his name.

* J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and its predecessor ''Literature/TheHobbit''. ''Lord of the Rings'' was unusual in that, unlike the fantasy sagas that came after, the hero was not on a quest to acquire some item of great power, but to ''[[MacguffinEscortMission destroy]]'' one.

* ''Quest for Fire''

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' started out as one of these, with Goku originally leaving is home with Bulma to find the titular PlotCoupons.

** [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} 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.

* ''[[Literature/TheBible Exodus]]'' -- a quest to escape Egypt and found a new nation in the Promised Land.

* "The Fountain Of Lamenth" and "Xanadu" by Music/{{Rush}}.

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 ''Fairy Queen'', ''Arabian Nights'', and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''.

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).

[[folder:Video Games]]
* More {{RPG}}s, {{Adventure Game}}s, and {{Action Adventure}}s than you can count.
** Many with the name "Quest" [[MadLibFantasyTitle in the title]]. [[SturgeonsLaw Usually]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin accurate]].
[[/folder]]

** In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 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.]]

** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Two toys are whisked from their home and attempt to find their way back.

* The first part of ''Fanfic/AllThatGlitters'' revolves around searching for a mysterious artifact that supposedly has the power to end an EndlessWinter.

** 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. They then kick his ass.

* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': The center piece 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 does which are overcome while doing so.

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', a parody of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/7/ two at once.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'', [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter004 Dara explains /ib024.html they are -- or at least she is -- on a quest to find the last of the Ancients]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2010-04-28 Slick's laptop goes searching for him while he's missing.]]
* In ''Webcomic/DragonMango'', [[http://dragon-mango.com/comic/chapter05/dm05-59.htm two sets of Dragonslayers set out on quests at the same time.]]

* In ''Saint-Jacques… La Mecque'', 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.

* ''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.

* ''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.

* [[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]]: Essentially, how Agawin's story begins: a pilgrimage to see a dragon leads to a quest to save a girl.