9.	Temptress: The hero is tempted to stray.	10.	Atonement with the Father: Reconciling authority and self.	11.	Apotheosis: Achieving enlightenment or transformation.	12.	Ultimate Boon: The hero gains the sought reward.	13.	Refusal of Return: The hero may resist returning to the ordinary.	14.	Magic Flight: Challenges faced when returning.	15.	Rescue from Without: External aid in returning to reality.	16.	Return Threshold: The hero reenters the normal world.	17.	Master of Two Worlds: Balance between inner wisdom and external reality.

The hero must confront and reconcile with the dominant authority figure, which often represents internal conflicts or limitations. 	“Atonement consists in no more than the abandonment of that self-generated double monster.”

Atonement with the Father

In this stage, the hero achieves a higher state of understanding, often seen as a moment of enlightenment or revelation. 	“Apotheosis is the expansion of consciousness that brings the Hero to peace.”

Apotheosis: The Hero’s Transformation

Often, the hero requires external help to return to the normal world, reminding us that assistance can come from unexpected places. 	“The hero may need a guide or helper to bring them back to everyday life.”

Rescue from Without

The hero’s journey begins when the ordinary world is interrupted by a call to action, summoning the hero to step into the unknown. 	“The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero.”

The Call to Adventure

Initially, the hero might refuse the call out of fear or self-doubt, remaining attached to the familiar. 	“Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular stories, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered.”

Refusal of the Call

This is the moment when the hero steps into the new world, leaving the familiar behind, and embarks on their journey of transformation. 	“The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown.”

Crossing the First Threshold

The hero faces a series of challenges, tests, and enemies that help them grow and refine their abilities. 	“Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms.”

The Road of Trials

In this stage, the hero encounters an ultimate source of inspiration or wisdom, often symbolized as a divine feminine figure. 	“The ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome, is commonly represented as a mystical marriage.”

Meeting with the Goddess

After achieving the goal, the hero might resist returning to the ordinary world, preferring to stay in the world of adventure. 	“The hero who has tasted the joys of the spirit may wish to linger in the experience.”

Refusal of the Return

The return to the ordinary world is sometimes fraught with danger, as the hero must escape with the boon. 	“If the hero in his triumph wins the blessing of the goddess or god, the final stage may be that of a chase.”

The Final Fight

This phase represents the hero’s lowest point, a rebirth where they are swallowed by the unknown and must confront their fears. 	“This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation.”

The Belly of the Whale

The hero becomes the master of both their inner and outer worlds, able to live freely with new wisdom and peace. 	“The hero now lives with a balanced perspective, having conquered both the spiritual and the material worlds.”

Master of Two Worlds & Freedom to Live

The hero finally achieves the goal of the quest, acquiring the boon—a reward of spiritual enlightenment, knowledge, or power. 	“The gods and goddesses then conferred upon the hero the boon of knowledge, insight, or material gain.”

The Ultimate Boon

Campbell identifies the “monomyth,” a universal structure present in myths across cultures. It’s the archetype of the Hero’s Journey—a cycle of adventure, trials, and transformation. 	“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder.”

The Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey

After the hero accepts the call, they often receive help from a mentor or guide—supernatural or otherwise. 	“For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure.”

Supernatural Aid

1.	The Monomyth: The universal Hero’s Journey across cultures.	2.	Call to Adventure: The hero is summoned to action.	3.	Refusal of the Call: Fear holds the hero back.	4.	Supernatural Aid: A mentor helps guide the hero.	5.	Crossing the Threshold: The hero steps into the unknown.	6.	The Belly of the Whale: A symbolic rebirth in darkness.	7.	Road of Trials: A series of tests that help the hero grow.	8.	Meeting with the Goddess: Encounter with wisdom or inspiration.

This is where the hero must reintegrate into ordinary life, bringing back the knowledge or gift acquired during the journey. 	“The return is the moment when the hero is able to share the wisdom they have gained.”

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

Here, the hero may be tempted to stray from their path by distractions that represent the worldly or material. 	“The mystical marriage with the queen goddess of the world represents the hero’s total mastery of life.”

Woman as Temptress

1.	The Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey	2.	The Call to Adventure	3.	Refusal of the Call	4.	Supernatural Aid	5.	Crossing the First Threshold	6.	The Belly of the Whale	7.	The Road of Trials	8.	Meeting with the Goddess	9.	Woman as Temptress	10.	Atonement with the Father	11.	Apotheosis: The Hero’s Transformation	12.	The Ultimate Boon	13.	Refusal of the Return	14.	The Magic Flight	15.	Rescue from Without	16.	The Crossing of the Return Threshold	17.	Master of Two Worlds and Freedom to Live

Topics Explained

Explore the timeless Hero’s Journey with Joseph Campbell’s A Hero with a Thousand Faces, revealing the universal path of adventure, trials, and personal transformation.

Explore the Hero's Journey in stories as old as humanity and as new as last night's dreamThe latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change. — Joseph CampbellSince its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faceshas influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Facescontinues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists—including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers—and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.Reviews:“I have returned to no other book more often since leaving college than this one, and every time I discover new insight into the human journey. Every generation will find in Hero wisdom for the ages.”— Bill Moyers “In the three decades since I discovered The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it has continued to fascinate and inspire me. Joseph Campbell peers through centuries and shows us that we are all connected by a basic need to hear stories and understand ourselves. As a book, it is wonderful to read; as illumination into the human condition, it is a revelation.”— George Lucas “Campbell’s words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but among a wide range of other people who find his search down mythological pathways relevant to their lives today....The book for which he is most famous, The Hero with a Thousand Faces [is] a brilliant examination, through ancient hero myths, of man’s eternal struggle for identity.”— Time