What Makes a Hero
Whether every protagonist is a Hero is open to debate (and debate it we do in this episode) but on it we can agree that the vast majority of protagonists in genre fiction are heroes (if not always heroic). In today’s episode we go deep into Christopher Vogler’s chapter on the Hero Archetype from his book, The Writer’s Journey.
To explore his this Archetype, we’re referencing The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Despite being written almost sixty years ago, Beagle’s fairytale feels modern and makes for an excellent sandbox to dig around in for support and opposition to whether the story’s hero (he Unicorn, obviously) conforms to Vogler’s hero profile, and also if Vogler’s Hero’s Journey is a good framework for understanding her quest.
Also, check out our Hero’s Journey Study Guide in which we apply the 12 Steps of Vogler’s formula to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
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The Mentor Behind Every Great Hero
The Mentor -- arguably the second most identified archetype from The Hero's Journey (after the eponymous hero). In his book, The Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler has a lot to...