Journey of an Epic Hero

A detailed Summary of Journey of an Epic Hero

A pattern has been discovered in much of our literature, as well as in our life -- that of the journey. Especially in regards to mythology, the journey goes through the following stages. The journey starts with the call to adventure. The hero may be willing or unwilling to accept the call but do to the imbalance, loss, or having something taken, missing or denied which brought the call apon them will accept his/her call. The next step in the journey is the hero is usually confronted by some form of supernatural aid that will help them in their journey. This is followed by the threshold which can be a challenge internally or externally that the hero has to conquer in order to continue on his journey. Following the threshold the hero usually encounters a helper/mentor that will give him/her assistance in their journey. After the hero finds their helper/mentor they are put through some test, trials, and ordeals which will prepare them and help them when the reach the abyss which is the next stage in their journey. The abyss in when the hero hits rock bottom and faces the greatest danger and faces this danger alone. When the hero overcomes the abyss and conquers that danger, which they had to face alone

In the classic journey of Odysseus, Odysseus' call was to return to his wife Penelope. Odysseus' journey started when he left Penelope and his son Telemachus to go fight for Greeks in the Trojan War against Trojans from the city of Troy. This battle went on for ten long years where they solved nothing until the Greeks used the Trojan Horse to gain entrance to Troy where they then went on to defeat the Trojans. Many gods patronized the Greeks but, especially Poseidon (brother of Zeus and ruler of sea) and Athena (battle goddess and goddess of the city of Athens, Greece). After the Greeks won the war they didn't pay tribute to the Gods for helping them. So the gods had to give the Greeks what they deserved for forgetting to give what was due to the gods. Odysseus was one of the Greeks one the ship going home when they got what they deserved. Poseidon made the waters very rough and caused a lot of storms which killed many Greeks. Fortunately Odysseus didn't lose his life, but he did suffer and for longer than any other Greek. He suffered for the ten long years that it took him to finally get back to his family on the island of Ithaca.

Odysseus undergoes several ordeals before he reaches his family on Ithaca. The first trial which is also the threshold is when they reach the land of the Lotus-eaters and Odysseus and the rest of his crew is very hungry. The inhabitants gave them a flower food to eat which made the few who ate it lose their longing for home. From that land Odysseus went to the island of the cyclops where he lost some more comrades. After that island they went to the country of the winds where Odysseus meets a mentor/helper Aeolus who gives him a sack which he put all the storm winds into. Unfortunately one of Odysseus' comrades opened the sack and the winds came out and blew them to the land of cannibals where all but one of their ships w

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Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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