Tong’s English
Hero’s Quest ~ Star Wars
~ Summaries and excerpts from The Hero’s Journey by Reg Harris and Susan Thompson
Journey (physical or mental) is process of separation, transformation and return. Each stage must be completed successfully for the character to become a hero. The sequence and duration will vary from character to character.
Separation (from Luke’s Known Life)
The journey/quest/adventure requires the character to leave his normal life in response to a call, invitation, or need, and travel to a destination where the answer to the call can be accomplished. Luke’s pre-heroic attitude and life are typical of the situations which trigger a Call To Adventure. He is trapped in a life he hates, which he feels is choking him to death. He is also childish. He whines when his uncle tells him to take care of the droids, and he sulks and pouts and kicks stones.
“If there’s a bright center to the universe,” he tells C3PO, “you’re on the planet it’s farthest from.” Luke is bitter, reckless, naïve, and romantic, especially in the way that he views fighting and war.
The Call ~
The Call comes at a time when the characters are ready for inner growth and it causes the characters’ focus to shift from home to a distant place. Characters choose willingly, are dragged unwillingly, or enter accidentally into the adventure/journey/quest.
Luke’s physical call is a result of his own carelessness: he removes the restraining bolt from R2D2, and the droid goes into the wilderness looking for Ben. When Luke follows him, he enters an area with dangers he is unprepared to handle. Fortunately (synchronistically: Helpers and guides fortunately often appear at the most opportune moment, just when the hero is about to be killed. This timing is called synchronicity.), there he meets his mentor, Ben Kenobi, who saves him and tells him the story of his father, the “best starfighter in the galaxy.”
Refusal of the Call ~
When R2D2 projects his holographic image of Princess Leia, Ben asks Luke to join him, but Luke refuses. Only when his aunt and uncle are killed by Imperial Storm Troopers does Luke agree to accompany Ben.
Luke is in a situation which is keeping him a child, so his Call is both internal and external:
v Internal – the need to grow and experience life
v External – the destruction of his known world and Ben’s invitation
The Threshold (with guardians, helpers, and mentors) ~
The Cantina is Luke’s Threshold, the “jumping-off point,” the interface between what he knows and what he doesn’t know as he must go beyond the boundaries of his everyday life. Here he meets people who have been “out there,” and, like many initiates, Luke is so ignorant of the dangers that his bravado almost gets him killed.
“Watch your step,” Ben warns him as they enter the cantina. “This place can get a little rough.”
“I’m ready for anything,” says Luke.
It is typical of the initiate at the Threshold or in the early adventures to require saving. By undertaking adventures without proper preparation or help, one of two things will usually happen: the adventure kills characters or they must be saved.
Despite Luke’s claim that he is “ready for anything,” he must be saved repeatedly: from the Storm Troopers outside the Cantina, from the bully in the Cantina, from his own reckless nature in the Millennium Falcon (when he wants Han Solo to rush the jump to light speed).
Helpers ~
Also, at the Threshold, characters encounter Helpers who provide assistance or direction. Luke now has three Helpers: Ben, Han, and Chewbacca.
Luke’s Initiation into a Higher Level of Skill and Awareness
Once past the Threshold, the character begins journey into the unknown – either an outward physical unknown or an inward psychological unknown. As the character travels deeper into the unknown, he is more at risk emotionally and physically.
The Challenges ~
The character faces a series of increasingly more difficult challenges or temptations along the way, often while on a perilous journey. The guide, mentor or other helpers support the heroes. On the Falcon, Ben introduces him to the Force.
In the early adventures, Luke exhibits the arrogance, bravado, and recklessness, which come easily when one doesn’t understand the danger or magnitude of the adventure. When the Falcon is captured by the Death Star, Luke maintains his bravado and arrogance. First, when Ben leaves them and tells them to wait where they are, Luke whines and wants to go with him. Then he launches a reckless and ill-planned mission to rescue Leia.
When he reaches Leia in her cell, he announces, “I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you,” However, he has no plan for escape, so it is Leia who saves them using a garbage chute to the trash compactor.
The Abyss ~
Upon reaching the Abyss, the heroes face the greatest challenge of the journey. This is where they must “slay the dragon” in the form of something they dread or need to resolve. It is there, in the trash compactor, that Luke makes his big transition. The compactor is, as Joseph Campbell calls it, “the belly of the whale,” the place of immersion into the depths of the subconscious where the would-be hero confronts his “shadow self” and either incorporates it or is devoured by it.
Water (baptism, rebirth) is present in many journeys and represents the unconscious. This is where the infant hero has been born and where the demons of fear and ego threaten at every turn. It is into this watery subconscious that Luke must go to confront his demons, and it is here that he makes real growth.
“There’s something alive in there,” Luke says as he looks into the water in the compactor. Then he is dragged under by the creature of the depths. Luke cannot escape and he cannot be rescued. He survives only because the creature releases him.
The Revelation and The Transformation ~
Upon conquering the Abyss, the heroes’ transformation is complete. After facing death, Luke changes. He has experienced a revelation (a sudden, dramatic change in the way heroes think or view life. This change in thinking is crucial since it makes the hero into a truly different person) and the beginnings of a transformation. When the walls close in, Luke is able to control his panic and help the droids to save them.
We see the change in Luke moments later when, outside the compactor, Han chases Storm Troopers and Luke calls this action foolish. At that moment, he has passed Han in his growth, leaving his childish bravado and recklessness behind. His growing power is evident when, in his first “leap of faith,” he saves himself and Leia by swinging across the core in the Death Star.
There is only a flash of the child when Luke sees Ben surrender his life to distract the troopers from their escape. Luke almost wastes Ben’s death. Han takes on the mentor role here, reminding Luke, “It ain’t over yet, kid.” Luke and Han man the guns against the Imperial Fighters.
Overwhelmed, Luke cries, “They’re coming in too fast.” However, he’s up to the challenge and soon destroys a fighter. “I got him,” he cries.
“Great, kid, don’t get too cocky,” is the response. Luke is learning to focus on the task and to avoid panic or ecstasy.
After they escape (or as Leia realizes, are allowed to escape), they reach the rebel base. Here Luke shows that he has completed the first stage of his transformation. He brings his new skills and perspective as “gifts” to the Rebellion.
Luke’s Return to the Known as a Hero ~
After the Transformation and Atonement, the heroes face the final stage of the journey, Return to Everyday Life (the Known).
At the Rebel base, Luke is part of the group of fighters preparing to attack the Death Star. He is wearing white at the briefing, but is in red when he goes to his fighter. There, he encounters Han, who is leaving with his reward, and we see the difference in their perspectives. Solo, the mercenary, is interested only in self while Luke, the cosmic hero, is ready to die for the cause.
Luke has achieved Atonement where he is “at one” with his new self and life. He has absorbed the changes caused by his journey and has been fully reborn. The Transformation has brought Luke into harmony with life and the world.
The ensuing battle is a showcase for the new Luke. We see him working as part of the group rather than going off recklessly alone. He calms down and encourages the other pilots and, in turn, relies on others for help and support.
Luke makes another “leap of faith,” risking everything when he turns off his computer targeting system to use the Force. He is totally focused on what he must do, but he is able to do it only because Solo returns to blast Darth Vader off Luke’s tail.
After the battle, at the ceremony to honor Luke and Solo, Luke is wearing a black jumpsuit with a gold jacket, and the look on his face is one of confidence without cockiness, assurance, or bravado. The first stage of Luke’s Journey toward Jedi is complete. The imbalance, which sent him on the journey, has been corrected.
This is where the circular quest is complete. Luke returns from darkness into light. He has matured and grown. This transition was not easy. This is where Luke begins to contribute to society through the Rebel cause.