Finding the Hero

[LordStoneheart]

To me, the Monomyth is like astrology. Things may seem to match up, but the descriptions are too vague for real value.

[takenorinvalid]

My theory is that George R. R. Martin does not subvert tropes as much as he appears to - instead, each POV character is either in a tragedy or a hero's journey, each of varying lengths.

For the tragedies, note that none of the major characters simply die - they lose everything they hold dear as a consequence of a heroic fault, and then die.

-Ned is too trusting and honest, so he loses his honourable reputation, his ability to protect his family, and then dies.

-Robb's concept of honour causes him to lose his army, his allegiances, his wolf, and then finally his life.

-Catelyn's need to support her family causes her to think she's lost every member of her family, and then to die.

Meanwhile, the other Stark children and Daenarys are all on a heroic journey. Martin seems to be following an even more literal path than the OP noted:

-An Older Male Advisor: Jon has Joer Mormont, Daenerys has Ser Jorah, Bran has Luwin, Arya has basically everybody, etc.

-Reluctance to Answer the Call: Daenerys is terrified of Khal Drogo until Visery's death starts her heroic journey, Bran thinks he needs to be the Stark in Winterfell until Theon sacks it.

-A Journey Into the Land of the Dead: Bran goes north of the wall, Arya goes to the land of the faceless men who worship the Stranger.

-Death and Resurrection: All over the place in books 4 and 5. Before that, Bran's fake death, Daenerys' rebirth in the fire, etc.

I saw a quote from George R. R. Martin that said every character is on a journey of "triumph or tragedy", which is the closest I have to him backing this theory up.

If the theory works, anyone who isn't learning from their older male advisor is going to die horribly, and anyone who is will leave, suffer a symbolic or literal death and resurrection, and then come back with a new ability.

[Teal'c]

Posted 24 March 2012 - 10:14 PM

Both are following the familiar pattern of the epic hero. That is why their patterns seem similar, and also why their courses seem familiar to us, because we see the pattern in so many instances in literature, mythology, religion, and film/television.

Not every hero will have every one of these steps, and they may be in a different order:

1.The hero may be born of common or bastard birth, and may grow up away from their family of origin. Their true parentage may be royal or divine.

Examples: Jon Snow, Danaerys, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Oedipus, Hercules, Theseus, Arthur pen Dragon, Moses, Beowulf, Will Turner, Ulysses Everett McGill, Danny Archer, Jesus, and so on. *Edit: How could I have forgotten Peter Petrelli?*

2.There is frequently prophecy relating to the hero.

For Jon and Dany, these have been discussed on this forum many times. There is a prophecy that Harry Potter will destroy Voldemort. There is a prophecy that Oedipus will kill his father, so he is sent away at birth to be killed. There is a prophecy that the true King of Britain will pull the sword from the stone, and so on and so on.

3.The hero receives a call to adventure, which the hero (or by proxy his guardian) may refuse once or several times.

Jon has asked Ned to go to the Wall in the past. He only agrees to let him go when Catelyn saysJon can't stay at Winterfell. Jon rides away from the Wall but is fetched back by his friends. This is another refusal of the call. Dany continues to refuse to depart from Essos. Harry Potter's uncle tries to stop his Hogwarts letters from reaching Harry, thus refusing the call to his wizarding education.

4. Heroes frequently have magical familiars or creatures associated with them. For ASOIAF, enough said, we know them. Harry Potter has Hedwig and Dobby. Luke has R2D2 and C3PO.

5. Heroes have mentors or guides which help them on their way, frequently giving them knowledge or actual talismans to aid them in their quest.

Benjen and Tyrion accompany Jon to the Wall. Tyrion teaches Jon to wear his bastardy as his armor so people can't use it against him. This is a message to embrace his identity, an encouragement not to refuse the call to adventure. Jeor Mormont gives him Longclaw; Illyrio gives Dany dragon eggs. These are magical talismans which will aid them on their journey. Jorah and then Selmy guide and protect Dany on her journey and council about war and ruling. Tyrion is on his way to Dany to guide her about dragon lore.

An interesting note here is that Tyrion has also served as one of Jon's mentor/guides, and written his dragon knowledge on scrolls for YG/Aegon, in addition to redirecting his journey to Westeros instead of Meereen. To me, this situation, in which all three share a common mentor/guide, is one factor which tells me Aegon VI may be the real deal or be widely perceived as the real deal, and George is going for a triumvirate of epic heroes. I think these will be the three dragon riders. But that's just one of my little crackpot theories.

6. Heroes gain skills and knowledge which will aid them later in the most difficult part of their quest. Jon spends time learning about the wildlings and they give him information about the world beyond the wall. He also picks up new mentor/guides, those being Mance, Tormund, and Melisandre. Dany has learned to respect other cultures and to assimilate herself as a way of earning respect and loyalty of her subjects and lieutenants. She has learned to dispense justice and sack cities. She has learned that the only power is to be perceived as the strongest. She has learned to hatch and ride dragons. This is the farthest point Dany has reached in the epic hero's path, as far as I can see.

From this point onward, the hero is alone on his journey.

7. Once the hero has gained knowledge and skills, he is ready to move on to the most difficult and dangerous part of the quest, in which he enters the Belly of the Whale. For Jon, I believe the Shield Hall was the Belly of the Whale. Literally, it is a large dark cavernous room with rows of wooden rafters and rows of wooden benches, which seemed like enormous ribs to me. Figuratively, the speech he gives in the Shield Hall is the turning point for Marsh and his conspirators.

8. The hero suffers a death or near death or a metaphorical death. I believe this is what we saw at the end of Jon's last chapter.

9. The next step is a journey in the underworld, usually figurative, where the hero is given or finds or steals a magical object or gains magical knowledge. This is referred to as the boon.

10. Reincarnation or rebirth, also sometimes called apotheosis or becoming the god.

11. The return journey, which the hero may also refuse several times.

12. The hero returns, bearing the boon, which he uses to redeem or rescue society. At this point his previous companions and some mentors may return to stand with him against the great evil.

13. Meeting with the goddess, where the hero is made complete by joining with her. A female hero is rare, but if so she IS the goddess.

14. The hero becomes the master of two worlds. This may be the normal and the divine, or some other permutation. In ASOIAF it could be the North and the South, Westeros and Essos, whatever George makes of it.

For those of you have been poo-pooing Harry Potter, please note that Rowling managed to complete this heroic cycle through the series of seven books, and also as a complete cycle within each book. Real literature, just like the ASOIAF series.

Thanks for reading.

Reference link - Joseph Campbell did a great job putting this all together, and Wiki has a good synopsis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

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