Nahno McLein

Part 7 of the Hero’s Journey
All the tests have prepared the hero for this one sinister place – the cave.

This is where the hero closes in on the dangerous space, mostly underground or somewhere very far away, probably a dark area. The hero will be challenged to go near something hazardous to achieve his goal, to obtain his treasure.

In Star Wars it’s where Luke gets sucked into the Death Star to save Leia. In the whole film, this is the most dangerous place and its name itself tells you how dark it is – pure death awaits you. In E.T., it’s less obvious to define, but you can take the Halloween night, when the kids and E.T. set out to call for help in the woods at night as this stage. Here Elliot learns something crucial about friendship from his alien friend.

For the sake of tension and as another incentive to keep reading, this is pretty important in every story and it usually comes as a pre-climax in the middle somewhere in the Special World.