Nahno McLein

Part 10 of the Hero’s Journey

Better get back safely. That’s not always as easy as it sounds. The bad guys probably don’t like it if you stole their precious prize and want it back.

This is the best place for chase scenes, however, the hero doesn’t win by getting back. The journey is not at an end yet. Most stories have a little twist here. You think everything’s won, but in reality you still need to finish what you started. This may have been something unexpected in the early days, but now it is a significant part of most stories, as the hero commits again to the change his quest has brought him.

The initial threat in E.T. was the illness and his need to be reunited with his family. At this point, the real threat shows its face in form of the police who appear to be nice, but in effect try to hinder the boys from bringing E.T. back – this is where the spectacular moon bicycle ride comes in handy. For Luke in Star Wars, he escapes the death star and joins the rebels. The new ultimate goal is to destroy the death star.

Like I said, this quest is like another part of the story that gives us a new goal, one which makes the first success necessary to win this ultimate one. To be fair, it gives the story a larger, more-than-one dimensional appeal.