Adventure!

Now the hero is on his journey, the Ordinary World is a memory. He has no choice but to move forward. He has entered Unknown Lands, completely unaware of the terrain and the rules it operates by. Part 2 of the story is largely about how he learns to navigate this new world.

Along the way, he encounters Tests of his abilities. He meets other characters. Friendly ones can become Allies, and unfriendly ones are Enemies that function as Threshold Guardians. The combined forces that oppose the hero are collectively known as The Shadow.

Since the villain is someone who can’t change and doesn’t even consider it, what does that tell you about the value of self- reflection and consideration?

• Try to look at the events of stories from the villain’s perspective sometimes. Remember, each character is the hero in their own story. They see our hero as their villain. When you see things through their eyes, ask yourself:
  • How did they come to see things the way they do? Does their experience excuse their behavior? In the X-Men movie series, the main villain, Magneto, has been scarred by his experiences as a young boy in Nazi Concentration Camps, and has lost faith in all of humanity as a result.
  • Could a villain actually be right about some things? From a reader’s perspective, a villain becomes more believable if they have some ideas that we can understand, even if we don’t agree.
  • Writers and filmmakers do a lot to ensure that you feel about characters the way they want you to feel about them, but don’t surrender your thoughts and feelings. Determine foryourself how you feel about characters – it’s your choice. I have seen poorly written movies where, halfway through the movie, I realized that the bad guy was right. In spite of the minor chords and sinister framing the filmmakers used to make me hate him, I refused to feel about the so-called villain what they wanted me to. Use your own ideals and principles to guide you.

Tests

For the rest of the story, the hero encounters Tests. Are they tests like the ones you take at school? Well, they’re usually more active than sitting at a desk and writing, but they are similar in that they’re both difficult tasks that our hero must complete before being allowed to move on in the story (or to the next grade).

We’ve already discussed her first test – the First Threshold. That was a clue as to the kinds of hardships that await her later in the story. At this point, the tests are not as deadly serious as the ones she’ll face later, but they can’t be ignored either. All of the tests culminate in one big conflict at the end, called The Showdown.

Not all tests are the same; there are many different kinds, though a clever writer can always invent new ones.

• Direct Confrontation: agents of the shadow, whether the villain or his henchmen, appear and attack the hero and her friends directly. This is the most common test, and one that most heroes will encounter at some point. Each episode of Ultraman forces him to fight yet another monster or alien bent on Earth’s destruction, to cite one example.
• Traps and Deception: sometimes the shadow will set traps for the hero, or deceive her in some way. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Lord Voldemort fools Harry into thinking that his godfather Sirius is in danger, luring him into a trap.
• The Race: the hero could be running to get ahold of some object or achieve some goal before the villain does. In Avengers: Endgame, the team of heroes are in a race against the evil Thanos to get all of the Infinity Stones, which he needs to further his plan of killing half of everything that lives.
• A Test of Worthiness: the hero might be forced to prove herself in some way. In the traditional King Arthur legend, the young Arthur, yet to be king, proves to be worthy of the crown by removing a sword from the stone it’s been lodged in for years. A more recent example can be found in the graphic novel Amulet, where Emily and her ‘frenemy’ Prince Trellis are forced to solve a puzzle to grant them access to the flying city of Cielis.
• The Ticking Clock: there could be a time limit for the hero to achieve some goal, or a specified period for which he has to survive. In the Pixar movie Coco, the young hero Miguel must get his family’s blessing before sunrise to avoid being stuck in the Land of the Dead forever.
• Environmental Obstacles: the hero might be forced to traverse dangerous ground, such as mountains, deserts, or bodies of water that could slow or halt her progress. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the inability of Frodo and his friends to successfully cross a treacherous mountain range forces them to pass through the monster-infested Mines of Moria. (Note that when discussing environmental obstacles, in most cases, dangerous wild animals also fall into this category, such as in Frozen, when Anna is attacked by wolves on the mountain.)

Storytellers are limited only by their imaginations. Really, a writer’s first job is make life hellishly difficult for the hero, and the more ways he can do that, the better the story.

• Outside of school, have you had tests or ordeals in your life? What kind of test was it? Was it like one of the ones we discussed? How did you overcome it?
• How did it change you? How did it change your life?
• What tests or ordeals do you think you’ll need to endure to get where you want to be in life? It could be like a test in school or university, such as medical school or a professional certification, or something more physically rigorous, like basic training in the army. Think about it now, and you can start preparing for it.

Allies and Enemies

On the journey, the hero can expect to meet other people. Some of them may be neutral, but the most active characters will be on one side or the other – for or against the hero. These characters are Allies and Enemies.

Enemies

Enemies are the dark counterparts to the allies. Their function is as Threshold Guardians, to stop the hero from advancing on the journey.

• For most of us, the idea of an enemy is really nonexistent. Living your life in a way that’s productive and not in search of conflict should eliminate the idea of a true enemy. You may have rivals in some things, though – in sports, for instance, or in a debate club.
• If you do have a so-called enemy, why are the two of you opposed?
• What is the nature of your conflict, and can it be resolved? Is it because you both want the same thing, or could it be a conflict of opposing ideals and principle? Could it be a simple misunderstanding? Think of ways to reduce the amount of conflict in your life, and you’ll be a lot happier.

The Midpoint

The hero is now far from home, and crossed the First Threshold, the one that resulted in him taking the journey. He’s encountered enemies and passed obstacles that were threats to him and his allies. Now it’s time for the next big test: the Second Threshold.

The Second Threshold happens around the middle of a movie or book, which is why screenwriters call it the midpoint. A story can’t take too much time between exciting events or we, the readers or viewers, will get bored. That’s why this particular moment happens halfway between the First Threshold and the next one.

Most of these events have specific purposes. The First Threshold is the hero’s first experience leaving his Ordinary World, and convinces him of both the necessity and danger of the mission he’s undertaking. Later, we’ll learn about The Entrance to the Villain’s Lair, which is the hero’s final push before the final confrontation with the villain or the ultimate evil force.

So what’s the purpose of this, the Second Threshold? That’s a tricky question, writers use this moment for a lot of different purposes. Remember the Journey is a guide, not a formula; not every story has to do the same thing. But it’s important to keep pressuring the hero so he continues moving forward. A hero that stops moving results in a story that stops being fun. So the midpoint has to increase the pressure on the hero; every threshold raises the stakes somehow. Here are some of the ways that storytellers have used this event:

• Surprise and Reassessment. New information comes to light, perhaps something shocking that changes the whole game. The hero has to reconsider the entire journey; what his goals are, how he goes about achieving them, who to trust.
• Fake Victory. The hero has reason to believe that he may have won already, and that the end of his journey is at hand, only to have victory snatched from him, and it seems that he’s further from his goals than ever. In Coco, Miguel is about to receive the blessing from his great-grandmother that will send him back to his family in the living world, only to have his dreams crushed when she adds the condition that he abandon his dream of becoming a musician. Miguel can’t accept her demand, and he has to figure out another way to return home.
• Fake Defeat. The inverse of Fake Victory, the hero thinks he’s failed, only for something to emerge that gives him a ray of hope that allows him to continue. In Mulan, the hero character had been dressing as a man to defend her country; she’s revealed as a woman at the midpoint. She’s expelled from her unit, in spite of all her heroic deeds. Mulan returns to the conflict when she witnesses the enemy army approaching the capital, and feels duty-bound to warn her old commander.
• A New Approach. He hasn’t been defeated yet, but it’s clear that whatever he’s doing won’t work. He and his team stop to re-evaluate their approach and consider a new way forward.
• Reconfiguration of the Team. Sometimes a character, or characters, will reconsider their goals and how to achieve them and create new alliances. In Moana, the demigod Maui has been selfish, refusing to assist Moana in her quest to heal the world. But he finally becomes an ally when she agrees to help him recover his fish hook, the item that magically allows him to transform into different creatures.

Regardless of what happens, the Second Threshold changes the story in a fundamental way. The hero has a new outlook on his mission, and so should we.

Disappearance of the Mentor

The journey is about testing the hero and forcing him to realize his potential. One condition of growth is that we stop relying on our teachers and parents and learn to stand on our own. In order for the hero to take the final step in his growth, the Mentor has to disappear. The hero must now rely on what he’s learned, and only utilize his own skills and abilities to defeat evil.

This part is called the “Disappearance of the Mentor”, and why it happens varies from story to story. Usually the mentor dies, but he doesn’t have to. Also, the mentor’s disappearance can happen at many different times in the story; in Moana, the mentor character of Gramma Tala dies very early in the story (though she later returns as a spirit). In Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, the mentor character of Peter leaves just as Miles faces his final test, The Showdown.

The important thing is that he or she is absent when the hero faces the villain in a final conflict. The Mentor’s disappearance is a major wake-up call for the hero; perhaps he had been counting on the support of his teacher for the rest of the journey, but now he knows that he’s on his own.

Some of the ways that the mentor leaves include:

• Death. The mentors die in stories like Raya and the Last Dragon and Amulet. This is the most common way of removing the mentor character, as it has the added advantage of illustrating the grave consequences of failure. Consider not just one book, but the whole Harry Potter saga: Dumbledore is killed in the second-to-last book, leaving Harry to complete his mission and face Voldemort alone, as he must.
• Sacrifice. Sometimes the mentor’s death is actually a sacrifice, when they purposely surrender themselves. Obi-Wan in Star Wars, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, and Bing Bong in Inside Out are all mentors who sacrifice themselves to save the hero or preserve the mission.
• Abduction or Imprisonment. The agents of the shadow might not be able to catch the hero, but they’ll do whatever they can to weaken him. If they can trap his teacher, who’s to say that he’s learned enough already to succeed? In The Matrix, Morpheus is captured by the Agents when he sacrifices himself to save Neo. Neo takes it upon himself to rescue Morpheus, realizing his destiny of becoming ‘The One’ who can save humanity in the process. 
• Distraction. The Mentor is fooled into abandoning the hero at a crucial time, realizing too late that it was a ploy by the shadow to remove him from the picture. Though he eventually dies, in the first book Dumbledore is called away on an urgent mission, leaving Harry and his friends to save the day by themselves.

Now that the mentor is out of the picture, the hero takes the final steps forward. Though he may still have the support of friends and allies, he’s lost the guidance and strength of his mentor at a crucial moment. He has no choice but to forge ahead to the most dangerous land, the home of the shadow, alone.

• Can you think of a time your mom or dad helped you with something that you later could do by yourself? How did you feel before you did it by yourself the first time? How did you feel after you did it?
• Your life at school is about preparing you to stand on your own someday. That moment might be the most important one of the hero’s journey, and one of yours as well. What are you doing to prepare for that moment, and to design the life that you want when that time comes for you?

Actions and Reactions

This book centers itself around the events of the story. However, the main characters aren’t passive observers to these occurrences; rather, they’re active participants in how things unfold. Their actions affect the story directly and determine the path it takes; how their opponents react changes the situation again. In short, the story is a chain of events that the main characters make happen.

In this way, an adventure can be like a board game, and each scene in a movie, or chapter in a book, is like each player’s turn. Taking into account what they know and what the possible outcomes are for each move, the players act and then wait for their opponent’s reaction. The game begins with the Inciting Incident. From then on, the actions of his opponent motivate the next move our hero makes, whose response then motivates the villain’s next decision.

Stories are designed so that everything the main characters do, including allies and enemies, affects the path of the story, and determines who wins the prize that hangs in the balance. The hero’s decisions can also be affected by environmental factors, as we’ve mentioned, such as a dangerous place or wild animals. These are Threshold Guardians, whether they’re characters, terrain, or wild animals, and our hero has to be active in his responses to the forces that oppose him.

To help understand how it works, let’s consider the first book in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events titled The Bad Beginning. The Inciting Incident is when the parents of the three Beaudelaire children are killed (more orphans). After a period of adjustment, they’re placed in the care of the evil Count Olaf, who schemes to seize their inheritance. From then on, each move of the children is made to foil the plans of Count Olaf, who then responds in turn:

• Count Olaf concocts a plan to steal their money. An actor, he orders Violet, the oldest child, to act in a play with him where the two characters are to be married. 
• Klaus, the middle child, figures out Olaf’s plan – the marriage in the play will be officiated by an actual judge, making it an actual wedding, the ceremony an actual marriage, Count Olaf her actual husband, thus giving him control of the children’s inheritance. He tells Count Olaf, hoping that it will cause him to abandon the plan.
• Instead of giving up, Count Olaf pivots: instead of trying to fool the children, he turns to coercion. He kidnaps Sunny, the youngest child, and tells Violet that she and Klaus must cooperate, or Sunny will die.
• Violet attempts to rescue her little sister, but is captured by one of Olaf’s henchmen.
• The children are then locked up in a room to keep them from attempting any further rescues until the night of the play. Sunny is kept hostage in order to maintain his control over the other two children. 
• During the play, it appears that Count Olaf’s plan has worked – he declares victory and orders Sunny freed. 
• Violet, however, had figured out a legal loophole that nullified the ceremony, and she reveals it after Sunny is freed from the clutches of Count Olaf and his henchmen.
• Before fleeing, Olaf vows to Violet that he will someday succeed in getting ahold of the children’s fortune. The first book sets up the series as an origin story; we’ll discuss those later.

Note how each step in the story is a reaction to the previous action by their opponents. Count Olaf schemes: Violet or Klaus attempt to foil his plot: he reacts accordingly. The children and Count Olaf are actively making things happen in the story; the events are a result of their actions.

Secondary characters like allies, enemies, and incidental characters can be passive, but not our hero or agents of the shadow – they’re in a fight with too much at stake.

Preparation for the Final Approach

Though she may still have friends, the hero is truly alone in a larger sense, at a time when she realizes that there’s no other choice but to go forth into the home of the Shadow, the Villain’s Lair. This is where they have to go to defeat evil.

The Disappearance of the Mentor has shown our hero that the consequences of her journey are larger than she ever guessed; nothing less than life and death, not only for her and her friends, but for the world as she knows it. If she fails, everyone she loves will suffer as a result.

Considering the stakes, our hero knows that she can’t quit; there’s no choice but to go to the heart of evil to defeat it. For the first time, she realizes how much she’s been relying on her mentor to guide her; now her fear comes from the fact that she no longer has the support of her guide and teacher, and she is on her own.

She may or may not be completely alone; she could still be accompanied by friends and allies at this point. If she is, her friends are only the most loyal ones, the truest ones. Now is the time for a pause and reflection before they make the final push into the Villain’s Lair. The writer could use this time for several practical or dramatic purposes:

• The hero and her friends could take a moment to discuss their situation and summarize everything they know, both for themselves and for the reader / viewer. They could talk about:
  • Where they have been and what they’ve learned, 
  • What could lie on the road ahead (they don’t know for sure), and a strategy for winning, though that seems unlikely now.
  • The tools they have, and what else they could rely on.
• The heroes may use this moment, the most serious and dramatic one yet on their journey, to confess their affection for one another, and their appreciation of each other’s help. If some characters have been bickering up until now (common with two characters who are actually in love), now’s the time for them to bury the hatchet.

In truth, they’re facing a real possibility of dying. These are the times – the anticipation of mortal danger – when people drop the masks they’ve been wearing and stop pretending. These are the moments when people are the most honest they can be, considering that they may not be around to say these things afterwards.

The Final Threshold

In this, the darkest moment for our hero, her mentor is gone and defeat seems inevitable. Yet she knows she must continue and move on to the Final Threshold, the last obstacle before her final showdown with the villain himself.

This last conflict is essentially the same as her other battles, but with higher stakes. As is the case with the other thresholds, she could be having one last fight with some of the villain’s minions, underlings of the Shadow, or she may have to traverse one last environmental obstacle.

If it’s a fight she engages in, she could either win it to move on, or she’s defeated and captured, ready to be presented to the Villain as a prize by his agents.

There’s another possibility; the hero is simply allowed to pass the final threshold with no resistance for some reason. This can happen when the Villain believes that victory is assured, or when he no longer trusts his own allies to defeat the hero, deciding to handle it himself.

• What principles must be at stake to motivate you to move forward into danger?
• What friends and allies in your life would you trust to accompany you to your final showdown with evil?
• This is the moment when friends and allies are truly honest with one another, dropping their masks, so to speak. What things are unsaid between you and the people you love? Should you tell them these things now?

Next: Part 3 – The Villain’s Lair