ABSTRACT
A Traditional Hero is the prototypical hero. By “prototype”, we mean the kind of person whom we usually think of when we are asked to think of a hero. The Traditional Hero is the individual who follows the classic hero journey as described by Campbell (1949) in his hero monomyth. The journey contains many stages, but the main ones involve the hero being cast out of his or her ordinary world and into a dangerous new world; the hero receiving assistance from strange and unlikely sources; the hero encountering potentially destructive temptations and father figures; the hero overcoming formidable obstacles; the hero becoming transformed in some way; and finally, the hero returning to the ordinary world with a boon that transforms it. Campbell acknowledged that not all hero stories contain every component of the monomythic journey, and that the details of the journey can vary significantly from story to story. Still, all Traditional Hero stories more or less follow the basic monomyth structure.
