Hero With A Thousand Faces Character Analysis

For years, a story written by a man, named Joseph Campbell, has influenced the structure of fiction works. Campbell’s book, Hero With A Thousand Faces, outlines the journey that a person goes through to become a hero. The story details the changes, challenges, and characters that a hero faces along their way and is separated into three main stages. This thorough format provides other writers with an ideal model to shape their own works. In fact, one of the most popular movies in history was inspired by Campbell’s book. George Lucas’ Star Wars closely follows the journey of a hero as found in Hero With A Thousand Faces. Through the comparison of Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces and George Lucas’ Star Wars, we are able see that the

Luke, a young boy from the planet Tatooine, first receives his call to adventure when two droids, named C-3PO and R2-D2, deliver a message from Princess Leia, who had been captured by the evil Empire, saying, “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi. You 're my only hope” (Star Wars). This message intrigues Luke and he decides to seek out Obi Wan Kenobi. On his way though, he runs into trouble and is saved by an old man. After realizing that his savior was Obi Wan, Luke let him watch Leia’s message. Kenobi asks Luke to accompany him on this mission to help Princess Leia, however, Luke refuses and says that his family needs help on the farm. Here we see that Luke tries to refuse his call to action. However, he soon finds out that his family has been killed and decides to accompany Obi Wan on the adventure, therefore crossing the first threshold. Obi Wan, being a veteran of the Clone Wars and experienced Jedi trainer, is the supernatural mentor in the story. After Luke accepts the call, Obi Wan gives him his father’s lightsaber and introduces him to the idea of The Force, saying that his father was a Jedi before he died (Star Wars). Luke accepts the lightsaber and then sets off on the adventure with Obi Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, and R2-D2. They first end up at Mos Eisley Cantina, where Luke is unfamiliar with his surroundings and unwelcome with the locals. He has now entered the belly of the whale and will have to trust his companions to help him get through this unknown world. Obi Wan introduces Luke to Han Solo and his sidekick, Chewbacca, whom he believes can help them get to Princess Leia. Han Solo offers to fly them on the Millennium Falcon, but for a price. Obi Wan agrees and the six of them start flying to