Fiction Guide: The Hero w/a Thousand Faces: Analyzing the importance of Dreams & Redemption in Story-Telling
Yet another Fiction Guide
At the end of Chapter 2 of his magnum opus Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell one of the pre-eminent scholars on the topic of Comparative Literature, and Mythology expounded upon the themes of dream-like qualities in story-telling.
The idea being that there is ultimately a dreaminess to the Hero’s victory over adversity and that this invites men and women to dream more. This notion of the dream-world intersecting with the real world, is a popular one in his research. It is also a common and recurring theme in the world’s literature.
There is a reason that going down into the underworld, such as in Dante’s Inferno involves such nightmarish scenarios and visions; it is the realm of nightmares. Just as Paradise is idyllic and beautiful and invites us to ponder about those dreams we’ve had.
One could almost propose the notion that the Call to Adventure is also the ‘Call to Dream’, that in a world of sleepers who do not dream the Hero ought to be the principal dreamer, or part of a Fellowship who dream great dreams.
There is a reason we refer to long-distant and far away ambitions and desires as ‘dreams’ because it is synonymous with ‘adventure’. To embark on an adventure is to embark on a journey to fulfill one’s life long dreams and ambitions. Why does Jason dream of the Golden Fleece? Because it is his only chance to reclaim his inheritance and what is that but a dream?
In this same chapter Campbell talks of ‘Old Powers being revivified’ that is to say of the resurrection of an ancient evil that seeks to thwart the Hero, who must in turn thwart it’s dark desires. One can make an allusion to the Lord of the Rings, where Sauron an ancient evil seeks to cast his great shadow upon the whole of Arda, and who should rise to oppose him but Frodo who has dreams of the sea, and of rivers despite not having seen a great many of them and having some trauma related to the seas on account of his parents’ having drowned before him as a child.
There is also Conan who alone never loses faith and hope in Aquilonia, and continues to dream of a free Aquilonia, one in which dark lords such as Xaltotun exert little in the way of influence and mastery.
In Call of the Wild, Buck is faced with the old guardians of a mine, wicked natives who would just as soon murder innocent old men, who dream only of helping their families and passing something on to them.
Faced with this ancient evil that guards the mines jealously not unlike the dragons of olde, Buck kills all those he comes across in a great act of Justice. One that shows that there is a ‘Natural Justice’ to the world and that Buck is its instrument.
But the thing about the destruction of ancient evils or new technocratic ones is that they are there not only to challenge heroes and get in the way of their dream-phase wherein they grab hold of the Great Boon to bring it home, but also so that the world might enter a new phase. The village from whence the Hero came is changed with the goodness and grace of the Boon or Grail so that the whole of the world is ‘transfigured’ as Campbell puts it.
Christ’s Gospel of goodness and holiness traverses the whole of the world and makes it whole once more, so to speak. This is the ideal behind which lies the notion of the Transfiguration of the world, as the Hero must redeem it from its fallen state also so that he might kneel someday before the image of the Divine Feminine which is to say the Virgin, and also to pay homage to the ultimate King.
This is what it means for the Hero to be transfigured as he’s following in the footsteps of countless other mythical and historical and literary heroes, even as the world is doing so also.
The village is not only saved but redeemed from itself, redeemed from darkness and ignorance but begins anew. In Watership Down Hazel doesn’t simply save his warren but convinces the members of the warren to immigrate elsewhere and create a new village, a kind of ‘Rabbit Rome’ one in which they might live in peace and put the sorrows of the past behind them, and also carry forth the knowledge and wisdom attained on the journey. It isn’t simply the ‘Roman Kingdom’ or City-State they are founding but one with a similarly divine mission that the Emperors of old believed in but also that the Church of Rome long held itself to be servant to (the ideal I mean).
This is what Hazel accomplishes. Why? Because he must redeem his village from its doom, and along the way he becomes heir to a greater destiny.
There is also the story of Nimh, where the heroine wishes to discover what has become of her husband only to discover Faucian level perversions and experiments that had once been inflicted upon some of the local rats. It is up to her and those around her to redeem the rats and convince them to join with the mice, and to flee for greener pastures so to speak.
Is Mulan’s journey in the 1998 not like a dream? And if it feels and is told like a dream, but she not only finds her place and that of her family, but also finds herself a husband and manages to at last bring honour to her family.
The Hua family could not afford to dish out a male, for they had no sons (in this interpretation at least), and the head of the family was old and crippled. Therefore it fell upon Mulan to accomplish what he could not, and in so doing she redeems her family in a manner of speaking. She redeems them from dishonour and shame and redeems China by rescuing it from the hordes of Steppe Nomads who menace her.
In Brother Bear Kenai has to redeem himself from the mortal sin he committed but also complete the mother bear’s journey that she might be redeemed also for she sinned no less greatly than he and was no less motivated by hatred. Thus by the end of the journey, he, Denahi and her are all redeemed and make peace.
Redemption is then shared with the whole of the tribe who come to understand the value of the virtue of forgiveness (a very Christian virtue).
It is only by leaving behind the shadows of a traumatic past that the Hero may find peace, may make peace with those around him and come to honour the ancestors passing down their teachings properly and redeeming the current family, village and environ from the shadows they have fallen into.
This is what it means to achieve redemption in this context. It involves the forgiveness of others and of the self, it involves the village, the self and the whole of the community being forgiven and coming together in redemption. The Great Boon is shared and all bathe in its light and benefit from the wisdom it inherently offers.
The Tri-Force isn’t just for Link and Zelda alone but for the whole of their families and the Kingdom of Hyrule. There is a reason that the two often use it to revive the dead of the Kingdom and their dead family members such as Link’s Uncle, or that they in other games use it to heal the land as the Tri-Force is supposed to be synonymous with the Holy Grail from Arthurian myths.
In the movie of Star Wars the great redemption involves Darth Vader being redeemed from the chains of slavery that bound him to his pro-materialist world-view and from his suit. He is liberated and allowed to join with his father and with Yoda, and look on as his son accomplishes what he could not; the great re-balancing of the Force. It is only after he has suffered more than 25 years of suffering and inflicting suffering upon others that he might at last achieve peace and it is this tale of filial piety and forgiveness that gives Luke the strength to refound the Jedi Order and also bring balance to the Galaxy after 1000 years of imbalance (if you want deeper dives into Star Wars check out
’ many podcasts and articles).Let’s also not forget to mention how in the Mummy Evie Carnahan has a con artist for a brother, her family have become servants and employees of those who once worked for them. Humiliated they are made to beg for scraps, and with ultimate humility and goodness they redeem Rick O’Connell from a life of criminality and warfare bring him peace, lay at rest at long last the lich/mummy Imhotep who broke the commandments of Egypt for his own gain and redeem themselves from poverty.
There is also the journey into personal darkness effected by Finn in the movie from 1998 of Great Expectations. He redeems himself through his paintings and drawings, all while pursuing love. At the end he is given a vast fortune by his benefactor, with the man being the same criminal he had saved at the start, with the old man having been moved by Finn’s innate goodness. It was for this reason he gave everything to the young boy, who bereft of the love of his life takes to a life that is like a dream in Paris, drawing and painting and making a name for himself.
This however offers him neither peace nor joy, and it is not until he goes back home, to meet with Stella, forgives her and agrees to raise their daughter together that he finds joy. He is in a way transfigured and transformed, into a new man as he leaves the follies and such of his boyhood in favour of the maturity of adulthood and the wisdom of manhood.
He is redeemed but in turn offers the love of his life redemption which she eagerly and gladly accepts.
Story-telling is ultimately about the redemption of characters as they redeem themselves maybe not always from some mortal sin but from some sort of darkness. They redeem themselves from poverty, spiritual imperfection, failure and tragedy and ultimately are baptised anew and made anew and transformed into new men and women.
This is what it means to tell a story; you are recounting in a way, in a dreamlike manner the same old myths and legends of olde in a new way and speaking of the redemption from darkness of the Hero who desperately needs it. You are in a way plumbing your own depths into a dream-world only you have ever known and maybe your family has known, and dragging it out that the world might see it and showing it for all to see and demonstrating to all the inner heroism and failings that lie beneath not only your surface but showing to all how deep and beautiful your dreams run.
This is what it means to story-tell. And to tell the best tale you can means to dream the dream of a hundred if not a thousand generations before you.
Excellent essay‼️ on another dream note, I found another great sleep story site that’s pretty much, medieval, mythic, Tolkien esk’ on YouTube called Dozing Dragon, its great 👍🏻