The Villain’s Journey
Tales of heroes have been with us ever since the beginning of storytelling. Since the invention of the written word we have been able to track and record stories of heroism. Over time themes and patterns have emerged. It seems that the tale of Katniss Everdeen and Hercules may not be so different. One of the most significant theories about these narratives, presented by Joseph Campbell in the 1940s, suggests that each hero shares the same story. In every hero’s story they face a number of challenges and follow a certain journey that leads to their eventual triumph or reward. Campbell’s groundbreaking book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” discussed his ideas known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Since then there has been continuous study of the theory and it has been observed again and again, and also intently ignored by storytellers.
However this article will not be focusing on the heroes; rather, it will focus on the villains. Villains are critical to any hero’s journey. There wouldn’t be a Luke Skywalker without a Darth Vader. Whether the villain is a person, monster, natural disaster, or the hero’s own internal conflict, the hero must overcome the villain. I theorize that the hero’s cycle is reflected by a similar cycle, a villain’s cycle. That is to say the villains follow their own journey. Or perhaps there is no villain at all in stories. Darth Vader after all was originally fated to save the galaxy as Anakin. Rather, it is simply a clash of two heroes and the winner of the conflict is deemed heroic and the loser a villain. After all not all stories are cut and dry.
What is the Hero’s Journey?
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey theory debuted in the 1940s. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves greatness and vanquishes evil. The journey is generally broken down into 12 stages:
1. ORDINARY WORLD. The hero is inexperienced and perhaps a bit naïve. They are introduced to the audience in a way that is relatable. They may seem awkward and unskilled. Their world is ordinary and a reflection of ours even if the story takes place in a fantastical world.
Harry Potter starts his story at Number 4 Privet Drive. He is young, awkward and in no way out of the ordinary for an 11 year old boy.
2. CALL TO ADVENTURE. Something causes a stir. The hero receives a message or a challenge. Perhaps the hero receives a message from someone, or a quest to save the kingdom, or maybe it’s as simple as starting a new year at school.
Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister’s place in the Hunger Games. She is then whisked away to the Capital to begin her journey.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL. The hero refuses or hesitates, afraid of the unknown and challenges ahead. Or perhaps someone they are close to shakes their bravery and they are not sure if they are ready for the challenges ahead.
Bilbo Baggins didn’t initially want to go with Gandalf on his adventure. He was very reluctant to leave his quiet and comfortable life. He had everything he wanted in his Hobbit house and wasn’t quite thrilled by the prospect of life on the road.
4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR. The hero meets with a mentor, usually someone older, wiser, someone well traveled in this new world the hero has entered. They can provide a variety of things for the hero, support, knowledge, or they may even give the hero equipment and weapons.
Yoda teaches Luke the ways of the force in Star Wars. Without this instruction Luke would not have been able to fulfill his destiny.
5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD. The hero crosses from their safe ordinary world into the new world for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure begins. There is no turning back for the hero now.
Alice falls down the rabbit hole and finds herself in Wonderland. From this moment on the adventure has begun.
6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES. The hero is tested, solves riddles, slays a beast, and starts overcoming the obstacles on the way to the reward. They make allies and enemies all in pursuit of the main goal.
Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon deals with many tests, he tries slaying a dragon, saves one, trains it, and he has to pass Viking training. Through these tests he makes friends such as Astrid, Toothless and enemies.
7. APPROACH. The hero and allies prepare to face their biggest ordeal. They begin to approach their last challenge. They are going deeper into the belly of the beast, closer to danger.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione has started picking away at Voldemort, the path has gotten more dangers and now they must return to Hogwarts for the final confrontation.
8. THE ORDEAL, DEATH, REBIRTH. The hero hits bottom. They must face their biggest fear and perhaps even death. A cloud of smoke rises obscuring what is happening leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat, unsure if the hero will make it. This moment is crucial, the hero’s death or apparent death shows a rebirth, a magical factor to the hero.
As Katniss shots her arrow toward the dome of the arena in Catching Fire we believe everything is over, we do not know if she is alive or dead, she is lifted from the arena and regains consciousness, being reborn into the world she’s created.
9. THE REWARD. The hero gains a treasure. Perhaps this treasure is an object, recognition for deeds, the affection of someone, or a safe home. This treasure is what makes the journey worth everything.
Bilbo gains the recognition of his friends. His skills saved the Dwarves from trolls among other monsters gaining him recognition and friendship. Bilbo also finds the ring, an item that seems to be a treasure at first.
10. THE ROAD BACK. The hero starts taking the treasure back home but it’s not all over yet. This is often where the final chases happen. The heat of the battle is still hot on the hero’s heels.
Luke has just brought down the Death Star and now everyone must flee or risk being caught in the explosion, or worse caught by Darth Vader.
11. RESURRECTION. The hero emerges from the special world, transformed by the experience. The results may vary from story to story but this is the unfolding of the tale.
Alice leaves Wonderland. It seems like it was all a dream. But there is lingering evidence that it did happen and Alice has changed from her experience.
12. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR. The hero returns home but the adventure would be meaningless unless they brought back treasure or some lesson from the special world. Sometimes it’s merely knowledge other times an item but the hero has something to show for his efforts. On occasion the hero will have not learned from his adventure and it doomed to repeat the whole tale.
Hiccup returns to Burk but now Toothless and other dragons are welcomes. He has brought the true knowledge of dragons to his people and how he can return to a home and peace and with dragons.
The Villain’s Journey
So now that we are familiar with the hero, let’s look at the villain. The villain will often follow a similar path but with a few minor changes. In many modern stories even the line between villain and hero is often a bit fuzzy. You can look to villains such as Magneto in X-Men. Magneto believes everything he does is for the good of mutant kind and seeks to stop a holocaust from befalling mutants as happened to his Jewish family during WWII. So here is the journey as a villain:
1. ORDINARY WORLD. The villain starts in the ordinary world, the status quo. Perhaps they are working on an experiment that goes wrong, or they are a combat operative for a secret organization that abandons them across enemy lines, perhaps their loved one was killed, or they lost a fight to their own internal demons.
2. CALL TO ADVENTURE. They must avenge their loved one, or fight the people they once called friends that left them behind, or their sense of reality is so twisted that they believe fighting good is the true good.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL. Many times villains will hesitate at first. Maybe they’ll be asked to kill someone but they can’t bring themselves to. Or they try to rationalize the injustice shown to them.
4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR. This can manifest in a variety of ways. They meet with a mentor, such as more knowledgeable villain or soldier. Or get some other from of assistance, a book they discover that teaches them to create the ultimate weapon, knowledge of a secret base operated by the country that forsake them. They gain knowledge to help them on their path.
5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD. They cross into the world of the villain. They kill someone, or rob a bank; they begin planning and recruiting for their ultimate plan. There is no turning back for them now. They have officially become the villain.
6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES. They are tested; they fail perhaps again and again. They are looking for their treasure. Perhaps it is tracking down the hero, finding secret government files, or hunting down all the people that did them wrong. We’ve all seen it particularly in children’s literature, Batman catches The Joker time after time, and Harry Potter beats Voldemort time and time again.
7. APPROACH. Then they reach their biggest challenge. This may be the final battle between armies, the launching of a weapon, the confrontation with their target. They have reached the moment they have been preparing for. This is the final test against the hero.
8. THE ORDEAL, DEATH, REBIRTH. This is where the hero succeeds, perhaps facing death and is reborn but for the villain this is where they fail. The hero wins the last battle and the villain fails, for the last time. The villain is thrown in jail, destroyed, killed, ceases to exist, or perhaps they become good but whatever happens they are done being the villain in a traditional narrative.
The villain doesn’t get to experience steps 9–12. There is no reward or return, nothing to show for the villain’s troubles. Perhaps they desperately try to chase the hero down one last time but in the end the journey is over for them, there is no return. Now history looks back on the event. The villain lost. They are seen as a bad guy. But like the saying goes history is written by the victor so perhaps if they had won, they’d be the heroes perhaps to someone? What if the villain is actually a competing hero? But instead of success they failed their journey?
Villains as Heroes
When you examine the similarities between the journey of the hero and the journey of the villain you could theorize that there isn’t actually a villain, just a hero and a failed hero. If this is the case the story would not be of a hero and a villain but two clashes heroes. You can see the hero like qualities in many villains of pop culture. If you look at a villain featured in the popular series Divergent you can see hero like qualities in the villain. In Divergent there is Jeanine Matthews, the prominent antagonist from the first two novels. Jeanine is definitely ambitious and goes to extremes to push her political agenda but she is also following the path that she thinks is the best for the city. Jeanine has been lead to believe their societal system is in place to keep order and maintain peace and that breaking it, which is what Tris intends to do, will only lead to another war and the death of humanity. She is seen as a villain but it is illogical to think that under her rule society would have crumbled.
We can also look at villain’s that had virtuous cause. Harry Osborne in the Spider-man series seeks to avenge the death of his father and hunt down Spider-man whom Harry thinks killed his father unjustly. Harry is viewed as a villain because he seeks to destroy our hero but our hero; Peter Parker also sought to avenge his uncle’s murder. One is seen as a villain the other is seen as a hero.
Perhaps it is all about the perspective. We choose to see the good in the lesser evil. Perhaps all villains are heroes and all heroes are villains. In this age the line between villain and hero is constantly being blurred, characters flip sides and the morality is never certain. Who’s to save the villain isn’t just a failed hero?
Resources
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1968.
Soloman, Pat. “What is the Hero’s Journey?” Rock Creek Park: TEDx, 11 May 2013.
Vogler, Chris and Brad Schreiber. The Writer’s Journey. 2015. 10 July 2016 <http://www.thewritersjourney.com/>.
