The Analysis of Hero’s Journey Experienced by Tristan Thorn as The Main Character of Stardust Movie (2007)

Introduction

Stardust (2007) is a fantasy adventure movie that talks about the magical journey experienced by Tristan. Tristan is a young man from a village called Wall, England. The village of The Wall is located on the outskirts of Stormhold, a magical fantasy kingdom. One night, Tristan takes Victoria to a picnic near the Wal. In the wall, Tristan and Victoria can see the falling star that night. Victoria tells Tristan that she will be happy to get the fallen star as a condition for marrying her. Tristan vows to retrieve it with his hand, in return for her hand in marriage. To obtain the fallen star he was compelled to travel into the magical realm. Therefore, to get into the magical kingdom, he should go over the wall. But in the end, he cannot get past the guard. Tristan then finds out that his mother is a person who lives beyond the wall. She left him a Babylon candle, which can transport the owner to any desired location. When Tristan lights it, he is carried to the falling star. To his amazement, the star he collects is a woman named Yvine. He tries to bring her back to Wall before Victoria’s birthday, the deadline of her offer, by using a magic chain to claim and bring her to Victoria. However, his journey’s just begun. On his way to bring her home, Tristan has to face many struggles since the princes of Stormhold, witches, and other hunters are also looking for Yvaine for their own benefit. Through the journey, he becomes better, falls in love with Yvaine, and receives a ruby stone. The ruby is not an ordinary stone, it is a legacy from his king’s grandfather, which later makes him become the new king of Stormhold.

In this paper, the movie will be analyzed using the Hero’s Journey theory. Hero’s Journey theory is the framework for a large group of stories and folklore in which a hero sets out on an adventure in order to achieve victory and returns altered or transformed. Hero’s Journey theory was first popularized by an American professor, Joseph Campbell, in his book entitled, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. In this book, Campbell demonstrates the numerous stages a hero must take to reach his objective. In “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Campbell classified the pattern of the monomyth or hero’s journey into seventeen stages which are divided into three main phases, they are departure, initiation, and return. The first phase of the Hero’s journey is the departure. The hero is separated from the ordinary world during this phase. The second phase of the hero’s journey is initiation. In this phase, the hero starts to explore a previously unexplored world. He also starts to encounter new obstacles or challenges throughout this phase. Return is the last phase of the hero’s journey. Return is the phase where the hero’s adventures come to an end and he returns home after having gone through the previous stage of his adventures. In the end, the hero’s journey resulted in some changes, growth, and wisdom.

There is plenty of different version of the hero’s journey. Some Campbell followers define the stages of a hero’s journey in various ways. In this paper, the hero’s journey version of Christopher Vogler was applied to analyze Tristan’s experience in the Movie that made him become a Hero. Christoper Vogler is a Hollywood film producer and writer. Vogler adapted Campbell’s concept of the Hero’s journey. In his book entitled “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers”, he formulated twelve stages in three phases that compose the journey. The stages are arranged following the basic phase of the Hero’s Journey as conceptualized by Campbell. These twelve stages are: the Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting with Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Test, Allies, and Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Ordeal, Reward, The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with Elixir (Vogler, 7)

Discussion

12 Stages of The Hero’s Journey Theory Experienced by Tristan Thron

A1. Departure

1. The Ordinary World

The ordinary world is the initial phase that shows the identity of the hero before going on an adventure. In this phase, the hero’s motivation or encouragement to go on an adventure, as well as his unique characteristics and weaknesses will be shown. Here is the ordinary world depicted in the character Tristan in the movie Stardust (2007):

Goaded by the poking — and a growing sense of humiliation -

Tristan picks up a stick and knocks Humphrey’s cane out of the way.

Humphrey goes into “‘ Errol Flynn mode.

A cane/stick fight begins. It doesn’t last long.

With a few deft strokes, Humphrey has the stick out of Tristan’s hand in seconds.

HUMPHREY

You were always useless at fencing at school, Tristan.

In fact, I’m having trouble remembering if there’s anything you were good at.

( Humphrey fight Tristan with his fencing skills )

Tristan is a young man who is unwealthy and lives a very simple life in Wall Village, England with his father. Living without a mother made him struggle very hard to live only with his father, in their small cottage. Tristan’s daily life is busy being a grocery store waiter and he has no friends. However, in this sad life, Tristan actually has feelings for a girl who lives in the same village as him, named Victoria. Unfortunately, his feelings for Victoria were not reciprocated because he liked another man who was richer and had fencing skills from Tristan.

2. The Call to Adventure

The call to adventure is a phase where events disrupt the hero’s ordinary world. This phase presents problems, both external and internal, that must be faced by the hero and then requires him to go on an adventure as a way to solve these problems.

( Tristan and Victoria picnic infront of the ‘Wall’ ) ( Tristan try to past the forbidden Wall )

This is where problems start to bother and pop up in Tristan’s life. As depicted in the movie Stardust (2007), when Tristan and Victoria had a picnic in the park near the wall and they saw a shooting star. At that time, Tristan asked Victoria to be engaged to him, but it turned out that Victoria would become Humphrey’s fiancé when his birthday was in one week. Therefore, coinciding with the falling star Tristan negotiated with Victoria if she managed to get a shooting star then Victoria had to accept Tristan’s love and marry him. Because Victoria thought it was impossible, and if it was true that Tristan could, she would be the luckiest woman to be able to get a shooting star. Without much thought they agree with each other, and Tristan goes on an adventure out to try past the forbidden Wall village, with the intention of finding a fallen star for Victoria or in stages the call to adventure this is intended to solve his problem.

3. Refusal of The Call

The phase where the hero refuses to go on an adventure because of several obstacles in the form of limited abilities, fear, insecurity, or other factors such as environmental influences, etc.

( Tristan does not across the wall ) ( Tristan’s father gave encouragement and told him overcoming wall )

In fact, Tristan is an ordinary village boy who has no more abilities than his friends, due to his busy working background which has prevented him from honing his martial arts skills. This is a drawback, so he can not fight against the wall guard. Because of that, Tristan had abandoned his intention to go on an adventure looking for shooting stars, instead he returned home. However, when he returned home, it was environmental factors that pushed him back, namely his own father, so he continued to go on adventures and shared with him how to overcome getting out of the Wall Village.

4. Meeting with The Mentor

In this phase, the hero meets a mentor who will encourage him to continue the adventure by providing advice, motivation, or magic gifts. However, in this case, the mentor will not accompany the hero on the adventure, so the hero still has to go on the adventure by himself.

This can be seen in the scene when Dunstan shows Tristan his first bassinet, wherein the basket there are letters and gifts left by his mother, the Babylon candle. Apart from that, Dunstan also gave another magical gift to Tristan. A glass flower that his mother once gave to Dunstan. This flower is believed to provide protection to Tristan when he is on his adventures.

(Dunstans give the glass flower to Tristan) (Tristan read the letters left by his mother)

5. Crossing The Threshold

Crossing the threshold is the phase where the hero begins to enter a strange new world, which is different from the ordinary world. The strangeness covers the environment and the people. The crossing the threshold phase begins when Tristan manages to cross the parapet using the Babylon candle given to him by his mother. This can be seen from the script excerpt, as follows:

“Dunstan strikes a match and Tristan stares into his eyes, clutching the candle. They exchange grins and Dunstan lights it. There is a loud rush of air — WHOOSH! — and Tristan vanishes. Dunstan stands alone, his grin melting into slack-jawed shock as what’s just happened sinks in.”

(Tristan through the threshold using a Babylon candle) (Tristan first meet with Yvaine)

After successfully crossing the wall, Tristan was then reunited with Yvaine. Tristan initially thought Yvaine was his mother because he thought the candle would lead him to his mother, but he was wrong. Yvaine turns out to be a shooting star he wants to get as a gift for the girl he likes, Victoria. This is where the strangeness of the new world begins to show. Normally, a shooting star would take the form of a shining hot rock but in this new world a shooting star had the form of a human.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies

After crossing the threshold, the Hero will meet strangers where some of them will become enemies and some will become allies. In this stage, a hero will face various tests, meet new friends, and face and learn the rules of this special world.

Tristan’s encounter with Yvaine marks the beginning of a phase test, allies, enemies. This phase continues throughout the film and ends when the film ends. Due to Tristan’s encounters with tests (Yvaine run away with the unicorn), allies (Shakespeare, Tristan’s mother), and enemies (the witch, the prince) that occur throughout the film. This phase includes his encounters with Yvaine, the princes, Captain Shakespeare, the witches, and his mother. The tests that Tristan has to face are saving Yvaine from the witch’s trap and protecting her from all who want to kill her, namely the witches and the princes of the Stromhold kingdom. It was these people who later became Tristan’s enemies. Meanwhile, other figures such as Yvaine, Captain Shakespeare, and Tristan’s mother became his allies. Yvaine became his traveling companion who end up becoming his lover, Captain Shakespeare taught him many things such as how to fight and the rules in the magical world, and Tristan’s mother was the main intermediary for Tristan’s success over the threshold, besides that she also helped protect Yvaine.

(Tristan meet Yvaine) (Tristan meet The Prince Primus)

(Tristan and Yvaine fighting Lamia the Witch)

(Tristan and Yvaine caught by Captain Shakespeare) (Tristan and Yvaine ask Sal the witch for a ride)

(Tristan meet The Prince Septimus) (Tristan finally found his mother)

7. Approach to The Inmost Cave

In this phase, the hero will have further adventures in that world. Even he could have gone to the most dangerous place and met the enemy. In his attempt to escape from this danger, he will face adventures that are more dangerous than before.

Tristan must go rescue Yvaine who is in an inn, which is actually a witch’s trap that wants to take Yvaine’s heart for the elixir of youth. The arrival of Tristan and the Prince manages to thwart the witch who almost succeeded in killing Yvaine. Once there, he is given a drink that turns out to be poisonous but is saved by the unicorn. The witch manages to kill Prince Stormhold while Tristan and Yvaine manage to escape using the Babylon candle.

(A grail of poisonous drink) (Tristan and Yvaine try to escape from the witch)

8. The Ordeal

The ordeal is a phase where the hero must face his biggest fear to gain new powers as a provision to continue his adventure to the end.

Due to a misunderstanding of the perception of the house, the two are stranded amidst a cloud of lightning that accidentally gets them caught by the crew of a lightning catcher. They were held captive and almost killed. However, the ship’s captain, Shakespeare, eventually saves the two after learning that Tristan is from England, or the ordinary world, a place he admires. Captain Shakespeare helps Tristan disguise himself as his niece whom he betroths to Yvaine. During the journey to take the two homes, Tristan gained many new lessons and experiences. As it was known at the beginning Tristan was weak and not good at fighting, so while on the ship he was taught how to use a sword, fight, and catch lightning.

(Caught by the lightning catcher) (Tristan practicing sword)

(Tristan catches lightning)

9. Reward

The hero now takes possession of the treasure she has come seeking, her reward. It might be a special weapon like a magic sword, a token like the Grail, or some elixir that can heal the wounded land” (Vogler 16). After surviving the danger, the hero usually finds what he was looking for during the journey such as defeating the enemy, getting a sword, or other valuable things that make him win.

As Tristan and Yvaine arrive on land, Captain Shakespeare gives them an object shaped like binoculars. This object is a weapon that can emit lightning that Tristan previously captured. Captain Shakespeare gave the object as a gift as well as a means of self-defense.

(Captain Shakespeare gives Tristan a lightning weapon)

10. The Road Back

The tenth stage of Hero’s journey experienced by Tristan is the road back. As stated by Grogot (248) “The hero must recommit to completing the journey and travel the road back to the ordinary world. The dramatic question is asked again”. Moreover, this stage shows the part where the hero again decides to return to his usual world that he previously left, however, there are still challenges ahead that he must go through. Tristan experienced this stage shown in the movie when he returned to his hometown, the Wall Village, carrying strands of Yvaine’s hair, the falling star, to meet Victoria.

(Tristan is passing the wall returning to (Tristan meets Victoria)

his hometown)

The objective of Tristan’s journey is to retrieve the falling star in return for Victoria’s hand in marriage. Tristan has already reached his objective on the journey. Through his journey, Tristan also grew up and realized that Victoria was never a nice lady to him, and she never loved him as he was. Therefore, he decided to return to his hometown to meet Victoria, saying that he was no longer in love with her. Tristan found out that Yvaine was his true love through the Journey. Therefore, instead of returning with Yvaine, the Falling Star, and proposing to Victoria, Tristan just brings the strands of Yvaine’s hair. However, it turned out that the stardust turned black and ash because it went over the wall. He realizes that the star will die once she passes the wall. It makes Tristan hurry back to tell her and prevent her from passing the wall. However, Yvaine was found and taken by the witch when Tristan went there.

11. The Resurrection

According to Vogler (17), the hero faces his toughest test during this stage of his journey, where it appears that he dies a second time. This part of the journey seems to be a test to see if the hero can apply the lessons from his journey. Tristan experienced the eleventh stage of the hero’s journey is shown in the movie when he went to the witches’ lair to save Yvaine.

(Tristan fight the witches)

(Tristan fight Septimus)

Yvaine, the falling star, is captured by the witches again. She is taken back to their lair, and there, the witches want to kill Yvaine and eat her heart. According to the hero’s journey phase, in this scene, Tristan is in his return phase. It is because the objective of his journey has already been reached by him. Therefore, even though this scene happens in the magical realm, it can be considered that this part is the resurrection stage of Tristan’s journey. In order to save Yvaine from the witches, Tristan is on the edge of danger. In this scene, Besides fighting the witches, Tristan also fights Septimus, the prince king who is also targeting Yvaine. In this stage, Tristan uses the sword skills he learned from the captain pirate in his previous journey. Tristan managed to kill the two witches and the king’s son with his sword skills. However, the last witch was so strong and manipulative that the witch was killed by the star that shine so bright from being with Tristan. The last witch could not handle the light.

12. Return with The Elixir

The last stage of hero’s journey experienced by Tristan is Return with the Elixir. According to Vogler, this last stage is the part where a hero returns to his normal world, however, he must bring something that can provide a benefit for his tribe, community, and nation. One of them is like, winning heroes, bringing home the proof of victory. In the movie, after managed to defeats the witches, Tristan realizes that he had the royal blood because it turned out that his mother was the daughther’s king. Therefore, Tristan then becomes the King of Stromhold, and Yvaine, the falling star, becomes the queen. This is included in the hero’s journey through Return with the Elixir stage. It is because Tristan was done with his journey to retrieve the falling star and was going to returning to his ordinary world. However, it turned out that at the end of his journey, Tristan bring something that can provided a benefit for this tribute. That is because he is now the new king of Stromhold, the people in the Wall Village were allowed to Cross the Wall and being in the magical realism. This benefit shown in the Moviewhen Tristan was crowned king of the stromhold, people from the wall village were attending the coronation.

(Victoria and Humphrey attend the Coronation)

Conclusion

According to the hero’s journey theory, there are three stages or phases that Tristan must go through. The first stage is Departure which consists of four sub stages, they are: The Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, The Refusal of The Call, and Meeting the Mentor. It begins with the introduction of his life and character in the ordinary world before starting the journey. Then, the problem starts to raise which calls him to take the journey to the Stormhold world, it is Victoria’s wish to have the falling star as a marriage’s dowry. However, there’s an obstacle that makes him refuse the call. Tristan is defeated by the border guard so that he cannot cross to the Stormhold. Nevertheless, he succeeds crossing to the Stormhold world after meeting a mentor, his father. He gives him a magic candle, Babylone candle, which later helps him arrived to where the falling star had fallen.

Next, on the second stage which called Initiation, there are also four sub stages Tristan has to go through. Those four sub stages are: Crossing the First Threshold; Tests, Allies, Enemies; Approach to The Inmost Cave, and Ordeal. This stages basically tells Tristan’s journey in the special world after he succeed entering the threshold, the gape that separate his ordinary world and the special world. After that, he meets some strangers from the Stormhold world which either will be his allies or enemies in his tests or struggle in there. His test is to bring Yvaine to Victoria in the ordinary world, but Yvaine runs away from him with the help of a unicorn. On his way looking for Yvaine he meets The Stormhold Princes and the witch as his enemies, and he also meets Captain Shakespeare and his mother as his allies. In the stage approach to the inmost cave, he has to defeats those enemies, and the allies are those who help him wins. Moreover, he also learns how defeats his own fear.

Finally, his journey comes to the last stage called Return, which consists of four sub stages: Reward, The Road Back, Resurrection, and Return with Elixir. As the name of the first sub stage, after all the struggles and battles he has been through, he receives a lightning weapon as a reward or gift for his eager to learn and change to be better. The, Tristan is able to return to the ordinary world. He brings Yvaine’s hair as he promised to her, but he changes his mind about marrying her, since he has fallen in love with Yvaine. Though, his journey has not come to an end yet. In the resurrection stage, he has to go back to the Stormhold to save Yvaine from the witch. With the help of his mother, Yvaine, and the lightning weapon, he defeats the witch. Tristan finally completing the last stage, in which he returns with an elixir, a ruby that gives him the throne in The Stormhold Kingdom. Tristan become the new king of Stormhold, marries Yvaine, and live happily with his parents.