Patrick McCrystal

October 12, 2009

What makes a hero? While many kids might say a firefighter or a police officer,
Joseph Campbell believes that there is more to it than simply demonstrating courage or
heroism. He has studied the stories of heroes from countless cultures and civilizations and
developed a template of sorts that he calls “The Monomyth,” the main composition of
which contains the hero’s departure, initiation, and return. One of the best examples of a
monomythic hero is Luke Skywalker from the original “Star Wars” trilogy.
Monomythic patterns appear in both the first Star Wars movie and in the trilogy
as a whole. The call to adventure occurs when Ben Kenobi saves Luke from the jawas,
and Luke sees the message from Princess Leia. According to Campbell, "the herald or
announcer of the adventure is often dark, loathly, or terrifying, judged evil by the world;"
and although Princess Leia is far from terrifying, the Rebel Alliance which she represents
is a force which opposes the galactic norm of the Empire. Luke then refuses this call and
returns to his home; Campbell states that "the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up
what one takes to be one's own interest," and here, Luke is interested more in becoming a
spacecraft pilot than embarking on a perilous journey with a "crazy old man." Luke gets
his "supernatural aid" from Ben Kenobi, who is the epitome of a "little old crone or an
old man" and uses the Force, which can be seen as the "amulet against the forces that
[Luke] is about to pass." Ben acts as a mentor to Luke and "represents the benign,
protecting power of destiny." Ben assists him in the crossing of the first threshold, which
takes place at Mos Eisley, where Luke and Ben meet mercenaries Han Solo and
Chewbacca. This is where Luke gets his first real taste of the world outside of his home
planet of Tatooine.
Once Luke and company have crossed through the threshold, they are ready to
enter the "belly of the whale," represented by the Death Star. "Instead of conquering or
conciliating the power of the threshold, the hero is swallowed," in this case, pulled by
tractor beam, "into the unknown and would appear to have died," according to Campbell;
the passage into the "Death Star" certainly fits with this symbolic death, from which
rebirth is possible. Here Luke passes through a "dream landscape of curiously fluid,
ambiguous forms," characterized by the anonymity and uniformity of the storm troopers.
The series of trials includes the fight with the storm troopers over Princess Leia in the cell
block and the encounter with the monster in the trash-masher. Leia, who holds the Death
Star plans, represents the goddess-like power and also the ability for Luke to achieve
these same powers by saving her. Although Luke cannot by today's society's standards
take part in a "mystical marriage" with Leia because they are siblings, he does achieve
friendship with the woman. Luke and company emerge from the Death Star, and thus are
symbolically reborn, having escaped death. They carry with them the "ultimate boon," the
prize, in the form of both Leia and the plans to the Death Star which will allow the
Rebels to destroy it. These things represent the "elixir for the restoration of society."
This, along with the obtaining of the plans and Luke’s realization that Ben Kenobi can no
longer wield the Force, so he must take over that role as well, contributes to Luke's
apotheosis. However, the return is not complete until Luke has destroyed the Death Star.
The planet-killing weapon is the guardian of the return threshold, as the galaxy cannot be
truly free until the danger is completely averted.
It is during Episode VI where we see Luke's transformation from simple farm-boy
into godlike being by harnessing the power of the Force, the “mystical power.” By using
his newfound ability he becomes "master of the two worlds," able to call upon the power
 Patrick McCrystal
October 12, 2009
of the Force at will, and only now is he able to "re-emerge from the kingdom of dread"
and give the gift of freedom to the galaxy.
Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth is a true epitome of heroism that holds true in
almost every culture on Earth. Individually developed cultures all tell tales of heroic
deeds and adventures, and they all follow a similar formula. This says something
important about the human psyche in that everyone has, whether it be conscious or
unconscious, a desire to become an icon the akin to Luke Skywalker, Odysseus, or
Beowulf, and though we cannot, for the most part, inject adventure into our lives, we can
only hope to hold ourselves to a set of standards which may make us in some way similar
to our greatest heroes.