Crash Course on Craft: Hero’s Journey Part 7

The hero’s journey is now rapidly coming to a climax. Having faced the enemy on their own turf (the Cave), the protagonist has often obtained the prize he went in for, the prize that should guarantee the success of the original goal. Or at least so the hero thinks.

So the protagonists return “home” (The Return), often back to the ordinary world they started in. Here we get a peek at how the hero or heroine has grown and changed—or not.

However, not all is well. The prize obtained was not the ultimate goal, but the means to the goal, which often comes at a price far more than the protagonist expected. Many things still must be put to right, and defeat didn’t exactly make the enemy happy. You don’t really think he’s going to sit back and let the hero obtain the goal that easily, do you?