Holding Out for a Hero

I was watching the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy last night, which also happens to be my favorite of the three.  It's got the most action, the most emotion, the most at stake.  Here we see the resolution of the hero's journey in many ways.  We see Frodo live to complete his mission--the destruction of the one ring.  Quite literally, every other action in the story comes about as a result of Frodo's journey.

Perhaps I should backtrack a little here for the benefit of those not familiar with the Hero's Journey.  First proposed by Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung's favorite disciple, the Hero's Journey is a series of steps that each hero goes through on his quest for victory.  Victory is not defined as a win in battle, although it can be.  Victory is defined as finding and fulfilling one's ultimate purpose--going through the crucible of firing one's own mettle to reveal the true hero inside.

Campbell's Hero's Journey is culled from ancient stories, myths, proverbs and oral history in which some man or woman leaves the comfort zone of their everyday life to perform some feat of heroism.  Campbell posited that each such journey featured a similar structure, from the hero's reluctance to heed the initial call to action, the collection of friends, allies and perhaps more foes, the completion of the ultimate task and the return home. 

Christopher Vogler took the concept a step further for writers.  In his book, The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, he examines Campbell's view of the journey and how writers can make use of these structures in their own fiction.

Getting back to LOTR, when you look at Tolkien's trilogy, Frodo is not the only character in the story who is on a hero's quest.  Aragorn, needs to give up the life of the Ranger to become the king he was born to be.  Boromir seeks to bring honor to himself in defense of his people.  Even Sam sees himself as having the mission of protecting Frodo until he accomplishes his task.  Each of them is the hero of their own story.  Each experiences reluctance in accepting the challenge of the quest.  Each finds allies and has a moment when all seems lost.  Each, save for Boromir, shares in the ultimate victory--the destruction of Sauron and the ring.

This complex layering of personal stories, motivations, victories and defeats is what makes the story compelling enough to sustain three movies (and three novels before that).  There is so much at stake for so many people, that the failure of one can be disastrous for all. 

But even in shorter stories, it is essential to remember that each character is the hero of their own story.  They have challenges and tasks that they must complete or overcome.  Every character has an arc, even if it is less dramatic or less essential to the story. Discovering and utilizing that arc makes it easier to flesh out each character, to determine motivations and create a more complex, compelling story.

What do you think?  Do you consider the journey of each of your characters or only your main one(s)?  What are other ways to broaden the scope of your story?