{"id":1588,"date":"2014-08-29T06:14:27","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T10:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2022-05-28T06:36:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T10:36:04","slug":"does-the-villain%e2%80%99s-journey-mirror-the-hero%e2%80%99s-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/2014\/08\/29\/does-the-villain%e2%80%99s-journey-mirror-the-hero%e2%80%99s-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Villain\u2019s Journey Mirror the Hero\u2019s Journey?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an earlier blog post<\/a>, we outlined the various stages of the hero\u2019s journey in mythology and literature as described in 1949 by Joseph Campbell<\/a>.\u00a0 In the prototypical hero story, he or she is called to an adventure, sometimes reluctantly, and is swept into another world fraught with danger.\u00a0 In this strange world the hero undergoes many tests and trials, gets help from unlikely sources, and is often distracted by a romantic interest.\u00a0 In the end, the hero overcomes great obstacles, returns home as a person transformed, and is the master of both worlds.\u00a0 It is a timeless story structure that has assumed countless forms in hero tales across the globe.<\/p>\n

But what of the villain?\u00a0 Nearly every hero story has one, yet far less attention has been devoted to understanding the life story of the prototypical villain in myth and legend. \u00a0Do heroes and villains travel along a similar life path?\u00a0 Or do villains experience a journey that is the inverse of that of the hero?<\/p>\n

The answer to the first question appears to be, yes, there are parallels between the lives of heroes and villains.\u00a0 Christopher Vogler<\/a>, a noted Hollywood development expert and screenwriter, once wrote that villains are the heroes of their own journeys. Vogler believed that whether a character is working toward achieving great good or great evil, the general pathway is similar.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>Both heroes and villains experience a significant trigger event that propels them on their journeys.\u00a0 Heroes and villains encounter obstacles, receive help from sidekicks, and experience successes and setbacks during their quests.<\/p>\n

While we do not disagree with this general parallel structure, we\u2019ve observed that many stories portray villains as following the hero\u2019s life stages in reverse.\u00a0 We first came across this idea from writing expert Greg Smith<\/a>, who found an interesting writer\u2019s web discussion board post by an individual going by the username of RemusShepherd<\/a>.\u00a0 The idea is compelling:\u00a0 Whereas heroes complete their journey having attained mastery of their worlds, the story often begins with villains possessing the mastery.\u00a0 That is, hero stories often start with the villains firmly in power, or at least believing themselves to be superior to others and ready to direct their dark powers toward harming others.<\/p>\n

Examples abound. \u00a0Consider the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz<\/em>, the shark in Jaws<\/em>, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/em>, Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs<\/em>, and Annie Wilkes in Misery<\/em>.\u00a0 In these examples, the story begins with the villain securely in power, the master of his or her world.\u00a0 The heroes of these stories, in contrast, are weak and naive at the outset.\u00a0 Only after being thrust into the villains’ worlds do these heroes gather the assistance, resources, and wisdom necessary to defeat the villains.<\/p>\n

The villain\u2019s story is thus one of declining power while the hero\u2019s story is one of rising power.\u00a0 But before this pattern is made clear, there must be one or more epic clashes between the hero and villain, with the hero embodying society\u2019s greatest virtues and the villain embodying selfishness and evil. \u00a0In defeat, the villain\u2019s mastery is handed over to the hero.\u00a0 The villain\u2019s deficiencies of character have been exposed; the hero\u2019s deficiencies have been corrected.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The two journeys, one the inverse of the other, are completed.<\/p>\n

And so here we see that Vogler and RemusShepherd may both be correct \u2013 heroes and villains may follow similar life journeys but these journeys are often staggered in time within the same story structure.\u00a0 This temporal staggering may create the illusion that heroes and villains follow inverse paths.\u00a0 Consider the opening act of a typical hero story; the na\u00efve and deficient hero is just beginning his journey while the villain is at the height of his powers.\u00a0 Movie franchises may later release prequels that reveal how the villain acquired such power in the first place.\u00a0 In these prequels we witness a villain backstory that parallels the first movie’s portrayal of the hero\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

A fine line often separates heroes from villains, a line that is clearly delineated in their opposing moral ambitions.\u00a0 But the line can also be blurred when we recognize that all transforming journeys — whether for good or for evil — must share many common storytelling elements.<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2008). Deifying the Dead and Downtrodden:\u00a0 Sympathetic Figures as Inspirational Leaders. In C.L. Hoyt, G. R. Goethals, & D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leadership at the crossroads: Psychology and leadership<\/em>. Westport, CT: Praeger.<\/p>\n

Allison, S. T., & Hensel, A. (2012).\u00a0 Sensitivity to the changing fortunes of others.\u00a0 Personality and Social Psychology Connections<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Goethals, G. R. & Allison, S. T. (2012). \u00a0Making heroes:\u00a0 The construction of courage, competence and virtue.\u00a0 Advances in Experimental Social Psychology<\/em><\/a>, 46, 183-235.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals In an earlier blog post, we outlined the various stages of the hero\u2019s journey in mythology and literature as described in 1949 by Joseph Campbell.\u00a0 In the prototypical hero story, he or she is called to an adventure, sometimes reluctantly, and is swept into another world fraught … Continue reading Does the Villain\u2019s Journey Mirror the Hero\u2019s Journey?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5444],"tags":[27447,27456,27455],"class_list":["post-1588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary-and-analysis","tag-heros-journey","tag-heroes-vs-villains","tag-villains-journey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phawtM-pC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5613,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588\/revisions\/5613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}