« Interstitial Quotation | Main | 089: They'll Never Survive » June 10, 2004

088: The Apocalyptic Hero

The Hero, as outlined by Campbell, must reconcile the doubt within himself when he returns from the other side. Even though he might fear that society is not yet ready for his insight and illumination, he must give it to them. He must trust that they will not abuse the knowledge, that they are ready to consider enlightenment.

The Apocalpytic Hero is the guy who has been burned by this trust. He has come back from the other side, having seen the wonders of the universe, and has been spurned by the very group whom he attempted to love. And it is a matter of the heart. They didn't love him back and now he's sulking -- bitter and distrustful of those who have abandoned him.

John Creasy -- Denzel Washington's character in the recent (and superb) Man on Fire -- is an Apocalpytic Hero. It's only after someone extends him love that he remembers what it is like to be enlightened AND a member of society. In the end his gift to the world is accepted and he is able to achieve some semblance of peace.

In the Apocalpytic Thriller, the hero must be coerced back from his exile. He differs from the normal hero in that he has already gone to the other side; he knows that THE WORLD IS NOT AS IT SEEMS. And, because he has gone to the Abyss and stared Khoronzon in the face and not gone insane, he is the perfect candidate to do so again. He is the hero of the last generation and the next generation seeks him out again because the new candidate for Hero didn't make the cut.

In Campbell's cycle, the Apocalpytic Hero is the Magus -- the wise old man who teaches the young hero how to survive on the other side. Think Obiwan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker. If the story had been slightly different (and the initial events were on this path until the young hero intervened and wasn't killed by Tuscan Raiders out in the desert -- pity that), then it would have been Ben Kenobi who was asked to come out his exile to save the universe. But, as it was, whiny boy Luke Skywalker survived to find Kenobi and get his father's lightsaber...yada yada yada.

It is the task of the Magus, by the way, to demonstrate HOW THE MONSTER WORKS as well as make the hero's conflict personal. It isn't enough to be tasked with saving the world; the hero must also be saddled with the fact that he isn't enlightened enough. Sure, he's got the secret knowledge that powers the universe but because he doesn't understand it -- because he hasn't synthesized it with his own human experience -- he isn't able to save the Magus. By sacrificing himself, the Magus knows that his efforts will not be lost. Even though society at large has failed to accept his gift of enlightenment, he has managed to pass that knowledge onto another. The chain isn't broken. Not yet.

Which is another facet of the Apocalpytic Hero's bitterness. He knows that, until another hero comes along, he is THE ONE. Even though society doesn't want his knowledge, he is its keeper. It is his sole task to survive and wait and, when you're fighting a one man war against malignant entropy and hedonistic materialism, you tend to get a little lonely and angry.

Posted by Teppo at June 10, 2004 12:42 AM

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