Percy Jackson and The Hero's Journey

By Michael Garcia

Last updated over 2 years ago

8 Questions

Place these events in the Hero's Journey in the order in which the hero normally encounters them:

Meeting the Mentor: the hero is matched with a wiser, experienced person to train and prepare them.
Tests, Allies, & Enemies: during a series of test/trials, the hero forms allies and confronts enemies.
Call to Adventure: unique circumstances or “herald” event causes the hero to leave their ordinary life to pursue a “quest”.
Resurrection & Reward: the hero literally or figurative is resurrected, is transformed with new knowledge, and often receives a reward for their victory or quest.
Inmost Cave: where the hero confronts and overcomes their inner conflicts and fears.
Ordinary World: the hero starts in a state of discontent or frustration with their current life.
Return: the hero returns to their ordinary world with new wisdom and respect from their old peers. They have mastered their fears and enemies.
Crossing the Threshold: the point of no return where the hero leaves their ordinary world and begins their quest.
Approach: the hero moves through a series of threatening challenges that lead toward the ultimate challenge.
Ordeal: the hero faces the central, primary conflict, and has to defeat the true antagonist in the story.

Now match the stages in the Hero's Journey to the adventures of Percy Jackson:

Approach:		Percy Jackson attends a boarding school in New York for troubled children. He get’s bullied by the other students and tries to protect his friend Grover. He is unaware if his connection to the gods.
Ordinary World		Zeus’s master bolt is stolen and Percy is blamed for the theft. Unless the bolt is returned, Zeus will declare war. Percy’s teacher attacks him and he realizes there is a supernatural force at work. He learns that he is a halfblood.
Tests, Allies, & Enemies:		Percy is trained how to use his powers and how to fight by Chiron. His companions during the journey are Grover, his protector on the quest; and Annabeth, a fierce warrior and intellectual tactician on his adventure.
Call to Adventure		On his journey to camp halfblood, Percy is attacked by a minotaur, who kills Percy’s mother. He leaves his ordinary world and enters into the world of the camp and it’s trainees. Here he receives the quest to go to the underworld.
Return:		Percy travels with to collect the three pearls. Along the journey they face many tests: Gnome Gardens and Medusa, St. Louis Arch and Chimera, Ares and the tunnel of love, Casino and lotus folowers, etc.
Inmost Cave:		As they escape from the lotus casino, the see the Hollywood sign with the note “Woe to all depraved souls” in Greek. The path opens up and the meet the ferryman who takes them to Hades or Underworld.
Meeting the Mentor		In Hades Percy must face the fear of losing his mother again and failing her. He must leave the loss to the minotaur behind and gain the courage to be a true to his identity as part god and use his own given powers for victory and to save his mother.
Resurrection & Reward:		Percy must defeat Ares, the god of war. Percy was framed making it look like he stole the bolt. He defeats Ares by using his true powers, water.
Crossing the Threshold		Percy uses the three pearls to rescue Annabeth, his mother and himself from the underworld. He retrieves the lightning bolt.
Ordeal:		At the Empire State Building, Percy encounters the final challenge in Luke the Lightning Thief, and uses Poseidon’s trident to defeat Luke and return the bolt to Zeus before the deadline.