#AtoZ Challenge: Q is for Quests!

So, what is fantasy fiction, or even some space opera, without a quest of one kind or another? You know the kind - the hero is an ordinary young man(usually a man) minding his own business when a stranger comes to ask for help. At first he says no, then gets dragged into an adventure and comes home a hero, having helped to save the world, usually with a bunch of helpers, and a villain trying to stop them? 

Well, something like that, anyway. There was an American professor called Joseph Campbell who noticed how often this happens, not only in fantasy fiction but in myth and legend. He put it all together into something he called the Hero’s Journey. 

Really, it doesn’t need to be a major quest. It can be a small one. One web site I found gave an example of the Hero’s Journey as a quest to find a missing dog! The hero set off into the woods, got a helper, eventually found the dog and returned home with his quest a success. 

But, let’s face it, we like our quests a bit more exciting than that, don’t we? And there are plenty of examples of those. The Hobbit is a perfect example. Bilbo Baggins is visited by Gandalf, who wants him to accompany the Dwarves on an adventure. He says no. Then, after hosting thirteen Dwarves, who eat him out of house and home, he decides to go after all. The quest is for the treasure in the Dwarves’ home, the Lonely Mountain aka Erebor, which has been taken over by the nasty dragon Smaug. After many adventures and rescuing his comrades, Bilbo returns with his share of the treasure, a wealthy man. Unfortunately he also brings home the Ring, but the importance of that doesn’t come into this novel. So - very much Hero’s Journey. And in some ways, even Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy fits the bill. Hero dragged kicking and screaming out of his comfort zone and, while he never got back till the fourth book, there was certainly a quest in the first one for the answer to the Ultimate Question Of Life, The Universe And Everything. When I heard that Martin Freeman had landed the role of Bilbo Baggins, after playing Arthur Dent, I thought he would be perfect for the role. He was.

You can probably think of many more. For starters, there is the original Star Wars movie, which did it deliberately- George Lucas is a fan.

A couple of times, I used it with my Year 8 students to get them writing. We were studying Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade as a film text. Another time it was Up! - Hero’s Journey stories. In the first named, the quest was for the Holy Grail - in Indy’s case, a quest to find his father. When he did, he had to go further to stop the Nazis from getting the Grail. The quest in Up! was to reach Paradise Falls, where the hero and his late wife had dreamed of going. His companion on this quest was a young Boy Scout who had been on his verandah when the house flew up, lifted by balloons. 

After a first viewing, I showed the kids trailers from a number of adventure films, as Adventure was the Year 8 theme for English. I told them about the Hero’s Journey and invited them to think of more films that fitted - and they got it completely. 

Public Domain

Then we went back to the classroom and broke down the film they had just seen into the Hero’s Journey tropes. 

Finally, when they were ready to write, I supplied templates for a story outline, using a simplified version of the Journey. 

It was a wonderful way to get them writing. And a couple of the girls got stuck right into their stories without stopping for anything. One of them wrote 9000 words! Her story showed she had understood. Her hero was on a quest for medication to save his mother, and encountered the various characters and incidents listed by Campbell. I’m pleased to say that young lady was dux of the school last year, at the end of Year 12.

Not everyone can be school dux, but there were some very good tales out of that. 

Quests have been around for a long time, long before modern fantasy or even the Hero’s Journey was defined. In the Odyssey the quest is not for an object but to get home. Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, goes on a  quest to find his father. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the hero goes on a quest for immortality(unsuccessful). 

And then there are the “fake” quests, such as the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. That one is terribly romantic, with a bunch of noble heroes, many of whom have their own myths, who set off for the distant city of Colchis. (There is a children’s book by Ken Catran, Voyage With Jason, in which the story is seen from the viewpoint of the ancient equivalent of a cabin boy, who looks after the needs of the heroes.) Romantic, yes, but the purpose of the voyage is to get rid of Jason, who wants his rightful throne back from the usurper. And coming back, Jason might well wish he had never left. He loses his children, his new young bride and a lot more... it is, I think, otherwise very similar to the quest fiction we’re used to today. 

Perseus is sent off on another “fake” quest, to bring home the head of the Gorgon Medusa. He does receive some very useful equipment from the gods, to help in his quest, and achieve it, but again, he was sent out to get rid of him. He’s alone, too, no trusty companions to help him on the way, as most quest stories have.

I’ll finish with some of my favourite quest stories. 

The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings come top of the list, although the latter is about trying to get rid of the object, not return with it.  

The Wizard Of Oz is another favourite, with four different quests that take our heroes to the same destination - the Emerald City - in hopes of help by the Wizard, even if he does turn out to be a con artist from Omaha...

Cervantes’ Don Quixote sends up the quest story which was so common in the Middle Ages. 

Fairy tales are full of quests. My favourite fairy tale, “Kate Crackernuts” features a quest to find a cure for the heroine’s beloved stepsister, whose head has been replaced with that of a sheep, and at the same time find a cure for a prince who has been danced nearly to death every night by the fairies. 

And I love the various quests of the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan! There are quite a few of those books, so I’ll let you look them up. 

Good night!