Star Wars and The Hero Pattern

The Hero PacketTable of Contents

Young boy portrayed as Hercules choking the snakesMarble cm 64 inv. MC0247Second half of 2nd century AD Albani Collection

Some Definitions of "Hero" Lord Raglan's Hero PatternThe Hero Pattern applied to Women in Myth, History, and Literature The Hero Quest Stages in the Heroic Quest Variations on the Theme of the Heroic QuestOther Hero Patterns

Hero Patterns Johann Georg von Hahn

Johann Georg von Hahn (1811-1869). Arische Aussetzungs-und-Ruckkehr-Formel (Aryan Expulsion and Return Formula) 1876

studied fourteen biographies

Johann Georg von Hahn’s Hero Pattern

• (based on biographies of 14 heroes--mostly Western--including Oedipus) • 1.    The hero is of illegitimate birth • 2.    His mother is the princess of the country • 3.    His father is a god or a foreigner • 4.    There are signs warning of his ascendance • 5.    For this reason he is abandoned • 6.    He is suckled by animals • 7.    He is brought up by a childless shepherd couple • 8.    He is a high-spirited youth • 9.    He seeks service in a foreign country • 10.  He returns victorious and goes back to the foreign land • 11. He slays his original persecutors, accedes to rule the country, and sets his mother free • 12. He founds cities • 13. The manner of his death is extraordinary • 14. He is reviled because of incest and he dies young • 15. He dies by an act of revenge at the hands of an insulted servant • 16. He murders his younger brother

Otto Rank

Otto Rank (1884-1939). The Myth of the Birth of the Hero 1909student of Sigmund Freud

studied fifteen biographies

Otto Rank’s Hero Pattern The most important elements in the

Myth of the Birth of the Hero are: • the hero's descent from noble,

powerful parents• his exposure in a river, in a box• his being raised by lowly prents• his return to his first parents• punishment of the first parents• acknowledgement of the hero by

the father• the hero's being honored.

"The standard saga" Rank uses the term "saga" to mean the story of the hero.

Hero-Myth Format: •Hero is child of distinguished parents. •Parents have previous difficulties. •Prophecy threatens father. •Baby is put into water in box. •Baby is saved by animals or peasants. •Baby is nursed by lowly woman. •Hero finds parents. •Hero takes revenge on father. •Father acknowledges hero. •Hero is honored. 

Jan de Vries

Jan de Vries (1890-1964). Heroic Song and Heroic Legend 1963

a Dutch scholar of Germanic linguistics and Germanic mythology

Jan De Vries Hero Pattern

(based on comparison of traditional folk tales, mostly European) • 1.    The hero is begotten • 2.    He is born • 3.    His youth is threatened • 4.    He is brought up • 5.    He often acquires invulnerability • 6.    He fights with the dragon or other monster • 7.    He wins a maiden, usually after overcoming great dangers • 8.    He makes an expedition to the underworld • 9.    He returns to the land from which he was once banished and

conquers his enemies • 10.  He dies

Lord Raglan’s Hero Pattern

Major General Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, Lord Raglan (1885-1964), commander of the combined expedition to the Crimea.  Portrait by Roger Fenton, ca. 1855Library of Congress

The Hero. A Study in the Tradition, Myth and Dreams1936

Heracles and the Hero Pattern

Heracles = Glory of Hera

Heracles = Hercules

His mother, Alcmene, is (1) a royal virgin,

and his father is (2) King Amphitryon, who is (3) her first cousin. He is reputed to be (5) the son of Zeus, who (4) visited Alcmene in the guise of Amphitryon. At his birth (6) Hera tries to kill him.

Heracles and the Hero PatternOn reaching adulthood he (11) performs feats and fine victories, after which he (10) proceeds to Calydon, where he (12) marries the king's daughter, and (13) becomes ruler. He remains there (14) quietly for some years, after which an accidental manslaughter compels him (17) to flee from the country. He disappears (18) from a funeral pyre (19) on the top of Mt. Oeta. His sons (20) do not succeed him. His body (21) is not found, and (22) he is worshipped in temples. 17 points

Zeus and the Hero Pattern

Cronus, the Father of Zeus. [Known as Saturn to the Romans.] Cronus, knowing that one of his children would grow greater than he, swallowed all of them at birth. His queen, the Goddess Rhea, tricked him, by handing him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. The infant Zeus she secreted. Zeus grew to manhood and, as prophesied, made war on his father and overthrew him, casting him down into the depths of Tartarus.

Twin Births• Heracles and Iphicles

• Romulus and Remus

• Luke and Leia Skywalker

Romulus and Remus

Lodovico Carracci, c.1590FrescoBologna

Pe

Peter Paul Reubens1515-1516Pinacoteca CapitolinaRome

How Many Points Does Luke Skywalker Fit?

1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin; 2. His father is a king, and 3. Often a near relative of his mother, but 4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and 5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god. 6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, 7. but he is spirited away, and 8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country. 9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but 10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom. 11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast, 12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and 13. And becomes king. 14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and 15. Prescribes laws, 16. but later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and 17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which 18. He meets with a mysterious death, 19. Often at the top of a hill, 20. His children, if any do not succeed him. 21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless 22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.

Heroic Birth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKFAk7yWqi4

Anakin and the Hero Pattern

How Many Points Does Anakin Fit?1. Hero's mother is a royal virgin; 2. His father is a king, and 3. Often a near relative of his mother, but 4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and 5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god. 6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, 7. but he is spirited away, and 8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country. 9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but 10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom. 11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast, 12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and 13. And becomes king. 14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and 15. Prescribes laws, 16. but later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and 17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which 18. He meets with a mysterious death, 19. Often at the top of a hill, 20. His children, if any do not succeed him. 21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless 22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.