Mr. Fornetti’s
TOP 5
Hero’s Journey Novels
From http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero%27s_journey.htm:
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar
Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and
psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype
known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on
behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization.
1.
The Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin) In one of the greatest, and shortest, fantasy epics of
all time, the mage Sparrowhawk, whose true Name is Ged, must travel to the ends of Earthsea
to conquer an evil that seeks to control him.
2.
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) The diminutive Bilbo Baggins, rousted from his sedate life in Shire by
the rabble-rousing wizard Gandalf, finds himself on a quest to help a clan of dwarfs take back
their kingdom.
3.
The Dark Tower Series (Stephen King) “The man in black fled across the desert, and the
gunslinger followed.” Thus begins the quest of Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger from a
dying world where gunslingers were knights, to stop the Crimson King from toppling the Dark
Tower and destroying all of creation.
4.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) The Pevensie children are evacuated to the
English countryside during the bombing of London in World War II. In a wardrobe, they discover
a passageway between our world and the mythical Narnia where they help the lion Aslan defeat
the White Witch.
5.
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) Bilbo’s young cousin and heir, Frodo, must destroy The One
Ring in the fires of Mount Doom deep in the heart of Mordor to save Middle Earth from falling
to the darkness of Sauron.