Once one understands the hero’s journey it becomes obvious why most of the steps exist. If they just go out and do everything successfully the first time with no hesitation they come across as boring. If they don’t have the upside and downs then there isn’t any opportunity for growth.
The ending often have a return and celebration instead of steps 11 and 12 which I think are story specific.
Yeah, it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach, but more like “If this story has these aspects, this is generally the order in which they occur.” Some of the terminology developed from the original concept is also flexible or substitutible.
Edit: Applying the example above to Zelda (Ocarina of Time), just based on the question towards the top:
Ordinary World: Kokiri Forest
Call to Adventure: Navi arriving, The Deku Tree
Refusal of the Call: Saria’s disappointment at Link leaving (interpreted this case merely as the temptation to stay)
Meeting the Mentor: The Owl who teaches you not to mash A too quickly
Crossing the Threshold: Stepping out into Hyrule Field
Tests, Allies, Enemies: The majority of the game, from the end of Kokiri Forest up to collecting all the Medallions.
Approach: Going to Ganon’s Castle
Ordeal, Death & Rebirth: Fighting Ganondorf and Ganon, awakening to the power of the Triforce of Courage. Also Link fully recovering his memories and being “reborn” in a metaphorical sense.
Reward, Seizing the Sword: Ganondorf’s defeat, rescuing Zelda (the Master Sword is not itself the reward in this case, despite the specific mention of a Sword in this stage, though could maybe interpret as grabbing the Master Sword again during the Resurrection stage)
The Road Back: Escaping from the collapsing castle
Resurrection: Ganondorf returns as Ganon and must be confronted one final time.
Return with Elixir: Reclaiming the Triforce, sealing the darkness, returning to childhood and meeting Zelda again.
It also occurred to me that folks from the younger generation may not have played OoT, so here is the same reapplied to Breath of the Wild:
Ordinary World: The Great Plateau
Call to Adventure: The message left by Zelda after waking up.
Refusal of the Call: The temptation not to climb that damn frozen mountain because you haven’t figured out how to keep warm yet. Alternatively, the temptation to spend hours just chopping trees and killing Bokoblins instead of moving on.
Meeting the Mentor: The old man (King Rhoam) who teaches you how to do things like staying warm to be able to climb the mountain.
Crossing the Threshold: Climbing the tower and gliding down to Hyrule Field.
Tests, Allies, Enemies: The majority of the game, including all shrines and the four divine beasts.
Approach: Pushing through Hyrule Castle.
Ordeal, Death & Rebirth: Fighting Calamity Ganon (and the 4 Blights if skipped). Also Link fully recovering his memories and being “reborn” in a metaphorical sense.
Reward, Seizing the Sword: Rescuing Zelda, obtaining the Bow of Light.
The Road Back: Returning back out to Hyrule Field.
Resurrection: Calamity Ganon returns as Dark Beast Ganon
Return with Elixir: The calamity is over, the guardians are deactivated, and Hyrule Castle is no longer corrupted. People can move back and rebuild.
Gurpreet might be the mentor
Is this…the legend of zelda timeline?
Insomuch as most heroic narratives follow a similar template, absolutely.
More context about the Hero’s Journey narrative:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's_journey
Once one understands the hero’s journey it becomes obvious why most of the steps exist. If they just go out and do everything successfully the first time with no hesitation they come across as boring. If they don’t have the upside and downs then there isn’t any opportunity for growth.
The ending often have a return and celebration instead of steps 11 and 12 which I think are story specific.
Yeah, it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach, but more like “If this story has these aspects, this is generally the order in which they occur.” Some of the terminology developed from the original concept is also flexible or substitutible.
Edit: Applying the example above to Zelda (Ocarina of Time), just based on the question towards the top:
Ordinary World: Kokiri Forest
Call to Adventure: Navi arriving, The Deku Tree
Refusal of the Call: Saria’s disappointment at Link leaving (interpreted this case merely as the temptation to stay)
Meeting the Mentor: The Owl who teaches you not to mash A too quickly
Crossing the Threshold: Stepping out into Hyrule Field
Tests, Allies, Enemies: The majority of the game, from the end of Kokiri Forest up to collecting all the Medallions.
Approach: Going to Ganon’s Castle
Ordeal, Death & Rebirth: Fighting Ganondorf and Ganon, awakening to the power of the Triforce of Courage. Also Link fully recovering his memories and being “reborn” in a metaphorical sense.
Reward, Seizing the Sword: Ganondorf’s defeat, rescuing Zelda (the Master Sword is not itself the reward in this case, despite the specific mention of a Sword in this stage, though could maybe interpret as grabbing the Master Sword again during the Resurrection stage)
The Road Back: Escaping from the collapsing castle
Resurrection: Ganondorf returns as Ganon and must be confronted one final time.
Return with Elixir: Reclaiming the Triforce, sealing the darkness, returning to childhood and meeting Zelda again.
It also occurred to me that folks from the younger generation may not have played OoT, so here is the same reapplied to Breath of the Wild:
Ordinary World: The Great Plateau
Call to Adventure: The message left by Zelda after waking up.
Refusal of the Call: The temptation not to climb that damn frozen mountain because you haven’t figured out how to keep warm yet. Alternatively, the temptation to spend hours just chopping trees and killing Bokoblins instead of moving on.
Meeting the Mentor: The old man (King Rhoam) who teaches you how to do things like staying warm to be able to climb the mountain.
Crossing the Threshold: Climbing the tower and gliding down to Hyrule Field.
Tests, Allies, Enemies: The majority of the game, including all shrines and the four divine beasts.
Approach: Pushing through Hyrule Castle.
Ordeal, Death & Rebirth: Fighting Calamity Ganon (and the 4 Blights if skipped). Also Link fully recovering his memories and being “reborn” in a metaphorical sense.
Reward, Seizing the Sword: Rescuing Zelda, obtaining the Bow of Light.
The Road Back: Returning back out to Hyrule Field.
Resurrection: Calamity Ganon returns as Dark Beast Ganon
Return with Elixir: The calamity is over, the guardians are deactivated, and Hyrule Castle is no longer corrupted. People can move back and rebuild.
Thank you for taking the time to type up both of these.
We get it. You’re a Lit major with ADHD.
Not a lit major, just someone who spends too long going through Wikipedia and TV Tropes and was looking for any way to pass the time at work, haha.
That fucking owl. Though it was worse by far in Majoras mask, since he kept. coming. back. And was wordy as fuck every time.