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Campbell’s Little-Known Six-Stage Model

by Reg Harris

Ironically, when most of us think of the Hero’s Journey, we think not of Joseph Campbell’s iconic monomyth, but of Christopher Vogler’s adaptation of the monomyth. Vogler used Campbell’s four-stage diagram (right) to create “The Writer’s Journey,” a 12-stage model he developed specifically for evaluating screenplays and writing fiction. Vogler’s model has become so famous that it is often (erroneously) presented as Campbell’s model rather than an adaptation of Campbell’s model.

The “preferred” or most thorough explanation of the monomyth is in “The Adventure of the Hero,” Part 1 of The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Hero). Campbell devotes 194 pages to describing and illustrating the 17 elements in his model (below right). This explanation is dense, filled mostly with examples from legend and myth, but surprisingly little explanation of the characteristics or psychological tasks of each stage. Apart from Vogler’s adaptation, this 17-“stage” model is the most referenced analysis of the monomyth. However, it is not Campbell’s only model.

Campbell includes two other journey descriptions in Chapter 4 of Hero, “The Keys” (pp. 245-246). The first is the above-mentioned four-stage cycle Vogler used for his model (p. 245). The other description is a virtually ignored six-stage model that Campbell outlines in his summary paragraph on those pages (245-246) . This six-stage outline of the monomyth may be the best general model for gaining an overall understanding of the journey process for use in teaching and for applying to everyday life.

Campbell’s Four- and 17-Stage Models

Before we examine the six-stage model, let’s review briefly the two best known models of the monomyth. The first is the aforementioned four-stage model. It is, indirectly, the most familiar because of Vogler. While Vogler was at Disney Studios in the mid 1980s, he developed a memo for evaluating and editing film manuscripts. That memo, which was based Cambell’s four-stage diagram, eventually became the best-selling book The Writer’s Journey. We see Vogler’s framework in virtually every Disney movie, from The Lion King to Frozen. (See my article Vogler’s Writer’s Journey).

The other well-known model of the monomyth is the 17-“stage” model Campbell outlines in Part 1 of Hero. I use quotations around “stage” because only eight of Campbell’s 17 elements are fundamental stages, that is experiences that are essential to monomyth’s transformation process. The rest are characteristics, contingencies or benefits arising from stages. For example, the Call Refused is an important stage, but it is not part of every journey because not every hero refuses the Call. Similarly, the Ultimate Boon is not a stage, but a benefit or reward for completing the transformation. (For a thorough discussion of this topic, see my article “Rethinking Campbell: When Stages are not Stages.”)

Campbell’s Six-Stage Model

Now let’s look at the monomyth model that I think may be the most helpful in terms of gaining a perspective on the Hero’s Journey and its transformative process: the six-stage pattern Campbell presents a one-paragraph summary in “The Keys” (below right). (I’ve quoted this paragraph in its entirety here.)

In this summary, Campbell breaks the pattern into six stages. He subordinates the other elements and contingencies within these six stages. (NOTE: Campbell did not create a diagram for this six-stage model, so I have taken the liberty of arranging the stages in an easily readable cycle.) Here are those six stages:

1. Setting forth

2. Threshold

3. World of the unfamiliar (Road of Trials)

4. Nadir (supreme ordeal)

5. Return Threshold

5. Rebirth/Return (with boon/elixir)

Summarizing the Stages

1. Setting Forth (Call)

In the first stage, we find the mythological hero “setting forth from his common-day hut or castle.” Forces either lure or drag him into the journey, or he enters voluntarily.

2. Threshold of Adventure

At the Threshold, the hero “encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage.” The hero may defeat or conciliate this guardian and proceed into the “kingdom of the dark,” or the guardian may slay the hero and the hero descends into death.

3. World of the Unfamiliar (Road of Trials)

After the hero passes the threshold, he enters “a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces.” Some of these forces present tests and threaten the hero. Others become helpers, often giving the hero magical aid.

4. The Nadir (Abyss)

In the Nadir or Abyss, the hero “undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward.” The hero’s success may be symbolized in a number of ways: sacred marriage, father atonement, apotheosis, or—if the powers are unfriendly to him—his theft of the boon. According to Campbell, the Abyss is essentially “an expansion of consciousness,” a key theme in all of Campbell’s work.

5. The Return Threshold

 The final stage in the World of the Unfamiliar is the Return Threshold. At the Return Threshold, two possibilities await. If the powers in the kingdom of the dark have blessed the hero, he will return with their protection. If they have not blessed him—if he has stolen the boon, for example—he must flee. At the Return Threshold, the “transcendental powers must remain behind,” and the hero returns to the mundane world of everyday life.

6. Rebirth/Return (with boon/elixir)

After crossing the Threshold, the hero “re-emerges from the kingdom of dread” for his return and/or resurrection. He re-enters his world, bringing his boon or elixir that will restore and revivify his world.

The Missing Stages

Because this six-stage model is a summary, Campbell necessarily omits several important elements that he includes in his 17-element model. The most important of these missing elements are the Call Refused (in which the hero completely rejects the journey) and the Apotheosis (in which the hero takes a “time out” to reflect and give meaning to the journey). Also missing are the Woman as Temptress, the Return Refused, the Master of the Two Worlds and Freedom to Live. However, because it is brief, this model gives a nice overview of the journey’s transformative process and provides a framework for further study.