45 Master Characters (61 page)

Inside, by the light of the fire, John sees the man. It's a close friend of his, and he has died. He realizes if he hadn't fallen a few hours ago he could be his dead friend right now. Humbled and thankful, John thinks of his family back home, but he still wants to make it to the top.

At this stage the hero faces death and destruction. It's here that the hero is at a fork in the road. He can either face his own real or symbolic death and continue on the path toward awakening and victory, or he can rage against death and take the path toward rebellion and failure.

Awakening and Growth

Facing his own death means facing his own mortality, fears and shortcomings with grace and honor. He's humbled by the experience as he takes the feminine path of descent. It may make him lose sight of his goal temporarily, but he'll be forever changed by this experience.

He may experience a “dark night of the soul” where everything seems completely lost to him and he acknowledges and accepts it.

He may face the villain in a challenge that leads him to feel defeated and helpless, but he finds courage from deep within.

He may face the death of a close friend or family member and see himself in their place.

He may put his life on the line to save another as Nathaniel does in
The Last of The Mohicans
and as Jack does in
Titanic.

His tools fail him; his strategy falls apart. He's left with nothing and may be at the villain's mercy. Can he temporarily face humiliation? He has to go with the flow of events and do his best. He has to stop resisting and stop trying to control and dominate the course of events. He's shown courage and now he needs to use his brains and find his heart.

Look over Stage 4, The Descent, in the feminine journey. Use the seven issues outlined to make him face an inner demon. In the feminine journey the hero goes on a slow descent and then faces turmoil in the death stage. In the masculine stage of Death, if he awakens, the hero goes through both feminine stages almost at the same time. It's down to the wire for him, and he's running out of time. If he's lucky, a supportive character will come and help him and push him in the right direction.

Rebellion and Stagnation

When he rages against death he's also raging against his own transformation. He's confronted with his own mortality and tries to become vengeful. If he faces death through the loss of a loved one, he wants to avenge that person and therefore prove himself superior to death. He won't die. He can't die.

He won't acknowledge his fears.

He isn't at all humbled by his experience:

In fact, he builds up his own ego to try to prove that he's more than a mere human being.

He may take risks without thinking and will demand to fight the villain alone.

He's like a one-man show of crazed masculinity who doesn't need anyone or anything.

He won't face what the villain is showing him. He won't look inside himself to find out what he really wants out of life.

Supporting characters may push him to seek revenge, especially if he's idolized or looked up to. They keep him from making the right choice. If he's a leader or ruler he may feel pressure to keep it together and hold his emotions and feelings at bay. In
Braveheart
the one man who can help William Wallace is persuaded by his sickly father to betray him for the sake of his people.

Examples of Stage 7

Gilgamesh
translated by Maureen Kovacs

“Endiku suffers a long and painful death, attended to the last by his beloved Gilgamesh, who watches by his deathbed and pours out a torrent of memories about their experiences … the fame he has achieved is nothing in the face of bodily decay. Gilgamesh rebels against mortality and sets out to find the secret of eternal life.”

Star Wars

Luke has to watch helplessly as Obi-Wan stops fighting and accepts his own death. He screams out, causing the empire guards to come after them again. Once their ship makes it out of the death star, Luke is overcome with remorse for his friend. He is more upset now than he was when his aunt and uncle died, but he's able to pull himself together for the benefit of the mission.

Three Kings

Archie and the men face death as they fight to free Troy. He tells Conrad (Spike Jonze), “Do the thing you're scared of and get courage after you do it.” They rescue more people as they rescue Troy. Conrad is killed, and Troy is badly wounded. Archie saves Troy with his medical kit and helps to prepare Conrad for burial. He wanted to be taken to a shrine so they decide not to bury him yet but carry his body with them.

Several rebels are killed and they perform the funeral rites. They then bury the gold after giving each one of the local people a gold bar to start a new life. Archie has learned to care about these people and feels badly.

Moby Dick
by Herman Melville

The ship is damaged by a severe storm, but Captain Ahab won't change course. Several men die, and the ship almost sinks. He thinks he sees Moby Dick swim by, but the men say he's hallucinating. Some think he's quite mad.

Gender-Bending:
The Long Kiss Goodnight

Charly travels home and finds the key in her daughter's room. She looks outside and sees her daughter in the scope of her rifle and lets her guard down a little. She wonders if she's doing the right thing by killing Samantha, her alter ego. Her daughter is kidnapped, and Charly makes the decision to save her life.

Both Charly and her daughter are captured and face death together in a locked freezer.

Read Stage 4 of the feminine journey and use the seven issues of descent against the hero if he's on the path to awaken.