Over the past few weeks, we have looked at the earliest stages of the hero's journey, as presented by Joseph Campbell in his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. We have seen how the hero is selected (The Call to Adventure), what happens if they refuse (Refusal of the Call), and what sort of help they have along the way (Supernatural Aid). This week, we examine one of the most important steps on the hero-path, the first obstacle encountered.
Crossing The First Threshold
"With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the 'threshold guardian' at the entrance of the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions - also up and down - standing at the limits of the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger." (Campbell, Pg. 77)
This aspect of the hero-path is generally easy to uncover, but its importance in the cycle can vary from legend to legend. In simpler tales, this obstacle may be the primary conflict, while in complex narratives, like we find in Xena, its role tends to be diminished.
The most obvious threshold guardian in the series can be found in the episode "Sins of the Past" (X1). As Gabrielle follows Xena on the road to Amphipolis, she crosses a bridge that can be seen as the boundary between the familiar, limited world of Gabrielle, and the wild, dangerous world outside that horizon. The blind Cyclops that waylays travelers on that road is the guardian. When Gabrielle makes her way past this obstacle, she makes the first step on the hero's journey.
As Campbell elaborates, "[I]t is only by advancing beyond these bounds, provoking the destructive other aspect of the same power, that the individual passes, either alive or in death, into a new zone of experience." (Campbell, Pg .82) Up until the moment Gabrielle talks her way past the Cyclops, she can turn back home, forsake the call, and be nothing more than a village girl with big dreams.
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