The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) is the seminal work of comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. In this text Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies and religions.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces was one of the primary inspirational factors for many of George Lucas' movies, most notably the Star Wars Saga.

ContentsEdit

Prologue: The Monomyth

• 1. Myth and Dream
• 2. Tragedy and Comedy
• 3. The Hero and the God
• 4. The World Navel

PART ONE: The Adventure of the Hero

Chapter I: Departure

• 1. The Call to Adventure
• 2. Refusal of the Call
• 3. Supernatural Aid
• 4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
• 5. The Belly of the Whale

Chapter II: Initiation

• 1. The Road of Trials
• 2. The Meeting with the Goddess
• 3. Woman as the Temptress
• 4. Atonement with the Father
• 5. Apotheosis
• 6. The Ultimate Boon

Chapter III: Return

• 1. Refusal of the Return
• 2. The Magic Flight
• 3. Rescue from Without
• 4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
• 5. Master of the Two Worlds
• 6. Freedom to Live

Chapter IV: The Keys

PART TWO: The Cosmogonic Cycle

Chapter I: Emanations

• 1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
• 2. The Universal Round
• 3. Out of the Void -Space
• 4. Within Space -Life
• 5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
• 6. Folk Stories of Creation

Chapter II: The Virgin Birth

• 1. Mother Universe
• 2. Matrix of Destiny
• 3. Womb of Redemption
• 4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood

Chapter III: Transformations of the Hero

• 1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
• 2. Childhood of the Human Hero
• 3. The Hero as Warrior
• 4. The Hero as Lover
• 5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
• 6. The Hero as World Redeemer
• 7. The Hero as Saint
• 8. Departure of the Hero

Chapter IV: Dissolutions

• 1. End of the Microcosm
• 2. End of the Macrocosm

Epilogue: Myth and Society

• 1. The Shapeshifter
• 2. The Function of Myth, Cult, and Meditation
• 3. The Hero Today

Influence on George Lucas and Star WarsEdit

George Lucas's deliberate use of Campbell's theory of the monomyth in the making of the Star Wars movies is well-documented. In addition to the extensive 1987 discussion between Campbell and Bill Moyers broadcast on PBS as The Power of Myth (filmed at Skywalker Ranch), on Campbell's influence on the Star Wars films, Lucas, himself, gave an extensive interview for the biography Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind on this topic. In this interview, Lucas states that in the early 1970s after completing his early film, American Graffiti, "it came to me that there really was no modern use of mythology ... so that's when I started doing more strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore and mythology, and I started reading Joe's books. Before that I hadn't read any of Joe's books.... It was very eerie because in reading The Hero with A Thousand Faces I began to realize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classical motifs".

12 years after the making of The Power of Myth, Moyers and Lucas met again for the 1999 interview, the Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas & Bill Moyers, to further discuss the impact of Campbell's work on Lucas' films [1]. In addition, the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution sponsored an exhibit during the late 1990s called Star Wars: The Magic of Myth which discussed the ways in which Campbell's work shaped the Star Wars films [2]. A companion guide of the same name was published in 1997.