One hero narrative that really has had an impact on me is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. The Name of the Wind follows the hero of the story Kvothe, but in a way that is slightly different from most hero narratives. Instead of simply following the hero from the beginning of their journey, The Name of the Wind starts with the Hero's journey already over for Kvothe. He is known as a hero by many people and yet he chooses to hide his identity and live his life as the owner of a tavern. Eventually, a scribe comes to town and convinces Kvothe to tell his story. This results in a dual story where Kvothe is both telling the story of his past while dealing with new problems arising in the present. Something that struck me about that part of the story was that the scribe really had to work hard to convince Kvothe to tell his story. That mixed with the fact that Kvothe was living under the radar despite his hero status was revealing. It showed me that he didn't want to look back because there was some aspect of his journey to becoming a hero that he was ashamed of. And while I certainly am not on some heroic quest it still made me think that whatever I ended up doing I never wanted to look back and hate the choices I made to that degree.
Another thing that stood out to me about The Name of the Wind was the fact that Kvothe is seems to be given the chance at redemption. I say seems because the series isn't concluded yet but the build-up suggests that Kvothe will have to once again become some sort of hero. I liked this because it made me think about a sort of comeback story. Like if I dindn't do something right the first time I could always try harder to do better the next time.
The last thing that really made me think was actually a sort of character in the book. It was basically a demon tree that showed anyone who got close to it a horrible vision of the future. That person would then try with all their might to prevent that future but in the end that would just end up being the cause of the horrible future they saw. I feel like this has really had an impact on what I do, becuase I also don't like to go too far because I often feel like it actually make the problem worse.
I have read Name of the Wind, and I never really picked up on the fact that the story was kind of giving Kvothe another shot at being the hero. Also, relating the creature in the tree (he was evil, the tree was a tree) to your own attempts at alleviating failure is interesting.
ReplyDeleteA recurring theme that draws me in in these narratives is the theme of fate or destiny and how it relates to the concept of free will. Greek myths, in particular, are well-known for self-fulfilling prophecies (Oedipus, anyone?), so it might be interesting to see if there's any element of that in the Odyssey.
ReplyDeleteI've never read this book but I really like the idea of a Hero's Journey that starts when the story is already over. It sounds like that could allow for a lot of interesting perspectives and jumping through time. Also the demon character represents a real fear sort of like the idea of sealing your fate by trying to prevent it is scary.
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