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What Happen's after the Hero's or You saved the world now what?

glutton

Inkling
My current WIP is actually kind of an "after story". At the very beginning the MC is shown killing the leader of the invading army and the mountain sized monster god he revives. When she comes back from the dead after 3 years, she reunites with her lover and son and tries to fix the problems between the allied "good guy" countries in her absence, only to learn her continent which floats in the sky is at risk of falling soon and go searching for a way to prevent that. Meanwhile an anti-magic user faction seeks to free the continent from her and her family's grasp (she's the princess of the nation that leads the alliance).
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I have a long-running set of RPs that basically runs on the rule "the world will always need saving". Every time the protagonists defeats the current Big Bad, something else inevitably pops up to make their lives miserable again. Actual peace is a rare and coveted thing.
 
In the first book, the main conflict involves the fact that the main character is dead, and has amnesia for awhile before she remembers how she died, and then reincarnates onto a newly formed planet [many other things happen]. In the second book, a dark force known as the Korion Maiden is supposedly breaking free from an enchanted sleep, and many believe that she will destroy everything if awakened.
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
So the same as Frozen. Still a "villian" to keep the plot moving forward. Still "end of the world" stakes to keep the reader invested. Twist at the end.
 
My current WIP is actually kind of an "after story". At the very beginning the MC is shown killing the leader of the invading army and the mountain sized monster god he revives. When she comes back from the dead after 3 years, she reunites with her lover and son and tries to fix the problems between the allied "good guy" countries in her absence, only to learn her continent which floats in the sky is at risk of falling soon and go searching for a way to prevent that. Meanwhile an anti-magic user faction seeks to free the continent from her and her family's grasp (she's the princess of the nation that leads the alliance).

@ glutton
When can I play that Jrpg?
 
My perspective is that there are a handful of existential questions that people dedicate certain periods of their lives to answering. Coming-of-age mostly deals with the questions of "who am I? Who can I be? Can I make it in the world?". Adulthood is probably more "can I make my life count? What is most important in my life?" and probably deals more with work and family than the peer/idol relationships of a coming-of-age story.
Old people would probably have questions along the line of "what have I accomplished?" and "what do I still need to accomplish?"
Does that make sense?



I actually took a class on Campbell-style storytelling and my instructor told me that after the hero's journey, there's another hero's journey. Life is just a series of quests. After the evil overlord is beaten, the hero starts another quest. It's just that the stakes may not be as high or the obstacles may not be as exciting.

Star Wars (and Dune) worked with this neat idea that the cycle of hero's journeys are continued by the later generations. That seems pretty logical.

@ WooHooMan
Did your teacher happen to name that second quest? or present I write up or break down of the steps?


Huh.

So I was looking over this thread, which I hadn't thought about replying to yet, and I realized that the graphic novel I'm planning kind of is a post-hero's journey story.

I'll give some background. It's a superhero story, that takes place after the Big Bad has been defeated. The heroes of the tale are finished with their journeys and now are attempting to assimilate with society and adjust to normal life. Except none of them can hold jobs and/or keep getting kicked out of their apartments for various reasons like power-related mishaps, or non-human mutant traits freaking out the customers, or being an alien who doesn't understand human society...so, three years after the Big Bad has been defeated, the group is reunited, living together, and mooching off the (former) millionaire kid whose powers come from his inventions.

It's kind of like a sitcom...but it has a darker and more poignant side as they find out that they didn't really know each other at all. Lots of revelations about sexuality and troubled pasts and mental illnesses. And they start to grow both together and apart as they try to fully move on from being super heroes and figure out where they want their lives to head from there.

In the end, they're growing apart and starting to blend into society and leave behind their old identities when they're shaken by the sudden suicide of one of the members of the team. Then, when they're at their most broken, a new villain (who's been gathering power behind the scenes) rises and they are forced to reunite and fight him.

Thoughts on how this fits in with what y'all have been discussing?

It's definitely a form of post Hero's Journey.
The one I'm looking for might be a little different or it might not.
I've been calling it the Apotheosis Journey, the naming was inspired by either a post in this thread or my other recent one.

Your story seems like it's about the last hurrah, one final glorious battle before it's time to move on.
While I don't know the middle steps in the Apotheosis Journey, I know that it ends with a literal or figurative separation from the hero's old life, a symbolic apotheosis/death.


This used to bug me quite a bit, especially with the fantasy type epics. Ok, so the MC and his companions spend three books defeating the 'dark overlord,' growing in personal and political power along the way. Then they win. The dark overlord and his empire are no more, subsumed into that of the MC and company.

What then?

At that point, in the more superficial sense, MC and company are among the most powerful characters around. No serious competition. Options for continuing came down to some variant of:

1 - a 'clean-up' story, where the MC's go after the remaining top flunkies of the dark overlord - a bit like the 'scouring of the Shire' in 'Lord of the Rings.'

2 - the world is a big place after all - most fantasy 'worlds' are actually rather small portions of worlds, and what was portrayed as the overwhelming menace is just one foe or potential foe among many in the larger world. Feist took this route in his 'Riftwar' saga.

3 - life goes on. The MC becomes a mentor to the 'next generation' of heroes, or becomes embroiled in some personal project or other. This happened with Obi-Wan in the 'Star Wars' series.


@ ThinkerX

Your 3. is the closest to what exactly I'm looking.
A Hero who has attained and is still alive or able to enter act with the material world post ascension is most likely playing a mentor role. What I'm looking for is that path to ascension/enlightenment story-line; any other possibilities are also welcome.


The post Hero/Heroine's Journey or the Journey to enlightenment/ascension/apotheosis.

After talking to some people and doing a little thinking I can see it.

The Last two Matrix Films.

Kung Fu Panda 2.

Iron Man 2&3.

The Second half of the anime series Tegena Topa Gurren Lagan

The last two books in the Mistborn series.

They all share certain similar plot points and story beats. While similar to the Campbellian Hero's Journey, the emotional energy is different.


With all these different writers using the same template for the same exact purpose. Somebody else must have noticed this pattern and named it.

I've even started trying to break it down into a series of follow able steps.

The first two may happen either consecutively or concurrently.

Portends of Doom!: A threat to the Hero's status qou is foreshadowed.

Flush with power/Secure in victory: The Hero is shown to be at home in their element. Their power is at it's peak


The intervening steps are a mystery to me, however the ending is clear - the Hero must undergo a permanent separation from what they considered normal. Maybe the Hero dies, maybe they let go of some major emotional baggage,maybe the get a new job or move to a new place, maybe they attain apotheosis and become a literal god. The point is at the end the hero permanently cuts ties with what they were before.

I might just be chasing my tale but, this might just be the Hero's Journey all over again.Even it is knowing how to do the same thing twice will be useful.
 
The heroine fights a mecha in it too.

@ glutton Which of your books has or will have the mecha?

Have you come a cross a or several plot structure layout for sequels in your browses of the internet?
It might look something like what is depicted here.
 

glutton

Inkling
@ glutton Which of your books has or will have the mecha?

The title of the book has not been decided yet although some of my earlier books have magical mechas too (Hammer Out A Future where the heroines beats some up with her melee weapon and its sequel Hammer Out A Path where her friend pilots one to aid in the defense of their city). XD
 
I guess I'm late to this party, so I'm not sure if this has been entirely addressed. I'm also not sure if the original post was looking for examples of the "post-victory" story or reasons as to why they don't exist.

I think for the former they're a little thin, but some good examples have been noted. I haven't read the thread in its entirety, but one that springs to mind for me is a video game series called "Overlord" where you play as a villain resurrected by his minions to go confront the heroes that brought you down. While you do that, you discover that many of them succumbed to their own version of corruption. That being said, beyond epilogues there isn't a whole lot of "post-victory" story telling, which I think is explained by my next point.

The latter issue, if it's what the OP was asking, is explained by the simple storytelling maxim that stories are centered on conflict. No reader really wants to sit around and listen to how everything is going well. There needs to be some element of conflict and so to the extent that stories exist after the hero has triumphed they usually just use that setting the "post-victory" setting to tell a new conflict. Star Wars, as was previously mentioned, is a good example of that. Luke blows up the Death Star but the Empire still exists, so it was the first of what turned out to be kind of three journeys for Luke. There's also the credible argument that episodes 1-6 all serve as the story/journey of Anakin Skywalker fulfilling his destiny to bring balance to the Force. Again though, once we reach a lack of conflict in Episode 6 where the Empire is ostensibly toppled there really isn't a reason to tell another story unless a new conflict happens. Any wrapping up and "what happens now" questions would be best handled in an epilogue. This article details the purposes of epilogue and a few potential uses.

I guess that's the only commentary I have. No one tells the tale of what happens after the victory parade because it simply isn't interesting beyond a recitation of facts that shouldn't be much longer than a paragraph.
 

Futhark

Inkling
I don’t think there is a format for what your looking for. Could it be the stages your character is in is more applicable? For instance, Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages says that middle adulthood is about generativity versus stagnation. This means giving to the next generation or, failing that, a feeling of an absence of meaningful accomplishment. Old age is integrity versus despair. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Physiological needs (survival), safety and security, social needs, esteem, and lastly self-actualisation.

I also have a list that starts with Parents and Children, and ends with The Final Journey. Some that might be pertinent are; The Quest for Meaning - compromise of ideals; Passion and Rejection – temptation; The Eternal Triangle – commitment versus freedom; Responsibility – power and integrity, after the goal, wisdom; and the Spiritual Quest.
 
I guess I'm late to this party, so I'm not sure if this has been entirely addressed. I'm also not sure if the original post was looking for examples of the "post-victory" story or reasons as to why they don't exist.

I think for the former they're a little thin, but some good examples have been noted. I haven't read the thread in its entirety, but one that springs to mind for me is a video game series called "Overlord" where you play as a villain resurrected by his minions to go confront the heroes that brought you down. While you do that, you discover that many of them succumbed to their own version of corruption. That being said, beyond epilogues there isn't a whole lot of "post-victory" story telling, which I think is explained by my next point.

The latter issue, if it's what the OP was asking, is explained by the simple storytelling maxim that stories are centered on conflict. No reader really wants to sit around and listen to how everything is going well. There needs to be some element of conflict and so to the extent that stories exist after the hero has triumphed they usually just use that setting the "post-victory" setting to tell a new conflict. Star Wars, as was previously mentioned, is a good example of that. Luke blows up the Death Star but the Empire still exists, so it was the first of what turned out to be kind of three journeys for Luke. There's also the credible argument that episodes 1-6 all serve as the story/journey of Anakin Skywalker fulfilling his destiny to bring balance to the Force. Again though, once we reach a lack of conflict in Episode 6 where the Empire is ostensibly toppled there really isn't a reason to tell another story unless a new conflict happens. Any wrapping up and "what happens now" questions would be best handled in an epilogue. This article details the purposes of epilogue and a few potential uses.

I guess that's the only commentary I have. No one tells the tale of what happens after the victory parade because it simply isn't interesting beyond a recitation of facts that shouldn't be much longer than a paragraph.



@ SergeiMeranov

There is nothing wrong with being late to the party.
What I'm looking for is a write up on the plot-points/story-structure of the Post Hero's Journey.
I know that the story-structure exists because I can see being used as the frame work for sequels to stories where the Hero has at least partially come into their own by the end of the first episode/film/series.

The media that I listed as examples of the Post Hero's Journey, are all After the End stories. The Protagonist completed the Journey from ordinary person to hero in the first installment, moving from a figurative child to figurative adult. In the subsequent installments the hero is called upon to face another crises, but the emotional energy at each of the steps of this part of the journey is different. There is an air of desperation and melancholy around the second journey, a journey that is about the transition from adult to wizened elder and or death.
 
@ Futhark

I'm beginning to think that your right.
What I need is, a layout of the plot points and common elements of sequels.

Failing that...
A write up of the plot points,themes and character for at least two(ideally all) of the media that I've listed as examples of a post Hero's Journey.
 

Peat

Sage
Late to the party and possibly therefore giving an example that's been made, but the Tamuli by David Eddings is a pretty spot on example of a hero going on a second adventure that leads to enlightenment of a sort (trying to be vague because spoilers).
 
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