“Monomyth” is the original term for “a hero's journey”. Joseph Campbell coined the term and defines the hero's journey as a situation in which: “A hero ventures from the everyday world into a region of supernatural wonder; fabulous forces are encountered there and a decisive victory is achieved; the hero returns from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow gifts on his fellow men. (Campbell 23) The structure of the hero's journey can be seen in a multitude of films and literature both past and present. In George Lucas' Star Wars, young Anakin leaves his mother to join the Jedi forces, only to turn against them to join the Dark Side; Luke Skywalker goes on a journey, joining the Rebel Alliance, destroying the corrupt Republic (Vogler). Simba from Disney's The Lion King loses his father, the king, is exiled and must regain the throne from his evil uncle, Scar, just like Shakespeare's Hamlet must do. Young Frodo must embark on a journey across Middle-earth to destroy the only ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In both the Odyssey and Beowulf, two men embark on adventures in strange lands, learning more about themselves and saving innocents (Taylor). While the characters are different and the goals may vary slightly, they all have a very similar structure. There are seventeen stages in a hero's journey, divided into three groups, consisting of Departure, Initiation, and Return. Overall, the Harry Potter series can be seen as a complete hero's journey. Each book, however, can be seen as a single journey within the whole. Let's take Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for example:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbiDWYuMDU8]The first stop is the Departure... middle of the paper... .demort is alive because, as revealed in Order of the Phoenix, the prophecy says, "neither [Harry nor Voldemort] can live while the other survives" (Rowling 841). Although many die to help defeat Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows, it is a time to rejoice because no one has to live in fear anymore. Harry moves on with his life, getting married and having children, as mentioned above. The Hero's Journey is a common structure used in everything from novels to films; creates connections between real life and fantasy. As Ryan Weber says, “Ironically, the heroes who teach us to dive into our unconscious are the very archetypes that arise from it, and we seem to need them as a source of courage to face our own shadow.” The hero's journey captivates audiences and inspires those who read the series to live their lives with courage and not be afraid to live in the moment..