Refusal of the Call

One thing that should be kept in mind throughout this series is that the stages of the hero's journey do not always appear in the order presented in Campbell's book. Nor do all the stages show up in every mythic work. As Campbell himself points out, "If one or another of the basic elements of the archetypical pattern is omitted... it is bound to be somehow or other implied - and the omission itself can speak volumes for the history and pathology of the example." (Campbell, pg. 38)

Fortunately, when the story becomes as expansive as the adventures of Xena and Gabrielle have, it becomes much easier to find examples of the various stages Campbell presents.

Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or "culture," the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless…. Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death. (Campbell, pg. 59)

It may not be obvious right away how this stage applies to our particular heroines, but it does apply. Let's take a closer look at some examples.

First of all, there is the obvious case I pointed out in the last installment. In The Gauntlet Hercules asks Xena to join him in defeating Darphus. The Warrior Princess refuses, instead going off to find some way to regain control of her army. She eventually returns, but the call is made and initially refused.

There are other examples from Xena's life as well. In fact, looking back on her past we learn that much of her life was a continuing refusal of the call. In The Debt we learn that Lao Ma made an offer to Xena, trying to turn her anger and fighting prowess to the cause of justice. Xena refused this call as well, remaining interested in her own personal goals.

In Destiny we learn how Xena, interested only in protecting her home village of Amphipolis, was betrayed and nearly killed by Caesar. When the Roman soldiers kill M'Lila in Niklio's hut in the mountains, Xena goes into a murderous rage. After finishing off he soldiers she swears, "a new Xena is born tonight, with a new purpose in life -- death."

Moments before the soldiers arrived, it appears as though Xena is about to turn from her conquering ways because of M'Lila's influence (indeed, this can be seen as yet another call to adventure). But the call goes unanswered and the results -- especially in the long run -- result in a life that strongly resembles the description provided by Campbell. Xena's world becomes a wasteland of death, and Xena's chosen path (as she reminds Gabrielle time and again) leads to destruction.

Fortunately all is not lost when the call goes unanswered. As Campbell states, "some of the victims remain spellbound forever, but others are destined to be saved.... The sole problem is what the machinery of the miracle is to be." (Campbell, pgs. 63 and 68) As we well know, the miracle did occur, and Xena was saved from the path of her own destruction.

The machinery of that miracle was twofold. First, as I previously mentioned, Hercules opens Xena's eyes to the pain and suffering she has caused in The Gauntlet. An alternate path is shown -- a path that Xena had closed her eyes to. After this wake-up call, Xena meets Gabrielle, and the rest (as the saying goes) is history.

I would like to take a moment to show just how convoluted the threads to the hero's cycle can be with just the two stages I've examined so far.

Taking a wide view, we can say that the call to adventure was first made to Xena when she organized her village's defense against the warlord Cortese. The self-interested conquest afterward is the refusal. Meeting Hercules and Gabrielle is the miracle that returned her to the hero's path.

But if we focus our attention a little narrower, we can see that there are actually several calls to adventure, and several refusals. Cortese attacks her village, and she then proceeds to conquer the surrounding lands. She encounters M'Lila and is then led astray by Caesar. Lao Ma tries to rein the Warrior Princess in, but Xena refuses her aid. Cyane, the Amazon Queen from Adventures in the Sin Trade tries to help her, but Xena is tempted by Alti and kills Cyane and the rest of the Amazon leaders. Hercules asks her to help fight Darphus, but she pursues her own agenda. Finally, she meets Gabrielle and fully accepts the call to her destiny.

Looking at it this way, there are six calls, and each of these calls (except for the last) has its accompanying refusal. Xena's road to heroism was certainly a rocky one!

But Xena isn't the only one who refused the call to adventure. Gabrielle had her own moment of weakness. In The Prodigal she freezes in the middle of a fight. This moment of weakness plagued her with doubt and she left the hero's path she was on. Fortunately, the defense of her village from the warlord Damon and the friendship that develops between her and Meleager the Mighty returns her to her senses.

The reluctant hero is a common theme in myths and legends from around the world. The one chosen turns his back on the destiny planned for him. In some cases, the story that could have been a soul-lifting example of triumph over adversity becomes a tragedy of potential unrealized.

But there are also examples of the hero returning to his calling after trying to run away from it. Indeed, it is often these tales of reluctant heroes that win our hearts because the hero seems more human, more like us. The adventures of Xena and Gabrielle are an example of this kind of story. Though each has at one time or another refused destiny's call, they have returned to the hero's path, stronger and more ready to fulfill their role in the tapestry of myth.

Next we'll examine the third stage of the hero's journey, Supernatural Aid.

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