Hero Traits
Enkidu embodies this Hero Trait for Gilgamesh.
What is "Alter Ego"?
This step in the Hero Cycle is embodied by Chi Li's offering to the magistrates of herself as a sacrifice.
What is "Crossing the Threshold"?
Anansi is a benevolent deity, and so does not embody this Trickster Trait.
What is "amoral"?
A deity that embodies a natural phenomena and its associated concept.
What is a Binatural Deity?
This Norse Trickster has three children (Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungandr) who are destined to help bring about the end of the world.
Who is Loki?
Psyche's mission to collect Proserpina's Beauty fulfills this common Hero Trait.
What is "Journey to the Underworld"?
This is Psyche's Mentor in her Hero Cycle.
Who is the goddess Ceres?
When Coyote sheds his skin, he fulfills this Trickster Trait.
What is "Shapeshifter / Malleable Body"?
This Ashanti phrase refers to "Spider Stories"
What is anansesem?
This Mesopotamian goddess of political power releases the Bull of Heaven against Gilgamesh and descends into the Underworld.
Who is Ishtar / Inanna ?
Chi Li's happy ending fulfills this common Hero Trait.
What is "Marriage to a High-Born Local"?
This step in the Hero Cycle is embodied by the scene in Gilgamesh where the Hero fails the sleep test but is sent to retrieve a magical plant.
What is "The Ordeal"?
Raven's success in setting the proper flow of the tides embodies this Trickster Trait.
What is "Instigator"?
This phrase refers to something that occupies a position at or on both sides of a threshold.
What is "liminal"?
This Tlingit Trickster looses his beak while trying to steal bait fish off of the hooks of fishermen.
Who is Raven?
Cupid, Ceres, and the River God all fulfill this Hero Trait for Psyche.
What is "Hero has a Helper"?
Psyche's tale fulfills this step in the Hero Cycle when her parents visit the Oracle and are told she is destined to marry a monster.
What is "Call to Adventure"?
This Mesopotamian Trickster also has a hand in the creation of humans.
Who is Ea?
This Greek phrase refers to a figure who ushers the dead to the Underworld, typically over water via boat.
What is psychopomp?
Who is Psyche?
What is "Tomb and Cult Established"?
The "Elixir" Chi Li returns home with at the end of her Journey.
What is a "Happily Ever After / Marriage to the King"?
What is "Master Deceiver, but Can Be Tricked"?
This Greek phrase refers to the "rites by which the dead are called up".
What is a Nekuia?
This Hero engages in Necromancy to speak to the seer Tiresias in an effort to return home.
Who is Odysseus?