Who are you?
Functionally Speaking
Journey with me
You're just not my archetype
In the End
100

He was the world's first hero to have his story recorded in writing

Who is Gilgamesh? 

100

The Cherokee myth, "Why the Trees Lose their Leaves" is a clear example of a myth that serves this function.

What is the cosmological function? 

100

The first stage of any hero's journey.

What is the Call to Adventure? 

100

This weather-related event features prominently in many creation stories from around the world.

What is a great flood? 

100

A cosmic 'do-over' where a person who dies is reborn into a new body.

What is reincarnation?

200

This person tricked three gods and was punished for it by rolling a giant boulder around.

Who is Sisyphus? 

200

Amazement, awe, and humility are all results of this function.

What is the mystical function? 

200
While he didn't invent the Hero's Journey entirely, he was the first to identify it across many cultures and divide it into discrete stages.

Who is Joseph Campbell? 

200

Perhaps originally included to help preliterate storytellers remember key items and events, including these (especially three and seven) is a sure way to help your story feel more mythic.

What are numbers? 

200

He'll eat your heart (if it's too heavy, that is). 

Who is Ammit? 

300

This person had to complete tasks to make up for murdering his family.

Who is Hercules/Heracles?

300

Justifies the existence of a caste system, for example.

What is the sociological function? 

300

Sometimes it's an object, and sometimes it is a lesson that the hero brings back with them to share with others.

What is the [ultimate] boon? 

300

This figure always seems to prevent humankind from attaining immortality or an extended life.

What is the snake?

300

As envisioned by nearly every culture, this event commonly occurs between the end of life and progression to the afterlife -- and sometimes determines what that afterlife will be.

What is judgement? 

400

Celtic goddess of the hearth, metal-smithing, sheep, and early spring, among other things

Who is Brigid? 

400

Helps us to understand our own lives and struggles in a greater context.

What is the psychological function? 

400

The Hero's Journey suggests that all heroes must cross this literal or metaphorical line near the beginning of the journey, and in the opposite direction near the end. 

What is the threshold? 

400

The Hero's Journey is a more specific, multi-step version of this more general plot archetype.

What is a quest? 

400

She serves as both a mistress of the underworld and a creation deity.

Who is Izanami? 

500

This jackal was an escort to those in the afterlife.

Who is Anubis?

500

These types of myth obviously serve not a cosmological function, but almost always a sociological function and a mystical function, as well. 

What are creation myths?

500

In this stage, the hero is transformed, elevated, and recognized as a hero.

What is Apotheosis? 

500

This archetype features prominently in the stories of Orpheus & Eurydice, Adam & Eve, and Izanami & Izanagi, among many others.

What is the 'One Forbidden Thing'? 

500

This Hindu God of the underworld rides a bull -- at least he doesn't have the horns anymore.

Who is Yama?