According to the sixth step of the twelve steps of the Hero's Journey, this is when the hero gain allies and learn enemies. But what makes a "good" enemy? We all know you can only develop as far as your resistance can push you. With that said, you're only as good as you can push. This is truer in the world of mythology. The villain is the hero, and the hero is the villain; because it is all perspective and we as mythologist need to hold both as well as we hold one.
Today's villain is not evil for the sake of being. Let's say that we define evil as following. Something that is highly cultured and refined to the highest degree, which has the intent to constructively destroy belief systems and cultures; most times for the better but stereotypically presented as for the bad. Jesus was considered evil during his time. Taking this definition, we have to go beyond that funny drawing of a villain wanting to take over the world just because he wants to. The reason why a villain as one who wants to be sustained and nurtured by the entire ecosystem was accepted during earlier myths is because the guardian gods wanted such things and their co-creation, being stronger than creation, wanted the same things and hence a villain who wants the world in the palm of his hands. But the co-creation and the creation now sits at the same table when processing information during this emerging Age of Information. This leveled playing field means that we as mythologist must sculpt a new villain since we as an ecosystem face a new resistance and have new desires for change. Today's villain, however, cannot be evil for evil sake and, as we now know, cannot be driven by nothing. There must be a goal in the mind of the villain which someone, somewhere, can understand and agree with. Today's villains are just as desirable as the heroes if not more so. They tend to be wiser, stronger, and more in charge of themselves than the younger force that oppose them. The villain knows the world and is very good at manipulating it. As a matter of fact the villain has been doing so up until the hero and her team shows up. Being both outspoken and daring, the villain has learned to keep her temper in check. Often the villain's neighbors and coworkers will say that she was a nice person and that the behavior she just performed is out of character. When all along the villain's life is one of character. Just when we, as mythologist, got the process of the first five and fifty pages being the telling of what is about to unfold, we have to rethink our villains and know that they cannot, again, be evil for evil sake. Nor can they just want to be loved, because even the hero wants that and has wanted that since the days of the Mesopotamian stories. We'll figure this villain thing out because story can no longer replicate life; but life must replicate story- if our ecosystem is to survive this upcoming Age of Enlightenment. We are the harbinger of change because we understand that if we always write what we've always written, then society will always desire what it has always desired. Our villains must change . . . bottom line. Thanks for Listening! Sabrina Louise Andielle
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AuthorOne of those writer folk telling stories, reviewing the writer's adventure, and presenting the hero's journey. All wrapped in Spirit, the Kingdom of God, the Sanatana Dharma, the Tao, the Way, or the Absolute. Archives
February 2020
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