The Heroine's Journey: Becoming What We Admire
- Elaine R Kelly
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 20 hours ago
First, an outline of a male hero's journey, a basis for many stories and movies.
Then, a counterpoint to the male hero's journey, a woman's quest to heal and rediscover her whole self.
Lastly, a reference book for fiction writers, demonstrating how both the hero's journey and the heroine's journey are shown in popular novels and movies.
I looked at these books for reference, not to read completely through. The three authors together provide insights into male and female lives and story arcs. They show the typical hero's journey, based on male desires, goals, and what makes men feel proud. However, there is a different, equally valuable typical heroine's journey, based on a woman's goals, desires, and points of success or pride. Analyzing these two archetypes also provides insight into what our culture most admires. Mapping the story of Jesus onto these story arcs can reveal whether we glorify a domineering religious authority or a gentle, healing saviour.
Book: The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Author: Joseph Campbell
Publisher: 1949
Genres: Social Psychology, Folklore & Mythology
Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey as a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through the world’s mythic traditions and stories. He generally provided male protagonists as examples, noting that classical stories historically centred around the experience of men. He understood that women did not need to go on the same type of external quest for heroism, but already embody the psychological destination men are striving towards.
Joseph Campbell described the hero's journey this way:
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man" [2].
The hero's journey is an outward quest for glory. This typical journey shows a proactive man leaving home, going on an adventure, facing danger, taking revenge, conquering an opponent, overcoming obstacles, earning glory, and receiving a woman as a reward.
The typical hero's journey is shown in:
almost any James Bond movie; he is the dominant victor, alone, with a woman as a reward
Wonder Woman: a female who is a dominant victor, alone.
Tris in Divergent
Rey in Star Wars
Book: The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholenesss
Author: Maureen Murdock, a Jungian psychotherapist, author, lecturer, and workshop presenter with insights into the psyche, mythology, and memoir writing.
Publisher: Shambhala, 2020 edition, 248 pages
Genres: Feminist literary history and criticism, women writers, feminist theory.
Maureen Murdock was a student of Joseph Campbell's. He asserted that women don't need to make the hero's journey, but are instead the destination or prize for the male hero.
Maureen Murdock disagreed and wrote this book in 1990 to show a new story arc with an alternate journey, the psycho-spiritual journey of women. Murdock's purpose is to show a woman's autonomous quest. While a masculine journey is up and out into the world, Murdock described a feminine journey as a therapeutic journey, going inward and deep into the soul, addressing hidden wounds, re-discovering oneself, finding identity and wholeness.
This book notes that societal patriarchy leaves many women with shame, guilt, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence. In the words of Sue Monk Kidd, many women carry a feminine wound, deep internal self-loathing from being in a gender that is generally treated as "less than".
According to Maureen Murdock, a heroine's journey is an inward quest for self-discovery and wholeness. The typical journey shows a proactive woman leaving the prescribed bonds of feminine roles, facing risks, gathering allies, facing trials by people who oppose her exercising her masculine attributes, overcoming obstacles, and bringing people together.
Using a Jungian psychological framework, Murdock devised a heroine's journey [1] for self-discovery, resulting in the heroine being able to integrate the masculine and feminine qualities within herself.
Book: The Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture
Author: Gail Carriger, an archaeologist and NYT best-selling author who primarily writes fiction, paranormal romance, science fiction and fantasy. Her purpose in writing this book is to bring books and movies featuring the heroine's journey the same kind of respect and credit currently given to books and movies which portray a hero's journey.
Publisher: Gail Carriger, 2020, 322 pages
Genres: Authorship Reference, Literary Criticism & Theory
Carriger takes Campbell's masculine journey and Murdock's feminine journey and explores how these journeys are expressed as plot or character arcs in popular fiction books and movies.
Carriger's book helps writers make compelling plots, while Murdock's book helps women take their journey into themselves. Carriger's Heroine's Journey schematic focuses on the observable activities, while Murdock's focuses on internal development.
Gail Carriger's The Heroine's Journey focuses on story structure and pop culture analysis, mapping archetypes in fiction. She analyzes story arcs and how characters on a hero or heroine's journey act. Her goal is to guide fiction writers to identify characters who are on a hero's or a heroine's journey in order to make characters or stories more compelling.
Carriger shows that the concept of a hero or heroine's journey is not about male heroes and female heroines. It is about two types of journeys that can structure a story. In fact, both males and females can and do take both types of journeys in pop culture and in life. The Hero's Journey can be taken by a male or a female protagonist; a Heroine's Journey can be undertaken by a male or a female.
Unfortunately, I didn't finish the book. The AI voice of the audiobook detracted from the enjoyment, and I had not seen all the pop culture movies or read the books that she referenced as examples to try to describe her ideas.
Gail Carriger's book: The Heroine's Journey
"Just because you are writing a woman as your main character doesn't mean you are automatically writing a heroine's journey. The heroine's journey is not simply the hero's journey undertaken by a woman. It's narratively different, not biologically different." - Chapter 2
Basic Beats of the Hero's Journey (chapter 3)
Miraculous birth or inherited special quality
Called to adventure
Refuses call
Receives aid from a mentor or a supernatural tool
Withdrawal from family and community; voluntarily begins the quest
Encounters temptations and obstacles, transformative trials
Defeats his enemy one-on-one
Hero's return, rewards, glorification, but isolation
Examples of a Hero's Journey:
Luke Skywalker in Starwars
Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings
Wonder Woman
Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
Basic Beats of the Heroine's Journey (chapter 5)
Gail Carriger's schematic [3] shows the basic beats of the Heroine's journey:
Inherited prescribed female roles
Separates from family and given roles
Faces isolation, risks, and danger
Gathers allies and forms a found or chosen family
Networks and gathers information
Encounters obstacles and negotiates solutions, fosters collaboration
Unifies diverse groups
Heroine finishes by enjoying an established network and a harmonious community.
Examples of a Heroine Journey's story arc include:
Circe, by Madeline Miller: Circe separates from her father, deals with her grief, and finds her inner strength and power.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: themes on emotional healing, gathering a community of allies, a chosen family, builds peace rather than individual dominance.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Prince Zuko's character arc shows personal and internal growth.
Jane Eyre: loosening the bonds of patriarchal constraints and realizing her male and female attributes
Eat, Pray, Love: Liz Gilbert leaves her comfortable life to heal from trauma, resolve an identity crisis, and reconnect with her mind, body, and spirit.
Moana: She separates from her village, navigates trials, recognizes and heals, then returns whole.
Brave: Merida rejects prescribed roles, faces the wilderness, heals the broken bond with her mother.
Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Leaving her home and father, facing risks, realizing her strengths.
Mulan: Mulan does not aim for glory or adventure, but is motivated by love and duty. She leaves behind gender roles, risks her safety to protect her family and community, and discovers her inner strength, intelligence, and courage (as opposed to brute force). She unites both her male and female traits, refusing to sacrifice her female identity, and showing that female agency and bravery are just as powerful.
Conclusion
I had seen Murdock's Heroine's Journey on the same Amazon list as my novel, Finding Her Voice. I was interested in mapping my historical fiction onto these archetypal characters and journeys.
My first novel, Forgotten Followers, seems to take a typical heroine's journey. It follows a woman on an internal journey, leaving behind prescribed roles, taking risks, making friends, discovering who she is and finding her internal strength.
My second novel, Because She Was Called, has the elements of a typical hero's journey. Joanna realizes she was born with unique qualifications to speak against racism. She separates from her family, voluntarily faces a risky journey, receives aid from like-minded people, achieves all of her goals and comes out the victor.
In Finding Her Voice, Junia begins a hero's journey, intent on doing a mission journey and preaching the good news of Jesus. Before she can go, she faces opposition and is required to train with male apostles, taking on their priorities of teaching, not accepting questions or discussion, following obedience to the laws, and achieving results in the number of converts. It doesn't work very well. It means subjecting others using force, colonial style, and not showing respect for the ideas or needs of others. It leads to being harassed and imprisoned. She recalls how Jesus made disciples by engaging listeners with stories, questions, and discussions, following the heart and good conscience, offering help and grace, and achieving harmonious relationships. She finishes by emerging from an internal journey as a new woman, retaining her feminine side and unifying her female and male sides, her emotions and logic, her gentleness and leadership. She builds new friendships and founds new faith communities.
In her book, Jesus and John Wayne, Kristin Kobes Du Mez explores how we make Jesus into a macho superhero. The story of Jesus covers many of the elements of the Hero's journey. However, Jesus is not a hero who ends up victorious but alone. He models the heroine's journey: leaving home, gathering like-minded people, forming and enjoying a chosen family. He does not die alone, and he leaves behind a community of people who share his vision of sharing and serving one another in love.
It is interesting to note that the story of Jesus as presented in the Gospels can be taken as either a hero's or a heroine's journey. I came across this engraving by Francois Langot, based on an oil painting by Anthony van Dyck in the Auckland Art Gallery. The description explains how Christ modelled qualities not normally associated with masculinity: humility, quiet strength, passivity, acceptance, forgiveness. In contrast, the military men who mock him are posturing for power and dominance. Is it possible that the church used to uphold this gentle image of Jesus and condemn the toxic masculinity of the soldiers - and now the church upholds the macho masculinity and mocks men who are gentle and passive?
Which type of story arc appeals to you?
Has pop culture taught us to admire the hero's journey, and strive for individual fame and glory even at the expense of family and community?
Has a focus on the hero's journey meant we miss taking the heroine's journey that leads to peace and wholeness?
Has traditional religion portrayed Christianity through the lens of a hero's journey instead of seeing Jesus as someone who gathers people together, forms chosen family, and brings peace and community?
Do you see Jesus's life as a hero's journey or a heroine's journey?
How might we benefit by seeing the hero and heroine's journeys in novels and movies?
This analysis of character arcs helps us understand ourselves as individuals and our society collectively: what we admire, what we aim to achieve, and how Western culture became a society of individual dominance as opposed to a communal society.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel (2025)
Sources
"Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey Ark", The Heroine Journeys Project, December 1, 2019, https://heroinejourneys.com/heroines-journey/
Campbell, Joseph (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1st ed.). Princeton University Press. (2nd ed. 1968). quoted on Wikipedia, last edited on February 14, 2026 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
Gail Carriger, "Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Popp Culture Special Extras", Gail Carriger Bestselling Author, October 7, 2020, https://gailcarriger.com/2020/10/07/heroines-journey-special-extras/
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