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Last month, I used this space to do some pretty simple explanation of Joseph
Campbell's monomyth theory and discussed whether or not popular media characters
could be considered mythology. This month I'm going to discuss the order of
the hero's journey. Can you have a myth that doesn't start with the miraculous
birth and doesn't end in the rebirth? Campbell himself argued you could,
provided that enough of the steps were there. His examples used a lot of rather
esoteric elements of Indian mythology. In terms of American science fiction, a
good example is Benjamin Sisko.
The 'Death' of Ben Sisko
When we first meet Sisko in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode 'The
Emissary' he in battle with the Borg at Wolf 359. It's a flashback to what was
shown in Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes 'The Best of Both Worlds'. In
the conflagration, Sisko's wife is killed. Then the story jumps ahead in time a
few years. Ben becomes disconnected from his life. He no longer travels the
stars. The only thing keeping him going was the fact that someone was going to
have to take care of his son Jake. In the spiritual sense of the word, he is
a walking dead man. Then comes his reassignment to Deep Space Nine, a mission
he is not sure he wants.
'Encountering the Wise Man'
In Sisko's case, it is actually a wise woman. Shortly after arriving on the
station he goes down to Bajor and meets the Bajoran spiritual leader. She get
a psychic feeling from him and reveals to him some of the Bajoran legends of the
orbs. She hints that he has some connection to Bajor that he will never truly
accept. Sisko has no idea what she is talking about.
'Into the Dark Woods/ The Resurrection of Ben Sisko'
He does an examination of the orbs which leads him to discover the wormhole
and the non-linear aliens inside. There is forced to look through his life.
He re-meets his wife. He watches as an outside observer to some key moments of
his life. He attempts to teach these 'gods' about humanity through baseball.
He finally confronts his believed failures at Wolf 359. From there he finally
becomes willing to take the Deep Space Nine assignment and more importantly
chooses to embrace life.
The Call to Adventure
Sisko encounters many of the other great challenges before and after leaving
the wormhole. Just slightly prior to leaving for the wormhole he encounters his
dark reflection - Gul Dukat. This echo become more clear as the series goes on.
We are eventually introduced to Dukat's illegitimate daughter - who he had to
abandon while he was fleeing Bajor. His daughter was the sole survivor of an
attack, much as Jake was one of the few survivors of the Borg. The series
finale Dukat makes the leap into being the Emissary of Bajoran dark gods - The
Pah Wraiths. Thus making this connection about as obvious as they come.
As for the tricksters, Sisko dealt with plenty. There were the Wadi in the
episode 'Move Along Home' where the crew are force to play out a day as the
characters in what I can only assume was the Gamma Quadrant version of Dungeons
and Dragons. There were the aliens who granted wishes - including Sisko's dream
of meeting his favorite baseball player. He punched Q in the face. Not to
mention his awkward alliances with both Quark and Garak.
Fenna, who was a telepathically induced figment of an out of control telepath,
would count as the temptress. Sisko fell madly in love with this illusion.
This is almost certainly an intentional retelling of the story of Narcissus.
Cassidy Yates would not fit this archetype. She was more of Sisko's solemate.
She often helped guide him to make the correct decisions that he didn't want to
make.
As for monsters, the closest Sisko faced several. The obvious ones being: 1)
The Jem'Hedar. These soldiers of the Dominion were genetically engineered to
be smart enough to fly their ships and to kill. They really weren't capable of
much else. Save for one or two defective batches, the Jem'Hedar weren't much
on higher order thinking. 2) Those all too cute and surprisingly dangerous
iconic Star Trek menace - the tribbles. Sure, they seem harmless but they can
wipe out entire planetary populations in a manner of days.
The destroyers were obviously The Dominion and the Vorta, their right hands.
It's right in the name Dominion. They have no intention of open
communication. They want to control, conquer or destroy. They can rule by
dependence, as they do to the Jem'Hedar, by fear, as they do the Vorta, by
bribery as the did the Cardassians or by force as they attempted to do to the
Bajorans. Some might argue that the Dominion is more of a dark reflection of
the Federation as a whole however we are not looking at Star Trek as a whole.
We are examining the life of one man.
Several circumstances would probably make Kai Wynn the sin of father villain.
Or perhaps the sin of the mother. (We'll get to that later.) According to
Bajoran religious beliefs, the council of Vedeks, acting on the will of the
Prophets, choose the Kai. Thus, the prophets chose Adami Winn, a corrupt,
self-centered power hunger woman to lead the hearts and souls of Bajor. Where
her soul goes, thus goes all of Bajor. One of Sisko's final great tasks was to
expose her for what she was and purge Bajor of her influence. However he was
not the one to vanquish her. That would have been against his own new teachings
for the Bajoran people.
'Back to the Dark Woods'
Sisko is later forced back into the Dark Woods by the Pah Wraiths in the episode
'Far Beyond the Stars'. Sisko is thrown into the life of Ben Russell an
African American science fiction writer of the 1950s. At first he is unaware
Sisko ever existed. Then he encounters everyone he knows aboard Deep Space
Nine. He begins writing a story which then leads him to battle against 1950s
racial barriers and for his own sanity. He is left with a real conundrum
however - which is the insanity Ben Sisko or Ben Russell? Which is the dream -
the man or the butterfly? This experience, while emotionally maddening, did
prepare him for much worse that was to come. Again, as in most Dark Woods
stories, Sisko had a choice only this one was a choice to literally chooses ones
own reality.
'The Miraculous Birth'
During the final season of Deep Space Nine one of the largest questions of the
series was answered. Why was the Emissary to the Bajoran Gods not a Bajoran?
What is revealed was the Sisko's father had a previous wife no one knew about.
A woman who unbeknownst to him was possessed by one of the Bajoran Prophets.
She abandoned them shortly after Ben was born. Not many people know anyone who
has gone through that. The miraculous birth clearly holds, however instead of
coming at the beginning of the story it didn't come into play until very close
to the end.
Sisko The Ascendant
One of the steps I skipped last month - because it is not a part of every
mythos and really did not apply to one of the super heroes from my examples was
the ascendancy. This is the point where the hero crosses from mortality - not
into death but to Godhood. This is Hercules after the thirteen labors or Christ
after the resurrection. It is also Sisko upon defeating Gul Dukat and
banishing the pah wraiths. After a few brief moments to say goodbye, he is
given no choice but to enter the nonlinear realm of the Prophets and learn from
them.
As you can see many of the elements of mythos are present in the story of Deep
Space Nine. Story and plot are just weaves and patchworks and the order does
not have to be in a straightforward progression. Deep Space Nine's writers, at
least Ira Behr consciously made Sisko follow Campbell's playbook. Is this idea
of mythos unescapable? Can one write a monomyth and not know it? Join us for
next - and final course of Campbell's Soup where I try out it out on the works of
a willing test subject.
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