  Short Stories
This week: The Threshold Guardian Edited by: Shannon  
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We've all heard of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Christopher Vogler adapted the Hero's Journey into The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Vogler said, "The archetypes [the Hero, the Mentor, the Threshold Guardian, the Herald, the Shapeshifter, the Shadow, the Ally, and the Trickster] can be thought of as masks, worn by the characters temporarily as they are needed to advance a story" (24).
With the help of Vogler's The Writer's Journey, today I'd like to discuss The Threshold Guardian.
Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week. |
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"At each gateway to a new world there are powerful guardians at the threshold, placed to keep the unworthy from entering. They present a menacing face to the hero, but if properly understood, they can be overcome, bypassed, or even turned into allies." ~ Christopher Vogler in The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers.
When I read the chapter about Threshold Guardians in Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, the first thing I thought of was a very young and beautiful Jennifer Connelly as Sarah in one of my favorite movies of all time, Jim Henson's Labyrinth. In the film, Sarah's baby brother, Toby, is kidnapped by the Goblin King, Jareth (played by David Bowie), and secreted away in his castle. If Sarah can't solve the Labyrinth in 13 hours or less, The Goblin King will keep Toby forever. Throughout her quest to find her brother, Sarah encounters several Threshold Guardians, but these are my favorites:
"Testing of the hero is the primary dramatic function of the Threshold Guardian. When heroes confront one of these figures, they must solve a puzzle or pass a test" (Vogler 50). In the above example, the two doors are guarded by sentries who require the solving of a riddle before allowing anyone to pass. By correctly answering the riddle, Sarah will be granted access to the Goblin King's castle at the center of the Labyrinth. Answer incorrectly, however, and she will be subjected to (drum roll, please): "certain death". This is a perfect example of a Threshold Guardian.
"The energy of the Threshold Guardian may not be embodied as a character, but may be found as a prop, architectural feature, animal, or force of nature that blocks and tests the hero" (Vogler 52). We see Threshold Guardians every day, but rarely identify them as such: bouncers, doormen, college entrance exams, toll booths, security guards, privacy fences and perimeter walls, receptionists--anyone or anything that temporarily blocks the hero and/or challenges the hero, delaying her on her quest.
Your hero's immediate objective is to get from point A to point B--from the ordinary world to the special or new world. Who or what stands at your hero's gateway to adventure? Is it a person, place, or thing? How does your Threshold Guardian test or challenge your hero, and what must she do to prove herself worthy?
Thank you for reading, and please join me on March 26 when we discuss the next archetype, The Herald.
Works Cited:
 Vogler, Christopher. The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 1998. Print.
For those of you who haven't seen Labyrinth, I highly recommend watching it. Take notes; it's brilliant. How many archetypes can you identify? Can you recognize the distinct steps Sarah takes along her Hero's Journey (see Part 1 below)? Who is her Mentor? How many Threshold Guardians does she encounter? If you can't find the film on your cable provider or don't want to wait for the DVD to arrive from Netflix, no worries. Watch it instantly in its entirety here .
For other newsletters in this series, see the links below:
Part 1--"I Need a Hero"
Part 2--"M is for Mentor"
Part 3--"The Threshold Guardian"
Part 4--"The Herald"
Part 5--"The Shapeshifter"
Part 6--"The Shadow"
Part 7--"The Ally"
Part 8--"The Trickster" |
I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. Please do the authors the courtesy of reviewing the ones you read. Thank you, and have a great week!
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The following is in response to "M is for Mentor" :
dwarf2012 says, "This was a great newsletter. I like to think of myself as a mentor for therapy students and other newbies at the hospital. Your newsletter inspired me to try and write a modern mentor type story today. Thank you." Thank YOU! I'm glad you found the newsletter inspiring. 
An apple a day....  says, "Good message in this newsletter. A story has to be life-like to be interesting. We all wear many different hats at one time or other." Absolutely true! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. 
brom21  says, "In a way we can all be mentors. If mentoring means motivating and encouraging then that is something that can be applied by anyone. Plain reviewers are a good example. It’s interesting how you mentioned that the mentor can change his or her colors and turn evil or opposite. It reminds me of the third Star Wars segment where Darth Sidious starts off as a good friend of Anakin Skywalker and then dawns his true form of an evil, power-hungry master of his apprentice who the turns into Darth Vader. Ah, the classics. I am looking forward to the Threshold Guardian archetype very much. Thanks!" Wow, it's been so long since I've seen any of the Star Wars films; I don't remember that at all.  I guess I'll need to pop some corn and make a day of it sometimes soon.  Thank you for your thoughts, and thank you for reading!
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Short Stories: February 26, 2014 Issue [#6173]
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