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#heroes journey
teathattast · 1 year
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odinsblog · 7 months
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In 4 minutes, Kurt Vonnegut explained stories better than anyone I’ve ever heard. “The shape of the curve is what matters. Not their origins.”
He plots stories on 2 axes: X: Time, Y: Good fortune / ill fortune. He goes on to say, “Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.”
Point 1: Stories have defined patterns.
In Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces, he makes the case for the Hero’s Journey. Since then, it’s become the most famous storytelling structure in the world. Vonnegut argued stories could be divided into 8 shapes.
Each story, he said, fit one of the 8.
Point 2: Vonnegut says, “Be a sadist.”
No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — so the reader may see what they're made of.” To see who your characters really are, you have to make them suffer. Only then does your audience have someone worth cheering for.
Point 3: End on a high note.
Vonnegut says, “It’s not accidental that the line ends up higher than where it began. This is encouraging to readers.” The way a story makes people feel when they finish is how they remember it. It’s called recency bias. Lift people up and they will love you.
“There are people. There are stories. The people think they shape the stories, but the reverse is often closer to the truth.” —Kurt Vonnegut
(source)
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em-dash-press · 11 months
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Story Arcs: 5 Types to Consider
Stories take readers on a journey. The details along the way differ, but many stories share similar arcs. You can study them specifically to improve your plot creation and development skills. Check out the five story arcs to consider whenever you get inspired.
1. Protagonist In a Hole
Readers often pick up books specifically because they want to read about a character who reaches rock bottom and finds their way out. It’s a story arc full of hope and encouragement. You can recreate that type of plot with the Protagonist In a Hole arc.
The protagonist should start in a happy place in their life. Things start to slowly unravel after your inciting incident. Maybe they make a series of bad choices or struggle with a lack of control over their life. After reaching their personal rock bottom, they have a heroic arc where their choices and efforts start making their life better.
At the end of this story arc, your protagonist will be in a happy place again or in a better situation than where they started.
Longer stories can also repeat the up-and-down arc, depending on how much you want to put your protagonist through for the sake of your theme.
Example: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (things always get much worse on the quest for clues before Sherlock puts them together and overcomes the mystery/antagonist)
2. Riches to Rags
Some readers also love story arcs where the protagonist starts in a moderately happy place and ends the book at their rock bottom moment. It often leads into a sequel or serves as a warning for readers that aligns with the story’s theme.
Note, this doesn’t always have to be about rich people losing their wealth. The “riches” can be a metaphor for whatever your protagonist values and ultimately loses.
Example: Cinderella, but without Prince Charming. If her story ended at midnight striking and Cinderella barely getting home in time, she would have lost her one chance at rising from her station in life. 
3. Rags to Riches
Stories can also have a singular rising arc as well. It begins with the protagonist in a situation they don’t want to be in and focuses on what they do to reach their idea of happiness. Some conflicts will happen along the way, but ultimately they accomplish their goal.
Again, this doesn’t have to be about accumulating wealth. “Riches” is whatever your protagonist defines as happiness or their life goal.
Example: Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth and Darcy end up married, so she gets the true love she wanted and happens to also achieve financial security for her family. She didn’t have to marry without love to provide for her family, ultimately achieving her biggest life goal.
4. Hero Storyline
Much like Rags to Riches, the Hero storyline starts in a low place for the protagonist. They’re fighting a losing battle or stuck in a place they don’t enjoy. A plot device helps them out of that place, but their ultimate weakness or a big mistake makes them crash back down again.
By embracing their most heroic action (usually involving selflessness or sacrifice), the protagonist ends up happier and better off than at the start of the story.
Example: Aladdin. He meets Genie and wins Jasmine over while gaining wealth that lifts him out of poverty. However, she finds out he’s been lying about his identity, so Aladdin loses everything. By focusing on his friends’ needs instead of his own, he reaches his ultimate happiness again to complete his hero’s arc.
5. Tragedy Always Strikes
The fall-rise-fall arc can be a bigger cautionary tale than Riches to Rags. It starts with the protagonist in a place where they’re unhappy. Things continue to worsen until hope appears. Maybe a new character or plot point makes life better for them. The protagonist experiences personal growth and gets so close to the freedom, redemption, or happiness they desire. Then a plot twist makes it come crashing down. The protagonist ends in a worse place than they started.
Example: Gone Girl. Nick Dunne is in an unhappy marriage. His wife goes missing and he’s the primary suspect for it. That’s his low point, but when the narrative switches and Amy Dunne is revealed to be doing everything on purpose, Nick gets a rising arc with the reader. They’re on his side against her scheming, but the story ends in an even worse place for him. She comes back and gains complete manipulative control over the relationship. He’s trapped with someone he hates and fears instead of someone he just dislikes.
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Sometimes it’s easier to write a great story by picking a story arc before you start writing. Consider the various arcs listed here to match them with a character or storyline you feel inspired to write. You’ll have built-in plot directions that make planning much easier.
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wr1t3w1tm3 · 3 months
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Look, I understand people are upset about the end of Will and Elizabeth's arcs in the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. I won't lie and say I didn't want to see some Will as the Dutchman's captain and some Pirate King Elizabeth BAMF on the high seas. I'm not even saying the writers are right... I'm just saying that the way they set up Will and Elizabeth's arc's, it makes sense.
They're tragic heroes: it's like John Proctor or Reverend Hale in the Crucible or Iron Man during the Infinity Saga or even Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus. They're heroes working towards a noble goal, but they either can't obtain it or when they can, it doesn't go according to plan, and they have to make some sacrifices.
For Elizabeth it's a little more obvious. She's the girl who's trapped in her social status. In the first movie, her corset, a very real symbol of her status, literally suffocates her. It nearly kills her. Only once she sees the world of piracy and gets swept up in that world and allows herself to be changed by it does she see any smattering of freedom. Her whole goal is to get freedom, for her people (Port Royal) and her love (Will) in CotBP, even at the price of her own freedom (agreeing to marry Norrington if he saved Will). In DMC it's for herself (literally), Will again, and her father. That whole movie she is constantly fighting to keep herself and Will out of prison and danger. In AWE, she's fighting for her own freedom at times, but she soon finds herself the harbinger of freedom for a new golden age of piracy against Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Co, who in the Pirates universe are canonically slave runners. She is searching for freedom in a very wide scope.
For Will, it's a little less obvious. He is also striving for freedom, but often not his own. He fights to help free Elizabeth during CotBP, and in DMC he's literally fighting to keep his own freedom and win the freedom of Elizabeth. Even when that means turning in a (sort of) friend (Jack). When he meets his father in DMC, his mission of freedom for those he loves expands in two parallel directions, Bootstrap tells Elizabeth as much in the brig of the Dutchman in AWE. The director and writers of AWE made that very clear in Elizabeth and Will's direction. One of my biggest pet peeves with that movie is the lack of a relationship between Will and Elizabeth, but it does make sense. It demonstrates Will's dilemma. His search for freedom is much more tangible, and on a very narrow scope. It also demonstrates Elizabeth's dilemma, where she feels that the freedom Will craves for his father will separate them for good. So, she turns to piracy, because freedom is all she has left by act II of AWE.
Both are searching for freedom, but both are tied down by duty. Elizabeth becomes the Pirate King, Will the Captain of the Dutchman. Both bound by their own duty, although the only duty we see them both bound too tangibly is Will's. Isn't it ironic that in the end, the choice to kill Davy Jones isn't Will's? Sure, it was his intention, but Jack wrapped his hand around the knife and dropped the hand that felled the heart. Jack - the pirate - an embodiment of freedom for both characters in CotBP (he saves Elizabeth from her corset and is the inciting incident into Will beginning his quest for Elizabeth) is the one who chains them to Will's curse? Narratively, it makes sense. Elizabeth has just become the free-est we've seen her in any of the movies (and I will die on this hill) and Will's only just literally been freed from the clutches of the EICo. And even if you did argue that Elizabeth still had her freedom as Pirate King, it can be easily argued that she lost her freedom the day she decided to keep and raise Henry. Both of them end up chained by Will's curse - one to land, one to the sea. All on their search for freedom. And Jack, that symbol of freedom (or rather, a symbol of piracy that for both characters ends up being a symbol of freedom), is the one who chains them to land or sea.
Now I am all for Henry, I actually think he had some great potential pre-Deppo-osition trial, and I think it speaks to Elizabeth's character that she was willing to wait and stayed on land for her child (who she easily could've taken her anger out on, though that doesn't appear to be the case). It can even be argued she stayed on land for Will to, as he gave her his heart to guard, a very fragile heart that if stabbed, ended her husband (this is one of the final demonstrations of their mended relationship, but that's a different topic for another time). Will got a very short stick in this fight, but Elizabeth got an equally short, if not shorter stick. Chained to the sea, destined to see your wife a max of seven more days before her death, and the reverse true for Elizabeth, instead she is arguably forced by society to keep and raise the boy who reminds her of the husband she'll never be sure she'll see again.
That's why William and Elizabeth Turner - The Captain of the Flying Dutchman and the Pirate King - are tragic heroes. In striving for freedom, they became trapped by duties, obligations, and burdens that they didn't even get a say in. In the end, not every happy ending is a good ending. And while the original Pirates trilogy didn't have a happy ending, it had a good one, as far as the narrative was concerned (Do I like this ending? Yes. Personally, I think it works and it gives me that kind-of-icky-kind-of-satisfying pit in my stomach that Hocus Pocus did back when there wasn't a sequel. Maybe it's not the ending everyone wanted, but for the story being told, it's the right one).
Thanks for coming to my little rant! I used to love doing these literary analysis essays in English my junior and senior years of high school. Over analyzing media, especially film and tv, is something I quiet enjoy. Plus, I might do a foray into video essays one day, so I figured I could use some practice. This is something that's been bouncing around in my head since I first watched AWE. The original Pirates Trilogy is just so good at symbolism, I'll probably put more stuff out here eventually raving about it. For now though, this is it.
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env0writes · 3 months
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Deciding Embers Vol.4, 12.25.23 “Journey's End: Epilogue”
After the journey, the struggle, the triumph The conquest, the plummet, the doubt, and The victory and sacrifice painfully made What remains Of the salted earth Soil bereft of life To be sung, back to life Will there be songs and ballads Is it such a deed, heroic? To love the land that raised you? Taking tender day by day Vaingloriously working When all glory and gain is gone Will you work the land with me In tired hands and toiled hours spent Doing what it takes in dreary hours spent Returning green To places best painted green The world’s color The secondary color of the world After wine-dark seas aquamarine-blue hue When the conquerors role is played Will you be the farmer The humble and honest The tiller of soiler and sower of seeds No conquests of violence or sex to be had There is no glory greater than your own satisfaction Have you done right? Have you done What must be done There will be heroes Of myth and of legend But if you do not sow the seeds There will be no land to overrun with evil will With intent malicious not yet conquered by good deeds Will you endure the years after that grand revolution To create the world once sung of Create the world once promised What revolution so grand As years given to harvest Sewn and sown to sweetly reaped Sweeped into the margins Of greater stories missing grand import
@env0writes C.Buck   Ko-Fi & Venmo: @Zenv0 Support Your Local Artist!   Photo by @mynamemeanscloud
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fallensfandomblog · 1 year
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All those broken training dummies prepared him for this.
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thehat-taheht · 4 months
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Boxers of Yesterday Today and Tomorrow
Storytelling in Sports
A normal person otherwise devoid of any specific purpose finds their raison dêtre in training for the martial arts.
This single sentence storyline is a fundamental story type in many Asian stories. You find it in Chinese Shaolin Temple epics, Japanese and Chinese rival school epics, Thai action films, Spanish and French sword-fighting fictions, and even American dramas and comedies. Rocky is the most notable example of an American version of this story type. In every example, the storytelling rarely focuses on the action and instead puts the onus on the relationships the character has with the world.
The most notable Japanese examples are Samurai films and combat/sports manga. In most of these examples the protagonist is relatively normal, allowing the audience to relate to them. Then the narrative introduces a reason for the character to evolve during exposition. The main character then is introduced to a mentor, not unlike Joseph Cambell’s example path of the Hero’s Journey. In sports narratives this mentor is usually in the form of a coach or trainer and they are uplifted from normal person to a superior athlete.
In sports manga and other sports fiction, the answer to all problems is always the same: Training.
Discipline provides confidence and training provides strength. Both of these are held together with ‘guts’ or determination. The athletic hero is confronted with stronger and stronger opponents and continues to train until he can defeat them. This type of ‘superiority through training and determination’ is a cornerstone of most Japanese stories. Many deal with an argument between skill and talent as well. In most cases learned skill defeats natural-born talent after enough training has occurred.
The lessons taught in these stories are almost always the same:
Nothing good is achieved without effort
Trust your friends and family
Strength is the product of discipline
Determination will give you victory
In this essay I will be focusing on three Boxing stories from Japanese culture. We will explore their meanings and narratives, the lessons taught, and the importance of their stories on culture.
Joe Learns to Box: Yesterday’s Tomorrow
Pugilism has a long history of nobility and violence. Boxing is enjoyed the world over as the world’s most basic of martial arts. Everyone can do it, but few can master it. Despite the sport’s organization being mostly from a European base, the United States has become the de facto home of the sport. It spread across the world and entered Japan in 1854 and became popular despite Japan’s dominance in the martial arts world.
Post World War II anti-American sentiment led to a lull in the sport, but boxing matches continued. As Japanese classical art like Emakimono evolved into Manga, artists struggled for meaning in a post nuclear world. One particular author found this meaning in the story of a prize fighter from the slums of Tokyo. Asao Takamori under the pen name Ikki Kajiwara teamed up with the artist Tetsuya Chiba to create their seminal work, Ashita no Joe. The story captured the spirit of Japanese determination and also their desperation in the face of their defeat of WW II and the subsequent reconstruction period. Joe’s redemption and anger belonged to the youth of the day and inspired other authors, artists, and aspiring boxers to try their best to grow and learn what it means to be strong.
Using this story as a lens to view other anime and manga you can see its influence everywhere you look, from popular to obscure. Notably Takamori’s story inspired a renaissance of boxing fandom in the late 1970’s. Despite there being several titles going to Featherweight and Welterweight champions in Japan during the time, boxing was relatively unpopular due to its association with the US. Ashita no Joe, or “Tomorrow’s Joe” captured a moment and helped to move its fans forwards toward a brighter tomorrow.
The titular character Joe Yabuki, is a tough-as-nails drifter that wanders into a shantytown and runs into an alcoholic boxing trainer, who sees a bright future hiding inside the brash youth and attempts to coax it out of him. Because of his terrible attitude and criminal behavior he is instead put in jail. Joe redeems himself (somewhat at least) and pushes himself to become a professional boxer. His story can be seen as a successful transition from an economic outcast into a functional member of society. In this case, society can be said to be the true villain of the story. Joe has either rejected society or society has rejected him, he has either turned to violence or been rejected due to his reliance on violence to solve his problems. Similar story origins can be found in gangster movies but also in stories like Rambo: Firstblood.
Classic and contemporary gangster films have characters that as children are shown a violent way of life, either by design or necessity. These children then grow into violent adults, full of anger and contempt for society and view the world as a thing to be possessed or conquered. Society ultimately rejects them for their violent and destructive natures. Stories like Rambo on the other hand, have a well liked child grow into a life of violence for a noble cause, but are ultimately unable to separate this violence from their personality. They eventually reject society as they cannot find a place and the violence in them serves no purpose.
Yabuki is a bit of a mystery as we have no context to put him in, but as with both other character types, his violence serves no purpose. He is defined by his violence and it colors all of his actions towards others. Joe is a fundamentally unlikable character, full of anger, bitterness, and child-like pettiness. His relationship with those that eventually come to care about him serves to instill societal norms in him in an attempt to turn him into a better person.
Instead of society itself, I propose that poverty is the real enemy of Joe and his friends. Every day is a struggle for all of them in San��ya. Economic disparity is on parade throughout the narrative, from the driftwood houses along the Namida Bashi (Bridge of Tears) to the sky scrapers and mansions of the mega-wealthy. Joe is carted around the world boxing in various countries, but he never really grows out of the slums in his mind. Joe is obviously a victim of his own stubbornness, but he was made that way because of lack of economic opportunity. This is one of the primary stumbling blocks on display in gangster stories, but instead of becoming an enforcer and earning a living in the underworld, Joe becomes a homeless wanderer, evoking the Japanese concept of a Ronin. A skilled fighter, disgraced and masterless but clinging on to his own moral code as he wanders from town to town.
While Joe is a product of his time, his story is no less poignant for modern audiences. I enjoy Ashita no Joe for a variety of reasons, but one of the best is its lack of focus on form. Chiba’s art is almost romantic with emphasis on Joe’s inability to care about the world, and Takamori’s rambling narrative is like a daydream at times with no obvious focus or form. If I had to compare it to music, Joe’s story is like a free form jazz with some repeating phrases and a theme, but mostly feels disorganized and yet is familiar. Joe has emblazoned himself into the minds and hearts of Japanese artists and athletes for decades and will continue to guide hearts, minds, and fists for decades to come.
Ippo Steps into the Ring: Yesterday’s Today
In sharp contrast to the unlikable character study of Joe Yabuki, we now come to possibly the most likable character in all of Japanese sports manga. Makunouchi Ippo, the titular character of Hajime no Ippo, has a boundless optimism that is almost never extinguished and his ability to win through sheer will power is incredibly inspirational. When I meet people that do not watch any anime or read manga and they ask me what to start with, Ippo’s story is always close to the top of the list. Of the three stories explored in this work, Ippo is my favorite. I have watched Ippo's road to fight against Date Eji more times that I can remember.
As with Joe, Ippo is a product of his environment and time. He is an example of modern boxing theory and technique tempered with lessons from the past. The origins of boxing are represented by the retired boxers in the narrative and the techniques of famous modern era boxers are on display in this love letter to obscure boxing styles. Ippo is the son of a fishing boat captain whose good naturedness causes him to forgo friendships and childhood distractions to help his mother operate the fishing boat business that supports them after his father's death. He is bullied and taunted until a chance encounter with a professional boxer saves him from a group of wannabe hoodlums underneath a bridge. Ippo awakens to find himself in the world of boxing and puts all of his considerable determination into making himself a professional licensed boxer. He manages this and continues to help his mother without complaining or losing his intoxicating optimism.
Makunouchi is meant to be a representation of the perfect son in Japanese culture. He is mannered, self-effacing, and always does the right thing. Conceptually, Ippo is almost as far as possible from Joe as a character. The world that Ippo exists in is also just as opposed to Joe’s world. While economics do factor into the narrative a bit, it is not a focus of the story. In this world the common everyday experience of Japan’s average citizen is on display. The manga is in full swing with shonen style comedy and slice of life stories, Ippo’s life is beset with heartache, rivals, highschool life, and bad dating advice.
The thing that really sets Ippo apart is the illustration of effort and power in the art of the near constant boxing and sparring matches. Although the art is a bit dated, it still communicates emotion and drama in a way that no other sports show has ever done in my opinion. Some of the later fights continue to give me chills and despite knowing the outcome of every fight, I still find myself cheering on Ippo. The color palette for everyday life is somewhat subdued but still contains a range of colors, but the fights are incredibly bright with flashes and huge blast lines. Usually this style of art would be a turn off for me in other mediums, but somehow Hajime no Ippo gets away with it.
If Joe’s story is Jazz, then Ippo is a Rock Ballad. Guitars scream at times, but other times the story is whimsical or romantic. George Morikawa’s skillful blend of emotions bring you through a chord progression of inspiring notes building to larger than life crescendos, that crash down upon you in a hail of pummeling fists, and knock you out with the power solos that are the crowd pumping championship matches. The drama conveyed in Takamura’s face while he attempts to control himself from opening a refrigerator while dieting to make weight, and the joyful head nod that Ippo gives when he defeats the first villain of the show are highlights that play on an loop in my mind drenched in squealing guitar riffs and the roar of the crowd.
One of the craziest things about watching the show for me is the effect it has on my exercise habits. If I ever want to get motivated to work out, I put on the first season of Ippo. Just as Ashita no Joe’s world is meant to capture the desperation of the downtrodden and the realism of his world, Hajime no Ippo seems to look at the world through Ippo’s guileless naivete. Ippo’s world is both very realistic and simultaneously extremely exaggerated. This offputting juxtaposition is difficult to navigate at times when you are wondering what is real and what is imagination.
Junkyard Dog Bites Mankind: Today’s Tomorrow
When writing about the future one of the things you have to ask yourself is ‘what will X be like in the future?’ Yō Moriyama, Katsuhiko Manabe, and Kensaku Kojima asked themselves, what would boxing be like in the future? How would people fight in the age of machines and artificial intelligence? Gearless Joe is the answer, or rather the inverse of the answer as he is essentially an anti-hero forgoing the future methods of robotic-assisted carnage, for old fashioned human-powered beatdowns.
If Hajime no Ippo is Classic Rock and Ashita no Joe is Jazz, then Megalobox is Industrial HipHop. It is hard, but rhythmic, artistic and catchy. By far the most polished of the 3 examples, it is an extremely fun watch and is effectively a stylized re-telling of Ashita no Joe. The nameless protagonist chooses the moniker ‘Joe’ meaning a man with no real name, but also an obligatory hat-tip to the source material that inspired them. Originally self-named ‘Junk Dog’ is employed to fight in fixed matches in the underworld that our original Joe eschewed. He feels trapped by his life and while attempting to force change, ends up essentially trapping himself even worse. Through a twist of fate, he is forced into the world of professional legitimate boxing in which if he loses he will die. In this brutal and vicious dog-eat-dog world, Gearless Joe shines as a likable anti-hero.
Unlike Ashita no Joe, society is not the big bad guy. There are of course real bad guys in Megalobox in the form of gangsters and fixers and hustlers, but the true villain in the story is greed. The story paints a nasty picture of corruption in the slums and then opens up the world into the bright lights of the legitimate world. With every turn you see another sign of economic elitism, not the least of which is Joe’s lack of personal identity. He is a non-person in the society and cannot even be allowed into the city, there is of course a blackmarket answer for everything and Gearless is allowed to come into the futuristic world of the Megalonia tournament and fight for his life.
His trainer sets up their gym under a bridge bearing more than a passing likeness to the same Bridge of Tears from Ashita no Joe. His team and Gearless Joe are the only desperate ones in the narrative, so unlike the feeling of inclusivity that Yabuki’s gang felt, Gearless Joe feels isolated.
An Abridged Story of A Bridge: Tears to Cheers to Fears
Dieting and sweat, training and bruises, bright lights and cheering crowds. There are a lot of things that the stories share due to the sheer concept of boxing, but one thing that stands out the most to me about the similarities is the geography. Ashita no Joe and Hajime no Ippo canonically occur in Tokyo whereas Megalobox occurs in the fictional ‘Administrative Zone’, but a common point with all stories is their reliance on a single feature of the landscape, a bridge. The bridge in Ashita no Joe is a famous one called Namida Bashi or the Bridge of Tears. It got this name due to the requirement that future prisoners of Kozukahara penitentiary would have to say their goodbyes to their loved ones on that bridge as you had to cross the Omoigawa river to get to the prison. The river was moved and the bridge doesn’t exist anymore, but in its time it was a symbol of loss and heartache and of loss of agency. It was no small symbolism for Joe’s trainer Danpei to open his ramshackle gym under the bridge. Joe’s relatively brief stint in prison and their constant struggle for survival, coupled with Joe’s incessant need to cause trouble always lead to loss, heartache, and usually a loss of agency. Many of Ashita no Joe’s most important moments occur in and around the bridge, borrowing context from the bridge’s reputation. Each of these events is usually a precursor to a major event in the context of Joe Yabuki.
Even though the bridge is now gone, the area around the bridge’s location is close to the Tiato and Arakawa districts that have several rivers that run through them with modern bridges that look remarkably like the one that serves as a setting for many of the critical plot turns in Hajime no Ippo. We see the entire storyline of Ippo’s relationship with Umezawa (Ippo’s school bully that is turned into his greatest fan) unfold under and around the bridge. Ippo manages to catch the 10 leaves that teach him how to jab next to the bridge, and several key conversations and character introductions are in and around the canal next to the bridge. I don’t feel that this use of the canal next to this particular bridge is random and suspect that if it isn’t just an icon from the author’s youth, it is an homage to Ashita no Joe’s use of the Bridge of Tears.
Ippo’s story doesn’t revolve around the same themes, so the bridge being similar but different is important in my mind. Being under the bridge, where Joe and Danpei were, is when Ippo is at his weakest and most vulnerable. The wise tree nearby becomes his first teacher and Ippo learns that he can grow stronger through dedication and training. This causes the bridge to become a symbol for growth and hope for a better tomorrow for Ippo. Even Umezawa crosses the bridge on his way to become a better person. Like Ippo is the inverse of Joe, the bridge in Hajime no Ippo is the inverse of the Namida Bashi. Everytime a character crosses the bridge they are stronger than they were before.
Megalobox as a revamp of Ashita no Joe also has a bridge, and of course they have their ‘gym’ underneath it. The symbolism in Megalobox is missing however and the bridge takes on a different meaning. Joe Yabuki and his trainer Danpei are poor in a community of poor people and they have a community to help them make their gym a home. Gearless Joe and Gansaku Nanbu have no such community to help them and must toil essentially on their own. The bridge and the river are essentially signs of the reality of illegal squatting, evidence that they do not belong in the world they find themselves in. As Gearless Joe and Nanbu rock the boat in entirely different ways than Joe Yabuki, death at the hands of the corruption of the city is their motivating factor instead of prison and poverty. The bridge over their heads instead becomes a symbol of cover, of hiding in plain sight. Not unlike the nameless boxer’s decision to choose the anonymous name of ‘Joe’.
To my reckoning there are a lot of examples of symbolism in all three stories, but none are shared so visibly and with as great an impact as the bridges over the heads of heroes while they train and live life outside the ring. Plans are formed, strategies devised, and history is made under these bridges, while clueless people stroll above them not knowing what extreme determination and strength of will lies beneath.
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nm-mattuz · 5 months
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I have done the achieving of greatness.
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caninemotiff · 1 year
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Reluctant heroes running from their fate only to accidentally stumble right into it in the process because it was always going to happen, it's in their very nature, my beloved
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enchantingepics · 6 days
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Story Prompt 100
Amidst the ruins of a once-grand kingdom, a figure stood tall, surveying the devastation below. The flames licked at the remnants of civilization, casting an eerie glow upon the scene. The one responsible for this chaos, the one they called the villain, reveled in the destruction that lay in their wake.
Down below, amidst the chaos, a lone figure struggled to rise. The hero, battered and bloodied, yet still defiant, met the villain's gaze with a mixture of defiance and resignation. The weight of their countless battles hung heavy between them.
With a twisted grin, the villain approached, their steps deliberate and filled with malice. They raised their sword, not to strike, but to mockingly lift the hero's chin, forcing them to meet their gaze.
"You see, it's not about good or evil," the villain remarked, their voice dripping with disdain. "It's about power. And I have all the power now."
The hero, barely able to speak through the pain, spat out words of defiance. "You're nothing but a monster," they hissed, their voice barely a whisper amidst the chaos.
The villain's laughter echoed across the desolate landscape, a sound devoid of remorse or mercy. "Monster, perhaps," they conceded, their eyes gleaming with a twisted sense of satisfaction. "But a necessary one."
As memories of past betrayals and conflicts flooded the hero's mind, the realization of their own sins washed over them like a tidal wave. Regret mingled with anger, a bitter taste that soured the hero's resolve.
In a final, desperate attempt to defy their fate, the hero uttered a plea for redemption. "Please," they whispered, their voice barely audible above the roar of the flames. "Forgive me."
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Did Heroes Journey with a different pairing this time. Christmas Edelthea gets to go this time.
3 stars version of new event
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They just push the walls back themselves.
4 Star
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Edelgard hits the switch again in a panic and they just go on their merry way.
5 star
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They just play with the switch like
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While I understand the urge to wanna play with switches, I would just get the hell out of there.
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dragonyinyang12 · 3 months
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Journeying with some of my favorite dragons! Making sure they have lots of treasure for their hoards! Not entirely sure why anyone would want to kidnap princesses, but cats are close enough and much cuter. I'm sure they wouldn't mind adding some flora to their lairs either!
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mise-n-abyme · 2 years
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"A warrior is not one which dies mindlessly for an armada; the misconception of such archetype is often depicted as a mindless brute upon many movies and tv shows. A warrior is one which does indeed die for an armada, but one of their own. The warrior is one who overcomes tribulation, to live through the battle rather than die for the battle, as the greatest of all warriors live to fight the limitations of their own mind, heart, and soul. There are many casualties in war; many of which become defeated before entering the battlefield, it is through the midst of war itself where the warrior exceeds in gaining ones strength, as it is not for blood which one is claimed victorious, it is the war within themselves.
War is not tiring for the warrior; but instead is the fuel for one's fire. A warrior dies with a bleeding heart of passion; to be all of what they came to be—to be resurrected among the ashes, one which subdues infamy for the continuation of what is Just. Warriors are not savages, as they live by a strict code of brotherhood, one owned by them themselves and not by another.
A warrior recognizes another by their heart of passion, there is no code to follow nor break between two warriors; instead there is mutual trust and respect they give to one another, for they trust everyone will hold their own instinctual code of honor within themselves, no two warriors are alike when speaking of their path, yet the way in which a warrior gets to their destination is of the same pillars of strength. Warriors lift each other up when they see another falling, for they want them reach their destiny, a fellow warrior knows a brother or sister is an extension of themself within the abyss of discovery."
~Mise-n-abyme
|Artwork: 'Angel Michael Slays The Dragon' –Mærten de Vos, 1584
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sevarix-blogs · 1 year
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yuri is impressed with byleth's ability to eat 10 meals in a row
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Sigh…
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thealmightyemprex · 1 year
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SO I have a question fore everyone,specially my fantasy loving mutuals
Do you know of Joseph Campbells monomyth/heroes journey and if so how do you feel about it
What is your favorite take on the Heroes Journey ?
@the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @goodanswerfoxmonster @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @ariel-seagull-wings @angelixgutz @amalthea9
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