Reading
This portion of the Hero’s Journey talks about the many characters that a hero may meet as he goes along his journey. The characters all play a significant role in forming the character into the person that they become in the conclusion of the story. Each character, the mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shape-shifter, ally, and trickster all take a part in all stories. As the hero meets each of these archetypes he slightly changes and takes into account the role that each is playing in the pursuance of the goal, some may be trying to take him away from his goal while others such as the mentor may be trying to help pursue the goal. The mentor plays a critical role in every story, and can be very different from what one may think a mentor should be or the classic mentor is.

Reflection
The hero and the mentor go hand in hand in every story, which is why they are written one after the other in the text. The hero usually starts out lost in every story, whether it be physically or emotionally. Sometimes he has a calling that he must go to or something he must pursue and the mentor usually helps the hero toward this goal. There are many types of mentors but in all stories the mentor no matter what shape of form taken has a helping quality that pushes the hero towards the goal. The mentor represents the whole self within us, and in all cases whether the mentor takes form within the characters helps the hero represent his or her whole self.

Reaction
I have done this sort of reading and analyzing since highschool and throughout western heritage but I still have found examples of archetypes I have not seen in the books and stories I have read and heard. Hero’s and mentors obviously go together and everyone needs some sort of mentor or multiple mentors throughout their lives to mold them into the person they turn out to be. Most mentors in real life are more role models that shape a person into who they are. In most classic stories the mentor is someone who guides the character along a course to their goal. It is interesting and something I had not thought about as having a bad mentor, or someone who teaches you out of something they have done poorly or done bad, in this case a mentor could be evil or a bad character in the story as long as it sets the hero on his way to a goal.