An Analysis of Star Wars: A New Hope as a Hero's Journey

 Although the main storyline of Star Wars can be easily analyzed within the scope of the Hero’s Journey, it could also be argued that multiple Heroes’ Journeys occur in parallel within the film. For this blog, I’d like to focus on Han Solo’s journey as a side hero in the story. 

Han Solo’s hero’s journey starts off with a call to adventure, when Obi-Wan and Luke commission his ship, the Millenium Falcon, to smuggle them to Alderaan, while “avoiding any Imperial entanglements”. Perhaps not in immediate refusal to this call, but in hesitancy nonetheless, he charges them extra, 10,000 credits, for his trouble. His true refusal of the call comes later, once they arrive upon the scene of an obliterated Alderaan, and the Death Star. Captured inside the docking bay of the station, plotting their escape, Solo, annoyed, says “Whatever you say. I've done more than I bargained for on this trip already.” Here, he feels that he’s been cheated, that this was not the adventure he was initially consenting to, and so paradoxically, his refusal to the call of adventure happens part-way into his journey, after he’s accepted it. 

Han continues his annoyed rant for a few more lines when he learns from Luke that there’s a princess on board who has unimaginable wealth and might reward them if they rescue her. Somewhat reluctantly, Han agrees: “All right, kid. But you'd better be right about this.” I interpreted this as Han crossing his first threshold, crossing from work detailed in his contractual agreement with Obi-Wan and Luke, into an adventure on a whim: from the known, consensual, to the unknown, which he must go through whether he wants to or not. The threshold here, however, is a little blurry, as the reluctance in his tone shows that internally, he’s still partially refusing his call to this adventure, but doesn’t have a choice due to being held captive on the Death Star. From there, Han’s road of trials is fairly straightforward, as he goes through the same experiences as Luke does, going through the trash compactor, etc., so we’ll gloss over that step

Deep within the most secure part of the station, the detention cell, Han and the others meet Princess Leia and free her from her cell. Interestingly, I would argue that this scene is Han’s meeting with the goddess. Campbell writes about this step in his monomyth, “The ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome... This is the crisis at the nadir, the zenith, or at the uttermost edge of the earth, at the central point of the cosmos, in the tabernacle of the temple, or within the darkness of the deepest chamber of the heart.” This sense of being in the deepest, central part of the adventure is conveyed very well, by the set design within the area where the Princess is held, and by what we know through the characters’ dialog. In the detention block, we see a very dark ambiance, with a narrow, poorly lit corridor just outside the bank of detention cells. The walls, floor, and ceiling appear to be very dark, as opposed to the white/light gray colors in the rest of the interior set, making the whole area look claustrophobic. We also know this area is heavily guarded, a sort of “citadel” deep within the space station.

I interpreted Leia as the goddess because she effectively guides Han (and the others) to escape, and makes them seem incompetent relative to her quick thinking. Through her guidance Han was able to make it back to his ship, which I interpreted as Leia, the Goddess, giving to him what he would need to achieve his ultimate boon: joining Luke and Leia in assisting the rebellion against the Empire. A little outside the scope of “A New Hope”, but later in the Star Wars story Han and Leia end up married and have a child, so their relationship also fulfills the “unconditional love” aspect of the Hero’s Journey. 

The “Woman as Temptress” stage of the Hero’s Journey is perhaps the most clear-cut of the steps in Han’s journey. After they make their getaway from the Death Star, Han says to Leia “Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money!” He then leaves after receiving the promised payment, leaving Luke, Leia, and the other rebels to take down the Death Star alone. I interpreted the Temptress as the money, because he was tempted by his desire for material wealth, to escape with the money, drawing him away from his hero’s journey. Later in the film, when Luke is in trouble piloting his X-wing through the Death Star’s trenches, Han’s Millenium Falcon zooms into the scene to save the day. After their mission is done, back on the surface of Yavin 4, Luke exclaims: “I knew you'd come back! I just knew it!”, and Leia adds “Hey, I knew there was more to you than money.” We see that he eventually overcomes this temptation, the final test on the road of trials, to accomplish his Ultimate Boon, and aids Luke in destroying the Death Star