Quest

Aquestis a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as aplotdevice inmythologyandfiction:a difficultjourneytowards a goal, oftensymbolicorallegorical.Tales of quests figure prominently in thefolkloreof every nation^[1]andethnic culture.Inliterature,the object of a quest requires great exertion on the part of thehero,who must overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel. The aspect of travel allows the storyteller to showcase exotic locations and cultures (an objective of the narrative, not of the character).^[2]The object of a quest may also havesupernaturalproperties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds and dimensions. Themoralof a quest tale often centers on the changedcharacterof the hero.

Quest objects

A Knight at the CrossroadsbyViktor Vasnetsov

The hero normally aims to obtain something or someone by the quest, and with this object to return home.^[3]The object can be something new, that fulfills a lack in their life, or something that was stolen away from them or someone with authority to dispatch them.^[4]

Sometimes the hero has no desire to return;Sir Galahad's quest for theHoly Grailis to find it, not return with it. A return may, indeed, be impossible:Aeneasquests for a homeland, having lostTroyat the beginning ofVirgil'sAeneid,and he does not return to Troy to re-found it but settles in Italy (to become an ancestor of the Romans).

If the hero does return after the culmination of the quest, they may facefalse heroeswho attempt to pass themselves off as them,^[5]or their initial response may be a rejection of that return, asJoseph Campbelldescribes in his critical analysis of quest literature,The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

If someone dispatches the hero on a quest, the overt reason may be false, with the dispatcher actually sending them on the difficult quest in hopes of their death in the attempt, or in order to remove them from the scene for a time, just as if the claim were sincere, except that the tale usually ends with the dispatcher being unmasked and punished.^[6]Stories with such false quest-objects include the legends ofJasonandPerseus,the fairy talesThe Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird,Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What,and the story ofBeren and LúthieninJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Silmarillion.

The quest object may, indeed, function only as a convenient reason for the hero's journey. Such objects are termedMacGuffins.When a hero is on a quest for several objects that are only a convenient reason for their journey, they are termed plot coupons.

Literary analysis

The quest, in the form of thehero's journey,plays a central role in the monomyth described byJoseph Campbell;the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land of adventures, tests, and magical rewards. Most times in a quest, the knight in shining armor wins the heart of a beautiful maiden/princess.

Historical examples

An early quest story tells the tale ofGilgamesh,who seeks the secret to eternal life after the death of his friendEnkidu.

Another ancient quest tale,Homer'sOdyssey,tells ofOdysseus,whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years beforeAthenapersuades theOlympiansto allow him to return home. Recovering theGolden Fleeceis the object of the travels ofJasonand theArgonautsin theArgonautica.Psyche,having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks byVenus,including a descent into theunderworld.

Manyfairy talesdepict the hero or heroine setting out on a quest, such as:

East of the Sun and West of the Moonwhere the heroine seeks her husband
The Seven Ravenswhere the heroine seeks her transformed brothers
The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
The Golden Birdwhere the prince sets out to find the golden bird for his father

Other characters may set out with no more definite aim than to "seek their fortune", or even be cast out instead of voluntarily leaving, but learn of something that could aid them along the way and so have their journey transformed from aimless wandering into a quest.^[7]Other characters can also set forth on quests — the hero's older brothers commonly do — but the hero is distinguished by their success.

Vision of the Holy Grail(1890) byWilliam Morris

Many medievalromancessent knights out on quests. The term "knight-errant"sprang from this, aserrantmeant "roving" or "wandering".Thomas Maloryincluded many inLe Morte d'Arthur.The most famous—perhaps in all of western literature—centers on the Holy Grail inArthurian legend.This story cycle recounts multiple quests, in multiple variants, telling stories both of the heroes who succeed, likePercival(inWolfram von Eschenbach'sParzival) or Sir Galahad (in theLancelot-Grail), and also the heroes who fail, likeSir Lancelot.This often sent them into a bewilderingforest.Despite many references to its pathlessness, the forest repeatedly confronts knights with forks and crossroads, of a labyrinthine complexity.^[8]The significance of their encounters is often explained to the knights—particularly those searching for the Holy Grail—byhermitsacting aswise old people.^[9]Still, despite their perils and chances of error, such forests, being the location where the knight can obtain the end of their quest, are places where the knights may become worthy; one romance has a maiden urging Sir Lancelot on his quest for the Holy Grail, "which quickens with life and greenness like the forest".^[10]

So consistently did knights quest thatMiguel de Cervantesset hisDon Quixoteon mock quests in a parody of chivalric tales. Nevertheless, while Don Quixote was a fool, he was and remains a hero of chivalry.

Modern literature

Quests continued in modern literature. Analysis can interpret many (perhaps most) stories as a quest in which the main character is seeking something that they desire,^[11]but the literal structure of a journey seeking something is, itself, still common. Quests often appear infantasyliterature,^[12]as inRasselasbySamuel Johnson,orThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz,whereDorothy,Scarecrow (Oz),theTin Woodman,and theCowardly Liongo on a quest for the way back to Kansas, brains, a heart, and courage respectively.^[13]Quests also play a major role inRick Riordan's fantasy books, among themPercy Jackson & the Olympians,The Heroes of Olympus,andThe Kane Chronicles,and indark fantasynovelThe TalismanbyStephen KingandPeter Straub.

A familiar modern literary quest isFrodo Baggins's quest to destroy theOne RinginThe Lord of the Rings.^[14]The One Ring, its baleful power, the difficult method which is the only way to destroy it, and the spiritual and psychological torture it wreaks on its bearer; J. R. R. Tolkien uses all these elements to tell a meaningful tale offriendshipand the inner struggle withtemptation,against a background ofepicand supernatural warfare.

The Catcher in the Ryeis often thought of as a quest plot, detailingHolden's search not for a tangible object, but for a sense of purpose or reason.

Some writers, however, may devise arbitrary quests for items without any importance beyond being the object of the quest. These items are known as MacGuffins, which is sometimes merely used to compare quests and is not always a derogatory term. Writers may also motivate characters to pursue these objects by meanings of aprophecythat decrees it, rather than have them discover that it could assist them, for reasons that are given.

References

^Josepha Sherman,Once upon a Galaxyp 142ISBN 0-87483-387-6
^Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 178-9,ISBN 0-7006-0832-X
^ W. H. Auden,"The Quest Hero",Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism,p35ISBN 0-618-42253-6
^Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p 36,ISBN 0-292-78376-0
^Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p60,ISBN 0-292-78376-0
^Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p77ISBN 0-292-78376-0
^Maria Tatar,The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales,p63,ISBN 0-691-06722-8
^Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 177,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0
^Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 179-81,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0
^Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 181,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0
^Robert McKee,Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting,p 196-7ISBN 0-06-039168-5
^John Grant and John Clute,The Encyclopedia of Fantasy,"Quest", p 796ISBN 0-312-19869-8
^L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn,The Annotated Wizard of Oz,p 126-7,ISBN 0-517-50086-8
^W. H. Auden,"The Quest Hero",Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism,p45ISBN 0-618-42253-6

[1] Josepha Sherman,Once upon a Galaxyp 142ISBN 0-87483-387-6

[2] Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 178-9,ISBN 0-7006-0832-X

[3] W. H. Auden,"The Quest Hero",Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism,p35ISBN 0-618-42253-6

[4] Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p 36,ISBN 0-292-78376-0

[5] Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p60,ISBN 0-292-78376-0

[6] Vladimir Propp,Morphology of the Folk Tale,p77ISBN 0-292-78376-0

[7] Maria Tatar,The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales,p63,ISBN 0-691-06722-8

[8] Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 177,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0

[9] Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 179-81,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0

[10] Penelope Reed Doob,The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages,p 181,ISBN 0-8014-8000-0

[11] Robert McKee,Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting,p 196-7ISBN 0-06-039168-5

[12] John Grant and John Clute,The Encyclopedia of Fantasy,"Quest", p 796ISBN 0-312-19869-8

[13] L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn,The Annotated Wizard of Oz,p 126-7,ISBN 0-517-50086-8

[14] W. H. Auden,"The Quest Hero",Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism,p45ISBN 0-618-42253-6

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]