The Hero's Journey vs. The Everyday Hero (updated)
Heroism is perhaps THE trademark of adventure stories. From the original The Odyssey, fantasy adventures like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, prophetic journeys like Dune and The New Testament of the Bible, and the comic book marvels of Superman and Batman, heroes are found in all shapes and sizes. Our heroes are pretty straightforwardly and demonstrably defined by the selfless good they do in the world around them. But past what makes a hero and what motivates a hero is that intrinsic question: what is that world that they are saving?
Gotham city is as inherent to any Batman story as is the cowled crusader himself. Batman typically focuses his hero duties very much on his hometown.
Meanwhile, the cast of The Lord of the Rings travels all the way across Middle Earth. This journey introduces them to a multitude of characters and communities across the world, as they shift setting constantly in the midst of pursuit of their ultimate quest.
There are two types of heroes to look into here: The Hero on a Journey, and The Everyday Hero. What is the difference between the hero who journeys across the world to slay the big bad and the hero who stays at home and daily slays the little bads in his own backyard?
(000)
The two heroes which will embody the Hero's Journey are Ash from Pokemon: Indigo League ("Pokemon (1997)", 1997-1999) and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender ("Avatar," 2005-2008). And The Everyday Hero will be exemplified by Ash in Pokemon: Sun&Moon (2016-present) and Korra in The Legend of Korra (2012-2014).
Pokemon: Indigo League follows the story of Ash and companions Misty, Brock, and Pikachu on Pokemon Trainer Ash’s journey across the Kanto region to collect all 8 Pokemon gym badges and challenge the Pokemon League and become Pokemon Master.
Avatar: The Last Airbender follows the story of Aang and Team Avatar across the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation to train Aang in mastery of all four elements and ultimately defeat Fire Lord Ozai and the imperial Fire Nation to bring peace and spiritual balance to the world.
Pokemon: Sun & Moon follows the story of Ash as he visits the Pokemon School in the Alola region, enrolls, and engages in the Island Challenges in his continuing quest to become Pokemon Master.
The Legend of Korra, for the most part, follows the story of Korra and Team Avatar in Republic City as she enacts her role as Avatar to prevent the world from falling out of balance through her engagement with politics, the spirit world, and international conflicts.
(001)
It is important to begin with how each type of hero is being identified. I will point out two features here that are generally clear in delineating between Hero on a Journey and Everyday Hero.
The incidental specifics of each story differ. For example, in Pokemon (1997), Ash and his friends are traveling across the world, and there is a new locale almost every episode. In Pokemon: Sun&Moon, Ash settles on Melemele Island and attends Pokemon School every day, only occasionally leaving his regular spot for excursions.
The specifics also differ with regards to the story within the setting. For example, in Avatar, at the onset Aang only has access to airbending, and he spends the whole of the show finding teachers and mastering the other three elements, as well as the Avatar State. The Legend of Korra opens with Korra already having mastery over three elements with the fourth and the Avatar State following by season 2.
(002)
It is worthwhile to delve into what characterizes the opposing settings of The Hero's Journey and the Everyday Hero. Drawing from the original, The Odyssey, The Hero's Journey takes place episodically cross between different "islands" which each feature their own systemic problems, which the hero must either fix or escape from while growing past his own mirrored shortcomings. Whereas, the Everyday Hero resides in a city of integrated communities, all of which is laid before them and accessible to them at once.
Avatar is a prime example for these isolated communities. The story takes place in a war-torn world and, by political, military, and geographical borders, the heroes must proceed through the world linearly from town to town and community to community, resting only briefly. War is also important for thematically linking the systemic problems across all the towns in this world. Aang and Team Avatar encounter towns of extremists and xenophobes, imperialist colonies and regressive tribalists, and even a capital city modeled after Communist China, all accentuated in the midst of war. It is arguable that, in this way, "war" is inherent to the setting of The Hero's Journey.
The Legend of Korra focuses in on Republic City. From the get-go, Korra encounters gang violence and political corruption, revolutionaries and isolationists, capitalism and progressivism. "From the get-go" refers to the first episode, as well as practically every subsequent episode afterwards. When Korra goes to settle in Republic City and Ash on Melemele, their whole world is before them at once, and it is the purpose of each episode to focus in on specific communities and conflicts. One phenomenon of Korra is her involvement in Republic City politics, whether with Tarrlok, Tenzin, and the council, or President Raiko. Because of a single-city-setting and the problem-solving quest of a hero, it is arguable that politics are inherent to the setting of the Everyday Hero.
(003)
Each hero surrounds himself with a team, friends, allies, companions in their story. There supporting characters are key to both the world and to the hero's arc itself. But there is a key difference between the Hero on a Journey and the Everyday Hero's companions.
Pokemon (1997) highlights Ash meeting Pikachu, Misty, and Brock and how it comes that they leave their homes to join Ash on his journey. His allies are travelers just like him, which means that they are also visitors to each new town they enter. They are trailblazers and history-makers.
Pokemon: Sun&Moon features Ash's enrollment in the Pokemon Academy and his induction into the class of students who become his friends and allies. Ash is a visitor, but Lillie, Lana, Kiawe, Mallow, and Sophocles are all residents of Melemele Island, citizens of the setting whose history is intrinsic to the setting. Additionally, this means that the supporting cast has outside friends and relationships and access or denial to resources within the city that Ash does not. And it is a part of Ash's story to explore their histories.
(004a)
The two heroes diverge a bit more sharply when it comes to the conflicts that define their stories, specifically the villains behind those conflicts. The baddies can be boxed into two categories in both stories, recurring villains and overarching villains.
Aang's Team Avatar faces episodic conflicts fueled by the chase of Zuko and, later, Azula and her allies, Mai and Ty Lee. While they are enemies of Aang and his friends, Zuko and Azula are causing real damage to the world around our hero, burning down villages and drilling through city walls. And the Hero on a Journey is forced to protect the towns he visits from these recurring threats, which makes his journey and conflicts all the more pressing. This is the same case for Ash and his fight with Team Rocket's Jesse, James, and Meowth and their Pokemon-thieving exploits.
Korra's Team Avatar is faced with episodic villains like Councilman Tarrlok and President Raiko and business-tycoon Varrick. These types of enemies act as obstacles barring Korra from being a hero, or manipulative influences, or just as kidnappers. But apart from kidnapping, their activities are not nefarious enough to make their episodic misdeeds into nail-bitingly tense drama. It may be better to call then "annoyances." There's also the unique situation where these villains are sometimes also allies. Unique from characters like Avatar's Zuko or Mai and Ty Lee in a Hero's Journey, these villains do not undergo any transformation when they assist the heroes. They generally assist when there is a greater evil to band against or some common interest. This also applies to Team Rocket and Team Skull in Pokemon: Sun&Moon.
(004b)
Avatar features a final boss: Fire Lord Ozai. Aang's whole quest throughout the 3-season timeline of Avatar is in pursuit of defeating Ozai. Ozai is a classical black-and-white embodiment of evil villain, and although Aang experiences some human empathy for him, there is never a moment that Ozai is represented as a redeemable character. Pokemon (1997), though less oriented towards the battle between "Good" and "Evil," also features looming final bosses: Giovanni of Team Rocket and The Elite Four of the Pokemon League, after defeating whom The Hero's Journey is completed.
The Legend of Korra introduces new overarching villains season-by-season: Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer, and Kuvira. The first divergence of these villains is that their motives are sympathetic, although their actions radicalized. In contrast Fire Lord Ozai, in the four-part finale, is simply seeking to destroy the Earth Kingdom with fire. Korra admits it and sympathizes, that Amon wanted equality, Unalaq wanted balance, Zaheer wanted freedom, and Kuvira wanted order. The secondary divergence is the world-ending nature of each of these threats, particularly with regards to the giant spirit form of Unalaq and the giant mecha suit and spirit vine cannon of Kuvira. This characteristic may be a more stark contrast from episodic conflicts in Pokemon: Sun&Moon, where Ash goes from making cutsie pocket-sized Pokemon friends to fighting against world-ending Ultrabest Necrozma.
(005)
Regardless of these divergences, The Hero on a Journey and the Everyday Hero do tell a very similar story, which is characterized by their heroics and the type of challenges they face along their ways.
In both cases, the hero is a visitor. Whether Ash is traveling across the Kanto region or settling in the Alolan region, he was born and raised in Pallet Town.
Both heroes undergo Coming of Age-style growth. This is tied closely with their visitor-status, that they leave their homes to experience a fantastical journey of Pokemon or magical Bending and return a changed person. The distinct application of this principle, however, is that the growth comes from the heroics and the conflicts which the protagonists engage in in their settings. Episodically, both the Hero on a Journey and the Everyday Hero learn about a systemic issue in a community and are forced to face shortcomings in themselves as they face shortcomings externally.
These same transformations and challenges are experienced by the supporting cast, as well. But what is unique to the Hero on a Journey and the Everyday Hero is that growth in the hero and supporting cast is necessarily tied to dynamics within the group. Whether this be the life-changing field trips with Zuko in season 3 of Avatar, or Ash struggling to find a Pokemon Center for an ailing Pikachu, it's the interpersonal exchanges that characterize these arcs. On a practical level, this is also where each of these series excels: team battles, which also become more engaging and meaningful when the teamwork means something.
(006)
The Hero's Journey and the Everyday Hero tell parallel stories across very different settings. These are stories of growth and community and, most importantly, heroism.
"How can we go on a quest to regenerate the world if we can't even save the people standing right in front of us" - Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)