Quest 188949 224664582 2008-07-09T21:40:59Z Muro Bot 5849026 robot Adding: [[gl:Aventura]] [[Image:Theodor Kittelsen, Soria Moria.jpg|right|thumb|"[[Soria Moria Castle|Soria Moria]]" by [[Theodor Kittelsen]]: a hero glimpses the end of his quest.]] {{Fantasy}} :''This article is about the word, for other meanings see [[Quest (disambiguation)]]'' A '''quest''' is a journey towards a goal used in [[mythology]] and [[literature]] as a [[Plot (narrative)|plot]]. Quests can be found in the folklore of every nation.<ref>Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 142 ISBN 0-87483-387-6 </ref> In [[literature]], the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the [[hero]], and the overcoming of many obstacles, typically including much [[travel]]. This travel also allows the storyteller to showcase exotic locations and cultures, which may, indeed, be the writer's objective if not the characters.<ref>Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 178-9, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X </ref> ==Quest objects== [[Image:TheKnightAtTheCrossroads.jpg|left|thumb|''The Knight at the Crydonias'' by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]]]] The hero's normal aim is to obtain something, or someone, by the quest and with this object return home.<ref>[[W. H. Auden]], "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p35 ISBN 0-618-42253-6</ref> The object can be something new, that fulfills a lack in his life, or something that was stolen away from him. It can also be a lack in the life of, or something stolen from, someone with authority to dispatch him.<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale, p 36, ISBN 0-292-78376-0</ref> Sometimes the hero has no desire to return. Sir [[Galahad]]'s quest for the [[Holy Grail]] is to find it, not return with it. A return may, indeed, be impossible: [[Aeneas]] is questing for a homeland, having lost Troy at the beginning of [[Virgil]]'s Aeneid he does not return to Troy to refound it but settles in Italy, to become an ancestor of the Romans. Even if he does return after the culmination of the quest, he may face [[false hero]]es who attempt to pass themselves off as him,<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p60, ISBN 0-292-78376-0</ref> or his initial response may be a rejection of that return, as [[Joseph Campbell]] describes in his critical analysis of quest literature "[[The Hero With a Thousand Faces]]." If dispatched, the claim may be false, with the dispatcher actually sending him on the difficult quest in hopes of his death in the attempt, or in order to remove him from the scene for a time, but the story often unfolds just as if the claim were sincere, except that the tale usually ends with the dispatcher being unmasked and punished.<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p77 ISBN 0-292-78376-0</ref> Stories with such false quest-objects include the legends of [[Jason]] and [[Perseus]], the fairy tales ''[[The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird]]'', ''[[Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What]]'', and the story of [[Beren]] and [[Lúthien]] in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Silmarillion|Silmarillion]]''. The quest object may, indeed, be only a convenient reason for the hero's journey. Such objects are termed [[MacGuffin]]s. When a hero is on a quest for several objects that are only a convenient reason for his journey, they are termed [[plot coupon]]s. ==Literary analysis== The quest, in the form of the [[Monomyth#"The hero's journey"|Hero's Journey]], is central to the [[Monomyth]] described by [[Joseph Campbell]]; the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land where adventures, tests, and magical rewards are found. ==Historical Examples== An early quest story is the quest of [[Gilgamesh]], who seeks a secret to eternal life after the tragic death of [[Enkidu]], including the search for an emerald. Another ancient quest tale, [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', tells of [[Odysseus]], who is cursed to wander and suffer for many years before [[Athena]] persuades the [[Olympians]] to allow him to return [[home]]. Recovering the [[Golden Fleece]] is the object of the travels of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] in the ''[[Argonautica]]''. [[Cupid and Psyche|Psyche]], having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by Venus, including a descent into the underworld. Many [[fairy tale]]s depict the hero or heroine setting out on a quest, such as ''[[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]'' where the heroine seeks her husband, ''[[The Seven Ravens]]'' where the heroine seeks her transformed brothers, ''[[The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was]]'', or ''[[The Golden Bird]]'' where the prince sets out to find the golden bird for his father. Other characters may set out with no more definite aim that 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.<ref>Maria Tatar, ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p63, ISBN 0-691-06722-8</ref> Other characters can also set forth on quests — the hero's two older brothers commonly do — but the hero is distinguished by his success. [[Image:Galahad grail.jpg|left|360px|thumb|"Vision of the Holy Grail" (1890) by [[William Morris]]]] Many medieval [[Romance (genre)|romance]]s set the knight out on quests. The term "[[Knight-errant]]" sprang from this, as "errant" meant roving or wandering. Sir [[Thomas Malory]] included many in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. The most famous -- perhaps the most famous quest in western literature -- centers on the [[Holy Grail]] in [[Arthurian legend]]. This [[monomyth|story cycle]] recounts multiple quests, in multiple variants, telling stories both of the heroes who succeed, like [[Percival]] (in [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s [[Parzival]]) or Sir [[Galahad]] (in the [[Queste del Saint Graal]]), and also the heroes who fail, like Sir [[Lancelot]]. This often sent them into a bewildering [[enchanted forest|forest]]. Despite many references to its pathlessness, the forest repeatedly confronts knights with forks and crossroads, of a labyrinthine complexity.<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 177, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0</ref> The significiance of their encounters is often explained to the knights -- particularly those searching for the [[Holy Grail]] -- by [[hermit]]s acting as [[wise old man|wise old men -- or women]].<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 179-81, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0</ref> Still, despite their perils and chances of error, such forests, being the location where the knight can obtain the end of his 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."<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 181, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0</ref> So consistently did knights quest that [[Miguel de Cervantes]] set his [[Don Quixote]] on mock quests in a parody of chivalric tales. His attempt to ridicule knight-errantry into non-existence was not successful; quests remain a vital part of fantasy literature to this day. ==Modern Literature== Quests continued in modern literature. Many, perhaps most, stories can be described as a quest in which the main character is seeking something that he desires,<ref>Robert McKee, ''Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting'', p 196-7 ISBN 0-06-039168-5</ref> but the literal structure of a journey seeking something is, itself, still common. Quests often appear in [[fantasy]] literature,<ref>John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "Quest ", p 796 ISBN 0-312-19869-8 </ref> as in [[Rasselas]] by [[Samuel Johnson]], or ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion go on a quest for the way back to Kansas, brains, a heart, and courage respectively.<ref>L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'', p 126-7, ISBN 0-517-500868</ref> A familiar modern literary quest is [[Frodo Baggins]]'s quest to destroy the [[One Ring]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref>[[W. H. Auden]], "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p45 ISBN 0-618-42253-6</ref> 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, is used by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] to tell a meaningful tale of [[friendship]] and the inner struggle with [[temptation]], against a background of [[Epic poetry|epic]] and supernatural warfare. Some writers, however, may devise the arbitrary quests for items without any importance beyond being the object of the quest. These items are known as [[MacGuffin]]s, 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 a [[Self-fulfilling prophecy#Literature.2C Media.2C and the Arts|prophecy]] that decrees it, rather than have them discover that it could assist them, for reasons that are given. ==Role-playing Games== {{main|Quest (Gaming)}} The quest is a basic plot in [[role-playing game]]s. A common quest in a role-playing game will announce that the [[hero]]es must assemble some [[artifact (fantasy)|artifact]], which has been broken into [[plot coupon|several pieces]], each of which has a challenge the heroes must overcome. The carefully designed quest may allow the heroes to shine and show the qualities that make them heroic. In literature as well as video games, side-quests are often used to develop character depth and reveal the world setting. These miniature plots may or may not have to do with the story's focus (being hereafter called the main quest), such as a romantic interest or providing help to other characters. In [[Robert Jordan]]'s [[The Wheel of Time]], for example, the major quest is the binding or destruction of the dark one, with side quests being the securing of political power, romantic interests, and the growth of personal strength or power. Often these side quests are stepping stones to the completion of the final goal. In the beginning of the game, the player may need to learn how to effectively play the game, and the character may lack the abilities or equipment to embark on the main quest. The game may provide side-quests that are menial in nature and have little to no bearing on the main quest, and include such actions as finding a lost book, finding a lost child, or ridding a basement of rats. Luckily, the gamer quickly passes through this level. This may also be a tutorial teaching the basics of gameplay with relatively little danger to the character in contrast to what shall cross their paths when their adventure begins. In regards to the [[Monomyth]], the player may is unlikely to have defeated the guardian at this stage. Another form of side quest is a distraction or minigame. This includes activities such as fishing, raising pets, roleplaying social activities, buying drinks at a bar, dancing and horseback archery. ==See also== *[[Monomyth]] ==References== {{reflist}} *[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'' [[Category:Narratology]] [[Category:Mythemes]] [[Category:Fantasy tropes]] [[Category:Fiction]] [[Category:Plot]] [[Category:Plot devices]] [[cs:Quest]] [[de:Quest]] [[es:Aventura]] [[fa:پویش]] [[gl:Aventura]] [[it:Cerca]] [[nl:Queeste (zoektocht)]] [[pl:Quest]] [[uk:Квест]]