This Incredible Human Story: The Freedom to Live

This is the concluding stage of the Hero’s Journey. At this point the hero has returned to his ordinary world with the elixir and has solved the problems he set out to remedy. This can involve a literal solution — one that physically alters his world, or it can be a metaphorical resolution — one which changes the minds or relationships of the people in his life. This can be done on a large scale, effecting a nation, species, planet, or even a galaxy; or it can be personal, effecting just his immediate friends and family. This stage begins for him a new status quo, but one that is upgraded to a greater level.

Large-scale examples of this stage are easy to find throughout cinema, such as Luke Skywalker returning as a full-fledged Jedi Knight and starting a school to train others, or Neo merging with Smith so that the machines could purge him from the Matrix and reset the system. Small-scale examples, however, aren’t always as memorable, but one great example was in the film, A History of Violence.

After diner owner Tom Stall foils a robbery in his small mid-western town, a media circus ensued, and he is discovered to be a retired hitman in hiding. The mob bosses he ran from quickly send goons after him and his new family, and when his wife and kids find out that it’s not a case of mistaken identity, they are mortified and want nothing to…