Except Bilbo is technically a distant cousin.
Oh—and the Ring is not “help.” It is the item that needs to be destroyed.
Agree about Bilbo as cousin, and the Ring not being help. Try the elven cloaks and rope. They helped a lot in the journey. :)
Anyhow, comparing this to my own series, I noticed that I basically put a weird spin on the tropes here without ever being aware of it.
1 - I have a female protagonist (not the weird part, of course)
2 - who lives with the undead as her family (okay, that is slightly weird)
3 - there is a King of Dragons who takes on the form of an old human man, but mostly the mentors fit the White Goddess archetype. (another twist, as this archetype traditionally was related to male heroes. Here, it to a female heroine.)
4 - Supernatural help? In the form of her best friend (and later, husband), who is a warlock and can be useful…when he is not having an acid flashback.
5 - Super evil villain already rules everything. The entire world, every aspect of your life and even your identity. Call it a metaphor for oppressive governments and modern-day society.
6 - Character striving for redemption? More like characters, unfairly imprisoned, striving for independence from a horrifying global government.
So that’s my little twist to an old classic. :) The Hero’s Journey is basically the human journey through life, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking other routes. I did it, admittedly, without even being aware of it. I never thought to make things different. I was just attracted to ideas such as having a skeleton for an older brother figure and zombies as your family gardeners (Plants versus Zombies, hahahaha!)
(Source: jizzman)
