The character of Daniel has been a point of division within this fandom. Some fans perceive that an undue amount of attention has been given to him especially since it's apparent that the TV series is a RDA vehicle and therefore O'Neill should be the prime character. I think one of the reasons this schism occurs is because other fans instinctively sense a traditional story form within the show.  In the realm of this story telling tradition, it's Daniel who's on the Hero's Journey and that even though he is not the main character of the TV series, it's his saga that is the most compelling.

SG:SG1 is a good show; the cast is an ensemble, all the characters are admirable and likable, and the show's premise is interesting and lively. While the show will continue after Daniel, some fans have stated that they will have difficulty in watching it.  Daniel is perceived by some fans as irreplaceable, while other fans minimize those feelings as just a simple fixation on the character's good looks.  I think it's more than that. For the fans that have been more intrigued by the classic tale of the Hero's Journey, to them, the main thread of the story is over when Daniel is off the show.

For myself, once I realized this, I felt more inclined to watch next season as I can separate it from the rest of the show. It's become a sequel for me, a sequel that will tell the tale of what happens to the rest of the SGC after the Hero has left. I still like the other characters and the premise of the show and am interested in their tales--as long as they remain true to the established characters and the established rules of their 'universe'.

Of course, if Daniel re-enters the story line, we will learn more about what happens to him during his journey.  And, yes, in my mind, the meta story of the show damn well does revolve around Daniel, so there! <g>

For those that are interested, I'm going to continue on with the proof that Daniel's story is the archetypal Hero's Journey. People whose blood pressure has just hit 200 at the very idea that Daniel is a hero, let alone a classic one, delete me.  <eg>

The following page is quoted extensively: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STAGE: DEPARTURE

step: 1. The Call to Adventure

brief description: The call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.

pithy quote:"This first stage of the mythological journey - which we have designated the "call to adventure" - signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown.

(Sue: This would be when Katherine contacted Daniel after his disastrous lecture in LA.  Also, you can make a case that Teal'c is also on a hero's journey.  Would his call have been seeing Daniel scratch the Ancient's symbol for the Tau'ri home world in the dirt?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 2. Refusal of the Call

brief description: Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

pithy quote:"Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless ... All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration." (p. 59)

(Sue: I think this would be when Daniel was standing in the rain wondering if he ought to use those travel tickets Katherine had given him. His life is disintegrating around him.  It's interesting that in the AU universes we know of, those Daniels did refuse the call.

Teal'c also had a period of indecision while he considered whether to help Jack free the prisoners.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 3. Supernatural Aid

brief description: Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.

pithy quote:"For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the herojourney is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulet against the dragon forces he is about to pass." (Campbell 69) "What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny.

(Sue: Katherine gives Daniel an actual amulet, the Eye of Ra.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 4. The Crossing of the First Threshold

brief description: This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

pithy quote: "With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in four directions - also up and down - standing for the limits of the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown and danger;

(Sue: Cheyenne Mountain, perhaps? The moment when he deciphers the symbols on the Stargate, figures out that the signs are coordinates and presents this info to all those military types?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 5. The Belly of the Whale

brief description: The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself

pithy quote:"The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown and would appear to have died"
-- (Campbell 90)

(Sue: This would be that beautifully filmed moment in the movie where Daniel slowly enters the event horizon of the wormwhole and pauses.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STAGE: INITIATION

step: 1. The Road of Trials

brief description: The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

pithy quote: "Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials. This is a favorite phase of the myth-adventure. It has produced a world literature of miraculous tests and ordeals. The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage"
-- (Campbell 97)

(Sue: Daniel's tasks are to figure out the glyphs to go home, learn to communicate with the natives, & figure out how to outmaneuver Ra.  Jack and his team would be the 'secret agents of the supernatural helper. <g>  Of course, you could make a case that the many challenges Daniel faces in the TV series are also covered within this step.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 2. The Meeting with the Goddess

brief description: The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.

"The meeting with the goddess (who is incarnate in every woman) is the final test of the talent of the hero to win the boon of love (charity: amor fati), which is life itself enjoyed as the encasement of eternity. And when the adventurer, in this context, is not a youth but a maid, she is the one who, by her qualities, her beauty, or her yearning, is fit to become the consort of an immortal. Then the heavenly husband descends to her and conducts her to his bed - whether she will or not. And if she has shunned him, the scales fall from her eyes; if she has sought him, her desire finds its peace."
-- (Campbell 119)

(Sue: Obviously Sha're.  Daniel meets her in the film, but the viewer realizes how completely he loves her in the TV show.  She is fit to become consort to a god (Apophis), but she still loves the hero completely.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 3. Woman as the Temptress

brief description: At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

pithy quote: "The crux of the curious difficulty lies in the fact that our conscious views of what life ought to be seldom correspond to what life really is. Generally we refuse to admit within ourselves, or within our friends, the fullness of that pushing, self-protective, malodorous, carnivorous, lecherous fever which is the very nature of the organic cell.  Rather, we tend to perfume, whitewash, and reinterpret; meanwhile imagining that all the flies in the ointment, all the hairs in the soup, are the faults of some unpleasant someone else.

But when it suddenly dawns on us, or is forced to our attention that everything we think or do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of revulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, woman in particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable to the pure, the pure, pure soul.

(Sue: Within the movie, I think Ra might symbolize the temptress.  He challenges Daniel and offers to not destroy the natives if Daniel will kill Jack and the other soldiers.  Within the series, Daniel's temptations are many, including obviously, Hathor and the princess from Need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 4. Atonement with the Father

brief description: In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power.  This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.

pithy quote: "Atonement (at-one-ment) consists in no more that the abandonment of that self-generated double monster - the dragon thought to be God (superego) and the dragon thought to be Sin (repressed id). But this requires an abandonment of the attachment to ego itself, and that is what is difficult. One must have a faith that the father is merciful, and then a reliance on that mercy.  Therewith, the center of belief is transferred outside of the bedeviling god's tight scaly ring, and the dreadful ogres dissolve.

It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic (pollen charms or power of intercession) he is protected through all the frightening experiences of the father's ego-shattering initiation. For if it is impossible to
trust the terrifying father-face, then one's faith must be centered elsewhere (Spider Woman, Blessed Mother); and with that reliance for support, one endures the crisis - only to find, in the end, that the father and mother reflect each other, and are in essence the same"
--(Campbell 130-131)

"The problem of the hero going to meet the father is to pen his soul beyond terror to such a degree that he will be ripe to understand how the sickening and insane tragedies of this vast and ruthless cosmos are completely validated in the majesty of Being. The hero transcends life with its peculiar blind spot and for a moment rises to a glimpse of the source. He beholds the face of the father, understands - and the two are atoned"
-- (Campbell 147)

(Sue: This one is harder to pinpoint so I've included all the text so others can ponder this point.  Who/what does Daniel confront that holds incredible power, the power of life and death? The center point of the journey?  Personally, I'm thinking the center point of his journey became the search for Sha're, which, if you agree, then Teal'c, during the episode Forever in a Day, will epitomize this point. Teal'c holds the choice of who will die when Ammonet is frying Daniel's brain; if he does nothing, Daniel will die, or he can kill Sha're and save Daniel.  Daniel then travels on an unearthly journey, guided by Sha're so that he will accept her death, forgive Teal'c, and transfer his search from her to her son.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 5. Apotheosis

brief description: To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife.

A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

(Sue: Daniel dies a lot in series.  This could be his state in Crystal Skull?  The fate of the Danielbot in Double Jeopardy?  The fate of Daniel during the penultimate episode from the 5th season?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 6. The Ultimate Boon

brief description: The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the
elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

pithy quote: "The gods and goddesses then are to be understood as embodiments and custodians of the elixir of Imperishable Being but not themselves the Ultimate in its primary state. What the hero seeks through his intercourse with them us therefore not finally themselves, but their grace, i.e., the power of their sustaining substance. This miraculous energy-substance and this alone is the Imperishable; the names and forms of the deities who everywhere embody, dispense, and represent it come and go.

(Sue: Daniel's quest in the TV show has been to save Sha're and find a way to defeat the Goa'uld. He couldn't save Sha're, but he has saved her son a few times. He has not found a way to stop the Goa'uld.  Daniel's story is not complete and I think that it will be difficult for him to manage this stage within the artificial storytelling environment of a commercial TV show.  His character should be allowed to acheive the ultimate boon, but since RDA is the star, his character must achieve any task of this importance, not one of the supporting
actors.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STAGE: RETURN

step: 1. Refusal of the Return

brief description: So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?

pithy quote: "When the hero-quest has been accomplished, through penetration to the source, or through the grace of some male or female, human or animal, personification, the adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy. The full round, the norm of the monomyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or his sleeping princess, back into the kingdom of humanity, where the boon may redound to the renewing of the community, the nation, the planet or
the ten thousand worlds.

(Sue: Perhaps this could be what Daniel gleans from his encounters with Oma Desala in Maternal Instinct and Absolute Power. He gained a new perspective from her and that knowledge does change him. Knowledge--self knowledge--is his trophy.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 2. The Magic Flight

brief description: Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

pithy quote: "If the hero in his triumph wins the blessing of the goddess of the god and is then explicitly commissioned to return to the world with some elixir for the restoration of society, the final stage of his adventure is supported by all the powers of his supernatural patron. On the other hand, if the trophy has been attained against the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero's wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or demons, then the last stage of the mythological round becomes a lively, often comical, pursuit. This flight may be complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and evasion".
-- (Campbell 196-7)

(Sue:  The archived newspapers from 2001? <g>  Okay, that may be too specific, but I think Daniel frequently escapes with many little boons. It's what he does. <g> It's just that if he got the ultimate boon of how to defeat the Goa'uld, the show would be over.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 3. Rescue from Without

brief description: Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.  Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.

pithy quote: "The hero may have to be brought back from his supernatural adventure by assistance from without.  That is to say, the world may have to come and get him...."

(Sue:  Let's see...Daniel is wounded, weakened, unaware it's time for him to go and therefore needs to be rescued by his teammates?  Sounds like the preferred theme of the H/C writers! And, it certainly been filmed a few times. <g>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold

brief description: The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.

pithy quote: "The returning hero, to complete his adventure, must survive the impact of the world" (Campbell 225)

"Many failures attest to the difficulties of this life-affirmative threshold. The first problem of the returning hero is to accept as real, after an experience of the soul-satisfying vision of fulfillment, the passing joys and sorrows, banalities and noisy obscenities of life. Why re-enter such a world? Why attempt to make plausible, or even interesting, to men and women consumed with passion, the experience of transcendental bliss?

(Sue: Again, this theme has occurred a few times on the show.  In Politics, Daniel had a hard time convincing people that he had returned with information that needed action.  Also it's touched upon in FIAD, The Curse, 2010, Absolute Power.... Episodic TV plays havoc with this story form.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 5. Master of the Two Worlds

brief description: In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

pithy quote: "Freedom to pass back and forth across the world division, from the perspective of the apparitions of time to that of the causal deep and back - not contaminating the principles of the one with those of the other, yet permitting the mind to know the one by virtue of the other - is the talent of the master. The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another. It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate
the insights of the rest"  -- (Campbell 229)

"The meaning is very clear; it is the meaning of all religious practice.; The individual, through prolonged psychological disciplines, gives up completely all attachment to his personal limitations, idiosyncrasies, hopes and fears, no longer resists the self-annihilation that is prerequisite to rebirth in the realization of truth, and so becomes ripe, at last, for the great at-one-ment. His personal ambitions being totally dissolved, he no longer tries to live but willingly relaxes to whatever may come to pass in him; he becomes, that is to say, an anonymity. The Law lives in him with his unreserved consent"  -- (Campbell 236-7)

(Sue: I think Daniel has definitely reached this state in the TV show.  He is comfortable with many facets of his life.  He's brilliant in his many areas of expertise (languages, history) and in other areas where he has learned competence (handing a gun, operating as a full team member when they are involved in a conflict.)  He also doesn't bat an eye when he experiences those spiritual/dream events; he just listens intently and tries to understand the message.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

step: 6. Freedom to Live

brief description: Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

pithy quote: "The hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is. 'Before Abraham was, I AM.'  He does not mistake apparent changelessness in time for the permanence of Being, nor is he fearful of the next moment (or of the 'other thing'), as destroying the permanent with its change. 'Nothing retains its own form; but Nature, the greater renewer, ever makes up forms from forms. Be sure there's nothing perishes in the whole universe; it does but vary and renew its form.' Thus the next moment is permitted to come to pass."  --(Campbell 243)

(Sue: It's interesting because Daniel has shown 'freedom from the fear of death' since the movie, and has demonstrated it many times within the series.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling this tendency will be germane in Meridian, too.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONCLUSION

Anyway, I think it's pretty plain that Daniel's story is both epic and mythic.  He shares many elements with other heroes that have fascinated mankind for thousands of years. I think it's not unreasonable that more than a few fans hit a brick wall when they found out Daniel would be missing from the 6th season because they recognized that Daniel's story *is* fundamental and they feel lost when trying to picture Stargate: SG-1 without him.

I also think that recognizing this will help to put things in perspective and give folks permission to mourn Daniel's absence as a significant loss and empower them to ignore those that would trivialize their feelings.

Poss considered, then said:

> Sue, I think your reasonings and examples are absolutely brilliant,
> and cystallize what I have long felt about the character of Daniel
> Jackson. For me he has been 'Everyman', but writ large; I have always
> felt he spoke for us, and yet he is genius, beyond our ken. But, as
> mythic hero - well, this all fits beautifully.

I'm glad you think so. I've been thinking about this for days. It was very true for me, but I wondered if it would seem sound to others.

> My only comment beyond the above is that I think Jack represents the
> Father figure for him;

That was the part that gave me the most pause. I feel/know Jack is very important to Daniel's story, but I couldn't hit the right angle to understand how.

> in the movie, it is Jack the indomitable, the
> truculent, the inscrutable, the one who holds all power and yet is
> powerless that is the one he must face, and overcome. "One must have
> faith in his mercy..." Imagine if Daniel, the Hero, did not see
> beyond Jack's facade and accepted his willingness to die - purely
> because he could not face up to Jack's seeming hostility, or
> inability to reach out.

Excellent point.  That really illuminates that scene in the movie for me.  It seemed odd that Daniel would take a bullet for O'Neil, but put in this context it has so much more meaning for me now.  Thank you!

> Marvellous stuff Sue- there's a lot that an old shamanistic explorer
> like myself can nod and smile at in this.

There is something so satisfying in this type of story.  When I started puzzling out all the bits, I was quite amazed at how beautifully
Stargate fit the form.

Thanks for comment; I really appreciate it.

Sue

(c) 2001 Sue.  All rights recognised.  No copyright infringement intended.