specific modes of action in which the archetypal hero engages and out of which new discoveries about himself and about human nature more generally may be discerned. Each adventure that the hero undergoes supplies a piece of his development, not only as courageous warrior but as a principled--or at least respected--leader.
According to Wittmeier, the future archetypal hero suffers an important loss, which motivates him toward a purposeful quest. That is undoubtedly true of Odysseus. To understand why the loss positions him as an archetypal hero, one must recognize that whenever he appears in a narrative, whether the Odyssey or Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, he is engaged in subterfuge. It is he who masterminds the Trojan Horse, he who helps steal the statue of Pallas Athene from the temple in Troy, he who encourages Agamemnon to sacrifice Iphigenia. As he disembarks from Troy for home, the first thing he does is lead his men to sack a part of Thrace, stealing spoils and women in the process. One loss for Odysseus is the 10-year war itself. After he destroys the Cyclops, who is a client of Poseidon, the god punishes him with a 10-year delay before arriving home. Even so, he persists in his quest for home.
For Indiana Jones, loss occurs at several levels. His career as archaeologist more or less naturally calls him on a quest for lost artifacts of civilization, from the Ark of the Covenant in the first installment to the Holy Grail in the third. There is, however, a physical loss because of the disappearance of his father, for which he is willing to undertake any hazard.
Wittmeier identifies helpers or mentors who assist the hero on his quest. For Odysseus there are Nausicaa, King ALast Crusadeinous, his crew (which progressively dwindles with each adventure), and Circe to help, and Pallas Athene and his mother to mentor him. The fact that Odysseus is Athene's favored one helps explain why his various str...