Buffy, Fray, Dollhouse, Serenity and the comics -- discover the heroine's journey step by step from Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of the book Buffy and the Heroine's Journey. Presented at WhedonCon.com, May 13, 2016.

1. The Heroine’s Journey
Buffy, Willow, River, Skye,
Kitty, Nico, Fray

2. Campbell's Model: The Hero's
Journey
My Model: The Heroine's Journey
World of Common Day World of Common Day
Call To Adventure Call To Adventure- A Desire to
Reconnect with the Feminine
Refusal of The Call Refusal of The Call
Supernatural Aid The Ruthless Mentor & Bladeless
Talisman
Crossing The First Threshold
Belly of the Whale
Crossing the First Threshold:
Opening One’s Senses
Road of Trials Sidekicks, Trials, Adversaries
Meeting With The Goddess
Woman as Temptress
Marriage to the Animus,
Confronting the Powerless Father
Atonement with The Father
Apotheosis
Atonement with the Mother.
Apotheosis through the Feminine
The Ultimate Boon Reward: Winning the Family
The Magic Flight Magic Flight Reinstating the
Family
Master of the Two Worlds Power over Life and Death

4. Hero
• Heroes quest to
defeat the Dark Lord
and rule as the High
King

5. …and Heroine
The heroine quests to save loved
ones, a quest as dangerous as any
journey of the hero.

6. Modern Questors

7. Quests
• Kitty’s Quests:
• Freeing hostages
• Rescuing her lover
• Saving her son
• Saving the Earth
Buffy saves children
(“Killed by Death,”
“Band Candy,”
“Gingerbread”),
abused women (“I
Only Have Eyes for
You,” “Anne,”
“Beauty and the
Beasts”) her mother
(“School Hard,”
“Ted,” “Helpless”),
and finally her little
sister Dawn (“The
Gift,” “All the Way,”
“Once More with
Feeling”).
River saves her friends
and reveals the
slaughter of innocents
on Miranda.
Skye’s seeking her
parents. This goes
poorly.

8. Common Day
The tale begins in the humdrum world of kitchen chores and
powerlessness. The heroine lives with an absent mother and
brutal stepmother. The father figure, if there is one, is equally
obstructive. More than anything, the girl longs for an escape,
an adventure. Here the story begins.

9. Call to Adventure
Without a catalyst, Cinderella might remain
in her kitchen forever. Some event, either a
chance at freedom and happiness or a
devastating act of destruction propels the
heroine from her place of safety and into the
frightening world of the spirit.

10. Refusing the Call
Here, the hero is
faced with the
unknown. By
contrast, home
represents
safety and
security, a place
the child is
loathe to leave.
Buffy: What I want is to be left alone!
Angel: Do you really think that’s an option
anymore? You’re standing at the Mouth of
Hell. And it’s about to open. Don’t turn your
back on this. You’ve gotta be ready.
(“Welcome to the Hellmouth”)
“There’s no “we,” okay? I’m the slayer, and
you’re not” (“The Harvest”)
Buffy: I’ve got a way around it. I quit!
Angel: It’s not that simple. Buffy: I’m
making it that simple! I quit! I resign, I-I’m
fired, you can find someone else to stop
the Master from taking over!
Giles: I’m not sure that anyone else can. All
the... the signs indicate...
Buffy: The signs? Read me the signs! Tell
me my fortune! You’re so useful sitting
here with all your books! (“Prophecy Girl”)

11. Ruthless Mentor, Bladeless Talisman
While heroes almost always
receive a sword (wand,
lightsaber…) from their kindly
old mentor, girls walk away with
household objects. All of the
heroines accomplish their
quests without violence, needing
cleverness and fortitude more
than Excalibur. Actions in the so-
called “women’s domain”
frequently save the men and
allow the heroines to accomplish
their goals.

12. The Heroine’s Treasures
Feminine symbols:
amulet, apple, bag, ball, bird, cauldron, cave, circle,
cloak, clothing, comb, crown, cup, egg, eye, flowers,
forest, girdle, grail, helmet, home, hoop, jewelry,
keys, lasso, mirror, moon, night, oven, ring, rose,
serpent, slippers, spindle, spiral, thread, tree, vase,
veil, voice, water, web, well.

13. Buffy’s Talismans
• Quipping – power of the magical voice
• Silver cross (moon magic and the mystic feminine)
• Holy water (purification and feminine source of life)
• Stakes: Weapons are an extension of the hero’s will but also the counterpart of the
monsters the hero must fight—while vampires impale people with pointy teeth, Buffy
impales them in turn, taking their power as her own.
• She slays the Big Bads with only masculine weapons in the earliest seasons - she
impales the Master on a stake and stabs Angel with a sword.
• She progresses through traditional feminine powers, using trickery to play on the
Mayor’s emotions, and wielding magic against Adam.
• Finally, Buffy uses the mystic scythe, shaped like the moon, and a classic feminine
symbol. Just as the Great Goddess Demeter, Inanna, Cybele, or Dana was
represented by life and grain, she also appeared in her death aspect as the reaper of
both plants and souls. As the First Slayer warns her, Buffy must experience death as
well as life, pain as well as joy, in order to transcend her existence and become the
ultimate savior.

14. Vanishing: Kitty Pryde
• Scott Summers tells her, “You’re not a fighter. Your power isn’t
aggressive, it’s protective. That’s good to show. And people like
you.” She battles fading away completely in the third and fourth
volumes.
• While in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand, Kitty saves the child, in
the comic, Kitty rescues Peter, who throws Wolverine after the girl in
a flashier scene. While her team takes the credit, Kitty rescues all
the hostages at the story’s climax, silently slipping in and spiriting
them away.

15. Embodying, Echoing, Sensing
• Buffy (and Fray, Faith…) has slayer dreams and can sense vampires.
• Simon: River was more than gifted. She...she was a gift. Everything she did, music,
math, theoretical physics -- even-even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as
naturally to her as breathing does to us.
• River: You're wrong about River. River's not on the ship. They didn't want her here,
but she couldn't make herself leave. So she melted... Melted away. They didn't know
she could do that, but she did…. I'm not on the ship. I'm in the ship. I am the ship.
• “You’re the key. The key to everything. You’re going to save us all,” says Langton in
“The Hollow Men” (2-12). “You’re going to be the savior of the world,” he insists.
• Echo’s goddess power, carried in her unique spinal fluid, reflects her status as the
ultimate vessel. “There is no me . . . I’m just a container. You think anybody would
worship us? Be like worshipping a cup,” she says in “Omega” (1-12). But that is her
power—filling herself with souls until her sum is a far, far greater whole.
“I can kill you with my brain….”

16. More Powers: Magic, Intuition,
the Earth

17. Threshold
The heroine must surrender
her reliance on logic and
willingly enter the world of
emotion and fantasy.

18. Sidekicks,
Trials, Adversaries
Animal helpers and
teams generally
represent part of the
heroine’s psyche,
pointing out things
she doesn’t notice
and teaching her how
to outwit her
adversary. They
guide her, bolstering
her courage when the
quest is daunting.

19. Prince Charming:
The World of Eros
In the game of love, the hero and heroine each view
their partner as a shapeshifter. This “other half” they
must cleave to like themselves has frightening mood
swings and unpredictable desires. Physically, the two
people are opposites, with contrasting desires and
emotions. Hence, many tales appear about enticing
swan maidens from the sea or taming beastly
monsters into Prince Charmings.

20. Beauty and the Beast
around the World
• Shimchong, The Blindman's Daughter (Korea)
• The Brahman Girl who Married a Tiger (India)
• Bull-of-all-the-Land (Jamaica)
• Pretty Polly (Appalachian America)
• Egle, Queen of Serpents (Lithuania)
• Eros and Psyche (Greece)
• The Lizard Husband (Indonesia).
• Monkey Son-in-Law (Japan)
• The Princess and the Pig (Turkey)
• The Frog Prince (Germany)
• Bluebeard (France)
• The Green Serpent (Italy)
• The Frog Prince (Sri Lanka)

21. Beauty and the Beast Retold

22. Prince Charming:
The Helpless Father
At some point, the heroine
returns home to discover the
prince, or father-figure, cannot
save her. She must leave the
patriarchy and rely on herself.
• Buffy’s father, Giles, Angel, Wesley, the Watchers
• Boyd Langdon, Paul Ballard, Alpha
• Cabin in the Woods
• Urkonn in Fray
• Kitty and Professor X and Colossus
“You take care of me, Simon. You’ve
always taken care of me. My turn.”

23. Descent into Death
The heroine descends
into the realm of
darkness toward
initiation and wisdom,
seeking her own elusive
dark side. There she will
find her greatest
challenge…herself.

24. Shadow
• Darla, Cordelia, Kendra, Drusilla, Faith
• “Nightmares,” “Halloween,” “The Wish”
• Harmony, Aprilbot, Buffybot, The First
Slayer, Dark Willow, Spike, The First
• Buffy/Fray, Willow/Aluwyn (comics)
• Kitty/Emma Frost
• Fray/Harth/Erin
• Skye/Raina/Jiaying

25. Villains: The Child-Killer
• The witch is anti-life, killer of
children. She freezes the world
into sterility, forbidding growth or
change. Frequently, she is the
Jungian shadow for the young
questor.
• Llorona, Mexico
• Condenado, South America
• Medea, Greece
• Houmea, Maori
• Lilith, Jewish (pictured)
• Baba Yaga, Russia (pictured)

26. Atonement with the Mother
Like the witch-queen of Snow
White, the Terrible Mother is
enraged that she is no longer
fairest in the kingdom.
Therefore, she plots the
destruction of the heroine. Our
heroine descends to the darkest
place, and there, confronts her.
Killers of Innocents:
• Darla, Drusilla
• Glory, Dark Willow
• The First Evil
• Jasmine
• Danger Room
• Raina
Wicked Stepmothers:
• Adelle DeWitt
• Mrs. Post, Maggie Walsh
• Victoria Hand, Jiaying
• Emma Frost, Agent Brand
In Whedon’s Wonder Woman, Diana’s nemesis,
Strife, has an earthly representative in
businesswoman Arabella Callas.
“The more pain you learn to take, the more
power you will control,” says the
Witchbreaker, ancestress of the witch
heroine Nico (Runaways: Dead End Kids).

27. Reward
Triumphant, the heroine wins what she has
sought for so long. She snatches her lover
from the Fairie Queen’s horse, or saves her
child from certain death. She may find the brief
romance she’s sought for so long. Still, the
quest has not ended, until she returns safely
home.

28. Mastering Life and Death
To achieve the greatest
success, the heroine
becomes a queen or
“goddess” herself. In this
way she achieves
enormous power and
becomes a guardian for
the next generation. Even
if their ascension isn’t to
royalty or goddesshood, all
train successors, passing
on the wisdom they’ve
learned.

29. Ascension
Still, the other side of the
benevolent mother
goddess is the destroyer:
Medea turns murderous
and Gaia can destroy as
well as create. For the
heroine as goddess
ascended, it’s a short
distance to her own
shadow: the Terrible
Mother.
Willow (season 7) Buffy
(season 8/9) Cordelia
(season 5) and Illyria (After
the Fall) must learn to let
go. Echo and Skye retire,
their journey done.

32. Learn more at www.vefrankel.com
More on the journey

33. Learn more at www.vefrankel.com
More on the journey