“If you build it, they will come.” ~ The Voice in Field of Dreams, screenplay by Phil Alden Robinson from the novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

Often a new force will appear in Act One to bring a challenge to the hero. This is the energy of the Herald archetype. Like the heralds of medieval chivalry, Herald characters issue challenges and announce the coming of significant change.

The heralds of knighthood were responsible for keeping track of lineages and coats of arms, and had an important role in identifying people and relationships in battle, tournaments, and on great state occasions such as weddings. They were the protocol officers of their day. At the commencement of war a herald might be called upon to recite the causes of the conflict; in effect, to provide the motivation. In Shakespeare’s Henry V, the Ambassadors from the Dauphin (crown prince) of France acts as Heralds when they bring the young English king an insulting gift of tennis balls, which implies King Henry is fit for nothing but a frivolous game of tennis.  The appearance of these Heralds is the spark that sets off a war.  Later in the character of Mountjoy, the Dauphin’s Herald, bears messages between King Henry and his master during the crucial battle of Agincourt.

Typically, in the opening phase of a story, heroes have “gotten by” somehow. They have handled an imbalanced life through a series of defenses or coping mechanisms. Then all at once some new energy enters the story that makes it impossible for the hero to simply get by any longer. A new person, condition, or information shifts the hero’s balance, and nothing will ever be the same. A decision must be made, action taken, the conflict faced. A Call to Adventure has been delivered, often by a character who manifests the archetype of the Herald. Heralds are so necessary in mythology that the Greek god Hermes (Roman Mercury) is devoted to expressing this function.  Hermes appears everywhere as the messenger or Herald of the gods, performing some errand or bearing a message from Zeus.  At the beginning of The Odyssey Hermes, at Athens’s urging, bears a message from Zeus to the nymph Calypso that she must release Odysseus.  The appearance of Hermes as Herald gets the story rolling.  Performing some errand or bearing a message.

PSYCHOLGICAL FUNCTION: CALL FOR CHANGE

Heralds have the important psychological function of announcing the need for change. Something deep inside us knows when we are ready to change and sends us a messenger. This may be a dream figure, a real person, or a new idea we encounter. In Field of Dreams it’s the mysterious Voice that the hero hears saying, “If you build it, they will come.”  The Call might come from a book we read, or a movie we see. But something inside us has been struck like a bell, and the resulting vibrations spread out through our lives until change is inevitable.

DRAMATIC FUNCTION: MOTIVATION

Heralds provide motivation, offer the hero a challenge, and get the story rolling. They alert the hero (and the audience) that change and adventure are coming.

An example of the Herald archetype as a motivator in movies can be found in Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious.  Cary Grant plays a secret agent trying to enlist Ingrid Bergman, the playgirl daughter of a Nazi spy, in a noble cause.  He offers her both a challenge and an opportunity: She can overcome her bad reputation and the family shame by dedicating herself to Cary’s noble cause.  (The cause turns out to be not so noble later on, but that’s another story.)

Like most heroes, Bergman’s character is fearful of change and reluctant to accept the challenge, but Grant, like a medieval herald, reminds her of the past and gives her motivation to act. He plays her a recording of an argument she had with her father, in which she renounced his spying and declared her loyalty to the United States.  Confronted by the evidence of her own patriotism, she accepts the call to adventure.  She is motivated.

The Herald may be a person or a force. The coming of a storm or the first tremors of the earth, as in Hurricane or Earthquake, may be the Herald of adventure. The crash of the stock market or the declaration of war have set many a story in motion.

Often the Herald is simply a means of bringing news to the hero of a new energy that will change the balance. It could be a telegram or a phone call. In High Noon, the Herald is a telegraph [bad news] clerk who brings Gary Cooper word that his enemies are out of jail and headed for town to kill him.  In Romancing the Stone, the Herald for Joan Wilder is a treasure map that arrives in the mail, and a phone call from her sister, who is being held hostage in Colombia.

TYPES OF HERALD

The Herald may be a positive, negative, or neutral figure. In some stories the Herald is the villain or his emissary, perhaps issuing a direct challenge to the hero, or trying to dupe the hero into getting involved. In the thriller Arabesque, the Herald is the private secretary of the villain who tries to lure the hero, a college professor of modest means, into danger with a tempting offer of work.  In some cases, a villainous Herald may announce the challenge not to the hero but to the audience.  In Star Wars the first appearance of Darth Vader, as he captures Princess Leia, proclaims to the audience that something is out of balance before the hero, Luke Skywalker, has even appeared.

In other stories the Herald is an agent of the forces of good, calling the hero to a positive adventure. The Herald’s mask may be worn temporarily by a character who mainly embodies some other archetype. A Mentor frequently acts as a Herald who issues a challenge to the hero. The Herald may be a hero’s loved one or Ally, or someone neutral to the hero, such as a Trickster or Threshold Guardian.

The Herald archetype may come into play at almost any point in a story, but is most frequently employed in Act One to help bring the hero into the adventure. Whether it is an inner call, an external development, or a character bringing news of change, the energy of the Herald is needed in almost every story.