Stardust

Stardust draws on a long, vivid literary tradition built on a number of predetermined patterns, known as archetypes. Numerous scholars have tried to quantify the landscape of story by slotting all storytelling into recognizable shapes ranging from one (Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth,” or the “Hero’s Journey”) up to 2000+ (the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index). Christopher Booker put forth a system of seven universal story archetypes: The Quest, Rags to Riches, Overcoming the Monster, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Booker’s system is the most commonly cited among story scholars today.

Gaiman’s novel shares elements with several of these story archetypes, including Campbell’s monomyth. However, one essential plot point that’s lacking is the “refusal of the call,” in which the hero temporarily turns their back on their calling (this can be seen in Hero’s Journey stories such as Harry Potter or The Hobbit). In Stardust, Tristran throws himself wholeheartedly into his adventure. The novel does, however, feature other Hero’s Journey elements, such as the mentor figure: In Stardust, this would be the man who teaches Tristran a little about his new world and arms him with his Babylon candle.

From Christopher Booker’s story archetypes, Stardust shares commonalities with the Rags to Riches archetype (Tristran begins as a common villager and ends as the high king of Stormhold), as well as Voyage and Return (Tristran journeys to a new land, faces challenges, and returns home safely). Its primary story archetype, however, is The Quest. In this type of story, the hero goes in search of a tangible objective—in Tristran’s case, the star he has promised Victoria. This is one of the oldest and most universal story archetypes; one of its earliest inceptions is Sir Galahad’s quest for the holy grail (a story that Gaiman has also drawn on for his award-winning short story “Chivalry”). A more contemporary example would be Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.