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By Root 5470 0

a grotesque abstract of the dark power in its most extreme form. He is the very personification of egotism, in all its greedy, aggressive, undisguised horror. He is twisted, treacherous, utterly malevolent. In his physical and moral deformation, and his curious combination of human and animal attributes, he is, as we saw, anything but a complete, whole human being. He may have a strangely ageless, supernatural aura, as if he represents some ancient transcendent power. Above all the monster represents death. He is not just out to imprison the hero but to kill him. He has probably killed many others before. He may spread his shadow over a whole community, a whole kingdom, even over the world. And in setting out to challenge such a stupendously powerful being, the hero is bidding to become truly exceptional, seeking to succeed where many others have failed.

Superficially we might think all that is required for the hero to overcome this monstrous figure is sufficient courage and strength. Certainly the great monsterslayers of storytelling, from Perseus to Beowulf, from Siegfried to James Bond, have never lacked for such manly qualities. But when we come to see how the conflict is actually presented by stories, there is rather more to it.

For a start we have to see the hero as light, in complete contrast to the darkness of his opponent. For this we have to see that he is acting not just to further his own interests but on behalf of others; in particular, in the first half of the story, this means on behalf of the wider community which the monster is threatening. Gilgamesh sets out to challenge Humbaba because the monster is casting a shadow over his kingdom of Uruk; David challenges Goliath because the giant is threatening his country, Israel; Theseus journeys over the sea to challenge the Minotaur and his master, the tyrant Minos, because they are threatening his father's kingdom of Athens; Beowulf is called in from his own country because Grendel is threatening to destroy the kingdom of Heorot; Dracula is threatening to become master of England; James Bond's villains are threatening England, the West, all mankind; Darth Vader, in Star Wars, is threatening to impose his tyranny over the entire universe.

Once we have established some idea of the terrifying threat the monster poses to the world, and the courage of the hero in setting out to challenge it, the main thing the action of the story requires is simply that the two protagonists should be brought closer to one another until they are ready for the final decisive confrontation. Either the hero is travelling towards the monster, or the monster is approaching him, until at last the hero has the centre of darkness fully in view: at which point the monster's power seems so immense that it is hard to imagine how the hero in its shadow can possibly defeat it.

But as the story nears its climax, we may also become acutely aware that the monster is directly threatening another figure, the story's heroine. When Perseus sees the sea-monster, he sees that it is also bearing down on the Princess Andromeda, chained to her rock. St George rides into battle not just to save the town the dragon is threatening, but much more particularly the Princess tied to a stake. Dracula may be threatening England, but much more specifically he has set his sights on the hero's fiancee Mina, and is within an ace of destroying her. Dr No may be threatening the security of the Western world, but what matters more at the end of the story is that he has tied down the beautiful beach girl, Honeychile Rider, to be eaten alive by crabs. The central fact of which we are aware as Star Wars moves towards its climax is that Darth Vader, the would-be `dark ruler of the universe, has imprisoned and is torturing the Princess Leia.

At such a moment, however little we may actually know about the heroine, we see her as a figure of extraordinary significance and numinosity. It is the most important thing in the world that she should be saved. In fact there are always three things we instinctively recognise in such