View source for Quest

{{Short description|Plot device in mythology and fiction}}
{{About|significance-laden journeys}}
[[Image:Theodor Kittelsen, Soria Moria.jpg|right|thumb|[[Soria Moria Castle|''Soria Moria'']] by [[Theodor Kittelsen]]: a hero glimpses the end of his quest.]]
{{Speculative fiction sidebar|cTopic=Fantasy fiction}}

A '''quest''' is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] device in [[mythology]] and [[fiction]]: a difficult [[Travel|journey]] towards a goal, often [[symbol]]ic or [[Allegory|allegorical]]. Tales of quests figure prominently in the [[folklore]] of every nation<ref>Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 142 {{ISBN|0-87483-387-6}}</ref> and [[Ethnic group|ethnic culture]]. In [[literature]], the object of a quest requires great exertion on the part of the [[hero]], who must overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel. The aspect of travel allows the storyteller to showcase exotic locations and cultures (an objective of the narrative, not of the character).<ref>Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 178-9, {{ISBN|0-7006-0832-X}}</ref> The object of a quest may also have [[supernatural]] properties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds and dimensions. The [[moral]] of a quest tale often centers on the changed [[Moral character|character]] of the hero.

==Quest objects==

[[Image:TheKnightAtTheCrossroads.jpg|left|thumb|''A Knight at the Crossroads'' by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]]]]

The hero normally aims to obtain something or someone by the quest, and with this object to return home.<ref>
[[W. H. Auden]], "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p35 {{ISBN|0-618-42253-6}}</ref> The object can be something new, that fulfills a lack in their life, or something that was stolen away from them or someone with authority to dispatch them.<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p 36, {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}}</ref>

Sometimes the hero has no desire to return; [[Galahad|Sir Galahad]]'s quest for the [[Holy Grail]] is to find it, not return with it. A return may, indeed, be impossible: [[Aeneas]] quests for a homeland, having lost [[Troy]] at the beginning of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]],'' and he does not return to Troy to re-found it but settles in Italy (to become an ancestor of the Romans).

If the hero does return after the culmination of the quest, they may face [[false hero]]es who attempt to pass themselves off as them,<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p60, {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}}
</ref> or their initial response may be a rejection of that return, as [[Joseph Campbell]] describes in his critical analysis of quest literature, ''[[The Hero With a Thousand Faces|The Hero with a Thousand Faces]]''.

If someone dispatches the hero on a quest, the overt reason may be false, with the dispatcher actually sending them on the difficult quest in hopes of their death in the attempt, or in order to remove them from the scene for a time, just as if the claim were sincere, except that the tale usually ends with the dispatcher being unmasked and punished.<ref>[[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p77 {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}}</ref> Stories with such false quest-objects include the legends of [[Jason]] and [[Perseus]], the fairy tales ''[[The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird]]'', ''[[Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What]]'', and the story of ''[[Beren and Lúthien]]'' in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.

The quest object may, indeed, function only as a convenient reason for the hero's journey. Such objects are termed [[MacGuffin]]s. When a hero is on a quest for several objects that are only a convenient reason for their journey, they are termed [[Plot coupon|plot coupons]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==Literary analysis==
The quest, in the form of the [[Monomyth#The Hero's Journey|hero's journey]], plays a central role in the monomyth described by [[Joseph Campbell]]; the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land of adventures, tests, and magical rewards. Most times in a quest, the knight in shining armor wins the heart of a beautiful maiden/princess.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==Historical examples==
An early quest story tells the tale of [[Gilgamesh]], who seeks the secret to eternal life after the death of his friend [[Enkidu]].

Another ancient quest tale, [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', tells of [[Odysseus]], whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before [[Athena]] persuades the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]] to allow him to return home. Recovering the [[Golden Fleece]] is the object of the travels of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] in the ''[[Argonautica]]''. [[Cupid and Psyche|Psyche]], having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], including a descent into the [[underworld]].

Many [[fairy tale]]s depict the hero or heroine setting out on a quest, such as:

* ''[[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]'' where the heroine seeks her husband
* ''[[The Seven Ravens]]'' where the heroine seeks her transformed brothers
* ''[[The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was]]''
* ''[[The Golden Bird]]'' where the prince sets out to find the golden bird for his father

Other characters may set out with no more definite aim than to "seek their fortune", or even be cast out instead of voluntarily leaving, but learn of something that could aid them along the way and so have their journey transformed from aimless wandering into a quest.<ref>Maria Tatar, ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p63, {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}}</ref> Other characters can also set forth on quests — the hero's older brothers commonly do — but the hero is distinguished by their success.

[[File:Galahad grail.jpg|left|360px|thumb|''Vision of the Holy Grail'' (1890) by [[William Morris]]]]

Many medieval [[Romance (heroic literature)|romances]] sent knights out on quests. The term "[[knight-errant]]" sprang from this, as ''errant'' meant "roving" or "wandering". [[Thomas Malory]] included many in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. The most famous—perhaps in all of western literature—centers on the Holy Grail in [[Arthurian legend]]. This story cycle recounts multiple quests, in multiple variants, telling stories both of the heroes who succeed, like [[Percival]] (in [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s ''[[Parzival]]'') or Sir Galahad (in the ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]''), and also the heroes who fail, like [[Lancelot|Sir Lancelot]]. This often sent them into a bewildering [[enchanted forest|forest]]. Despite many references to its pathlessness, the forest repeatedly confronts knights with forks and crossroads, of a labyrinthine complexity.<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 177, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}}</ref> The significance of their encounters is often explained to the knights—particularly those searching for the Holy Grail—by [[hermit]]s acting as [[wise old man|wise old people]].<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 179–81, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}}</ref> Still, despite their perils and chances of error, such forests, being the location where the knight can obtain the end of their quest, are places where the knights may become worthy; one romance has a maiden urging Sir Lancelot on his quest for the Holy Grail, "which quickens with life and greenness like the forest".<ref>Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 181, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}}</ref>

So consistently did knights quest that [[Miguel de Cervantes]] set his ''[[Don Quixote]]'' on mock quests in a parody of chivalric tales. Nevertheless, while Don Quixote was a fool, he was and remains a hero of chivalry.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==Modern literature==
{{further|Quests in Middle-earth}}

Quests continued in modern literature. Analysis can interpret many (perhaps most) stories as a quest in which the main character is seeking something that they desire,<ref>Robert McKee, ''Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting'', p 196–7 {{ISBN|0-06-039168-5}}</ref> but the literal structure of a journey seeking something is, itself, still common. Quests often appear in [[fantasy]] literature,<ref>John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "Quest ", p 796 {{ISBN|0-312-19869-8}}</ref> as in ''[[Rasselas]]'' by [[Samuel Johnson]], or ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', where [[Dorothy Gale|Dorothy]], [[Scarecrow (Oz)]], the [[Tin Woodman]], and the [[Cowardly Lion]] go on a quest for the way back to Kansas, brains, a heart, and courage respectively.<ref>L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'', p 126–7, {{ISBN|0-517-50086-8}}</ref> Quests also play a major role in [[Rick Riordan]]'s fantasy books, among them ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians]]'', ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'', and ''[[The Kane Chronicles]]'', and in [[dark fantasy]] novel ''[[The Talisman (King and Straub novel)|The Talisman]]'' by [[Stephen King]] and [[Peter Straub]].

A familiar modern literary quest is [[Frodo Baggins]]'s quest to destroy the [[One Ring]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref>[[W. H. Auden]], "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p45 {{ISBN|0-618-42253-6}}</ref> The One Ring, its baleful power, the difficult method which is the only way to destroy it, and the spiritual and psychological torture it wreaks on its bearer; J. R. R. Tolkien uses all these elements to tell a meaningful tale of [[friendship]] and the inner struggle with [[temptation]], against a background of [[epic poetry|epic]] and supernatural warfare.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' is often thought of as a quest plot, detailing [[Holden Caulfield|Holden]]'s search not for a tangible object, but for a sense of purpose or reason.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

Some writers, however, may devise arbitrary quests for items without any importance beyond being the object of the quest. These items are known as MacGuffins, which is sometimes merely used to compare quests and is not always a derogatory term. Writers may also motivate characters to pursue these objects by meanings of a [[Self-fulfilling prophecy#Literature, media, and the arts|prophecy]] that decrees it, rather than have them discover that it could assist them, for reasons that are given.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

==See also==

* [[Monomyth]]
* [[Itinerant preacher]]
* [[Vladimir Propp]], ''Morphology of the Folktale''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fantasy tropes]]
[[Category:Plot (narrative)]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]