[Note: This was originally published on Reddit, but I have republished it here for archival purposes. You can read the original post and comments here.]
During my winter hibernation (i.e. the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day), I decided to sit down and finally make sense of the Fever Diaries. Anyone familiar with my ACU theories knows that they are generally very wrong and entirely unsupported. So I thought maybe it was time for me to study up on the source material so I’d actually know what I was talking about for once.
After multiple read-throughs, I opened up a doc to write down all my thoughts and feelings about the diaries with the intent that I’d post them and maybe have a chat about how buck wild they get. But it turned into a messy multi-page essay (even longer than this post, if you can believe it) that should never be made public.
But the diaries themselves are chaotic and hard to discuss without following meaningless tangents and falling into plot holes. It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture when you’re stuck wondering who the heck Bobo is and how on earth the Grimes girl got her voice back when the person who was supposed to be retrieving it was currently hallucinating a basketball game and also at what point and why he removed his gas mask in order to start hallucinating in the first place. Also, who are A(31), B(28), and C(21)? Why "name" them and tell us nothing about them? Is it actually a code? (I would not put this past KQ, tbh).
What I really needed was structure–a framework whereon I could pin the important parts of the plot so that I could sort out what was actually happening.
Enter the Monomyth, or the Hero’s Journey developed by Joseph Campbell. After studying various stories from around the world, Campbell realized that all tales of heroism share similar traits and story beats (think The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.). So the question at hand is: How well do the Fever diaries follow the monomyth structure? And also, who is the real hero?
(All of the terms and definitions are lifted straight from this website.)
1. Ordinary World This is the original world of the hero, which "suffers from a symbolic deficiency." The hero is lacking something, or something is taken from him.
The entirety of Part 1 is the setup of the ordinary world. We learn about each of the members’ personal struggles and how they meet and become friends and more importantly how they all decide that their dreams as a group are interfering with their ability to survive in this cruel world that only wants to force them to grow up and conform to society’s standards. They decide to go their separate ways.
2. Call to Adventure The hero is given a challenge, problem, or adventure. Often it appears as a blunder, or chance. This stage establishes the goal of the hero.
This actually happens during Meeting with the Mentor (below), so we’ll talk about it there.
3. Refusal of the Call The (often) reluctant hero has to be set along the correct path. He must weigh the consequences and be excited by a stronger motivation to proceed further.
No one, specifically Hongjoong at this point, ever actually refuses the call, so no reluctant heroes this time.
4. Meeting with the Mentor The hero encounters a wise figure who prepares him for the journey. This figure (or item) gives advice, guidance, or an item, but cannot go with the hero.
When Halajoong appears to HJ in a dream, he not only gives him some cryptic advice (“Get rid of the idea that the world you see is everything. There are many dimensions and many realities in this world. The world I am in, the world you are in, are all real. . . Follow your heart, the map is there.”) but he also leaves him with the Cromer. By giving HJ the magical item, Halajoong invites him on a journey, insinuating that it will reunite him with his friends.
5. Crossing the Threshold The hero has committed to his task, and enters the special world. Often he is met by a threshold guardian.
HJ activates the Cromer accidentally (“While looking at the Cromer, I inadvertently turned it around”), so it could be argued that he never actually accepts the call but rather stumbles into the adventure. The other members are summoned to the hideout and find that they’ve been transported to Strictland (though they don’t know it yet). As soon as they arrive, the android guardians arrive in search of the Cromer.
6. Tests/Allies/Enemies In the special world, the hero learns the new rules by meeting people and obtaining new information. There is often a "local watering hole" component. This is where the true characteristics of the hero are revealed.
The Cromer is lost. They meet the Grimes siblings and Left Eye. Jongho goes into a trash cave to retrieve the Grimes girl’s voice (thanks to Wooyoung taking on sidequests, apparently). He very nearly hallucinates himself off a cliff but is saved by Yeosang. Yunho has a showdown with Left Eye who is high on yellow smoke but also holds the information they need to infiltrate the android guardian base to reclaim the Cromer and free Halateez (the Black Pirates).
7. Approach to the Innermost Cave Now our hero, and often his allies, have come to the edge of the dangerous place where the "object of the quest" is hidden. This stage often is the land of the dead.
The group along with the Grimes siblings and Left Eye take a boat to the island where the base is located. The place is bright and beautiful like a resort, but empty and lifeless.
8. The Supreme Ordeal The hero faces danger, often a life-or-death moment that is either physical or psychological. It took me a bit to figure this part out, but I eventually realized that there are three different Supreme Ordeals based on which character we’re following.
Yeosang: The group breaks into the gallery where the Android Guardians are keeping both the Cromer and the Black Pirates. The group, minus Yeosang, speaks with the pirates and mysteriously find themselves dressed in the Black Pirates’ clothes ("Soon after, we were wearing their black suits without even noticing"). Meanwhile, Yeosang has gone on a solo mission to find the Cromer, but unfortunately, the guardians have found him leading to a showdown. Yeosang is able to destroy the Cromer sending his friends back to the real world. . . somehow.
Six Makes One Team: Arriving home, the remaining group (minus Yunho and Yeosang this time) break into a museum to steal the real world version of the Cromer in order to get back to Strictland to save Yeosang. However, they are held hostage by Henry Jo, a religious scientist and cult leader who is also trying to steal the Cromer to "save the world."
Yunho: Yunho–who had previously backed out of the heist in order to stay with his brother who, thanks to the magic of time travel, is now alive–shows up at the museum with his biker gang (???) to save his friends from the hostage situation they find themselves in. His ordeal is that he’s risking that his brother will die again (like he did in the first timeline) if Yunho isn’t there to keep him safe.
9. Reward or Seizing the Sword After surviving, our hero takes possession of the object, typically a treasure, weapon, knowledge, token, or reconciliation.
Ateez, specifically Wooyoung, gets the Cromer.
10. The Road Back The hero must now deal with the consequences of their actions. They may be pursued by remaining forces. They now face the decision to return to the ordinary world.
Yeosang is taken captive and the light caused by breaking the Cromer drew the Grimes siblings and Left Eye into the gallery find out what was going on. The Grimes siblings as well as other resistance members are captured and harvested of their biological energy (yikes) in front of Yeosang who is trapped in the glass case we see in SMN and DV and A:OtJ. Yunho’s brother dies after being hit by the car Henry Jo was driving. The group is able to return to Strictland to rescue Yeosang.
11. Resurrection One final test is required for the purification and rebirth of the hero. Alternatively, it may be a miraculous transformation.
Yeosang’s test seems to be that he simply has to not lose hope. He must stay alive long enough to be rescued–which he is, by Seonghwa while the others are having a battle royale with the androids in another room. What is truly wild to me is that if I'm understanding the story correctly (debatable), then Say My Name is set in Strictland and also happens just before Answer: Ode to Joy.
12. Return with the Elixir The triumphant hero returns to the ordinary world bearing the elixir. Common elixirs are treasure, love, freedom, wisdom, or knowledge. A defeated hero is doomed to repeat the lesson.
The group is reunited. They have taken the place of Halateez it seems (leaving me with more questions than answers). They send a message to Left Eye in Morse code letting him know they’re alive and well and have found their identities and purpose (because this happens after SMN). So, I guess the elixir is. . . Ateez.
Conclusion and TL;DR (that is also a bit long, sorry):
I cannot tell you if KQ was actually intending to structure the story around the monomyth or not, but it follows the Hero's Journey pretty well, even considering that there are eight main characters. However, I think we really have only one "hero" (possibly two) in the end, and interestingly, neither is Hongjoong as you might expect. Though he does kick off the journey with a turn of the Cromer, he quickly takes a backseat to other characters who have a more active role in the story. Therefore, our first hero candidate is not Hongjoong but Yeosang. Yeosang's story arc is interesting (and lowkey heartbreaking) because he starts off feeling caged in by his parents' expectations, but finding his friends and discovering a love of music makes him feel free. In the letter to his father from Part 2, Yeosang states that his father kicked the group out of their hideout and caused the group to split up (which is not true based on pt. 1) He says "I became the person who took happiness away from [my] friends. . . I regretted that if they hadn't met me from the beginning, this situation wouldn't have happened." I think this sense of guilt and responsibility is what causes Yeosang to unnecessarily risk his life to get back the Cromer in the first heist (pt. 3). Because of his actions, he finds himself a prisoner again, this time in a literal glass cage. However, in the end, it's his friends who set him free.
I would like to argue that even though Yunho doesn't have a resurrection like Yeosang does, he is also a potential hero. In the beginning, we learn that Yunho has lost his brother (he seems to be visiting a columbarium to speak with him). Because he is well-acquainted with loss, he can better understand Left Eye who is dealing with the death of his daughter by hallucinating that she's still alive. Yunho recognizes his feelings of guilt. It's not clear at this point that Yunho also feels guilty about his brother's death, but. . . well. . . hold on to that thought. When Yeo sends the group back home and back in time before Yunho's brother's death, Yunho decides he wants to stay with his brother. However, when he sees that his friends are in danger, he makes the choice to go save them, begging his brother to stay home. However, fate simply could not be avoided. His brother ventures out to the museum which leads to his death. Yunho saves his friends but is forced to watch his brother die again. However, Yunho's brother, before passing, makes sure to tell Yunho not to feel guilty about either of his deaths and encourages him to live happily with his friends. But does all that make Yunho the hero? I mean, he doesn't flinch when Left Eye attempts to bash his head in with a bat and straight up punches Henry Jo in the face right after losing his brother. So. . . you tell me.
Or, does it really not matter in the end? Eight makes one team, after all. Perhaps all the members are each an arm of the same octopus and it's about the collective story rather than the individual. Either way, this was a fun (and time consuming) exercise for a literature nerd.
All I really know for sure is that I have to rethink my entire MV order because my original timeline is exceptionally wrong.
