# Quest > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Quest > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Quest.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest > Source revision: 1352725687 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Plot device in mythology and fiction}} {{About|significance-laden journeys}} {{Speculative fiction sidebar|cTopic=Fantasy fiction}} A '''quest''' is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a [plot](/source/Plot_(narrative)) device in [mythology](/source/mythology) and [fiction](/source/fiction): a difficult [journey](/source/Travel) towards a goal, often [symbol](/source/symbol)ic or [allegorical](/source/Allegory). Tales of quests figure prominently in the [folklore](/source/folklore) of every nationJosepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 142 {{ISBN|0-87483-387-6}} and [ethnic culture](/source/Ethnic_group). In [literature](/source/literature), the object of a quest requires great exertion on the part of the [hero](/source/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).Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 178-9, {{ISBN|0-7006-0832-X}} The object of a quest may also have [supernatural](/source/supernatural) properties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds and dimensions. The [moral](/source/moral) of a quest tale often centers on the changed [character](/source/Moral_character) of the hero. ==Etymology and history== The word ''quest'' derives from the [Old French](/source/Old_French) ''queste'' (modern French ''quête''), which in turn stems from the [Vulgar Latin](/source/Vulgar_Latin) ''quaesta'' ("search" or "inquiry"). This noun was formed from the feminine past participle of the [Latin](/source/Latin) verb ''quaerere'', meaning "to seek," "to ask," or "to inquire."{{cite web |title=Quest (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/quest |website=Online Etymology Dictionary}} In its earliest English usage during the 13th and 14th centuries, the term lacked its modern heroic or supernatural connotations. Instead, it was primarily a technical and legal term referring to an official inquiry or a [judicial investigation](/source/inquest).{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=2nd |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press}} In a rural feudal context, a "quest" was often the formal process of searching for stolen property or lost livestock. The transformation of the quest from a dry legal procedure into a central theme of [chivalric romance](/source/chivalric_romance) was catalyzed by the [Crusades](/source/Crusades) and cultural contact with the Islamic world through [Al-Andalus](/source/Al-Andalus) (Islamic Spain). During this period, European knights encountered the Arabic concept of ''[Furusiyya](/source/Furusiyya)'' (فروسية)—a sophisticated ethical code that combined martial skill with spiritual virtue, generosity, and honor.{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh |title=The Crusades: An Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |isbn=978-1576078624}} The literary structure of the quest also drew parallels with the Islamic tradition of ''[Rihla](/source/Rihla)'' (رحلة), or the "journey in pursuit of knowledge" (''[Talab al-Ilm](/source/Talab_al-Ilm)''). While the Latin tradition focused on the search for a physical object, the Eastern influence emphasized the journey as a means of internal purification and character refinement. This "internalization" of the journey is evident in later Arthurian legends, such as the [Quest for the Holy Grail](/source/Quest_for_the_Holy_Grail), where the physical travel serves as an allegory for the hero's spiritual struggle and growth.{{cite book |last=Menocal |first=Maria Rosa |title=The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain |publisher=Back Bay Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-0316168717}} ==Quest objects== The hero normally aims to obtain something or someone by the quest, and with this object to return home. [W. H. Auden](/source/W._H._Auden), "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p35 {{ISBN|0-618-42253-6}} 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.[Vladimir Propp](/source/Vladimir_Propp), ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p 36, {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}} Sometimes the hero has no desire to return; [Galahad](/source/Galahad)'s quest for the [Holy Grail](/source/Holy_Grail) is to find it, not return with it. A return may, indeed, be impossible: [Aeneas](/source/Aeneas) quests for a homeland, having lost [Troy](/source/Troy) at the beginning of [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s ''[Aeneid](/source/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](/source/false_hero)es who attempt to pass themselves off as them,[Vladimir Propp](/source/Vladimir_Propp), ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p60, {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}} or their initial response may be a rejection of that return, as [Joseph Campbell](/source/Joseph_Campbell) describes in his critical analysis of quest literature, ''[The Hero with a Thousand Faces](/source/The_Hero_With_a_Thousand_Faces)''. The quest, in the form of the [hero's journey](/source/Monomyth), plays a central role in the monomyth described by Campbell: the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land of adventures, tests, and magical rewards. 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, but the tale proceeds just as if the claim were sincere, except that the tale usually ends with the dispatcher being unmasked and punished.[Vladimir Propp](/source/Vladimir_Propp), ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'', p77 {{ISBN|0-292-78376-0}} Stories with such false quest-objects include the legends of [Jason](/source/Jason) and [Perseus](/source/Perseus), the fairy tales ''[The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird](/source/The_Dancing_Water%2C_the_Singing_Apple%2C_and_the_Speaking_Bird)'' and ''[Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What](/source/Go_I_Know_Not_Whither_and_Fetch_I_Know_Not_What)'', and the story of ''[Beren and Lúthien](/source/Beren_and_L%C3%BAthien)'' in [J. R. R. Tolkien](/source/J._R._R._Tolkien)'s ''[The Silmarillion](/source/The_Silmarillion)''. The quest object may, indeed, function only as a convenient reason for the hero's journey. Such objects are termed [MacGuffin](/source/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 coupons](/source/Plot_coupon). ==Historical examples== An early quest story tells the tale of [Gilgamesh](/source/Gilgamesh), who seeks the secret to eternal life after the death of his friend [Enkidu](/source/Enkidu). Another ancient quest tale, [Homer](/source/Homer)'s ''[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)'', tells of [Odysseus](/source/Odysseus), whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before [Athena](/source/Athena) persuades the [Olympians](/source/Twelve_Olympians) to allow him to return home. Recovering the [Golden Fleece](/source/Golden_Fleece) is the object of the travels of Jason and the [Argonauts](/source/Argonauts) in the ''[Argonautica](/source/Argonautica)''. [Psyche](/source/Cupid_and_Psyche), having lost [Cupid](/source/Cupid), hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by [Venus](/source/Venus_(mythology)), including a descent into the [underworld](/source/underworld). [[File:Quest of the white hart - 738326.jpg|thumb|''The Quest of the White Hart'' (1912), an Arthurian illustration by [F. A. Fraser](/source/F._A._Fraser)]] Many medieval [chivalric romance](/source/chivalric_romance)s sent knights out on quests. The term "[knight-errant](/source/knight-errant)" sprang from this, as ''errant'' meant "roving" or "wandering". [Thomas Malory](/source/Thomas_Malory) collected many quests from the [Arthurian legend](/source/Arthurian_legend) in ''[Le Morte d'Arthur](/source/Le_Morte_d'Arthur)'', including that of the eponymous [Questing Beast](/source/Questing_Beast). The most famous of them — perhaps in all of western literature — is the great [Grail Quest](/source/Grail_Quest). This tale exists in multiple variants, telling stories both of the heroes who succeed, like [Perceval](/source/Perceval) (in [Wolfram von Eschenbach](/source/Wolfram_von_Eschenbach)'s ''[Parzival](/source/Parzival)'') or Galahad (in the ''[Lancelot-Grail](/source/Lancelot-Grail)''), and also the heroes who fail, like [Lancelot](/source/Lancelot). Romances often sent their heroes into perilous [enchanted forests](/source/enchanted_forest),Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 177, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}} where they may achieve their quests.Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 181, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}} Their adventures are often explained to the knights, particularly those searching for the Grail, by [hermit](/source/hermit)s acting as [wise old people](/source/wise_old_man).Penelope Reed Doob, ''The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages'', p 179–81, {{ISBN|0-8014-8000-0}} So consistently did knights quest that [Miguel de Cervantes](/source/Miguel_de_Cervantes) set his ''[Don Quixote](/source/Don_Quixote)'' on mock quests in a parody of chivalric tales. [[Image:Theodor Kittelsen, Soria Moria.jpg|thumb|[''Soria Moria''](/source/Soria_Moria_Castle) by [Theodor Kittelsen](/source/Theodor_Kittelsen): a hero glimpses the end of his quest]] Many [fairy tale](/source/fairy_tale)s depict the hero or heroine setting out on a quest, such as in ''[East of the Sun and West of the Moon](/source/East_of_the_Sun_and_West_of_the_Moon)'' where the heroine seeks her husband, ''[The Seven Ravens](/source/The_Seven_Ravens)'' where the heroine seeks her transformed brothers, or ''[The Golden Bird](/source/The_Golden_Bird)'' where the prince sets out to find the golden bird for his father. Other fairy tale 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.Maria Tatar, ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p63, {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}} While other characters can also set forth on quests — the hero's older brothers commonly do — it is the hero that is distinguished by their success. ==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,Robert McKee, ''Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting'', p 196–7 {{ISBN|0-06-039168-5}} but the literal structure of an Arthurian quests seeking something is, itself, still common. Quests appear in fantasy literature,John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "Quest ", p 796 {{ISBN|0-312-19869-8}} as in ''[Rasselas](/source/Rasselas)'' by [Samuel Johnson](/source/Samuel_Johnson), or ''[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz](/source/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz)'', where [Dorothy](/source/Dorothy_Gale), [Scarecrow (Oz)](/source/Scarecrow_(Oz)), the [Tin Woodman](/source/Tin_Woodman), and the [Cowardly Lion](/source/Cowardly_Lion) go on a quest for the way back to Kansas, brains, a heart, and courage respectively.L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'', p 126–7, {{ISBN|0-517-50086-8}} Quests also play a major role in [Rick Riordan](/source/Rick_Riordan)'s fantasy books, among them ''[Percy Jackson & the Olympians](/source/Percy_Jackson_%26_the_Olympians)'', ''[The Heroes of Olympus](/source/The_Heroes_of_Olympus)'', and ''[The Kane Chronicles](/source/The_Kane_Chronicles)'', and in dark fantasy novel ''[The Talisman](/source/The_Talisman_(King_and_Straub_novel))'' by [Stephen King](/source/Stephen_King) and [Peter Straub](/source/Peter_Straub). A familiar modern literary quest is [Frodo Baggins](/source/Frodo_Baggins)'s quest to destroy the [One Ring](/source/One_Ring) in Tolkien's ''[The Lord of the Rings](/source/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)''.[W. H. Auden](/source/W._H._Auden), "The Quest Hero", ''Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism'', p45 {{ISBN|0-618-42253-6}} 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. ==See also== * [Quest (video games)](/source/Quest_(video_games)) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Wiktionary}} {{Fantasy fiction}} {{Authority control}} Category:Fantasy tropes Category:Narrative techniques Category:Plot (narrative) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Quest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.