The hero's journey is used intentionally and unintentionally by authors every day. The trope is hugely popular and has been since even before it was templated. We previously discussed the hero's journey in detail as part of our step-by-step book writing guide but I wanted to demonstrate these twelve stages through a popular fictional example. I've used Harry Potter because he's well-known enough that most people will understand the journey, even if they haven't read the books.