Return with the Elixir
The arrival home after the hero’s journey. They bring with them a token, a gift, from the special world, something that can heal and bring prosperity to the ordinary world. But that is not the most important thing for the hero’s journey that the hero brings back to the ordinary world. The most important thing that they bring is their permanent and irreversible change that they have undergone in the special world. They are changed, and it is noticeable to everyone in the ordinary world.
This is sometimes called the Denouement. It is the unknotting of the knots from the plot that is shown in the return of the elixir. Like a cleansing of the mud that is gained during a long trek, at the end of the hero’s journey, the hero washes the mud off, untying and releasing all that which has been accumulated.
The last place of the hero’s journey is often the very place that the journey started. The place is often quite the same, but the hero is anything but, having changed permanently and irreversibly. The hero’s perspective has changed entirely. They look upon this place of old with a perspective of new.
At its core, the return with the elixir answers the moral question of the story, it embodies the hero’s change as it relates to the theme, the essence of the story.
The best elixirs are those that embody the hero’s inner change, showing the hero’s inner journey. Maybe the hero is no longer selfish, instead, taking on the responsibility to help others. Maybe the hero is now courageous, willingly jumping into danger with a proud chest, whereas before they cowered from danger.
The most important point is that the hero is changed. Permanently. The plot and its lines out to be resolved, so that they were may not be any questions. Unless of course that is what the story demands.