You Can Never Go Home Again, Or Can You?: The Return to the Fold Dynamic

Part 1: Introduction

With the Story Code, we track all sorts of patterns and dynamics that occur in stories. One of them is called the Return to the Fold dynamic. Katherine Farmer, the creator of Story Code noticed that once the climax was over, the hero returns home in one of four ways:

1. The hero returns to the same fold
2. The hero returns to an improved fold
3. The hero leaves the fold for a better one
4. The hero is killed or banished from the fold

This usually happens in the denouement or falling action at the end of the story. This dynamic is important because it not only gives us information about the hero’s state at the finish line, but also give us information about the system or fold.

Every story comes with a world. It could look like our world, a futuristic or fantastical world, or one from another time period. Every world is controlled by a system or multiple systems that our would-be hero must navigate. The system creates and enforces the rules of the world, but regardless of whether the system is antagonistic or benevolent, it is a force to be reckoned with. Most importantly, every system in every story reflects on our systems. We are the ultimate target of the story. Some stories reinforce the system (Comedies and Tragedies) and some challenge or even seek to take down the system (Dramas and Satires).

In the next four weeks, we’ll look at each of these endings, give some examples and show the patterns that occur with each of the four main kinds of stories: Drama, Comedy, Tragedy, and Satire.