After the Ordeal, the hero (and the audience) deserve a little breather. Relief from that emotional hardship the Ordeal has put us all through. This is also a time to celebrate the hero’s survival (in the event of their survival, of course).
The Reward is the stage when the hero reaps their (you guessed it) reward for having gone through the Ordeal. This can be quite literal – an object that the hero was after – or metaphorical – a valuable lesson, a new skill, or any other kind of prize. This is also a great moment for a romantic B-story scene if you have one.
Even if the reward is an actual object, it’s important to remember that the Ordeal has irreversibly changed the hero. They may have learned or realised something important during their brush with death. The Reward stage is the first time we see them behave differently – or at least we see a hint of that.
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