Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
A specialized job of Return is to hand out final rewards and punishments. It's part
of restoring balance to the world of the story, giving a sense of completion. It's like
getting your grades after final exams. Villains should earn their ultimate fate by their
evil deeds and they should not get off too easily. Audiences hate that. Punishment
should fit the crime and have the quality of poetic justice. In other words, the way
the villain dies or gets his just comeuppance should directly relate to his sins.
Heroes should get what's coming to them as well. Too many movie heroes
get rewards they haven't really earned. T h e reward should be proportionate to the
sacrifice they have offered. You don't get immortality for being nice. Also if heroes
have failed to learn a lesson, they may be penalized for it in the Return.
O f course, if your dramatic point of view is that life isn't fair and you feel
annaabi.ee 
