The Quest requires the hero to go on a dangerous journey to complete a specific task, one with significant and often world-changing ramifications. The task could be a rescue of a captive, the obtaining of an item or artifact, or the gaining of information, but whatever form it takes, there is always a particular and well defined objective to be achieved that signals the completion of the quest.
If there isn't a particular task to complete at the end of the trip, but the focus is more on what happens to the character along the way, then it's a Voyage.
If the task that needs to be completed is to kill a monster, then the question is more nuanced. If the main focus of the story involves the monster, finding it, stalking it, struggling with it, it's probably a Kill the Monster story type, even if it has the trappings of a quest. Alternatively, if the focus is on the quest structure, and killing the monster is just a small incidental part, then the story type is more appropriately a quest.
A classic example of the quest structure would be the hero's journey,
with all the formal elements in place, but this does not have to be its
only representation. Quests are about accomplishment, about achieving something. And the artifact obtained could be something abstract, like respect or peace between two warring peoples.
But the journey can be as important as the final task, because it provides the hero with a chance to prepare, learn, acquire the tools necessary for the task. She may also be joined by companions along the way and pass through noticeable milestones such as the threshold of the unknown, or through figurative death and rebirth. These milestones convince the hero and the reader that she is ready to complete the final task.
Often present with a quest story is a re-alignment of understanding. This could be in the form of a twist, when the heroes discover and possibly shift their objective or their methods of achieving it. Or it could be a moment of realization where the heroes finally understand what is truly at stake, and what might be required of them to complete the quest. It is a moment of insight about the nature and meaning of the quest itself.
Frodo's story in The Lord of the Rings is a typical example in that he has to make a dangerous trip from the Shire to Mordor, and complete a specific task there: toss the ring into the molten center of Mount Doom. Everything that Frodo does throughout the travel is colored by the ring and its destruction. True to form, there comes a moment when Frodo realizes that he must leave the Fellowship at Amon Hen and find his own path. Contrast that with Aragorn's story and Merry and Pippin's story from the same books.
Luke Skywalker, in Star Wars: a New Hope has a similar task in delivering the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance, outwitting Imperials and cantina patrons along the way. Dorothy has to travel to Emerald City to ask the Wizard to send her home. Indiana Jones is following a trail of clues to find the Ark of the Covenant and rescue it from the Nazis. In The Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace travel to the north to rescue Prince Rillian. The quest has a strong foundation in the Arthurian legends, particularly the quest for the Holy Grail.
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