title: World Chess Championship

text: While negotiating his 1937 World Championship rematch with Alekhine, Euwe proposed that if he retained the title FIDE should manage the nomination of future challengers and the conduct of championship matches. FIDE had been trying since 1935 to introduce rules on how to select challengers, and its various proposals favored selection by some sort of committee. While they were debating procedures in 1937 and Alekhine and Euwe were preparing for their rematch later that year, the Royal Dutch Chess Federation proposed that a super-tournament (AVRO) of ex-champions and rising stars should be held to select the next challenger. FIDE rejected this proposal and at their second attempt nominated Salo Flohr as the official challenger. Euwe then declared that: if he retained his title against Alekhine he was prepared to meet Flohr in 1940 but he reserved the right to arrange a title match either in 1938 or 1939 with José Raúl Capablanca, who had lost the title to Alekhine in 1927; if Euwe lost his title to Capablanca then FIDE's decision should be followed and Capablanca would have to play Flohr in 1940. Most chess writers and players strongly supported the Dutch super-tournament proposal and opposed the committee processes favored by FIDE. While this confusion went unresolved: Euwe lost his title to Alekhine; the AVRO tournament in 1938 was won by Paul Keres under a tie-breaking rule, with Reuben Fine placed second and Capablanca and Flohr in the bottom places; and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 cut short the controversy.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Before 1946 a new World Champion had won the title by defeating the former champion in a match. Alexander Alekhine's death in 1946 created an "interregnum" that made the normal procedure impossible. The situation was very confused, with many respected players and commentators offering different solutions. FIDE found it very difficult to organize the early discussions on how to resolve the "interregnum" because problems with money and travel so soon after the end of World War II prevented many countries from sending representatives. The shortage of clear information resulted in otherwise responsible magazines publishing rumors and speculation, which only made the situation more confusing.


title: World Chess Championship

text: It did not help that the Soviet Union had long refused to join FIDE, and by this time it was clear that about half the credible contenders were Soviet citizens. But, realizing that it could not afford to be excluded from discussions about the vacant world championship, the Soviet Union sent a telegram in 1947 apologizing for the absence of Soviet representatives and requesting that the USSR be represented on future FIDE Committees.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The eventual solution was very similar to FIDE's initial proposal and to a proposal put forward by the Soviet Union (authored by Mikhail Botvinnik). The 1938 AVRO tournament was used as the basis for the 1948 Championship Tournament. The AVRO tournament had brought together the eight players who were, by general acclamation, the best players in the world at the time. Two of the participants at AVRO – Alekhine and former world champion José Raúl Capablanca – had died; but FIDE decided that the championship should be awarded to the winner of a round-robin tournament in which the other six participants at AVRO would play four games against each other. These players were: Max Euwe, from the Netherlands; Botvinnik, Paul Keres and Salo Flohr from the Soviet Union; and Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky from the United States. However, FIDE soon accepted a Soviet request to substitute Vasily Smyslov for Flohr, and Fine dropped out in order to continue his degree studies in psychology, so only five players competed. Botvinnik won convincingly and thus became world champion, ending the "interregnum".


title: World Chess Championship

text: The proposals which led to the 1948 Championship Tournament also specified the procedure by which challengers for the World Championship would be selected in a three-year cycle: countries affiliated to FIDE would send players to Zonal Tournaments (the number varied depending on how many good enough players each country had); the players who gained the top places in these would compete in an Interzonal Tournament (later split into two and then three tournaments as the number of countries and eligible players increased); the highest-placed players from the Interzonal would compete in the Candidates Tournament, along with whoever lost the previous title match and the second-placed competitor in the previous Candidates Tournament three years earlier; and the winner of the Candidates played a title match against the champion. Until 1962 inclusive the Candidates Tournament was a multi-cycle round-robin tournament – how and why it was changed are described below.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The FIDE system followed its 1948 design through five cycles: 1948–1951, 1951–1954, 1954–1957, 1957–1960 and 1960–1963. The first two world championships under this system were drawn 12–12 – Botvinnik-Bronstein in 1951 and Botvinnik-Smyslov in 1954 – so Botvinnik retained the title both times.


title: World Chess Championship

text: In 1956 FIDE introduced two apparently minor changes which Soviet grandmaster and chess official Yuri Averbakh alleged were instigated by the two Soviet representatives in FIDE, who were personal friends of reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik. A defeated champion would have the right to a return match. FIDE also limited the number of players from the same country that could compete in the Candidates Tournament, on the grounds that it would reduce Soviet dominance of the tournament. Averbakh claimed that this was to Botvinnik's advantage as it reduced the number of Soviet players he might have to meet in the title match. Botvinnik lost to Vasily Smyslov in 1957 but won the return match in 1958, and lost to Mikhail Tal in 1960 but won the return match in 1961. Thus Smyslov and Tal each held the world title for a year, but Botvinnik was world champion for rest of the time from 1948 to 1963.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The return match clause was not in place for the 1963 cycle. Tigran Petrosian won the 1962 Candidates and then defeated Botvinnik in 1963 to become world champion.


title: World Chess Championship

text: After the 1962 Candidates, Bobby Fischer publicly alleged that the Soviets had colluded to prevent any non-Soviet – specifically him – from winning. He claimed that Petrosian, Efim Geller and Paul Keres had prearranged to draw all their games, and that Viktor Korchnoi had been instructed to lose to them. Yuri Averbakh, who was head of the Soviet team, confirmed in 2002 that Petrosian, Geller and Keres arranged to draw all their games in order to save their energy for games against non-Soviet players. Korchnoi, who defected from the USSR in 1976, has never confirmed that he was forced to throw games. FIDE responded by changing the format of future Candidates Tournaments to eliminate the possibility of collusion.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Beginning in the next cycle, 1963–1966, the round-robin tournament was replaced by a series of elimination matches. Initially the quarter-finals and semi-finals were best of 10 games, and the final was best of 12. Fischer, however, refused to take part in the 1966 cycle, and dropped out of the 1969 cycle after a controversy at 1967 Interzonal in Sousse. Both these Candidates cycles were won by Boris Spassky, who lost the title match to Petrosian in 1966, but won and became world champion in 1969.


title: World Chess Championship

text: In the 1969–1972 cycle Fischer caused two more crises. He refused to play in the 1969 US Championship, which was a Zonal Tournament. This would have eliminated him from the 1969–1972 cycle, but Benko was persuaded to concede his place in the Interzonal to Fischer. FIDE President Max Euwe accepted this maneuver and interpreted the rules very flexibly to enable Fischer to play, as he thought it important for the health and reputation of the game that Fischer should have the opportunity to challenge for the title as soon as possible. Fischer crushed all opposition and won the right to challenge reigning champion Boris Spassky. After agreeing to play in Yugoslavia, Fischer raised a series of objections and Iceland was the final venue. Even then Fischer raised difficulties, mainly over money. It took a phone call from United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and a doubling of the prize money by financier Jim Slater to persuade him to play. After a few more traumatic moments Fischer won the match 12½–8½.


title: World Chess Championship

text: An unbroken line of FIDE champions had thus been established from 1948 to 1972, with each champion gaining his title by beating the previous incumbent. This came to an end when Anatoly Karpov won the right to challenge Fischer in 1975. Fischer objected to the "best of 24 games" championship match format that had been used from 1951 onwards, claiming that it would encourage whoever got an early lead to play for draws. Instead he demanded that the match should be won by whoever first won 10 games, except that if the score reached 9–9 he should remain champion. He argued that this was more advantageous to the challenger than the champion's advantage under the existing system, where the champion retained the title if the match was tied at 12–12 including draws. Eventually FIDE deposed Fischer and crowned Karpov as the new champion.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Fischer privately maintained that he was still World Champion. He went into seclusion and did not play chess in public again until 1992, when Spassky agreed to participate in an unofficial rematch for the World Championship. Fischer won the 1992 Fischer–Spassky rematch decisively with a score of 10–5.


title: World Chess Championship

text: After becoming world champion by default, Karpov confirmed his worthiness for the title with a string of tournament successes from the mid 70s to the early 80s. He defended his title twice against ex-Soviet Viktor Korchnoi, first in Baguio, the Philippines, in 1978 (6–5 with 21 draws) then in Merano in 1981 (6–2, with 10 draws).


title: World Chess Championship

text: He eventually lost his title in 1985 to Garry Kasparov, whose aggressive tactical style was in sharp contrast to Karpov's positional style. The two of them fought five incredibly close world championship matches, the World Chess Championship 1984 (controversially terminated without result with Karpov leading +5 −3 =40), World Chess Championship 1985 (in which Kasparov won the title, 13–11), World Chess Championship 1986 (narrowly won by Kasparov, 12½–11½), World Chess Championship 1987 (drawn 12–12, Kasparov retaining the title), and World Chess Championship 1990 (again narrowly won by Kasparov, 12½–11½).


title: World Chess Championship

text: In the five matches Kasparov and Karpov played 144 games with 104 draws, 21 wins by Kasparov and 19 wins by Karpov.


title: World Chess Championship

text: In 1993, Nigel Short broke the domination of Kasparov and Karpov by defeating Karpov in the candidates semi-finals followed by Jan Timman in the finals, thereby earning the right to challenge Kasparov for the title. However, before the match took place, both Kasparov and Short complained of corruption and a lack of professionalism within FIDE in organizing the match, and split from FIDE to set up the Professional Chess Association (PCA), under whose auspices they held their match. In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his title and held a championship match between Karpov and Timman. For the first time in history, there were two World Chess Champions: Kasparov defeated Short and Karpov beat Timman.


title: World Chess Championship

text: FIDE and the PCA each held a championship cycle in 1993–1996, with many of the same challengers playing in both. Kasparov and Karpov both won their respective cycles. In the PCA cycle, Kasparov defeated Viswanathan Anand in the PCA World Chess Championship 1995. Karpov defeated Gata Kamsky in the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996. Negotiations were held for a reunification match between Kasparov and Karpov in 1996–97, but nothing came of them.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Soon after the 1995 championship, the PCA folded, and Kasparov had no organisation to choose his next challenger. In 1998 he formed the World Chess Council, which organised a candidates match between Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik. Shirov won the match, but negotiations for a Kasparov–Shirov match broke down, and Shirov was subsequently omitted from negotiations, much to his disgust. Plans for a 1999 or 2000 Kasparov–Anand match also broke down, and Kasparov organised a match with Kramnik in late 2000. In a major upset, Kramnik won the match with two wins, thirteen draws, and no losses. At the time the championship was called the Braingames World Chess Championship, but Kramnik later referred to himself as the Classical World Chess Champion.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Meanwhile, FIDE had decided to scrap the Interzonal and Candidates system, instead having a large knockout event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks (see FIDE World Chess Championship 1998). Rapid and blitz games were used to resolve ties at the end of each round, a format which some felt did not necessarily recognize the highest quality play: Kasparov refused to participate in these events, as did Kramnik after he won the Classical title in 2000. In the first of these events, in 1998, champion Karpov was seeded directly into the final, but he later had to qualify alongside the other players. Karpov defended his title in the first of these championships in 1998, but resigned his title in protest at the new rules in 1999. Alexander Khalifman won the FIDE World Championship in 1999, Anand in 2000, Ruslan Ponomariov in 2002, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov in 2004.


title: World Chess Championship

text: By 2002, not only were there two rival champions, but Kasparov's strong results – he had the top Elo rating in the world and had won a string of major tournaments after losing his title in 2000 – ensured even more confusion over who was World Champion. In May 2002, American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan led the organisation of the so-called "Prague Agreement" to reunite the world championship. Kramnik had organised a candidates tournament (won later in 2002 by Peter Leko) to choose his challenger. It was agreed that Kasparov would play the FIDE champion (Ponomariov) for the FIDE title, and the winner of that match would face the winner of the Kramnik–Leko match for the unified title. However, the matches proved difficult to finance and organise. The Kramnik–Leko match did not take place until late 2004 (it was drawn, so Kramnik retained his title). Meanwhile, FIDE never managed to organise a Kasparov match, either with 2002 FIDE champion Ponomariov, or 2004 FIDE champion Kasimdzhanov. Kasparov's frustration at the situation played a part in his decision to retire from chess in 2005, still ranked No. 1 in the world.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Soon after, FIDE dropped the short knockout format for a World Championship and announced the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, a double round robin tournament to be held in San Luis, Argentina between eight of the leading players in the world. However Kramnik insisted that his title be decided in a match, and declined to participate. The tournament was convincingly won by the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, and negotiations began for a Kramnik–Topalov match to unify the title.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The World Chess Championship 2006 reunification match between Topalov and Kramnik was held in late 2006. After much controversy, it was won by Kramnik. Kramnik thus became the first unified and undisputed World Chess Champion since Kasparov split from FIDE to form the PCA in 1993. This match, and all subsequent championships, have been administered by FIDE.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Kramnik played to defend his title at the World Chess Championship 2007 in Mexico. This was an 8-player double round robin tournament, the same format as was used for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. This tournament was won by Viswanathan Anand, thus making him the World Chess Champion. Because Anand's World Chess Champion title was won in a tournament rather than a match, a minority of commentators questioned the validity of his title. Kramnik also made ambiguous comments about the value of Anand's title, but did not claim the title himself. Subsequent world championship matches returned to the format of a match between the champion and a challenger.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The following two championships had special clauses arising from the 2006 unification. Kramnik was given the right to challenge for the title he lost in a tournament in the World Chess Championship 2008, which Anand won. Then Topalov, who as the loser of the 2006 match was excluded from the 2007 championship, was seeded directly into the Candidates final of the World Chess Championship 2010. He won the Candidates (against Gata Kamsky). Anand again won the championship match.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The next championship, the World Chess Championship 2012, had short knock-out matches for the Candidates Tournament. This format was not popular with everyone, and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen withdrew in protest. Boris Gelfand won the Candidates. Anand won the championship match again, in tie breaking rapid games, for his fourth consecutive world championship win.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Since 2013, the Candidates Tournament has been an 8-player double round robin tournament, with the winner playing a match against the champion for the title. The Norwegian Magnus Carlsen won the 2013 Candidates and then convincingly defeated Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Beginning with the 2014 Championship cycle, the World Championship has followed a 2-year cycle: qualification for the Candidates in the odd year, the Candidates tournament early in the even year, and the World Championship match later in the even year. This and the next two cycles resulted in Carlsen successfully defending his title: against Anand in 2014; against Sergey Karjakin in 2016; and against Fabiano Caruana in 2018. Both the 2016 and 2018 defences were decided by tie-break in rapid games.


title: World Chess Championship

text: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020 Candidates Tournament, and caused the next match to be postponed from 2020 to 2021. Carlsen again successfully defended his title, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the World Chess Championship 2021.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Soon after the 2021 match, Carlsen indicated that he would not defend the title again. This was confirmed in an announcement by FIDE on 20 July 2022. As a consequence, the top two finishers of the Candidates Tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, will play in the next championship in 2023.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Until 1948, world championship contests were arranged privately between the players. As a result, the players also had to arrange the funding, in the form of stakes provided by enthusiasts who wished to bet on one of the players. In the early 20th century this was sometimes an obstacle that prevented or delayed challenges for the title. Between 1888 and 1948 various difficulties that arose in match negotiations led players to try to define agreed rules for matches, including the frequency of matches, how much or how little say the champion had in the conditions for a title match and what the stakes and division of the purse should be. However these attempts were unsuccessful in practice, as the same issues continued to delay or prevent challenges. There was an attempt by an external organization to manage the world championship from 1887–1889, but this experiment was not repeated until 1948.


title: World Chess Championship

text: After the death of world champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946, the World Chess Championship 1948 was a one-off tournament to decide a new world champion.


title: World Chess Championship

text: Since 1948, the world championship has mainly operated on a two or three-year cycle, with four stages:


title: World Chess Championship

text: The table below organises the world champions in order of championship wins. A successful defense counts as a win for the purposes of this table, even if the match is drawn. The table is made more complicated by the split between the "Classical" and FIDE world titles between 1993 and 2006.


title: Hero's journey

text: In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.


title: Hero's journey

text: Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychologist Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan. Eventually, hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung's analytical psychology. Campbell used the monomyth to analyze and compare religions. In his famous book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" (1949), he describes the narrative pattern as follows:


title: Hero's journey

text: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.


title: Hero's journey

text: Campbell's theories regarding the concept of a "monomyth" have been the subject of criticism from scholars, particularly folklorists (scholars active in folklore studies), who have dismissed the concept as a non-scholarly approach suffering from source-selection bias, among other criticisms.


title: Hero's journey

text: The study of hero myth narratives can be traced back to 1871 with anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor's observations of common patterns in the plots of heroes' journeys. In narratology and comparative mythology, others have proposed narrative patterns such as psychoanalyst Otto Rank in 1909 and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan in 1936. Both Rank and Raglan have lists of cross-cultural traits often found in the accounts of mythical heroes and discuss hero narrative patterns in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis and ritualism. According to Robert Segal, "The theories of Rank, Campbell, and Raglan typify the array of analyses of hero myths."


title: Hero's journey

text: Campbell borrowed the word "monomyth" from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" (1939). Campbell was a notable scholar of Joyce's work and in "A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake" (1944) co-authored the seminal analysis of Joyce's final novel. Campbell's singular "the" monomyth implies that the "hero's journey" is the ultimate narrative archetype, but the term "monomyth" has occasionally been used more generally, as a term for a mythological archetype or a supposed mytheme that re-occurs throughout the world's cultures. Omry Ronen referred to Vyacheslav Ivanov's treatment of Dionysus as an "avatar of Christ" (1904) as "Ivanov's monomyth".


title: Hero's journey

text: The phrase "the hero's journey", used in reference to Campbell's monomyth, first entered into popular discourse through two documentaries. The first, released in 1987, "The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell," was accompanied by a 1990 companion book, "The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work" (with Phil Cousineau and Stuart Brown, eds.). The second was Bill Moyers's series of seminal interviews with Campbell, released in 1988 as the documentary (and companion book) "The Power of Myth". Cousineau in the introduction to the revised edition of "The Hero's Journey" wrote "the monomyth is in effect a "meta myth", a philosophical reading of the unity of mankind's "spiritual" history, the Story behind the story".


title: Hero's journey

text: In his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" (1949), Campbell summarizes the narrative pattern of the monomyth as follows:


title: Hero's journey

text: Campbell describes 17 stages of the monomyth. Not all monomyths necessarily contain all 17 stages explicitly; some myths may focus on only one of the stages, while others may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order. In the terminology of Claude Lévi-Strauss, the stages are the individual mythemes which are "bundled" or assembled into the structure of the monomyth.


title: Hero's journey

text: The 17 stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into three "acts" or sections:


title: Hero's journey

text: In the "departure" part of the narrative, the hero or protagonist lives in the ordinary world and receives a call to go on an adventure. The hero is reluctant to follow the call but is helped by a mentor figure.


title: Hero's journey

text: The "initiation" section begins with the hero then traversing the threshold to an unknown or "special world", where he faces tasks or trials, either alone or with the assistance of helpers.


title: Hero's journey

text: The hero eventually reaches "the innermost cave" or the central crisis of his adventure, where he must undergo "the ordeal" where he overcomes the main obstacle or enemy, undergoing "apotheosis" and gaining his reward (a treasure or "elixir").


title: Hero's journey

text: In the "return" section, the hero must return to the ordinary world with his reward. He may be pursued by the guardians of the special world, or he may be reluctant to return and may be rescued or forced to return by intervention from the outside.


title: Hero's journey

text: The hero again traverses the threshold between the worlds, returning to the ordinary world with the treasure or elixir he gained, which he may now use for the benefit of his fellow man. The hero himself is transformed by the adventure and gains wisdom or spiritual power over both worlds.


title: Hero's journey

text: The hero begins in a situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown. According to Campbell, this region is represented bya distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves, or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delight. The hero can go forth of their own volition to accomplish the adventure, as did Theseus when he arrived in his father's city, Athens, and heard the horrible history of the Minotaur; or they may be carried or sent abroad by some benign or malignant agent as was Odysseus, driven about the Mediterranean by the winds of the angered god, Poseidon. The adventure may begin as a mere blunder... or still, again, one may be only casually strolling when some passing phenomenon catches the wandering eye and lures one away from the frequented paths of man. Examples might be multiplied, "ad infinitum", from every corner of the world.


title: Hero's journey

text: Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his current circumstances. Campbell says thatRefusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or "culture," the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless—even though, like King Minos, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire of renown. Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death: a labyrinth of cyclopean walls to hide from him his Minotaur. All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration.


title: Hero's journey

text: Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, their guide and magical helper appears or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest. Campbell writes:What such a figure represents is benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a reassurance—promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first within the mother womb, is not to be lost; that it supports the present and stands in the future as well as in the past (is omega as well as alpha); that though omnipotence may seem to be endangered by the threshold of the world. One has only to know and trust, and the ageless guardians will appear. Having responded to their own call, and continuing to follow courageously as the consequences unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the unconscious at their side. Mother Nature herself supports the mighty task. And in so far as the hero's act coincides with that for which their society itself is ready, they seem to ride on the great rhythm of the historical process.


title: Hero's journey

text: This is the point where the hero actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of their world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are unknown. Campbell tells us,With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in four directions—also up and down—standing for the limits of the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger; just as beyond the parental watch is a danger to the infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to the members of the tribe. The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear so much as the first step into the unexplored.


title: Hero's journey

text: The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky, yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades.


title: Hero's journey

text: The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows a willingness to undergo a metamorphosis. When first entering the stage the hero may encounter a minor danger or setback. According to Campbell,The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown and would appear to have died.


title: Hero's journey

text: This popular motif gives emphasis to the lesson that the passage of the threshold is a form of self-annihilation. ... [I]nstead of passing outward, beyond the confines of the visible world, the hero goes inward, to be born again. The disappearance corresponds to the passing of a worshiper into the temple—where he is to be quickened by the recollection of who and what he is, namely dust and ashes unless immortal. The temple interior, the belly of the whale, and the heavenly land beyond, above, and below the confines of the world, are one and the same. That is why the approaches of and entrances to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles [equivalent to] the two rows of teeth of the whale. They illustrate the fact that the devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis. ... Once inside he may be said to have died to time and returned to the World Womb, the World Navel, the Earthly Paradise. ... Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and the hero-dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adventures, both denoting in picture language, the life-centering, life-renewing act.


title: Hero's journey

text: In the exemplary Book of Jonah, the eponymous Israelite refuses God's command to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh and attempts to flee by sailing to Tarshish. A storm arises, and the sailors cast lots to determine that Jonah is to blame. He allows himself to be thrown overboard to calm the storm, and is saved from drowning by being swallowed by a "great fish". Over three days, Jonah commits to God's will, and he is vomited safely onto the shore. He subsequently goes to Nineveh and preaches to its inhabitants. Jonah's passage through the belly of the whale can be viewed as a symbolic death and rebirth in Jungian analysis.


title: Hero's journey

text: The road of trials is a series of tests that the hero must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the hero fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes. Eventually, the hero will overcome these trials and move on to the next step. Campbell explains thatOnce having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials. This is a favorite phase of the myth-adventure. It has produced a world literature of miraculous tests and ordeals. The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage.


title: Hero's journey

text: The original departure into the land of trials represented only the beginning of the long and really perilous path of initiatory conquests and moments of illumination. Dragons have now to be slain and surprising barriers passed—again, again, and again. Meanwhile, there will be a multitude of preliminary victories, unsustainable ecstasies, and momentary glimpses of the wonderful land.


title: Hero's journey

text: This is where the hero gains items given to him that will help him in the future. Campbell proposes thatThe ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome, is commonly represented as a mystical marriage of the triumphant hero-soul with the Queen Goddess of the World. This is the crisis at the nadir, the zenith, or at the uttermost edge of the earth, at the central point of the cosmos, in the tabernacle of the temple, or within the darkness of the deepest chamber of the heart.


title: Hero's journey

text: The meeting with the goddess (who is incarnate in every woman) is the final test of the talent of the hero to win the boon of love (charity: "amor fati"), which is life itself enjoyed as the encasement of eternity.


title: Hero's journey

text: And when the adventurer, in this context, is not a youth but a maid, she is the one who, by her qualities, her beauty, or her yearning, is fit to become the consort of an immortal. Then the heavenly husband descends to her and conducts her to his bed—whether she will or not. And if she has shunned him, the scales fall from her eyes; if she has sought him, her desire finds its peace.


title: Hero's journey

text: In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead them to abandon or stray from their quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. A woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey. Campbell relates thatThe crux of the curious difficulty lies in the fact that our conscious views of what life ought to be seldom correspond to what life really is. Generally, we refuse to admit within ourselves, or within our friends, the fullness of that pushing, self-protective, malodorous, carnivorous, lecherous fever which is the very nature of the organic cell. Rather, we tend to perfume, whitewash, and reinterpret; meanwhile imagining that all the flies in the ointment, all the hairs in the soup, are the faults of some unpleasant someone else.


title: Hero's journey

text: But when it suddenly dawns on us or is forced to our attention that everything we think or do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of revulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, a woman in particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable to the pure, the pure, pure soul. ... The seeker of the life beyond life must press beyond [the woman], surpass the temptations of her call, and soar to the immaculate ether beyond.


title: Hero's journey

text: In this step, the hero must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in their life. In many myths and stories, this is the father or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving into this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male—just someone or something with incredible power. Per Campbell, Atonement consists in no more than the abandonment of that self-generated double monster—the dragon thought to be God (superego) and the dragon thought to be Sin (repressed id). But this requires an abandonment of the attachment to ego itself, and that is what is difficult. One must have faith that the father is merciful, and then a reliance on that mercy. Therewith, the center of belief is transferred outside of the bedeviling god's tight scaly ring, and the dreadful ogres dissolve.


title: Hero's journey

text: It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic (pollen charms or power of intercession) they are protected through all the frightening experiences of the father's ego-shattering initiation. For if it is impossible to trust the terrifying father-face, then one's faith must be centered elsewhere (Spider Woman, Blessed Mother); and with that reliance for support, one endures the crisis—only to find, in the end, that the father and mother reflect each other, and are in essence the same.Campbell later expounds:The problem of the hero going to meet the father is to open his soul beyond terror to such a degree that he will be ripe to understand how the sickening and insane tragedies of this vast and ruthless cosmos are completely validated in the majesty of Being. The hero transcends life with its peculiar blind spot and for a moment rises to a glimpse of the source. They behold the face of the father, understand — and the two are atoned.


title: Hero's journey

text: This is the point of realization in which a greater understanding is achieved. Armed with this new knowledge and perception, the hero is resolved and ready for the more difficult part of the adventure. Campbell discloses thatThose who know, not only that the Everlasting lies in them, but that what they, and all things, really are "is" the Everlasting, dwell in the groves of the wish-fulfilling trees, drink the brew of immortality, and listen everywhere to the unheard music of eternal concord.


title: Hero's journey

text: The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the hero went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the hero for this step since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail. Campbell confers thatThe gods and goddesses then are to be understood as embodiments and custodians of the elixir of Imperishable Being but not themselves the Ultimate in its primary state. What the hero seeks through his intercourse with them is therefore not finally themselves, but their grace, i.e., the power of their sustaining substance. This miraculous energy-substance and this alone is the Imperishable; the names and forms of the deities who everywhere embody, dispense, and represent it come and go. This is the miraculous energy of the thunderbolts of Zeus, Yahweh, and the Supreme Buddha, the fertility of the rain of Viracocha, the virtue announced by the bell rung in the Mass at the consecration, and the light of the ultimate illumination of the saint and sage. Its guardians dare release it only to the duly proven.


title: Hero's journey

text: Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto their fellow beings. Campbell continues:When the hero-quest has been accomplished, through penetration to the source, or through the grace of some male or female, human or animal personification, the adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy. The full round, the norm of the monomyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or his sleeping princess, back into the kingdom of humanity, where the boon may redound to the renewing of the community, the nation, the planet, or the ten thousand worlds.


title: Hero's journey

text: But the responsibility has been frequently refused. Even Gautama Buddha, after his triumph, doubted whether the message of realization could be communicated, and saints are reported to have died while in the supernal ecstasy. Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have taken up residence forever in the blessed isle of the unaging Goddess of Immortal Being.


title: Hero's journey

text: Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it. Campbell reveals thatIf the hero in his triumph wins the blessing of the goddess or the god and is then explicitly commissioned to return to the world with some elixir for the restoration of society, the final stage of his adventure is supported by all the powers of his supernatural patron. On the other hand, if the trophy has been attained against the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero's wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or demons, then the last stage of the mythological round becomes a lively, often comical, pursuit. This flight may be complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and evasion.


title: Hero's journey

text: Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often they must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the hero has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Campbell elucidates,The hero may have to be brought back from his supernatural adventure by assistance from without. That is to say, the world may have to come and get him. For the bliss of the deep abode is not lightly abandoned in favor of the [disorder] of the wakened state. ... Society is jealous of those who remain away from it and will come knocking at the door. If the hero ... is unwilling, the disturber suffers an ugly shock; but on the other hand, if the summoned one is only delayed—sealed in by the [deathlike rapture] of a perfect being ... an apparent rescue is effected, and the adventurer returns.


title: Hero's journey

text: Campbell says in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" that "The returning hero, to complete his adventure, must survive the impact of the world." The goal of the return is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest and to integrate it into society. Campbell writes,Many failures attest to the difficulties of this life-affirmative threshold. The first problem of the returning hero is to accept as real, after an experience of the soul-satisfying vision of fulfillment, the [ups and downs] of life. Why such a world? Why [share] the experience of transcendental bliss? As dreams that were momentous by night may seem simply silly in the light of day, so the poet and the prophet can discover themselves playing the idiot before [others]. The easy thing is to commit the whole community to the devil and retire again into [bliss]. But if some spiritual obstetrician has drawn the "shimenawa" across the retreat, then the work of [distilling eternal truth] cannot be avoided.


title: Hero's journey

text: For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds. Campbell demonstrates thatFreedom to pass back and forth across the world division, from the perspective of the apparitions of time to that of the causal deep and back—not contaminating the principles of the one with those of the other, yet permitting the mind to know the one by virtue of the other—is the talent of the master. The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another. It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest.


title: Hero's journey

text: Discussing this stage, Campbell cites the Apostles of Jesus, who had become selfless in their devotion by the time of their master's transfiguration, as well as the similar orthodoxy presented by Krishna, who said, "He who does My work and regards Me as the Supreme Goal ... without hatred for any creature—he comes to Me." Campbell goes on to illustrate that


title: Hero's journey

text: The individual, through prolonged psychological disciplines, gives up completely all attachment to his personal limitations, idiosyncrasies, hopes and fears, no longer resists the self-annihilation that is prerequisite to rebirth in the realization of truth, and so becomes ripe, at last, for the great at-one-ment. His personal ambitions being totally dissolved, he no longer tries to live but willingly relaxes to whatever may come to pass in him; he becomes, that is to say, an anonymity.


title: Hero's journey

text: In this step, mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past. Campbell declares,The hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is. "Before Abraham was, I ." He does not mistake apparent changelessness in time for the permanence of Being, nor is he fearful of the next moment (or of the "other thing"), as destroying the permanent with its change. [Quoting Ovid's "Metamorphoses":] "Nothing retains its own form; but Nature, the greater renewer, ever makes up forms from forms. Be sure that nothing perishes in the whole universe; it does but vary and renew its form." Thus the next moment is permitted to come to pass.


title: Hero's journey

text: The monomyth concept has been popular in American literary studies and writing guides since at least the 1970s. Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood film producer and writer, created a 7-page company memo, "A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces", based on Campbell's work. Vogler's memo was later developed into the late 1990s book, "".


title: Hero's journey

text: George Lucas's 1977 film "Star Wars" was classified as monomyth almost as soon as it came out. In addition to the extensive discussion between Campbell and Bill Moyers broadcast in 1988 as "The Power of Myth", Lucas gave an extensive interview in which he states that after completing "American Graffiti", "it came to me that there really was no modern use of mythology... so that's when I started doing more strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore, and mythology, and I started reading Joe's books. ... It was very eerie because in reading "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" I began to realize that my first draft of "Star Wars" was following classical motifs". Moyers and Lucas also met for a 1999 interview to further discuss the impact of Campbell's work on Lucas's films. In addition, the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution sponsored an exhibit during the late 1990s called "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" which discussed the ways in which Campbell's work shaped the "Star Wars" saga.


title: Hero's journey

text: Numerous literary works of popular fiction have been identified by various authors as examples of the monomyth template, including Spenser's "The Faerie Queene", Melville's "Moby Dick", Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre", works by Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Somerset Maugham, J. D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, W. B. Yeats, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Seamus Heaney and Stephen King, among many others.


title: Hero's journey

text: Charlotte Brontë's character Jane Eyre is an important figure in illustrating heroines and their place within the hero's journey. Charlotte Brontë sought to craft a unique female character that the term "Heroine" could fully encompass. "Jane Eyre" is a "Bildungsroman", a coming-of-age story common in Victorian fiction, also referred to as an apprenticeship novel, that shows moral and psychological development of the protagonist as they grow into adults.


title: Hero's journey

text: Jane, being a middle-class Victorian woman, would face entirely different obstacles and conflict than her male counterparts of this era such as Pip in "Great Expectations". This would change the course of the hero's journey because Brontë was able to recognize the fundamental conflict that plagued women of this time (one main source of this conflict being women's relationship with power and wealth and often being distant from obtaining both).


title: Hero's journey

text: Charlotte Brontë takes Jane's character a step further by making her more passionate and outspoken than other Victorian women of this time. The abuse and psychological trauma Jane receives from the Reeds as a child cause her to develop two central goals for her to complete her heroine journey: a need to love and to be loved, and her need for liberty. Jane accomplishes part of attaining liberty when she castigates Mrs. Reed for treating her poorly as a child, obtaining the freedom of her mind.


title: Hero's journey

text: As Jane grows throughout the novel, she also becomes unwilling to sacrifice one of her goals for the other. When Rochester, the "temptress" in her journey, asks her to stay with him as his mistress, she refuses, as it would jeopardize the freedom she had struggled to obtain. She instead returns after Rochester's wife passes away, now free to marry him and able to achieve both of her goals and complete her role in the hero's journey.


title: Hero's journey

text: While the story ends with a marriage trope, Brontë has Jane return to Rochester after several chances to grow, allowing her to return as close to equals as possible while also having fleshed out her growth within the heroine's journey. Since Jane is able to marry Rochester as an equal and through her own means, this makes Jane one of the most satisfying and fulfilling heroines in literature and in the heroine's journey.


title: Hero's journey

text: The story "Metamorphoses" (also known as "The Golden Ass") by Apuleius in 158 A.D. is one of the most enduring and retold myths involving the hero's journey. The tale of Cupid and Psyche is a frame tale—a story within a story—and is one of the thirteen stories within "Metamorphoses." The use of the frame tale puts both the storyteller and reader into the novel as characters, which explores the main aspect of the hero's journey due to it being a process of tradition where literature is written and read.


title: Hero's journey

text: Cupid and Psyche's tale has become the most popular of "Metamorphoses" and has been retold many times with successful iterations dating as recently as 1956's "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis. Much of the tale's captivation comes from the central heroine, Psyche. Psyche's place within the hero's journey is fascinating and complex as it revolves around her characteristics of being a beautiful woman and the conflict that arises from it. Psyche's beauty causes her to become ostracized from society because no male suitors will ask to marry her as they feel unworthy of her seemingly divine beauty and kind nature. Psyche's call to adventure is involuntary: her beauty enrages the goddess Venus, which results in Psyche being banished from her home.


title: Hero's journey

text: Part of what makes Psyche such a polarizing figure within the heroine's journey is her nature and ability to triumph over the unfair trials set upon her by Venus. Psyche is given four seemingly impossible tasks by Venus to get her husband Cupid back: the sorting of the seeds, the fleecing of the golden rams, collecting a crystal jar full of the water of death and retrieving a beauty creme from Hades. The last task is considered to be one of the most monumental and memorable tasks ever to be taken on in the history of the heroine's journey due to its difficulty. Yet, Psyche is able to achieve each task and complete her ultimate goal of becoming an immortal goddess and moving to Mount Olympus to be with her husband Cupid for all eternity.


title: Hero's journey

text: During the early 19th century, a Norwegian version of the Psyche myth was collected in Finnmark by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, who is still considered to be Norway's answer to the Brothers Grimm. It was published in their legendary anthology "Norwegian Folktales". The fairy tale is titled "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon".


title: Hero's journey

text: Poet Robert Bly, Michael J. Meade, and others involved in the mythopoetic men's movement have also applied and expanded the concepts of the hero's journey and the monomyth as a metaphor for personal spiritual and psychological growth.


title: Hero's journey

text: Characteristic of the mythopoetic men's movement is a tendency to retell fairy tales and engage in their exegesis as a tool for personal insight. Using frequent references to archetypes as drawn from Jungian analytical psychology, the movement focuses on issues of gender role, gender identity and wellness for modern men. Advocates would often engage in storytelling with music, these acts being seen as a modern extension to a form of "new age shamanism" popularized by Michael Harner at approximately the same time.


title: Hero's journey

text: Among its most famous advocates were the poet Robert Bly, whose book "" was a best-seller, being an exegesis of the fairy tale "Iron John" by the Brothers Grimm.


title: Hero's journey

text: The mythopoetic men's movement spawned a variety of groups and workshops, led by authors such as Bly and Robert L. Moore. Some serious academic work came out of this movement, including the creation of various magazines and non-profit organizations.


title: Hero's journey

text: Campbell's approach to myth, a genre of folklore, has been the subject of criticism from folklorists, academics who specialize in folklore studies. American folklorist Barre Toelken notes that few psychologists have taken the time to become familiar with the complexities of folklore, and that, historically, Jung-influenced psychologists and authors have tended to build complex theories around single versions of a tale that supports a theory or a proposal. To illustrate his point, Toelken employs Clarissa Pinkola Estés's (1992) "Women Who Run with the Wolves", citing its inaccurate representation of the folklore record, and Campbell's "monomyth" approach as another. Regarding Campbell, Toelken writes, "Campbell could construct a monomyth of the hero only by citing those stories that fit his preconceived mold, and leaving out equally valid stories... which did not fit the pattern". Toelken traces the influence of Campbell's monomyth theory into other then-contemporary popular works, such as Robert Bly's "" (1990), which he says suffers from similar source selection bias.


title: Hero's journey

text: Similarly, American folklorist Alan Dundes is highly critical of both Campbell's approach to folklore, designating him as a "non-expert" and outlining various examples of source bias in Campbell's theories, as well as media representation of Campbell as an expert on the subject of myth in popular culture. Dundes writes, "Folklorists have had some success in publicising the results of our efforts in the past two centuries such that members of other disciplines have, after a minimum of reading, believe they are qualified to speak authoritatively of folkloristic matters. It seems that the world is full of self-proclaimed experts in folklore, and a few, such as Campbell, have been accepted as such by the general public (and public television, in the case of Campbell)". According to Dundes, "there is no single idea promulgated by amateurs that have done more harm to serious folklore study than the notion of archetype".


title: Hero's journey

text: According to Northup (2006), mainstream scholarship of comparative mythology since Campbell has moved away from "highly general and universal" categories in general. This attitude is illustrated by Consentino (1998), who remarks "It is just as important to stress differences as similarities, to avoid creating a (Joseph) Campbell soup of myths that loses all local flavor." Similarly, Ellwood (1999) stated "A tendency to think in generic terms of people, races ... is undoubtedly the profoundest flaw in mythological thinking."


title: Hero's journey

text: Others have found the categories Campbell works with so vague as to be meaningless and lacking the support required of scholarly argument: Crespi (1990), writing in response to Campbell's filmed presentation of his model, characterized it as "unsatisfying from a social science perspective. Campbell's ethnocentrism will raise objections, and his analytic level is so abstract and devoid of ethnographic context that myth loses the very meanings supposed to be embedded in the 'hero'."


title: Hero's journey

text: In a similar vein, American philosopher John Shelton Lawrence and American religious scholar Robert Jewett have discussed an "American Monomyth" in many of their books, "The American Monomyth", "The Myth of the American Superhero" (2002), and "Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism" (2003). They present this as an American reaction to the Campbellian monomyth. The "American Monomyth" storyline is: "A community in a harmonious paradise is threatened by evil; normal institutions fail to contend with this threat; a selfless superhero emerges to renounce temptations and carry out the redemptive task; aided by fate, his decisive victory restores the community to its paradisiacal condition; the superhero then recedes into obscurity."


title: Hero's journey

text: The monomyth has also been criticized for focusing on the masculine journey. "The Heroine's Journey" (1990) by Maureen Murdock and "From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey Through Myth and Legend" (2010), by Valerie Estelle Frankel, both set out what they consider the steps of the female hero's journey, which is different from Campbell's monomyth. Likewise, "The Virgin's Promise", by Kim Hudson, articulates an equivalent feminine journey, to parallel the masculine hero's journey, which concerns personal growth and "creative, spiritual, and sexual awakening" rather than an external quest.


title: Hero's journey

text: According to a 2014 interview between filmmaker Nicole L. Franklin and artist and comic book illustrator Alice Meichi Li, a hero's journey is "the journey of someone who has privilege. Regardless of the protagonist is male or female, a heroine does not start out with privilege." Being underprivileged, to Li, means that the heroine may not receive the same level of social support enjoyed by the hero in a traditional mythic cycle, and rather than return from her quest as both hero and mentor the heroine instead returns to a world in which she or he is still part of an oppressed demographic. Li adds, "They're not really bringing back an elixir. They're navigating our patriarchal society with unequal pay and inequalities. In the final chapter, they may end up on equal footing. But when you have oppressed groups, all you can hope for is to get half as far by working twice as hard."


title: Hero's journey

text: Science-fiction author David Brin in a 1999 "Salon" article criticized the monomyth template as supportive of "despotism and tyranny", indicating that he thinks modern popular fiction should strive to depart from it to support more progressive values. Some analysts using a range of sociological and psychological ideas would probably also argue that this template, like a lot of ideas from that generation of thinking contains cultural myopia rather than generalisability. The white male protagonist is a narcissist who resists the narcissistic codes applied to his gender, only to have these reinforced by another white male cultist (the initator) who misuses imperial myths from Europe, Mesopotamia and ancient eygpt to encourage the idea that a man is a cut above the rest when an equally narcissistic man encourages him to be initiated into 'god complex' characteristics, by confronting the devil in the underworld, who is actually his father, not his mother, but he has been culturally conditioned to blame her. Likewise, should they do this to a female intitiate, she will find she has been moved into the man's body and is subject to the men's demons fighting their fathers whilst blaming hers who lacks the psychosocial characteristics that led to those particular men engaging in what is effectively astral rape due to white man and imperial man's tendency to have external locuses of control whilst projecting outward their belief in supremacy and power. In other words, the white man only gains a sense of adequecy by rapng the black woman, and stealing her resources, this way he sublimates his hatred for his father, which he used to externalise on his mother, by hurting a different woman and failing to acknowledge that she isn't even in her own life because of him and it was his physical body that took the anti hero's journey, subscribed to the white mans' religion and forced it down her neck at the literal expense of her own identity, and then the white man, he living as the black woman in his head, fails to acknowledge her existence there and has no comprehension of her worldview, because only the culturally mypoic nonsense of the 1940s proto-nazi discredited non psychologists misquoted by drug addicts with ego dystonia that pretend to be jews because dead englishman from the 1850s told them to do bad maths is important, not their right to live exclusively in their own head. And even commenting on that fact becomes an act of hypocrisy because the physical form of the white man is both the criminal and the jailor. He is the devil who thinks he is god, and his demons rape women;'s heads who then get blamed for the invasion they could not have caused because they were atheists.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford since the 1948 model year. Slotted above the Ford Ranger in the Ford truck model range, the F-Series is marketed as a range of full-sized pickup trucks. Alongside the F-150 (introduced in 1975), the F-Series also includes the Super Duty series (introduced in 1999), which includes the heavier-duty F-250 through F-450 pickups, F-450/F-550 chassis cabs, and F-600/F-650/F-750 Class 6-8 commercial trucks. The most popular version of the model line is the F-150 pickup truck, currently in its 14th generation. From 1953 to 1985, the entry-level F-series pickup was the ton F-100.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The F-Series trucks have been developed into a wide range of design configurations during their production run. Alongside medium-duty trucks and "Big Job" conventional trucks (the forerunners of the Ford L-series), the model line has been sold as a chassis-cab truck and a panel van (a predecessor of the Ford E-Series). The F-Series has also served as the basis for multiple full-sized Ford SUVs, including the Ford Bronco, Ford Expedition/Lincoln Navigator, and Ford Excursion. The F-Series has been marketed by its three North American brands, as Mercury sold the model line as the Mercury M-Series in Canada from 1948 to 1968; Lincoln sold the F-Series during the 2000s as the Blackwood and the later Mark LT.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Since 1977, the F-Series has remained the best-selling pickup truck line in the United States; it has been the highest-selling vehicle overall since 1981. The F-Series is the best-selling truck in Canada for over fifty years. As of the 2018 model year, the F-Series generated $41 billion in annual revenue for Ford. By January 2022, the F-Series models have been sold 40 million units. Currently, Ford manufactures the F-Series in four facilities in the United States.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The first-generation F-Series pickup (known as the Ford Bonus-Built) was introduced in 1948 as a replacement for the previous car-based pickup line introduced in 1942. The F-Series was sold in eight different weight ratings, with pickup, panel truck, cab-over engine (COE), conventional truck, and school-bus chassis body styles.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 1953 model year, Ford introduced a second generation of the F-Series trucks. Increased dimensions, improved engines, and an updated chassis were features of the second generation. In another change, the model nomenclature of the F-Series was expanded to three numbers; this remains in use in the present day. The half-ton F-1 became the F-100 (partially influenced by the North American F-100 Super Sabre); the F-2 and F-3 were combined into the -ton F-250, while the F-4 became the one-ton F-350. Conventional F-Series trucks were F-500 to F-900; COE chassis were renamed C-Series trucks.


title: Ford F-Series

text: While the cabs, doors, radiator support, inner fenders, and hoods are the same from 1953 to 1956 F-100 and F-250s (the fenders varied on F-250, F-350, and F-500, and long boxes were only available on the F-250), in 1956, the cab underwent a major revision. Centered around a wraparound windshield, the cab was given new doors, a redesigned dashboard, and an (optional) panoramic rear window. In line with Ford cars, the 1956 F-Series offered seat belts as an option.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Introduced in 1957, the third generation F-Series was a significant modernization and redesign. Front fenders became integrated into the body, and the new Styleside bed continued the smooth lines to the rear of the pickup.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Ford introduced a dramatically new style of pickup in 1961 with the fourth-generation F-Series. Longer and lower than its predecessors, these trucks had increased dimensions and new engine and gearbox choices. Additionally, the 1961–1963 models offered an optional unibody design with the cab and bed integrated. The traditional separate cab/bed was offered concurrently. The unibody proved unpopular, and Ford discontinued the option after the 1963 model year.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 1965, the F-Series was given a significant midcycle redesign. A completely new platform, including the "Twin I-Beam" front suspension, was introduced, and continued to be used until 1996 on the F-150, and still is currently on the F-250 and F-350 4x2. Additionally, the Ranger name made its first appearance in 1965 on a Ford pickup; previously, the Ranger denoted a base model of the Edsel, but starting in 1965, it was used to denote a high-level styling package for F-Series pickups.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Introduced in 1967, the fifth-generation F-series pickup was built on the same platform as the 1965 revision of the fourth generation. Dimensions were increased, engine options were expanded, and plusher trim levels became available during the fifth generation's production run.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Changes during the 67-72 run were minimal, but notable. In 1968, to comply with FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) marker lights were added to the rear bedside and front sides of the hood. 1970 saw a switch from metal bar style grillwork to the plastic eggcrate style.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The sixth-generation F-series was introduced in 1973. This version of the F-series continued to be built on the 1965 fourth-generation's revised platform, but with significant modernization and refinements, including front disc brakes, increased cabin dimensions, full double-wall bed construction, and increased use of galvanized steel.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The FE engine series was discontinued in 1976 after a nearly 20-year run, replaced by the more modern 335 and 385 series engines.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 1975, the F-150 was introduced in between the F-100 and the F-250 to avoid certain emission control restrictions. For 1978, square headlights replaced the previous models' round ones on higher trim package models, such as Lariat and Ranger, and in 1979 became standard equipment. Also for 1978, the Ford Bronco was redesigned into a variant of the F-series pickup; 1979 was the last year that the 460 engine was available in a half-ton truck.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The seventh-generation F-Series was introduced for 1980, marking the first ground-up redesign of the model line since 1965. Alongside an all-new chassis, the pickup trucks received a completely new body. While distinguished by straighter body lines, the aerodynamics of the exterior were optimized to improve fuel economy. Sharing their cab structure with F-Series pickup trucks, medium-duty trucks (F-600 through F-800) underwent their first redesign since 1967.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The powertrain line of this generation underwent multiple revisions through its production. At its launch, the engine line was largely carried over from 1979. While the 7.5 L V8 was dropped entirely, a 4.2 L V8 was introduced as the smallest V8 engine. For 1982, a 3.8 L V6 became the standard engine for the F-100. For 1983, to improve the fuel efficiency of the model line, the M-Series engines (the 5.8 L "351M" and 6.6 L "400" V8s) were dropped; the latter was replaced by the return of the 7.5 L V8. In response to low demand and poor performance, the 4.2 L V8 and 3.8 L V6 were phased out in 1982 and 1983, respectively. For the F-250 and F-350, a 6.9 L diesel V8 (sourced from a partnership with International Harvester) became an option for 1983. For 1984, an "H.O." version of the 5.8 L V8 was introduced. The 5.0 L V8 was fitted with fuel injection as standard equipment for 1986, becoming the first such engine in an American-market pickup truck. The 4.9 L was fuel injected on 1987 models.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In line with the previous generation, the SuperCab and four-door crew cab made their return in 1980 and 1982, respectively. For the first time, a dual-rear-wheel version of the F-350 was offered as a pickup truck.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 1982, Ford revised the badging of the model line, replacing the "FORD" hood lettering with the Ford Blue Oval grille emblem, a design that remains in use on all F-Series trucks today (except the Raptor). The same year, the Ranger trims was dropped; the name shifted to the Ford Ranger compact pickup (replacing the Ford Courier). After 30 years as the smallest F-Series truck, the F-100 was dropped after 1983, eliminating model overlap with the F-150 (and payload overlap with the Ranger).


title: Ford F-Series

text: This generation was the final version of the F-Series to offer a three-speed, column-shifted manual transmission; it is also the second-to-last vehicle sold in the United States with this configuration.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The eighth-generation F-Series was introduced for 1987 as a major revision of the 1980–1986 generation. While the cab was carried over, many body panels were revised, including a completely new front fascia; the interior also underwent a redesign. The long-running Flareside bed design was retired, with all examples produced with Styleside beds.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Following the 1986 transition of the 5.0 L V8 to fuel injection, the 4.9 L I6 followed suit for 1987, with the 5.8 L and 7.5 L engines doing so for 1988; the F-Series became the first American pickup truck model line sold without carbureted engines. The same year, the 6.9 L diesel V8 was increased in size to 7.3 L. Following the discontinuation of the three-speed manual, a five-speed manual became standard equipment (a four-speed remained a special-order option until 1992). For 1989, an "E4OD" four-speed automatic (overdrive version of the C6 heavy-duty three-speed) was introduced.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Slotted between the F-350 and F-600, the F-Super Duty was introduced in 1987; an ancestor of the current F-450/F-550, the F-Super Duty was designed exclusively for chassis cab applications.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The ninth-generation F-Series was introduced for 1992 as the second redesign of the 1980 F-Series architecture. Adapting design elements from the newly introduced Explorer and redesigned E-Series and Ranger, the F-Series received a slightly lower hoodline, rounding the front fenders, bumper, and grille. The F-Series received a driver-side airbag starting in the 1994 model year.


title: Ford F-Series

text: After a six-year hiatus, the FlareSide bed made its return, becoming a submodel of the F-150. To appeal to younger buyers, the bodywork of the FlareSide bed was modernized, adapting the fenders of a dual rear-wheel F-350 to a single rear-wheel chassis. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first Ford factory-produced truck (the 1917 Ford Model TT), Ford offered a 75th-anniversary package on its 1992 F-series, consisting of a stripe package, an argent-colored step bumper, and special 75th-anniversary logos. In response to the Chevrolet 454SS pickup truck, Ford introduced the SVT Lightning, powered by a 240 hp 5.8 L V8.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 1993, a turbocharger became available on the 7.3L "IDI" diesel. In the middle of the 1994 model year (referred to as "1994.5"), International replaced the IDI with the new 7.3 L T444E turbo diesel, the first engine branded as a Ford PowerStroke. While sharing its predecessor's displacement, the engine was an entirely new design.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 1997 model year, the ninth generation was gradually phased out of production; the F-150 was replaced by the tenth-generation F-Series (see below), with the F-250 (rebranded as the F-250 Heavy Duty) and F-350 remaining in production through the 97 model year. Introduced mid 1998 (as 99 models), the larger F-Series trucks (and the F-Super Duty) were replaced by Ford Super Duty pickups.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 1997 model year, Ford made a substantial change to the F-Series range of trucks, splitting its pickup line into two vehicle families. From the 1970s to the 1990s, pickup trucks had transitioned in usage. Alongside vehicles designed exclusively for work use, the market segment saw a major increase in demand for dual-purpose vehicles for both work and personal use, effectively serving as a second car. To further expand its growing market share, Ford sought to develop vehicles for both types of buyers, repackaging the F-150 in a more contemporary design (as a larger version of the Ranger) while retaining the heavier-duty F-250 and F-350 for customers interested in a work-use vehicle.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The tenth-generation F-Series was introduced in January 1996 as a 1997 model. Initially released solely as the F-150, a higher-GVWR F-250 was released in 1997. The model line was marketed alongside its predecessor, pared down to the F-250HD and F-350; for 1999, these were replaced by the Super Duty trucks.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In the most extensive redesign of the F-Series in 17 years, the chassis received fully independent front suspension, ending the use of Twin I-Beam front axles. Sharing only the transmissions with its predecessor, the 1997 F-150 received a range of engines new to the F-Series, including a 4.2 L V6 and 4.6 L V8; a 5.4 L V8 was added during 1997. Introduced in the full-sized Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis/Town Car sedans, the Modular/Triton V8 was the first overhead-camshaft engine to be installed in a full-sized pickup truck.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Distinguished by its rounded exterior, the tenth generation was again offered in standard- and extended-cab (SuperCab) configurations. To improve rear-seat access, a rear-hinged third door (curbside) was introduced for the SuperCab; following its popularity, the SuperCab received a fourth door for 1999. For 2001, the F-150 became the first "-ton" truck offered as a crew cab with full-sized doors; produced with a slightly shortened bed, the F-150 SuperCrew shared the length of a standard-bed SuperCab.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The SVT Lightning made its return for 1999, powered by a supercharged version of the 5.4 L V8; over 28,000 were produced from 1999 to 2004. For 2002, Lincoln-Mercury introduced the Lincoln Blackwood, the first Lincoln pickup. Sharing the front bodywork of the Lincoln Navigator SUV and the same cab and chassis as the F-150 SuperCrew, the Blackwood was designed with a model-exclusive bed and was sold only in black. Due to very poor sales, the model line was discontinued after 2002.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 1999, Ford redesigned the F-250 and F-350, introducing them as the first generation of the Ford F-Series Super Duty model line. While remaining part of the F-Series, the Super Duty trucks were designed with a different chassis, powertrain, and body design, as they are developed for heavier-duty work use. For 2000, the Super Duty line was expanded to include the medium-duty truck (F-650/F-750) series, designed in a joint venture with Navistar International.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 2004 model year, the F-150 was redesigned on an all-new platform, which has a fully boxed-in frame and introduced rear shocks to mount outside of the frame for decreased wheel hop and improved ride quality. This new body style kept the fully independent front suspension introduced in the last generation, but added vacuum-driven front wheel hubs for the four-wheel drive (4WD) versions. The previous generation had full-time connected front axles. The improvement saves fuel and by default goes into a wheel-locked position. Should a failure occur in the vacuum solenoid, system, or hoses, the wheel hub defaults to a 4WD position to keep from leaving a driver stranded. Internally, a three-valve version of the 5.4 L V8 was introduced and replaced the previous two-valve version. Externally, the 11th-generation model was different from its predecessor, with sharper-edged styling; a major change was the adoption of the stepped driver's window from the Super Duty trucks. Regardless of cab type, all F-150s were given four doors, with the rear doors on the regular cab providing access to behind-the-seat storage. Ford also introduced additional variants of the F-150. The FX4 Off-Road package available since the 2002 model year became its own trim level. A sportier version of the F-150 became available as STX, replaced by FX2 Sport in 2007.


title: Ford F-Series

text: From 2005 to 2008, Lincoln-Mercury dealers sold this version of the F-150 as the Lincoln Mark LT, replacing the Blackwood.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In late 2007 for the 2008 model year, the Super Duty trucks were given an all-new platform. While using the same bed and cabin as before, these are distinguished from their predecessors by an all-new interior and a much larger grille and head lamps. Previously available only as a chassis-cab model, the F-450 now was available as a pickup directly from Ford.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The 12th-generation F-150 was introduced for the 2009 model year as an update of the Ford full-sized truck platform. Similar to its predecessor, these trucks are distinguished by their Super Duty-style grilles and Edge-style headlamps; standard-cab models again have two doors instead of four. The Flareside bed was continued until 2010, dropped along with the manual gearbox; outside of Mexico, the Lincoln Mark LT was replaced by the F-150 Platinum. A new model for 2010 included the SVT Raptor, a dedicated off-road pickup.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 2010, Ford shifted its electronics from a general electric module base to the computerized and programmable body control module, allowing for fewer parts differences and programmable upgrade options from the dealer or factory. In 2011, Ford reintroduced the 5.0 in the F-Series with its new 5.0 Coyote dual overhead cam TiVVT engine with 360 hp.


title: Ford F-Series

text: As part of a major focus on fuel economy, the entire engine lineup for the F-150 was updated for the 2011 model year. Along with the new V8 engine, the F-150 gained a new 3.7 L base V6 engine, and a powerful twin-turbocharged 3.5 L V6, dubbed EcoBoost by Ford. An automatic transmission became the only version. Other modifications include the addition of a Nexteer Automotive electric power steering system on most models.


title: Ford F-Series

text: A recent study conducted by iSeeCars.com and published on the Ford Motor Company website listed the Ford F-250 Super Duty as the longest-lasting vehicle and Expedition, Explorer, and F-150 among the top-20 longest-lasting vehicles.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The 13th-generation Ford F-Series was introduced for the 2015 model year. Largely previewed by the Ford Atlas concept vehicle at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, the new design marked several extensive changes to the F-Series design. In the interest of fuel economy, Ford designers reduced curb weight of the F-150 by nearly 750 pounds, without physically altering its exterior footprint. To allow for such a massive weight reduction, nearly every body panel was switched from steel to aluminum (with the exception of the firewall); the frame itself remains high-strength steel. To prove the durability of the aluminum-intensive design, during the development of the 13th-generation F-Series, Ford entered camouflaged prototypes into the Baja 1000 endurance race (where the vehicles finished). The 2015 F-150 was the first pickup truck with adaptive cruise control, which uses radar sensors on the front of the vehicle to maintain a set following distance from the vehicle ahead of it, decreasing speed if necessary.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The 3.7 L V6 was dropped, replaced by a 3.5 L V6 as the standard engine, with a 2.7 L EcoBoost V6 added alongside the 3.5 L EcoBoost V6. While the 6.2 L V8 was withdrawn, the 5.0 L V8 continued as an option, with a six-speed automatic as the sole transmission.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 2017 model year, the 3.5L EcoBoost 2nd gen was debuted along with the new 10-speed 10R80 transmission. The 2.7 L EcoBoost and 5.0L Coyote remained the same and both continued to be mated with the 6-speed 6R80 transmission.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 2018 model year, the Ford F-150 underwent a midcycle redesign, being revealed at the 2017 New York International Auto Show. Following the introduction of the 2017 Super Duty model line, the F-Series (F-150 through F-550 and Ford Raptor) are again manufactured using a common cab (for the first time since 1996). For 2018, the F-150 shifted from the long-running three-bar design used on Ford trucks to the two-bar design that debuted on the 2017 Super Duty model line. The powertrain underwent several revisions, as the 3.5 L V6 was replaced by a 3.3 L V6 mated to a six-speed transmission. The 2.7 L EcoBoost V6 engine and 5.0 L V8 engines were fitted with a 10-speed automatic (from the Raptor) and stop-start capability (previously only from the 2.7 L EcoBoost). In 2018, a PowerStroke diesel engine was fitted to the F-150 for the first time, as Ford introduced a 250 hp 440 lb-ft of torque 3.0 L turbocharged V6 (from the "Lion" lineup of engines shared by PSA Peugeot Citroën and Jaguar Land Rover).


title: Ford F-Series

text: Safety and driver-assistance features improved and added for the 2018 model year include "Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection" and "Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go".


title: Ford F-Series

text: The 14th-generation Ford F-Series was introduced for the 2021 model year through a live presentation streamed over the Internet on June 25, 2020. Despite sharing a strong visual resemblance to the 13th generation, the 2021 F-150 underwent a redesign of 92% of its parts, carrying over only its cab and pickup box structure.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The powertrain line is largely carried over from the previous generation, with a 3.3-liter V6, 2.7-liter and 3.5-liter EcoBoost twin-turbo V6s, a 5.0-liter V8, and a 3.0-liter diesel V6. Dubbed "PowerBoost", an optional gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain was introduced for the first time in a Ford light truck, pairing an electric motor with the 3.5-liter V6. The six-speed automatic is dropped, with all engines paired to a 10-speed automatic. The 5.0-liter V8 receives a new cylinder deactivation system, called Variable Displacement Engine technology, similar to GM's Active Fuel Management and Chrysler's Multi-Displacement System.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Along with exterior design changes to enhance aerodynamics, many changes were made to the interior, adding fold-flat front seats and larger touchscreens (including a digital instrument panel); as an option, Active Drive Assist was offered as a driver-assistance system.


title: Ford F-Series

text: A fully electric version of the F-150 was unveiled on May 19, 2021: the Ford F-150 Lightning (electric pickup).


title: Ford F-Series

text: Throughout its production, variants of the Ford F-Series has been produced to attract buyers. While these variants primarily consist of trim packages, others are high-performance versions while other variants were designed with various means of improving functionality.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 1961 into part of the 1963 model year, the Ford F-Series was offered with a third body configuration, integrating the Styleside bed with the cab. With the pickup bed stampings welded directly to the cab before both assemblies were mounted to the frame, the design simplified the assembly and paint process (the configuration was similar to that of the Ford Ranchero). Following a poor market reception, the unibody pickup bed design was withdrawn during the 1963 model year.


title: Ford F-Series

text: From 1961 to 1979, Ford offered several "Special" option packages for the F-Series, typically designed for owners with specific uses for their vehicles. For 1961, the "Camper Special" option package was introduced; designed for owners of slide-in truck campers, the option package featured prewiring for the camper, heavy-duty transmission and engine cooling, and a larger alternator. For 1968, Ford introduced the "Contractor's Special", and "Farm and Ranch Special", which featured toolboxes and heavier-duty suspension. The "Explorer Special" was introduced as a lower-priced variant of the Ranger trim. The "Trailer Special" was offered with trailer brake controller, heavy-duty radiator, transmission cooler, and tow hitch.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 1980, the Special option packages were withdrawn as part of the F-Series redesign, while a number of features continued as stand-alone options; the Explorer continued as a variant of the Ranger trim through the 1986 model year.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Sold from 1991 to 1992 on the Ford F-150 XLT Lariat, the Nite special edition was a monochromatic option package, featuring black paint and trim with a multicolor accent stripe. For 1991, it was exclusive to the regular-cab F-150; for 1992, it was available on all bodystyles of the F-150 and introduced on the Ford Bronco.


title: Ford F-Series

text: The Nite edition was available with two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive with either the 5.0L or 5.8L V8; it also included a sport suspension and alloy wheels on 235/75R15 white-letter tires.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 1994, Ford introduced the Eddie Bauer trim level for the F-150. In a fashion similar to the same trim packages on the Aerostar, Bronco, and Explorer/Bronco II, it consisted of outdoors-themed interior trim with two-tone exterior paint.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Introduced as a 1993 model, the Ford SVT Lightning is a high-performance version of the F-150 that was produced by the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT). Intended as a competitor for the Chevrolet 454SS, the SVT Lightning was derived from the F-150; to improve its handling, extensive modifications were made to the front and rear suspension and frame. Powered by a 240 hp version of the 5.8L V8, the Lightning used a heavy-duty 4-speed automatic transmission from the F-350 (normally paired with the 7.5L V8 or 7.3L diesel V8). While slower in acceleration than the GMC Syclone, the Lightning retained nearly all of the towing and payload capacity of a standard Ford F-150. Produced from 1993 to 1995, the first-generation SVT Lightning was withdrawn as Ford readied the 1997 Ford F-150 for sale.


title: Ford F-Series

text: After a three-year hiatus, Ford released a second generation of the SVT Lightning for the 1999 model year. In line with its 1993–1995 predecessor, the second-generation Lightning was based on the F-150 with a number of suspension modifications; in a design change, all examples were produced with a FlareSide bed. In place of a model-specific engine, the second-generation was powered by a supercharged version of the 5.4L V8 from the F-150, producing 360 hp (increased to 380 hp in 2001). As before, the higher-output engine was paired with a heavier-duty transmission from the F-350 pickup.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 2004 redesign of the Ford F-150, the SVT Lightning was not included, leaving 2004 as the final year for the model line. While of an entirely different design focus from the SVT Lightning, the SVT/Ford Raptor is the succeeding generation of high-performance Ford F-Series pickup trucks.


title: Ford F-Series

text: From 2000 to 2011, the Harley-Davidson Edition was an option package available on the F-150. Primarily an appearance package featuring monochromatic black trim, from 2002 to 2003, the edition included a slightly detuned version of the supercharged 5.4L V8 engine from the SVT Lightning. In 2003, a 100th Anniversary Edition was produced for F-150 SuperCrew trucks. For 2004, the Harley-Davidson option package became available for F-250/F-350 Super Duty trucks. After 2008, the option package adopted many of the options featured from the Platinum trim level, featuring leather seating produced from materials reserved for Harley-Davidson biker jackets.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 2012, the Harley-Davidson Edition was replaced by the Limited trim level, retaining a monochromatic exterior appearance (shifting past motorcycle-themed trim).


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 2010, Ford introduced its second high-performance truck, the SVT Raptor. In contrast to the enhanced on-road performance of the SVT Lightning, the SVT Raptor is a focused towards off-road use, in line with that of a Baja 1000 racing truck. While a road-legal vehicle, many design modifications of the Raptor were made to improve its off-road capability, with the vehicle featuring a model-exclusive suspension with long-travel springs and shocks. The Raptor shares only its cab with a standard F-150; to accommodate its larger tires, the Raptor is fitted with wider front fenders, hood, and pickup bed. Initially produced as a SuperCab, a Raptor SuperCrew was introduced late in the 2010 model year. For the first time on a Ford vehicle in North America since 1983, the word "Ford" was spelled across the grille of the SVT Raptor in place of the Ford Blue Oval badge.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 2010, the SVT Raptor was powered by a 310 hp 5.4L V8; a 411 hp 6.2L V8 (from the F-150 Platinum and Super Duty trucks) became optional, replacing the 5.4L V8 for 2011. A six-speed automatic is the sole transmission paired with both engines.


title: Ford F-Series

text: After a two-year hiatus, the second-generation Ford Raptor (the SVT prefix was removed) was introduced for the 2017 model year. Derived from the thirteenth-generation F-Series, the Ford Raptor shifted to an aluminum body. Again produced as a high-performance off-road vehicle, the Raptor is produced in SuperCab and SuperCrew configurations, with long-travel suspension specific to the vehicle. As a design theme, the second-generation Raptor does not carry a Ford Blue Oval grille badge, instead spelling out "Ford" across the grille.


title: Ford F-Series

text: To improve fuel economy and reduce weight, the 6.2L V8 was replaced by a 450-horsepower and 510 Ft-Lbs torque High Output 3.5L twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6, paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For 2019, Ford made upgrades to enhance the off-road capability of the Raptor series truck line. They introduced new FOX Live Valve Shocks. The new shocks auto adjust the suspension's compression dampening based on the terrain via a live sensor electrically controlled solenoid valves. This new Terrain Management System works with sensors in the body to adjust as the truck is driving. The new Trail control for 2019 also adds adaptive cruise control for off-road use.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Ford also added an optional Blue Accent Package with Recaro front racing seats for the 2019 model year.


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 2001, Ford's marketing department leveraged a partnership with the 825,000-acre King Ranch in south Texas, which is the largest ranch in both Texas and the United States and which operates a large fleet of Ford trucks. The truck was emblazoned with the King Ranch's Running W brand and upholstered in saddle leather. It was the industry's first full-size lightweight pickup truck with a full rear passenger compartment and 4 full-size doors, becoming the SuperCrew cab. Along with the Limited and Platinum, the King Ranch continues to comprise the luxury end of the F-150 spectrum. 40% of King Ranch F-150 sales are in Texas, Ford's largest pickup truck market.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Introduced for 2009, Platinum is a luxury-oriented trim of the Ford F-150. Effectively replacing the Lincoln Mark LT in the United States and Canada (though its production continued through 2014 in Mexico), the Platinum adopted many of the luxury features and content from the Mark LT with more subdued exterior styling (the Platinum was fitted with an eggcrate grille similar to early models of the Ford Expedition).


title: Ford F-Series

text: In 2013, Ford began use of the Platinum trim for Super Duty trucks, from the F-250 to the F-450 pickup trucks. Until 2016, the Platinum trim was an add-on package to a Super Duty that was ordered as a Lariat. 2017 saw the Platinum become a separate trim level.


title: Ford F-Series

text: For the 2014 model year, Ford introduced the Tremor model of the F-150. The Tremor was released as a high-performance sport truck for street truck enthusiasts. The regular-cab Tremor is based on the style of the FX Appearance Package with the 3.5 Liter EcoBoost engine and a 4.10 rear axle. The interior uses a console-mounted shifter, custom bucket seats and a flow-through center console not found in any other F-150. The Tremor is available in both 4x2 and 4x4. Both options feature an electronic locking rear differential and customized suspension. There were 2,230 Tremors built.


title: Ford F-Series

text: At the 2019 Detroit Auto Show in January 2019, Ford announced the intention to produce a fully-electric light pickup. Prototype test mules on an existing F-150 chassis were tested during 2019, including a record-setting demonstration test tow of on rails.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Ford unveiled the truck, called the F-150 Lightning, on May 19, 2021. It intends to begin production in the spring of 2022. Ford received 44,500 refundable-deposit orders in the first two days after the announcement, and a further 25,000 in the next two days after that. The F-150 Lightning also significantly out-performs its internal combustion predecessors. The low-end configuration has , range, and its smaller battery allows a payload. The high-end configuration has , 300+ mile capacity, times in the mid-four-second range, and towing capacity of . Both models have of torque, full-time four-wheel-drive, independent rear suspension, and currently come in a crew-cab configuration only, with 5.5' bed. The active suspension provides real-time load weighing function. Like Tesla, the Ford F-150 Lightning has over-the-air software updates, and a significant software driving aids which allow limited hands-off highway driving, but fall short of full self-driving. The F-150 Lightning provides household-oriented V2G power, which can meet the electrical needs of a typical American home for three to ten days, and supply up to 9.6 kW of power through eleven 120V and 240V electrical outlets distributed around the truck.


title: Ford F-Series

text: As of May 27, 2021, Ford has begun discussing the other vehicles beyond the F-series, such as the Expedition and Navigator, which will be underpinned by their full-size EV truck chassis, as well as the smaller chassis which will be used for the Bronco, Explorer, and Aviator.


title: Ford F-Series

text: At the 2021 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Ford unveiled the F-100 Eluminator concept truck, an electromod restoration of a 1978 F-100 repowered with the electric vehicle drivetrain and front and rear suspension subframes taken from the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition. The vehicle was designed by Ford Performance and built by several aftermarket shops under contract to Ford to advertise the availability of the Eluminator crate motor replacement for classic vehicles. "Eluminator" is an allusion to the Ford 5.2L "Aluminator" Modular V8 engine.


title: Ford F-Series

text: Ford contributed front and rear sub-frames, which were already fitted with electric traction motors, and a battery pack from the Mach-E production line. Roadster Shop built a custom ladder frame to support the vintage body, attach the subframes, and carry the battery underneath the cab and bed. McCue-Lane Electric Race Cars (MLe) handled final integration of the driveline components. Major interior components also were taken from the Mach-E and used in the "electromod" truck. Brand X Customs handled the restoration of the body, finishing it in Avalanche Gray with copper-colored trim. The wheels were built by Forgeline.