Toderov

This narrative theory, developed by Tzvetan Toderov establishes a set sequence of events that occurs in many narratives across all types and forms of fiction.

It contains the following stages:

Equilibrium – This stage is the state that the narrative’s ‘world’ considers ‘normal’. This does not necessarily mean everything is fine and dandy for the characters in it. For instance, the Equilibrium of George Orwell’s 1984 is that of a totalitarian dictatorship and a global state of cold war. It is merely the state of the world as it is before the characters in the narrative exert any influence over it.

Disruption – Something occurs to change the state of the world from its ‘normal’ state. This event most often directly affects the ‘hero’ of the story. For instance, the arrival of R2D2 and C3PO to the home of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope sets off a chain of events that most immediately causes the death of Luke’s Aunt and Uncle. This then leads Luke to choose to leave his home altogether to seek his destiny among the stars.

Recognition of Disruption – This occurs when the hero or other central character acknowledges that the disruption has occurred and decides to take action in order to do something about it. For example, in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo recognises the Disruption caused by the discovery of the One Ring when he chooses to volunteer to be the one to take the ring to Mordor. The action itself does not change anything about the world, but it does set in motion the events by which more changes take place.

Attempt to Repair – This phase occurs when the Hero does something that they think will either return the world to the state it was before the Disruption took place, or change the world into a new and better form. This sometimes but not always involves the hero attempting to fight the villain, or otherwise complete the quest they are on. One of the hallmarks of an attempt to repair is that it is usually attempted before the hero is ‘ready’, either because they are too confident or not fully aware of the challenges they face. Sometimes these attempts are successful, but they do not fully resolve the disruption. An example would be from The Matrix, when Neo visits The Oracle along with the rest of the heroes in the film, in order to gain new information about the challenges they face from the Machines. This attempt to repair ends in failure as they are betrayed by Cypher, Morpheus is captured and several hero characters are killed.

New Equilibrium – This occurs when the Hero is successful in his quest. This establishes a new ‘normal’ for the world, often involving the defeat of a villain or the rescue of a princess. This does not necessarily mean that the world returns to the state that it was at the beginning of the story. If, for instance, the story starts with Evil controlling the state of the world, the New Equilibrium may involve a new state of control led by the forces of Good. It may even be that nothing major changes about the state of the world at all, but that instead the main characters have undergone a personal change in their world-view or relationships. For instance, in the film Up, Carl has not changed the world. His wife is still dead, he is still old, no-one else from the wider world knows about him. However, he has come to accept the death of his wife and develop a new relationship with Russell, providing Russell with the father figure he had never previously possessed.