The Heroes Who Disappeared; Decoding the Myth of "the Disappearance of the Heroes" in Some Stories

The disappearance of the heroes and protagonists is one of the noteworthy points in Iranian fiction. At first, the current study analyzes some literary works of various nations and then, concludes that similar examples of "the disappearance of the heroes" are found in the literature of other nations. Also, it concludes that the subject has been a common theme among different ethnicities from the prehistoric to the current era. The next step is to explain the reason for this similarity, supporting the hypothesis of commonality in the literature of various nations. The authors consider the subject of "the disappearance of the heroes" from six different aspects and tries to answer these questions: What are the characters of heroes who disappear? Why do they disappear? What is the connection between the heroes and the place of disappearing (cave, mountain and etc.)? Since the subject of the present study fits well with archetypes of hero, time, journey, immortality, death and reborn, return and etc., the subject of the disappearance of the heroes and protagonists are studied by using the archetypal criticism following the theories of Jung, Eliade and Campbell.