Quest

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The word Quest (feminine; German "Suche, Suchmission", English quest , Germanized plural "Quests", from the old French la queste , from the Latin quaestio "research, question" or quaerere "ask, search") originally referred to in the Artusepik is the hero's journey or ventiure of a knight or hero, in the course of which he solves various tasks, has adventures, defeated enemies, finds objects, overcomes difficulties and thereby gains fame and experience or achieves his intended goal (for example the Holy Grail ). The purpose of the quest is generally the fulfillment of honorable duties, but also the inner maturation and purification of a hero.

Contemporary literature

In contemporary literature, based on the medieval “ quests ” (mythological search in the sense of a hero's journey or the aventiure of a knight or hero), the narrative principle of the quest appears mostly in high fantasy , but also in science fiction and in postmodern novels. Examples are Andreas Eschbach's novel Quest and Herbert Genzmer's novel Das Amulett . The quest also plays a role in Salman Rushdie's Quichotte (2019).

Movies

The Oscar- winning German puppet film Quest (Director: Tyron Montgomery , Production: Thomas Stellmach ) depicts the allegorical search of a sand figure for water. The story leads the character through worlds of paper, stone and iron, in which she is exposed to dangers and has to overcome obstacles until she appears to arrive at the end from where she started.

Computer games

In computer games , especially in role-playing games , adventures and multi-user dungeons , quests are acceptable assignments that are usually given by computer-controlled characters ( NPC ). A distinction is made between main or main quests and side or side quests, whereby the main quests usually advance the story and the side quests rather serve to increase the player's character values, to find treasures and to improve his equipment. Each quest is based on a simple pattern that is quickly understood by the player: the hero has to reach a certain place, for example to find an important object, solve a puzzle, defeat an enemy or free a person. The seeker often gathers travel companions around him, who support him with the execution of his order with their special skills and possibly incur costs. Objects - such as weapons or magical items - that fulfill a similar function are also often collected. At the end of several quests you have to overcome a particularly difficult opponent or solve a complete series of quests. The structure of the quests can thus be described as ultimately a linear treadmill, which consists of non-linearly linked individual episodes.

Footnotes

  1. Cf. Dieter Schulz: Search and Adventure · The »Quest« in the English and American storytelling of the Romantic period , Siegen series (Volume 25), Verlag C. Winter, Heidelberg 1981, ISBN 3-533-02999-9 u. ISBN 978-3-533-02999-1 , pp. 31, 139, 205 and passport.
  2. Cf. Karl Heinz Göller et al .: Romance and Novel · The Beginnings of the English Novel , Series Language and Literature (Volume 1), Verlag Hans Carl, Regensburg 1972, ISBN 3-418-00201-3 u. ISBN 978-3-418-00201-9 , pp. 42, 112 and passport.
  3. See Johannes Walter Kleinstück: Mythos and Symbol in English Poetry , Series Language and Literature (Volume 18), Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1964, pp. 56, 64 fu pass.
  4. See Görres-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch , Volumes 25-26, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1984, p. 342 fu pass.
  5. See Helmut Stimm et al. (Ed.): Journal for French Language and Literature , Volumes 84-85, Verlag E. Franck's, Oppeln 1974, pp. 10, 25, 31 u. passport.
  6. See Rudolf Schulz: Tristan and Isolt in the late Middle Ages , Rodopi, Amsterdam 1999, ISBN 90-420-0605-6 u. ISBN 978-90-420-0605-8 , pp. 455, 460 ff., 466 ff. And passport.
  7. Cf. Dörthe Schilken: The Teleological Journey · From the Christian Pilgrim Allegory to the Counterworlds of Fantasy Literature , Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-8260-2331-5 u. ISBN 978-3-8260-2331-6 , pp. 16 f., 246 ff., 284 u. passport.
  8. See Wolfram-von-Eschenbach-Gesellschaft (Ed.): Wolfram-Studien , Volume 12, ESV, Berlin 1992, pp. 242 ff., 248 ff., 256 ff. And passport.
  9. See Hans-Joachim Backe: Structures and functions of storytelling in computer games , Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2008, ISBN 3-8260-3986-6 u. ISBN 978-3-8260-3986-7 , p. 153 and passport.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Quest  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations