Quest

It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical.

In literature, the object of a quest requires great exertion on the part of the hero, who must overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel.

An early quest story tells the tale of Gilgamesh, who seeks the secret to eternal life after the death of his friend Enkidu.

Another ancient quest tale, Homer's Odyssey, tells of Odysseus, whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before Athena persuades the Olympians to allow him to return home.

Psyche, having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by Venus, including a descent into the underworld.

[9] Still, despite their perils and chances of error, such forests, being the location where the knight can obtain the end of their quest, are places where the knights may become worthy; one romance has a maiden urging Sir Lancelot on his quest for the Holy Grail, "which quickens with life and greenness like the forest".

[14] The One Ring, its baleful power, the difficult method which is the only way to destroy it, and the spiritual and psychological torture it wreaks on its bearer; J. R. R. Tolkien uses all these elements to tell a meaningful tale of friendship and the inner struggle with temptation, against a background of epic and supernatural warfare.

The Catcher in the Rye is often thought of as a quest plot, detailing Holden's search not for a tangible object, but for a sense of purpose or reason.

Writers may also motivate characters to pursue these objects by meanings of a prophecy that decrees it, rather than have them discover that it could assist them, for reasons that are given.