n The English Journal, Sheila Schwartz explains the role of the ultimate boon in her article “The Idea of the Hero”: “The boon plucked by [the hero] for the world does not return it to an old balance. On the contrary, his boon must unbalance the powers of the world. And, when he does this, ‘the powers that he has unbalanced may react so sharply that he will be blasted from within and without’ (Campbell, p. 30)” (Schwartz 1969, 86). Even though Schwartz and Campbell agree that the boon unbalances the powers of the world, in Kung Fu Panda, the ultimate boon is not an ultimate boon. It is an elusive “ultimate boon” because it itself isn’t the boon; it must be deciphered by the chosen one who wields it. When Po is given the Dragon Scroll after his training, the Furious Five and his mentor, Shifu, surround him during his somewhat “coronation of the Hero” moment. Po opens the golden Dragon Warrior scroll, only to find, “‘It’s blank!’ … ‘Blank? I don’t…I don’t understand.’ Shifu turns away, contemplative. What can this mean?” (Stevenson and Osborne, : ). In this moment, it is revealed that the ultimate boon is underwhelmingly blank. Everyone is confused, and this ultimate boon unbalances the world because of its lack of substance. Eventually, once Tai Lung gets a hold of the Dragon Scroll, he too is confused by its empty meaning. This elusive, “empty” ultimate boon completely overturns Campbell’s monomyth paradigm because at this moment, the ultimate boon is “false”. Po is unable to give this boon back to the world because Po himself must be the receiver of the boon. In fact, Po himself is the boon, because without the Dragon Scroll he cannot become the Dragon Warrior. Campbell and Schwartz agree that the boon unbalances the world due to its alarming emptiness, and that the boon does blast Po from within and without. It is only when Po re-enters the ordinary world and not the heroic world that he discovers the true boon. It is Po’s father who grants him the key to discovering the true ultimate boon, “‘The secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup!… is nothing…To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.’…Po stares at his reflection on the scroll…he gets it now” (Stevenson and Osborne, : ). Po’s father is the true giver of the ultimate boon. The ultimate boon is elusive because the boon isn’t the scroll itself; it’s the deeper meaning of it that the beholder must uncover. By understanding the special mundanity of the scroll, the Dragon Warrior-Po-becomes enlightened by the fact that he did not have to be “special” in order to be the greatest warrior in the valley. The ultimate boon is elusive due to its deeper, more symbolic meaning. The elusive boon manipulates Campbell’s paradigm because there is no actual boon, only a lesson to be learned. In this respect, it can be argued that without a boon to give back to society, Po’s journey is not just that of a hero but as well as the beginning of his journey to becoming a mentor.

CONCLUSION: