A return to the familiar essentially shines a giant spotlight on how much your hero has already changed. They’re no longer that Act 1 thesis person anymore. They’ve gone through the upside-down antithesis world, and it’s altered them. Therefore, inserting them back into that Act 1 world only exaggerates how much it’s altered them. They feel like a complete stranger in a place that once felt familiar. This points out to the hero (and the reader) that they don’t belong there anymore. That they can’t go back to the way things were. That it’s time to make the tough choices. It’s time to rip off
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