Folklore Themes: Loss of Hope

Hope is a frequent theme in legends. It is an idea that carries the story forward, and gives characters the motivation to continue. A satisfying ending, whether happy, tragic, or ambiguous, depends on recovery from a moment of total loss of hope. For listeners, it is not necessarily a promise that things will get better when they feel discouraged, but that there is always more to come.

From Finding Old Ancestor:
The only thing we could carry was hope, hope that each next day we might find grass or trees, fruit or meat, or water. Instead we found people. People also looking for water. Where we were going, they came from. Where they were going, we came from. To each other, we said the same thing: nothing to eat, nothing to drink. Without our hope, what was left to do but wait to die?