The epic tale of Sundiata dates back to thirteenth century West Africa. While there is no single historical or authoritative version, the oral tale passed down by generations of griot poets is loosely based on the historical Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire.

The story has many elements of the archetypal hero’s journey as outlined in the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. For example, the hero being called to adventure is the first stage of the hero’s journey. Sundiata is marked for greatness before birth when a soothsayer prophesies that his father, Nare Maghann Konate, will marry an ugly woman who will bear him a son destined to become a mighty king.

The initiation in which the hero crosses a threshold into a more dangerous world and matures corresponds to Sundiata’s period of exile in the Mema kingdom when he gains training to become a great warrior. In this seven year period, Sundiata experiences the “road of trials,” proving himself through tests of strength, wisdom, and bravery. Ultimately, Sundiata faces the “innermost cave,” which proves to be his greatest trial. He faces the sorcerer-king Soumaoro to gain the throne of his home Mali Empire. He must show humility in accepting the help of spirits and magic in order to defeat this foe. The final stage of the hero’s journey, “return and reintegration with society,” occurs when Sundiata lives up to his destiny in restoring order to his kingdom.  

At the beginning of the story, before his conception, Sundiata's birth is prophesied to his father in classic epic fashion. On behalf of the buffalo woman, his lineage is half mortal, half divine, a typical genealogy for heroes in world myths (e.g., Hercules, Orpheus, Arjuna, Cú Chullain, even Wonder Woman).

Despite having a physical impairment, Sundiata wields unnatural strength, intelligence, and kindness that distinguish him as a child. However, his father's first wife schemes to place her cruel son on the throne. This plot point (the wrong man on the throne, and our hero without one) is a classic narrative arc for any hero's quest—giving us a protagonist, an antagonist, and a magnetic pull driving the hero onward with a sense of destiny surrounding them. He conquers his enemy with magical weapons (an arrow tipped with a magic rooster's claw) and allies, and his triumphant placement on the throne begins an age of prosperity and happiness for his people.