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While I agree with everyone that Rick acted heroically and in the best possible interest of both Ilsa/Elsa and her husband, and generally follows the entire course of Campbell’s Monomyth, I can’t help but wonder whether it could be said that Victor Laslow also follows a heroic journey of his own. He is called to advocate for the rebel cause against the Nazis, forgoing his own personal safety in the process. As a result, he is captured by his enemy for several years before somehow managing an escape to Casablanca, a city of supposed neutrality. In Laslow’s journey, it could also be said that Rick acted as the Supernatural Aid, providing Laslow with the proper transit papers to leave Casablanca and escape Nazi capture once again. If we go with the scenario of both Rick and Laslow being heroes, Elsa/Ilsa then serves as the woman who bridges the two men together, allowing the audience to make comparisons between the two in the process.