The Herald

I'm behind in posting about my writing class. I got thrown off because we didn't have class last week.
Two weeks ago we learned about the Herald.
Everyone can recognize the Herald in a story. He is the one who gets the story rolling. The inciting incident, you might say. The Herald introduces change and issues a challenge to the Hero.
Before the arrival of the Herald, the Hero has been in the ordinary world, just living his life. Nothing special. But the Herald acts as a force that makes the Hero rise to the occasion, not content with normal life any longer. The Hero is thrown out of the usual state of things into the unknown, the changing and the challenging.
The Herald, as with any archetype, does not have to be a person. Maybe the Hero gets a letter from his father he thought was dead. Maybe the Hero comes home from a trip to a hometown devastated by a hurricane. Anything that proclaims the Call to Adventure is the Herald.
The Herald motivates the Hero to change. Maybe the Hero doesn't want to change, doesn't think he needs to. The Herald shows him how urgent a necessity the change is.
The Herald can be positive, negative, or neutral. An uncle bringing good news of an inheritance he suddenly received. A direct challenge from the antagonist or his minion. Simply a news report about something that impacts the Hero.
The Herald presses upon the Hero an indelible dissatisfaction with the way things are, and he will only be content again when the problems are solved. It gets the story going as the Hero embarks on his journey.