Zarathustra ends ten years of mountain solitude, resolved to share his wisdom, and begins descending toward the village.

An old hermit on the mountain path warns Zarathustra not to give anything to mankind and to worship God instead.

Zarathustra seizes on a crowd gathered for a tightrope walker and begins preaching about the overman and overcoming mankind.

A jester leaps over the tightrope walker mid-performance, causing him to lose his balance and plunge to his death.

Zarathustra kneels beside the dying tightrope walker and promises to bury the body with his own hands.

Zarathustra buries the tightrope walker in a hollow tree and resolves to seek willing followers rather than lead a herd.

Zarathustra delivers his speech on the three metamorphoses of the spirit, describing the stages of camel, lion, and child.

Zarathustra's disciples present him with a golden staff bearing a snake encircling the sun as he prepares to depart.

A child holding a mirror appears to Zarathustra in a dream, showing a devil's grimace instead of his face.

A soothsayer proclaims that everything is empty and nothing is worth it, transforming Zarathustra and sending him into three days of grief.

Aboard a ship, Zarathustra shares the riddle of the gateway Moment where two eternal paths converge, introducing eternal recurrence.

Zarathustra wakes screaming and collapses like a dead man after confronting his most abysmal thought of eternal recurrence.

Zarathustra's eagle and snake reveal to him that his destiny is to be the teacher of eternal recurrence.

The soothsayer arrives at Zarathustra's cave and warns that the higher man is crying out and needs Zarathustra.

A lion appears at Zarathustra's cave and scatters the higher men in fear, and Zarathustra recognizes the awaited sign.

Zarathustra abandons ten years of mountain solitude and descends to share his accumulated wisdom with mankind. After encountering an old hermit still ignorant of God's death, he reaches the village and preaches about the overman to an uncomprehending crowd, witnessing the fatal fall of a tightrope walker. He buries the tightrope walker, resolves to seek willing followers rather than lead a herd, and delivers his great speeches before departing with a golden staff. In Part Two, a dream vision warns him his teachings have been distorted, and a soothsayer's prophecy of universal emptiness plunges him into three days of grief. In Part Three, Zarathustra confronts the full weight of eternal recurrence and collapses under it, only for his animal companions to confirm his destiny as its teacher. In Part Four, the soothsayer draws him out of solitude to host the higher men at his cave, and the arrival of a lion marks the awaited sign for Zarathustra's final descent.

Zarathustra's descent from solitude to proclaiming the overman.

Zarathustra carries the tightrope walker's corpse through the night as the jester emerges from darkness to threaten him.

A man greets Zarathustra at his door and offers bread and wine, unaware that Zarathustra's companion is already dead.

Zarathustra spots an eagle and a snake flying together as friends in the sky and asks them to guide him.

Zarathustra accompanies the town's youth to a wise man's lecture on sleep and virtue, then laughs at the teaching.

Zarathustra preaches against those who despise the body, declaring they are not bridges to the overman but preachers of death.

Zarathustra preaches that the state is the coldest of all monsters and has become mankind's dangerous new idol of worship.

While sleeping under a fig tree, Zarathustra is bitten by an adder and thanks it for the lesson on enemies.

Zarathustra sings the Night Song, realizing the happiness of bestowing has been extinguished by the loneliness of giving without rest.

Zarathustra joins girls dancing in a forest meadow and sings until a woman's voice pulls him back from the unfathomable.

Cripples surround Zarathustra on a bridge and demand he heal them before they will believe in his teachings.

Zarathustra returns to his mountain home and reflects on the distinction between chosen solitude and being forsaken among mankind.

Zarathustra weighs three evils—sex, lust to rule, and selfishness—and finds selfishness closest to the bestowing virtue.

Zarathustra encounters two kings leading a donkey in the forest, finds them kindred spirits, and invites them to his cave.

Zarathustra discovers the voluntary beggar living among cows and bonds with him over their shared hatred of the rabble.

Zarathustra discovers the higher men worshiping a donkey, confronts them, then blesses the ass festival as a good omen.

Alongside the main narrative, Zarathustra's journey is filled with telling secondary encounters and philosophical speeches. After carrying the tightrope walker's corpse through the threatening night, he encounters a man offering bread and wine before spotting the eagle and snake as his guiding companions. He then delivers speeches attacking state worship, body-despisers, and the preachers of death, all while pushing his disciples toward self-overcoming. In Part Two he sings the Night Song about the loneliness of ceaseless giving, dances with girls in a meadow, and faces cripples on a bridge demanding miracles before he will be believed. Returning to his mountain home in Part Three, he weighs three evils and meditates on the nature of solitude, before venturing out again in Part Four. He encounters two kings, a voluntary beggar living among cows, and ultimately discovers the higher men worshiping a donkey—an event he reframes as a hopeful sign of their convalescence.

Significant speeches and encounters along Zarathustra's journey.

Zarathustra realizes the crowd cannot understand his teaching about the overman and that he is not the mouth for these ears.

Zarathustra preaches on the Blessed Isles, declaring that the will to create surpasses all gods and renders them meaningless.

Zarathustra preaches on the hinterworldly, confessing that God is only a product of human suffering and a poor reflection of human ego.

Zarathustra speaks with a lonely young man on a mountain who fears the isolation that comes from pursuing new heights.

A tarantula bites Zarathustra to enact revenge, and he asks friends to bind him to a pillar while he resists retaliating.

A commanding voice at the stillest hour tells Zarathustra he has the power to command but lacks the courage to use it.

Zarathustra preaches on self-overcoming, introducing the will to power as the force behind all willing, values, and life itself.

Zarathustra travels into the future and returns horrified, declaring that people of the present are only painted masks of old beliefs.

Zarathustra falls into a three-day stupor and dreams of guarding graves until a coffin erupts in a burst of laughter.

A disciple interprets Zarathustra's grave dream as a prophecy that his followers will awaken to new life through him.

Zarathustra's animals proclaim that he belongs to the causes of eternal recurrence and will return to this same life unchanged.

Zarathustra sings to Life and whispers his knowledge of eternal recurrence into her ear, and the two weep together.

Zarathustra accidentally steps on the conscientious spirit lying in a swamp and discovers a man devoted to a single world alone.

The magician drops his performance and confesses to Zarathustra that he has always been lying and is genuinely breaking down.

The ugliest human being declares 'One More Time!' and Zarathustra leads the higher men in a midnight song about eternity.

This pool captures the pivotal decisions and discoveries that alter Zarathustra's course and philosophy. Beginning with his realization that the marketplace crowd cannot understand him, Zarathustra adjusts his ministry and delivers foundational speeches on the hinterworldly, the danger of revenge, and the isolated seeker of heights. A commanding voice at the stillest hour challenges him to stop speaking and start ruling, while his sermon on self-overcoming formally introduces the will to power. In Part Three, a vision of the future exposes mankind's hollow masks, and a three-day dream about laughing coffins is interpreted as a resurrection prophecy by a disciple. Zarathustra's animals confirm his destiny as teacher of eternal recurrence, and he whispers this secret knowledge to Life herself, the two weeping together. In Part Four, he unmasks the magician's deceptions and celebrates the ugliest human being's cry of 'One More Time' as the climactic affirmation of eternal recurrence at the midnight feast.