ARCHETYPES

Around Us, Within Us

What are archetypes?

original patterns, perfect examples (“archos”=first, “typos”=model).

character types, symbols and relationships that recur throughout stories.

amazingly constant throughout time and culture on the personal and the collective level.

Archetypes at the personal level

Biological: “hard wired” into every human being.

Dream symbols are archetypal.

Archetypes at the collective level

Part of the universal “language” of storytelling.

Ancient patterns of personality that are the shared heritage of the human race (Jung).

Products of, and evidence of, a “collective unconscious.”

Some basic examples

Hero Mentor Threshold Guardian Herald Shapeshifter Shadow Trickster

HERO Description: Someone who grows, takes

action, takes risks and makes sacrifices; someone recognizable (with flaws, ambitions, etc.)

Function: Provides a reader or moviegoer with a character to identify with, someone whose eyes we look through for a while, etc.

Types: Willing heroes, reluctant heroes, anti-heroes, tragic heroes, and more.

HERO Example

s: Edward in Pretty Woman, Rambo in First Blood.

MENTOR Description: A positive figure who aids

or trains the hero.

Function: Teaches, motivates, gives gifts to, the hero; acts as a conscience, guiding the hero to live up to his nobler, wiser, more godlike aspects.

MENTOR Examples:

Jim Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own. Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) in Karate Kid.

THRESHOLD GUARDIAN

Description: Someone or something that temporarily blocks the hero; an obstacle to be overcome, bypassed, or turned into an ally.

Function: Challenges and tests the hero.

THRESHOLD GUARDIANS Examples:

Border guards, sentinels, doormen, lookouts, bouncers, editors, bodyguards, sometimes even secret helpers.

HERALD Description: A character who brings

a challenge to the hero, delivers a call to adventure, or announces the need for change.

Function: To get the story rolling, to alert the hero (and audience) that challenge and change are coming.

HERALD Examples:

the Voice in Field of Dreams, the telegraph clerk in High Noon.

SHAPESHIFTER Description: a character who changes

appearance, “wears a mask,” misleads the hero (and audience), his/her loyalty and true nature are often in question; often the hero’s love interest; could be helpful or destructive.

Function: brings doubt and suspense into a story, is a catalyst for change and transformation.

SHAPESHIFTER Examples

: Memo Paris in The Natural); Snape in Harry Potter.

SHADOW

Description: a villain or antagonist; someone who represents the dark side, the unexpressed, or rejected aspects of something or someone; traits that linger and lurk within though we renounce and try to root them out.

Function: challenges the hero, brings out the hero’s best.

SHADOW Examples:

Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs, Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

TRICKSTER Description: Someone who embodies

mischief or change; ally of hero (or shadow) or out for himself/herself, stirs things up; clowns, comical sidekicks.

Function: to cut big egos down to size, bring heroes down to earth, point out folly, hypocrisy, absurdity, bring about change and transformation, bring comic relief.

TRICKSTER Bugs Bunny; Donkey in Shrek.

Review: some basic archetypes

Hero Mentor Threshold Guardian Herald Shapeshifter Shadow Trickster

Keep in mind…

One character may manifest more than one archetype (wear more than one mask), or may change from one archetype to another.

Archetypes represent aspects of our personalities; individuals incorporate all the various archetypes into themselves.

Primary Source

Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (1998).

That’s all, folks!