Archetypes

The Hero

Lord Raglan in The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama, contends that this archetype is so well defined that the life of the protagonist can clearly be divided into a series of well-marked adventures which strongly suggest a ritualistic pattern. Raglan finds that traditionally the hero's mother is a virgin, the circumstances of this conception are unusual, and at birth, some attempt is made to kill him. He is, however, spirited away and reared by foster parents. We know almost nothing of his childhood, but upon reaching manhood he returns to his future kingdom. After a victory over the king or a wild beast, he marries a princess, becomes king, reigns uneventfully, but later loses favor with the gods. He is then driven from the city after which he meets a mysterious death, often at the top of a hill. His body is not buried, but nevertheless, he has one or more holy sepulchers (burial vaults).

The Young Man from the Provinces

This hero is spirited away as a young man and reared by strangers. He later returns to his home and heritage where he is a stranger who sees new problems and new solutions.

The Initiates

These are young heroes or heroines who, prior to their quest, must endure some training and ceremony. They are usually innocent and often wear white.

Mentors

These individuals serve as teachers or counselors to the initiates. Sometimes they work as role models and often serve as a father or mother figure.

Father-Son Conflict

Tensions often result from separation during childhood or from an external source when the individuals meet as men and where the mentor often has a higher place in the affections of the hero than the natural parent.

Threshold Guardian

Tests the hero's courage and worthiness to begin the journey.

Hunting Group of Companions

Loyal companions willing to face any number of perils in order to be together.

Loyal Retainers

These individuals are basically servants who are heroic themselves. Their duty is to protect the hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.

Friendly Beasts

An animal companion that shows nature is on the side of the hero.

The Scapegoat

An animal or human whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taint or sin that has been visited upon a community. Their death often makes them a more powerful force in the society than when they lived.

The Star-Crossed Lovers

These two characters are engaged in a love affair that is fated to end tragically for one or both due to the disapproval of their society, friends, or family, or because of some tragic situation.

The Earth Mother

Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and fertility, this character traditionally offers spiritual and emotional nourishment to those with whom she comes in contact. She is often depicted in earth colors and with large breasts and hips symbolic of her childbearing capabilities.

The Temptress

Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted and who ultimately brings about his downfall.

The Platonic Ideal

This woman is a source of inspiration and a spiritual ideal, for whom the protagonist or author has an intellectual rather than a physical attraction.

The Unfaithful Wife

A woman married to a man she sees as dull or distant and is attracted to a more virile or interesting man.

The Damsel in Distress

The vulnerable woman who must be rescued by the hero. She is often used as bait to trap the unsuspecting hero.

The Boss

A real go-getter, she climbs the ladder of success. This is a "take-charge" female who accepts nothing but respect.

The Crusader

A dedicated fighter, she meets her commitments. This lady is on a mission, and she marches over anyone in her way.

The Free Spirit

Eternal optimist; she dances to unheard tunes. She acts on a whim and follows her heart, not her head.

The Devil Figure

Evil incarnate, this character offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the protagonist in exchange for possession of the soul.

The Evil Genius

The malevolent mastermind, he loves to show off his superior intelligence. Intellectual inferiors are contemptible to him and that includes just about everyone. Elaborate puzzles and tricks are his trademark.

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart

A redeemable devil figure saved by the nobility or love of the hero.

The Outcast

A figure that is banished from a social group for some crime (real or imagined) against his fellow man. The outcast is usually destined to become a wanderer from place to place.

The Creature of Nightmare

A monster usually summoned from the deepest, darkest part of the human psyche to threaten the lives of the hero/heroine. Often it is a perversion or desecration of the human body.

The Terrorist

The dark knight, he serves a warped code of honor. Self-righteous, he believes in his own virtue and judges all around him by a strict set of laws. The end will always justify his nefarious means, and no conventional morality will give him pause.

The Traitor

The double agent, he betrays those who trust him the most. No one suspects the evil that lurks in his heart. Despite supportive smiles and sympathetic ears, he plots the destruction of his friends.

The Black Widow

The beguiling siren, she lures victims into her web. She goes after anyone who has something she wants, and she wants a lot. An expert at seduction of every variety, she uses her charms to get her way (a true femme fatale).

The Shadow

A worthy opponent with whom the hero must struggle in a fight to the end. Must be destroyed or neutralized. Psychologically could represent the darker side of the hero's own psyche.

The Quest

This motif describes the search for someone or some talisman which, when found and brought back, will restore fertility to a wasted land, the desolation of which is mirrored by a leader's illness and disability.

The Task

To save the kingdom, to win the fair lady, to identify himself so that he may reassume his rightful position, the hero must perform some nearly superhuman deed. Not the same as the Quest – it is a function of the ultimate goal, the restoration of fertility. In many myths and stories, the hero must complete multiple Tasks before completing the Quest.

The Initiation

This usually takes the form of an initiation into adult life. The adolescent comes into his/her maturity with new awareness and problems along with new hope for the community. This awakening is the climax of the story.

The Journey

The journey sends the hero in search for some truth or information necessary to restore fertility to the kingdom. Usually the hero descends into a real or psychological hell and is forced to discover the blackest truths, quite often concerning his own faults. Once the hero is at his lowest point, he must accept personal responsibility to return to the world of the living. A second use of this pattern is the depiction of a limited number of travelers on a sea voyage, bus ride, or any other trip for the purpose of isolating them and using them as a microcosm of society.

The Ritual

The actual ceremonies the Initiate experiences that will mark his rite of passage into another state. A clear sign of the character's role in society.

The Fall

This archetype describes a descent from a higher to a lower state of being. The experience involves a defilement and/or a loss of innocence and bliss. The fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression.

The Unhealable Wound

Either a physical or psychological wound that cannot be fully healed. The wound symbolizes a loss of innocence.

The Magic Weapon

This symbolizes the extraordinary quality of the hero because no one else can wield the weapon or use it to its full potential. It is usually given by a mentor figure.

Death and Rebirth

The most common of all situational archetypes, this motif grows out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and the cycle of life. Thus, morning and springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth; evening and winter suggest old age or death.

Nature versus the Mechanical World

Nature is good while science, technology, and society are often evil.

Battle between Good and Evil

This is obviously the battle between two primal forces. Mankind shows eternal optimism in the continual portrayal of good triumphing over evil despite great odds.

Light versus Darkness

Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

Water versus Desert

Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. Water is used in baptismal services, which solemnize spiritual births. Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work of literature can suggest a character's spiritual birth.

Heaven and Hell

Man has traditionally associated parts of the universe not accessible to him with the dwelling places of the primordial forces that govern his world. The skies and mountaintops house his gods; the bowels of the earth contain the diabolic forces that inhabit his universe.

Innate Wisdom versus Educated Stupidity

Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively, as opposed to those supposedly in charge. Loyal retainers often exhibit this wisdom as they accompany the hero on the journey.

Haven versus Wilderness

Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often sheltered for a time to regain health and resources.

Supernatural Intervention

The gods intervene on the side of the hero and sometimes against him.

Fire versus Ice

Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth, while ice, like desert, represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death. When we begin to control fire, we begin to control our environment and our lives.

The Crossroads

A place or time of decision when a realization is made and change or penance results.

The Maze

A puzzling dilemma or great uncertainty, search for the dangerous monster inside of oneself, or a journey into the heart of darkness.

The Castle

A strong place of safety which holds treasure or a princess, may be enchanted or bewitched.

The Tower

A strong place of evil, represents the isolation of self.

Red

Blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder.

Green

Growth, hope, fertility.

Blue

Security, tranquility, spiritual purity, hope.

Black

Darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, evil, melancholy.

White

Light, purity, innocence.

Yellow

Enlightenment, wisdom, sickness.

Number 3

Light, spiritual awareness, unity (holy trinity), male principle.

Number 4

Associated with the circle, life cycles, four seasons, female principle, earth, nature, elements.

Number 7

The most potent of all symbolic numbers signifying the union of three and four, the completion of a cycle, perfect order, perfect number, religious symbol.