Archetypes Flashcards
The Quest
What the Hero must accomplish in order to bring fertility back to the wasteland, usually a search for some talisman, which will restore peace, order, and normalcy to a troubled land
The Task
The nearly superhuman feat(s) the Hero must perform in order to accomplish his quest.
The Journey
The journey sends the Hero in search of some truth that will help save his kingdom.
The Initiation
The adolescent comes into his maturity with new awareness and problems.
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 his society
The Fall
The descent from a higher to a lower state of being usually as a punishment for transgression. It also involves the loss of innocence.
Death and Rebirth
The most common of all situational archetypes, this motif grows out of a parallel between the cycle of nature and the cycle of life. Thus morning and springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth, while evening and winter suggest old age or death.
Battle between Good and Evil
Obviously, a battle between two primal forces. Mankind shows eternal optimism in the continual portrayal of good triumphing over evil despite great odds.
The Unhealable Wound
Either a physical or psychological wound that cannot be fully healed. The wound symbolizes a loss of innocence.
The Quest
What the Hero must accomplish in order to bring fertility back to the wasteland, usually a search for some talisman, which will restore peace, order, and normalcy to a troubled land.
The Hero
The Hero is a protagonist whose life is a series of well-marked adventures. The circumstances of his birth are unusual, and he is raised by a guardian. He will have to leave his kingdom, only to return to it upon reaching manhood. Characterized by courage, strength, and honor, the hero will endure hardship, even risk his life for the good of all. Leaves the familiar to enter an unfamiliar and challenging world.
Young man from the Provinces
The Hero returns to his home and heritage where he is a stranger who can see new problems and new solutions
The initiates
The Initiates are young heroes or heroines who must go through some training and ceremony before undertaking their quest.
The Mentor
The Mentor is an older, wiser teacher to the initiates. He often serves as a father or mother figure. He gives the hero gifts (weapons, food, magic, information), serves as a role model or as hero’s conscience.
Mentor - Pupil Relationship
In this relationship, the Mentor teaches the Hero/pupil the necessary skills for surviving the quest.
The Threshold Guardian
Tests the hero’s courage and worthiness to begin the journey
Father - Son Conflict
In this relationship, the tension is built due to separation from childhood or some other source when the two meet as men.
Hunting Group of Companions
These are loyal companions willing to face hardship and ordeal in order to stay together.
Loyal Retainers
The Retainer’s duty is to reflect the nobility and power of the hero.
Friendly Beast
An animal companion showing that nature is on the side of the hero
The Shadow
A worthy opponent with whom the hero must struggle in a fight to the end. Must be destroyed or neutralized. Psychologically can represent the darker side of the hero’s own psyche.
The Devil Figure
This character is evil incarnate.
The Evil Figure with Ultimately Good Heart
A devil figure with the potential to be good. This person is usually saved by the love of the hero.
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 Scrapegoat
An animal, or more usually a human, whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taint or sin of a community. They are often more powerful in death than in life.
The Outcast
A character banished from a social group for some real or imagined crime against his fellow man, usually destined to wander from place to place.
The Platonic Ideal
A woman who is a source of inspiration to the hero, who has an intellectual rather than physical attraction to her
Damsel in Distress
A vulnerable woman who needs to be rescued by the hero. She is often used as a trap to ensnare the unsuspecting hero.
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. Often depicted in earth colors, has large breasts and hips symbolic of her
The Temptress or Black Goddess
Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted and who ultimately brings about his downfall. May appear as a witch or vampire
White Goddess
Good, beautiful maiden, usually blond, may make an ideal marriage partner; often has religious or intellectual overtones.
The Unfaithful Wife
A woman married to a man she sees as dull or distant and is attracted to more virile or interesting men.
Light vs. Darkness
Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.
Innate Wisdom vs. 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.
Fire and Ice
Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth, while ice, like the desert, represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death.
Nature vs. Mechanistic World
Nature is good while technology is evil.
The Threshold
Gateway to a new world which the hero must enter to change and grow
The Underworld
A place of death or metaphorically an encounter with the dark side of the self. Entering an underworld is a form of facing a fear of death.
Haven vs. Wilderness
Places of safety contrast sharply against a dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often sheltered for a time to regain health and resources
Water vs. Desert
Because Water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth symbol, as baptism symbolizes a spiritual birth. Rain, rivers, oceans, etc. also function the same way. The Desert suggests the opposite.
Heaven vs. 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 diabolic forces.
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 princess, may be enchanted or bewitched
The Tower
A strong place of evil, represents the isolation of self
The Magic Weapon
The weapon the hero needs in order to complete his quest.
The Whirlpool
Symbolizes the destructive power of nature or fate.
Fog
Symbolizes uncertainty.
3
3—light, spiritual awareness, unity (holy trinity), male principle
4
4—associated with the circle, life cycle, four seasons, female principle, earth, nature, elements
7
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
