The Importance of Archetypes in Storytelling
Character archetypes are often crucial in all types of storytelling. This paper will focus on spiritual and supernatural storytelling and how a character's archetypal wheel, a tool detailed in Caroline Myss' book, Sacred Contracts, that evaluates twelve aspects of a person's life. When applied to story, helps predetermine a character's decisions, interactions, and overall journey. This paper is intended to not only show the importance of having, in a sense, a "character map," but also to show the connection with older more historical tales and their characters with our newer stories in the forms of tv, novels, and movies.
Plato describes archetypes as forms that have manifested into material objects. For example, how beauty can be represented in an artifact. However, after further exploration by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, they are now defined as "psychological patterns derived from historical roles in life" (Myss.com) like the victim, the hero, the addict... According to Jung, we all have another psychic system, in addition to our personal conscious; this is what he calls the "collective unconscious," which is comprised of these archetypes and only shared with beings of the same.
Throughout this paper, we will review a few common archetypes readers encounter within many stories. Such as the many forms of the child archetype, the saboteurs, the lover, the victim, the rebel, the mentor, and so on... We will conclude by evaluating one essential character and how their journey is mapped by the archetypal wheel's twelve "houses."
So, why do writers care about archetypes? Well, we care because if we analyze the combination of archetypes we hold, or in this case the character holds, it can essentially provide a blueprint of their journey, wants vs. needs, actions and relationships. This also helps us digest the many faces of the character; what they present as to strangers or friends, versus how they are internally.
As mentioned before, archetypes are very handy when it comes to spiritual storytelling. If we zoom our focus in on supernatural, spiritual stories or myths, we will come to see that they are our base for most of these figures. These archetypal figures are historical, cultural, and most likely have been passed down generation to generation. For example, look at Clarissa Pinkola Estés' collection of short stories in Women Who Run with the Wolves, which hones in on the wild woman archetype but mentions a few that apply to women and likely their Animus - the masculine element hidden inside the female - and it can also apply to men and their Anima, which according to Carl Jung is the feminine element hidden deep inside a man.
Before we delve any further, we should touch upon the purpose of spiritual storytelling like Estés' short story collection. More often than not, stories like these are meant to preserve culture, educate or instill morals. Most tales, in general, are a means to share narratives or entertain as well.
Here is a list of figures you most definitely have come across at some point:
The hero is a classic main character. Most stories center themselves around this person who is “portrayed as one who must confront an increasingly difficult path of obstacles.” (Sacred Contracts, p. 392) The hero goes across a testing journey, which we know as the “Hero’s Journey” and “authentic acts of heroism” that also determine what kind of hero they will be.
Along with this journey, he or she awakens their inner-self while seeking to meet their worldly needs or wants. The hero often first starts as the Child archetype; wounded from a tragedy, magical from the start, abandoned or possibly divine. After their inner power is awakened, the hero then typically returns to their community so they can benefit from what they has gained.
A mentor is one of the most trustworthy characters in storytelling, although the downside is that they can find someone who fits in forever student role, and can become overbearing. The mentor archetype is said to have come from a character in The Odyssey, when "Odysseus, on setting out for Troy, had entrusted the care of his house and the education of his son, Telemachus" (p. 398). The mentor is also crucial, which causes it to differ from the teacher or counselor because they always pass along knowledge and life-long lessons to other characters - in most cases the hero - that are thankfully applied to the obstacles they face in their journey.
The companion is the main character's, often the hero's right-hand man. However, it is essential to know that the "bad guy" can also have their own companion - for example, Voldemort and Bellatrix or Joker and Harley Quinn. In the light, they are often loyal, unselfish, very attentive, and emotionally available. "Secretaries and personal assistants are examples of Right Arms, taking care of the day-to-day details of life"(p. 378). The companion does not have to be a romantic partner, the two can have a platonic relationship, and sometimes the main character can have more than one, i.e., Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger - which more so honors this particular archetype. A theme you may see here is betrayal or perceived betrayal, which is the dark side of this character and can be shattering. Remember in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Ron and Harry were pitted against each other due to illusions from Voldemort’s locket?
The herald, according to Caroline Myss, is much like the networker; they establish commonality within the characters and help with alliances. They bring power and inspiration through giving information by communicating. They can be put in place as a messenger, which serves to announce important events, which also tells us what to focus on and can force the hero into action. The downside to this is that because they have so much information and are seen as communicators, they can use other characters for their own personal gain and become master manipulators.
The shapeshifter's talents lie in their ability to "navigate through different levels of consciousness" (p. 414) if we are keeping it strictly mystical. A universal approach to the shapeshifter, who much like the trickster, is not all as they seem and can appear fickle and unstable. They can play both sides of the field and make no specific commitment for good or evil as they often do not have a concrete goal. They keep all of the other characters, especially the hero, on their toes. At the beginning of Siempre Bruja, a popular Netflix series from Brazil that focuses on an Afro-Colombian time-traveling witch, Alicia appears as the shapeshifter and the main character, Carmen, has to dissect if she is on the side she believes to be for the good. A more common character that may also embody this is Snape, from Harry Potter; he is often seen riding the fence between good and evil - through instructions provided to him by Dumbledore, the good wizard - and it is not until his death that everyone sees what his true intentions were.
Every archetype has a light and a shadow side, even though they technically are neutral figures. The shadow side alludes to “a dark, secretive, possibly malevolent countenance that looms in the background of our nature ready to do harm to others as well as to ourselves” (p.124). It is not something that sits in the character’s conscious mind and is not always something that appears as a foe. The shadow aspect of a character (or archetype) may only come out when something heartbreaking happens or when they are provoked.
Let us look at the Dr. Estés rendition of La Llorona or The Weeping Woman in her book, Women Who Run with The Wolves, which we will expand on later. She was young, beautiful, and desired. "A rich hidalgo, nobleman courts...and wins her affections"(Women Who Run with the Wolves, p.326). They have two sons, but he will still not marry her. Instead, he proclaims that he plans to marry a woman of his equal stature, that his family has chosen, as this woman is poor. That is the tragic event that acts as the catalyst of the story, despite which version you read. Her lover's choice has put her in a frenzy where she attacks him, herself, and their sons. She drowns their children and in the midst of her grief-stricken episode, also drowns herself. If she is the lover, and this event triggered her, she displayed an obsession with her lover and had an exaggerated and permanently destructive reaction to his rejection, which is expected of this sort of character but would not have come out if enabled it to. That is how the shadow, or dark side, of the lover, works.
Another example, if we take a glance at the main character from the film, Shutter Island, Andrew and his feminine psyche or anima, we can say that was the shadow side of a saboteur archetype. His anima took on the form of his dead wife and daughter, often manifesting into hallucinating. They both cause him to invest further into his alternate reality as they served as constant reminders of his failure to keep them alive and safe.
That is not all archetypes, or even tropes do. These tools also help us to see and understand the vital lessons that are, no doubt laced in these tales. She starts by detailing the resurrection of the wild woman archetype in La Loba, which is the fundamental aspect that makes the woman. Without it, the woman would die a spiritual or physical death, depending on the circumstances. “You can call it the natural psyche, but the archetype of the Wild Woman stands behind that as well. You can call it the innate, the basic nature of women. You can call it the indigenous, the intrinsic nature...”(Women Who Run with the Wolves, p.9).
Dr. Estés then takes us through the many scenarios that the woman may endure and introduces us to some critical archetypes through the wild woman journey. Like La Llorona, who embodies the lover. There is also the tales ofVasalisa, who teaches how the wounded child archetype can overcome their pain, through trusting their intuition and magic; the tale of Manawee, in which we learn of the significance of duality within women.
Another pretty significant one is the tale of Bluebeard, as it addresses the issues of women not always being prepared enough to survive in a world of predators. The wild woman is suppressed in the wife who seems to take on the innocent child archetype. She sees the beauty in everything, even this man with a Bluebeard, whom her sisters do not trust. She trusts him so much, so she decides to marry him, ignoring any possible red flags (or in this case blue) given due to his charm. "But the youngest sister thought if the man could be that charming, then perhaps he was not so bad. The more she talked to herself, the less awful he seemed, and also the less blue his beard" (p 40).
This all eventually leads up to our innocent child, denying her instincts when Bluebeard forbids her to enter only one room within their castle. This denial later manifests after the evidence of what she has done will not disappear - view the room of skeletons and causing the key to bleed. The spiritual tale not only shows us how dangerous and manipulative the destroyer archetype can be but also the value of discernment.
According to Caroline Myss, a well known medical intuitive whose works cites that of Carl Jung, there are four core archetypes everyone has as a foundation of their wheel; The Child, Victim, Prostitute, and Saboteur. They do not sound all that positive, but it is essential to remember that no archetype/character is all good or all bad, they each have a light and a shadow.
We have seen the child in many forms throughout the years, and depending on the story, they can grow to be the hero, villain, ally, or mentor. The child is more like the baseline and whichever you get in the beginning determines the adult or character, if they are still young, they have grown into. The child archetype has many subdivisions; the wounded, the magical, nature, the orphan, the eternal, and the divine. These subtypes can overlap, but it is their profound differences that force them into separate identities.
● The wounded child and the orphan both can be made up of negative experiences or traumas undergone early. The thing that makes the orphan so distinguishable is the looming feeling that they've never belonged to their family, that their soul family is somewhere else. This leads to them living a life minus of any family influences and the such leaving them to live an overly independent life and face dark forces of a lonely survival. Meanwhile, the wounded child was directly impacted by trauma or abuse endured during their young life. This often leads to them blaming current issues on their past as well as being extremely passionate and possibly forgiving.
● The magical child, think Pippi Longstocking or Alice in Wonderland, is often enchanting to others or enchanted. They see the good or beauty in everything despite the current situation. They are often wise, courageous, and have powers of imagination.
● Tarzan is a character that resonated with the nature child. The main qualification? His lifetime spent relating and forming intimate bonds with animals. However, he also inherited strong survival skills and a sort of inner toughness, required for this.
● Another child we've come to be very familiar with is the eternal child, which is a character that is determined to remain young forever in any form (mind, body, or spirit). This character is known to enjoy life; however, they have issues functioning as adults and often never grow up. Sounds just like the character Peter Pan.
● Then there is the divine child, who has a ton in common with the magical except they are historically rumored to be closer to “Divine” itself. This archetype also has a mission of redemption. This one is rarely seen in characters as they are portrayed as not having a shadow side - which is nearly impossible.
This victim archetype is pretty easy to spot. They often, whether consciously/subconsciously, allow themselves to be victimized by other characters through not lousy decision making. They often rely on passive or rash actions - meaning they may not always think things through.
The prostitute is the character that you will see selling their talents, ideas, emotions, etc. Mainly they sell themselves short by giving away their personal power in hopes of controlling another character's actions. They operate out of fear of losing security, in a relationship or financially and may have issues with integrity.
The final must have in the main archetypes is the saboteur. This archetype houses all fears and insecurities. It causes characters to have low self-esteem and to create their own blockages to success. If continuously ignored, the saboteur archetype will morph into self-destructive behaviors and other maladaptive tendencies. Character's need to embrace or honor this part of themselves because then they will have the awareness to see the warnings of when they are sabotaging and save themselves the pain.
An archetype wheel is a tool the Caroline Myss created to help better understand these companions. This helps demystify the behind-the-scenes stuff that's not always detailed in the plot. This also shows the opportunities for real transformation. This is done by dividing "every aspect of human life" into twelves houses, like the houses of the zodiac. They are as follows, according to her book, Sacred Contracts, and official website Myss.com:
1. Personality, Ego: the face you present to the outside world
2. Life Values: ownership, finances, your relationship to earthly power
3. Self-expression, Siblings: the power of choice
4. Home: establishing your emotional foundation
5. Creativity, Good Fortune: erotic energies, including creativity, sexuality, and synchronicity/chance
6. Occupation and Health: seeking security in the physical world
7. Relationships: marriage and partnerships
8. Other People’s Resources: stocks, inheritance, death, and closure
9. Spirituality: wisdom, publishing, travel
10. Highest Potential: completing the integration of the self
11. Interaction with the World: relating your creativity to humanity
12. The Unconscious
When a character's archetypal wheel is figured out, we essentially have a map of their development, or expected development through their journey. We often can even see how they grow from one archetype to the next, if we see them age, or how they are in one "house" versus another. This is most commonly the case with a form of the child archetype and the hero or destroyer. An example, Harry Potter (hero) or Lord Voldemort (destroyer) both begun as children both orphan/magical and wounded.
And we as readers often rely on a bit backstory and the inciting incident to get us to connect the dots. Robert McKee’s book Dialogue states, backstory is commonly referred to as a character’s “life history”(p 29). This is more often than not mistaken as a character’s entire life; experiences, interactions, genealogy but this is not the correct way to use it. We should be taking snippets or drop hints of the character’s past only when it’s important. Like for example, if we are revealing a great secret or revelation.
Commonly we find that stories rely on the archetype a character best identifies within that moment (in the backstory) and how it pushed them into that role in the present storyline. Most characters come from a wounded/magical child or victim archetype, which is usually a perfect setup for the inciting incident.
We see this in stories like Tomi Adeyemi’s book, Children of Blood and Bone, which tells of a world where magic was stripped from everyone meant to wield it out of fear. King Saran, of Orisha, hated magic so much so that he murdered anyone that could bring it back to his world and fed his children lies about how it would lead to their demise. Now his methods around fatherhood and protecting his children lead them both to be physically and emotionally scarred to the point that Prince Inan and Princess Amari both developed martyr/victim qualities. However, despite it being Amari who is left physically scarred by a deadly duel with her brother and her mother's constant methods of lightening her complexion it is Inan who continues the story as a saboteur archetype, born of a wounded/magical child.
I draw these conclusions of Inan because his father's abusive ways have clearly scarred him and influenced most if not all, of his decisions. This particularly applies to the duel where his father forces him to strike Amari while she is defenseless, causing a long gash across her back; this is repeatedly revisited throughout the book. "Your sister chooses herself. As king, you must choose Orisha...Strike, Inan!" Rage flared in his eyes. “You must fight now!”Amari screamed and covered her ears. Everything in me wanted to run to her side. Protect her. Save her. Promise we would never have to fight” (p 175).
When Inan's backstory of early childhood traumas is finally revealed to us, it makes sense why the son took on such a hate for magic, much like his father. His fear and feelings run so deep that he harms himself suppressing his own magic down - as it is later revealed he has become what his father despises.
My final example, details a full archetype wheel of the character Spike (or William the Bloody), in the FX series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike has one of the most defined transformations throughout the series; starting out as the big bad vampire that plans to take over Sunnydale and kill the new slayer in town he slowly develops into a hero with a big heart and pure soul as we learn more about him.
Examples and more information detailed in Archetype Course available with Membership
Works Cited
McKee, Robert. Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen. 2016
Pinkola Estés, Ph.D. Clarissa. Women Who Run with the Wolves. 1992
Shutter Island. Screenplay. By Laeta Kalogridis. Writer's Draft October 3rd, 2007
Adeyemi, Tomi. Children of Blood and Bone.2018
Caroline Myss, www.myss.com/
Parra,Ana María. Siempre Bruja.Caracol Televisión, 2019
Whedon, Joss. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 20th Century Fox, 1992.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter, and the Half-Blood Prince. 2005
Myss, Caroline. Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential. 2003
Shamdasani, Sonu.The Undiscovered Self: With Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams (Jung Extracts).November 15th, 2010
Edinger, Edward F. Ego, and Archetype. 1972