Archetype FAQs
This page is a work in progress. Check back soon to see more answers.
Contents
What is an archetype, in terms of storytelling and characters?
What sort of writers might benefit from learning about archetypes?
Do all stories have archetypes? Do character archetypes apply to every character?
Do archetypal concepts apply to all genres?
Is an archetype the same thing as a character role (hero, mentor, villain)?
Can one character play two archetypal roles at once
How do you make archetypal characters feel unique and three-dimensional?
Are there positive and negative (or shadow) versions of every character archetype?
If archetypes are innate, do you really need to learn about them to use them in writing?
General Questions
What is an archetype?
Here’s a definition, but it’s a bit dense. We’ll break it down a bit below. An archetype is a dynamic psychic pattern innate to all humans. It organizes perception and motivates behavior according to a fundamental orientation to oneself, to one’s environment, and/or to other people (and other living organisms).
So, what does that mean? An archetype is an elemental factor of human nature. It’s like an instinct. But where instincts are rooted in biology, archetypes are rooted in psychology. Like instincts, archetypes orient us to the world around us and draw our attention to elements and events in our environment that might be important, such as potential dangers that we want to avoid or opportunities to be pursued.
How are archetypes different from tropes or stereotypes?
Tropes and stereotypes are defined in terms of static criteria. Archetypes are inherently dynamic and harder to define.
A stereotypical hero is strong, brave, resourceful, and resilient. These and possibly a few other qualities are what define the stereotype. Behaviors can be included as well: a hero confronts obstacles head-on and rises to a challenge. If a given character checks enough boxes, he or she fits the stereotypical image of a hero. And if the hero slays a monster or rescues someone from peril, he or she fulfills a narrative trope. It’s all very straightforward.
Archetypes are a whole different sort of thing. But there can be a lot of overlap between stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes. And we can see that overlap by continuing to look at figures we call heroes. An archetypal hero is defined as being oriented toward a long-term goal: an epic quest or an important mission. An archetypal hero might well possess the qualities of a stereotypical hero and would be served well by them. But these are not defining traits for the archetypal pattern. Nor must an archetypal hero always pursue their mission above all other considerations, though the mission is always a factor in decision-making. That is to say, the archetypal pattern informs or describes (depending on your point of view) how the hero is oriented in the world, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about who the hero is or prescribe what they’ll do in any particular situation.
How are archetypes different from personality types?
A personality type is meant to distinguish a certain type of person from others according to their preferences and tendencies. An archetype corresponds to some aspect of human nature that is shared by all people. While it can be easy in some cases to get these concepts mixed up, their purposes are opposite. Archetypes describe what we all have in common, while personality types categorize people according to their differences.
For a writer who’s describing fictional characters, the basic distinction here can get a little muddy, but important distinctions remain. First, every significant character should have a personality, and those personalities can be classified according to various typologies (understanding, of course, that each dimension represents a generalized spectrum rather than a strict binary). But archetypes do not apply to all significant characters, or even most.
A character’s personality type describes who they are at a deep level. That should not change for any character over the course of a story (perhaps with exceptions for trauma responses or mental illness). But characters can change archetypal roles. It’s common, for instance, to see a character perform the child archetype at the beginning of a story and transition into a hero or maiden archetype as they develop. Characters can even change archetypal roles from one scene to another, though that is uncommon.
Are archetypes real?
Whether or not archetypes are real might ultimately depend on your metaphysical presuppositions. But let’s sidestep the philosophy. Archetypes are definitely real in the sense that they describe observable patterns in human perception, behavior, and expression. Scholars such as Adolf Bastian and Joseph Campbell have analyzed such universal patterns and found that cultural transmission and diffusion could not explain their universality in all cases. Randomness and human nature, then, are the primary explanations that remain.
On the other hand, there is no place in the brain where we can point to and say, “There is an archetype.” There is no falsifiable claim that can prove whether archetypes are real or not in a material sense. Rather, archetypes provide a model of psychology that comports with much psychological and anthropological evidence.
Do archetypes vary across different cultures?
The very idea of Jungian archetypes presupposes that they’re truly universal, that they don’t differ across cultures. Archetypes are human impulses that precede and shape expression and behavior, whether individual or cultural.
While archetypes are universal, they manifest in cultural expressions that vary significantly in their particulars across time and place, influenced by geography, culture, history, politics, and other factors. To take the hero archetype as an example, heroic figures appear differently in different cultures. One culture might prefer the archetypal pattern in warriors, while others prefer to see it in spiritual gurus. The significance of the hero archetype varies as well. In some cultures, archetypal heroes are celebrated, or even emulated. In other cultures, they’re seen more as trouble-makers, and heroic deeds are honored only in prescribed situations or only when performed by certain select individuals.
How many archetypes are there?
Nobody knows how many archetypes there are. C. G. Jung said there are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in the human experience. The answer would depend largely on how broadly or narrowly those situations are defined. A full accounting has likely never been attempted.
Why are archetypes associated with mythology, fairy tales, and fantasy?
The basic concept of psychological archetypes didn’t arise from psychology but from anthropology. Scholars who studied art, culture, religion, and mythology around the world observed certain elemental patterns that could not be explained by cultural transmission. The patterns, therefore, must be universal.
Building on the work of the anthropologist Adolf Bastian in particular, C. G. Jung studied religion, mythology, and fairy tales. To this day, Jungian analysts continue to focus their attention on these genres. And of course, Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces is perhaps the single most widely known text having to do with archetypes. It’s essentially a work of comparative mythology.
While history and convention can go a long way to explaining the association of archetypes with myths and fairy tales, the connection is deeper. A novel or movie is, to some extent, the reflection of a single creator’s psychology. But myths and fairy tales are oral narratives that were told and retold, expanded, extended, refined, and revised across generational time. This process sands off the rough edges of personal peculiarities. What’s left behind doesn’t reflect one author’s vision but the archetypal elements that remained resonant with each iteration and evolution.