Do You Have These 5 Archetypes in Your Story?
You probably know your main character (protagonist, hero, heroine), the antagonist, and maybe a couple of other players who show up here and there. But have you stopped to consider whether your cast is well-rounded? Have you stopped to ask yourself if you have too many players in your story? Not enough? Have you given the same job to more than one person?
Choosing characters hinges on what they have to accomplish in your story. Sometimes it’s easier to look at your characters as archetypes. Archetypes are fundamental psychological patterns that are basic to all humans. They cross cultural boundaries and have universal appeal or meaning.
In this article, I discuss the top five archetypes that you can usually find in most fiction and how you can start building your own cast of characters based on just these five archetypes.
Let’s hop to it!
TOP 5 ARCHETYPES IN FICTION
THE RULER
The strength of this archetype lies in the caring, compassionate, protective treatment of others, allowing those people to learn and grow.
On the flip side, a Ruler can be controlling and overprotective (the “helicopter parent,” a coach obsessed with winning, or a tyrannical leader); they can also use guilt, fear, shame, and power to convince others to do their bidding.
Traits of The Ruler include:
Sense of responsibility
Good at making decisions
Strong leadership qualities
Systematic, organized, powerful
Remember, all of these traits can be used in either positive or negative ways depending on what kind of Ruler your character is.
2. THE WARRIOR
This character is anyone who is armed with a set of skills and is considered the hero or the heroine by the end of the story. Despite their spectacular strength or talent, they usually suffer from some crack in their confidence that should work against them at the worst possible moment in your story.
Traits of The Warrior include:
Courage
Strength (mental, physical, spiritual or a combo of any)
Determined, stubborn, focused
Ability or talent
Can become obsessed with the belief that whatever is weak or wrong must be destroyed, so then ends up becoming an enforcer of what is wrong
Remember, traits can be used in either positive or negative ways depending on what kind of Warrior your character is.
3. THE MAGICIAN
The Magician need not be found only in stories of magic. Any character who has the ability to make visible the deeper reality behind what is visible or known can be your story’s Magician. This archetype also can work well with the larger, more secretive forces of the world, like detectives who are able to suss out clues or information others ordinarily wouldn’t see.
Some traits of The Magician:
Inquisitive natures
Seek answers, enlightenment
A thirst for solutions
Their desire for answers often can lead them to bend the rules to fit their motivations
Can manipulate the deeper reality that they’re privy to and use it to keep others in line
Remember, traits can be used in either positive or negative ways depending on what kind of Magician your character is.
4. THE LOVER
This archetype is someone who provides care, love, passion, and sensuality to another person or situation. At their strongest, the lover enriches another person’s life in some way. However, this character’s weaknesses of submission, surrendering, or “people pleasing” can create problems aplenty.
The Love Interest can:
Help move another character through their journey as an added motivation (if it isn’t already the ultimate goal).
Support and/or challenge another character’s choices.
Engage in and/or resist a relationship with another character, which in turn forces that character into personal growth.
5. THE MENTOR / GUARDIAN
This archetype is helpful in offering sage advice, guidance, or help. This role can take shape in numerous ways:
Someone who guards or guides another character on the journey.
Someone who presents the moral question to what the Protagonist is facing.
Often considered “perfect,” the Mentor has few flaws or limitations. (This is because they’ve already learned their lessons needed for ultimate transformation—a Mentor can have fabulously interesting backstory for this reason.)
A character who has no problem telling the Protagonist or another character where they’ve steered themselves wrong.
A character who will die to uphold his moral standards.
A character who is ready and willing to sacrifice themselves for the overall good of the goal, usually the Protagonist’s goal.
CHARACTER ASPECTS & JOBS
Beyond the above five archetypes, there are additional archetypes such as Trickster, Rebel, Artist/Clown/Creator, Child, Best Friend/Sidekick/Caregiver and more.
Not every story requires all the archetypes, obviously, but you want to make sure each of your characters is an individual who is PART of a cast. A web, if you will. If a character’s goals and obstacles don’t directly impact another character, then that character doesn’t belong in your story.
Your protagonist is not the only character who matters. True, we have to do an unseemly amount of work to develop the main character as they’re on the page the majority of the story. But, your main character should be influenced by every other character in your cast. For this to work well, you have to develop all of those characters so that they do their own unique jobs that help define and influence every other character.
As I said, your cast of characters should behave like a web.
CONNECT AND COMPARE YOUR CHARACTERS
If you can give each character an archetype, that will help individualize them. You can have more than one character defined by an archetype, but be sure each one behaves differently according to the varied traits of that archetype.
For example, if you have two Lovers, then each one needs to represent different aspects of that archetype to create conflict.
AVOID STEREOTYPE
The inherent trouble with using archetypes to define your characters is that you can create stereotypical characters that fail to surprise or intrigue your readers.
Avoid this pitfall by giving the archetype detail, which means you want to be sure you include the shadow aspects of the archetype. This way you can create loads of conflict between your characters.
You can also mix up the expectations of your archetypes. For example, you can have a character who, although may be on the same “team” as your Protagonist, is dubious of your Protagonist’s choices or even their story goal. Where the Sidekick is a tireless cheerleader for your Protagonist, it may serve your story to include a character who is the party pooper. This aspect of pessimism could be laced throughout another character already in play, or you may find that you can build a solid character just on this aspect alone.
Another aspect that can be added into your cast is bad, misguided advice or ill will. These kinds of aspects work best in a character who the Protagonist wants to heed (such as an older sibling, an athletic coach, a parent, or a boss). Thus, the Protagonist is led down a rocky path despite their trust and faith in the person.
Sometimes it’s helpful to present the two sides of the same coin to ensure you’re lacing in enough story conflict. For example, where there’s reason there’s also emotion, where there’s competition there’s also teamwork, where there’s love there’s also hate, where there’s abundance there’s also lack, where there’s motivation there’s also laziness. And so on.
COMBINING CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
Character archetypes each have their individual value, yes, but much more can be created when we combine two or more archetypes to help round out a single character.
In addition to making the Ruler, for example, the dude who stands in the way of your Protagonist’s goals, consider making the Ruler the Love Interest as well.
Character roles are more complex when they are flexible rather than rigid, and shaped to flow with your specific storyline.
Rather than assigning one job per character (which leads you toward building a large one-dimensional cast where each individual player doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot to do), consider multiplying roles among fewer characters. Not only will this help you create complex characters who are unpredictable, but you’ll also find that your story becomes richer with possibility.
Above all, each character in your story has a job to do—they are there to either help or hinder your main character’s journey. Even your protagonist will be in conflict over what they’re supposed to do to help or hinder their own journey.
When you treat each character as an “Influence Character”, and every move they make, every word they utter as an ultimate influence upon your Protagonist’s journey, then you can decide on their archetype or archetype blend, and what additional aspects you can add to their archetype (or archetype blend) for a well-rounded cast.
I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! WHAT ARCHETYPES DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR STORY?
DO YOU COMBINE ANY?
HAVE A WRITERLY DAY!