Character Archetypes, Not Stereotypes

Just as every story cannot entirely escape tropes or familiar plot shapes like the Hero’s Journey, many characters can be mapped onto various archetypes.

Archetypes create a sense of familiarity in storytelling, allowing readers to connect with characters and situations on a universal level.

Sometimes, I’ve noticed people might shy away from the idea of archetypes, afraid their characters might instead flatten into stereotypes. However, today I wanted to share with you how looking at character archetypes can, conversely, help you develop three-dimensional, nuanced characters who leap off the page.

Archetypes: definitions and a brief history

Archetypes as a concept have been around since we started telling each other stories around a campfire. The word archetype plays a foundational role in psychology, philosophy and literature, tracing its origins back to ancient Greek concepts. The word comes from the ancient Greek árkhō—‘to begin’ or ‘origin’—and túpos—‘sort,’ ‘type’ or ‘imprint.’

What is an archetype?

Borrowing from good old Merriam-Webster defines an archetype as:

1. The original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies; a prototype. Or the perfect example of something.
2. An inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung that is (...) present in the unconscious of the individual.

This second definition brings us to Jungian archetypes, which are some of the most well-known archetypes and a useful jumping-off point for us today.

Carl Jung identified four major archetypes as fundamental concepts representing universal human experiences and symbols.

Who was Carl Jung?

Carl Gustav Jung lived from 1875 to 1961 and was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. His work influenced many fields like anthropology, literature, philosophy, religious studies and more. He mapped these archetypes onto different stages of development of the human psyche. He also coined the term the ‘collective unconscious,’ which he first wrote about in a 1916 essay where he argued that there are shared, primal symbols that are passed down through evolutionary thought and appear time and again in stories and myth.

So while an archetype might be this sort of quintessential example of a certain thing, a stereotype, meanwhile, is defined as ‘a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing’ (Oxford Languages Dictionary). We don’t want that. So how can Jungian archetypes help us create realistic characters?

Jung’s stages of development and the Collective Unconscious

Jung argued that we all have a persona, or a social mask, for the roles we play. We also all have a shadow self, which maps onto this first stage of development and represents the darker side of our personalities or the primitive impulses we try to deny.

The anima and animus

Jung also wrote about the anima, which could be a ‘feminine’ aspect of a man’s unconscious and maps onto the second stage of development. This part of us might be a muse or inspiration that yearns for connection and meaning-making. Similarly, there’s the animus, which is the ‘masculine’ aspect of a woman’s unconscious. The animus might be described as a woman’s ‘rational’ function and the anima is a man’s ‘irrational’ function. Both of these steps represent our inner life and two halves of our psyche. While there are some patriarchal or gendered (and some might argue, sexist) elements, he described the soul as a whole as relatively androgynous.

Jung argues that for someone to reach that third stage of development, they must become their whole self and have both the conscious and unconscious parts of their psyche.

However, this tension between the dark and the light, the conscious and the unconscious, and so on also points to this idea of people being inherently contradictory, which is what makes people—and therefore characters who are meant to feel like real people—interesting.

Jung’s twelve archetypes

Jung postulated twelve main archetypes, and here is the list along with some brief descriptions of each archetype’s usual values and potential contradictions. Think about some of the books you’ve read or films you’ve watched recently. What characters can you identify as mapping onto these?

The lover 

Romantic, passionate, but also irrational.

The hero

Brave, tenacious, but also overconfident.

The magician

Powerful, disciplined, but perhaps arrogant.

The outlaw

Rebellious, independent, but also selfish/criminal.

The explorer

Curious, driven, bold, but restless.

The sage

A mother figure or mentor who is wise but cautious.

The innocent

Sometimes but not always a child. Moral, kind, but probably naive.

The creator

A visionary. Creative, single-minded, but also impractical.

The ruler

Has power and status over others but might be aloof as a result (or corruptible...?).

The caregiver

Will do everything to selflessly support others, but equally might be lacking ambition.

The everyman

Relatable, recognizable, but also possibly woefully unprepared for what’s coming.

The jester

A trickster. Funny, insightful, but possibly obnoxious.

Character archetypes as character growth

You may have already noticed that sometimes a character might begin as one archetype—a naive farmboy with elements of an everyman, say—and end the series as something very different—a sage or a ruler, for example.

Knowing that a character may move from one archetype to another can help you map out their growth and change and what obstacles you need to put in their way to achieve that growth and enable their transformation.

Likewise, knowing what darker impulses they might be battling will help you create that depth and make the character come alive.

Character archetypes and genre

I’m primarily a science fiction and fantasy writer, so often I think about using character archetypes within specific speculative subgenres. I mentioned the hero’s journey in the introduction, which has one of these archetypes right in the title. Secondary fantasy, in particular, really draws on images we see in myth and these ‘primordial images’ that Jung mentioned, like the Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Tree of Life, and so on.

Many classic and modern fantasy stories utilize these archetypes. Tolkien famously drew a lot on Norse Myth, and you can see Gandalf as a mentor, Frodo as the naive everyman (everyhobbit?), and the temptation of the ring representing his shadow self.

More recently, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon references primordial images like trees of magic, an ancient evil one, and there’s a ruler in Queen Sabran who wrestles with her destiny and duty to her people.

The Witcher TV series and books feature the character of Jaskier (Dandelion in the books), a quintessential jester.

I’ve played with archetypes in my latest release, Dragonfall, particularly crafting my two heroes to also be lovers on opposite sides of a historic rift between dragons and humans—so they are both heroes and lovers. One of my protagonists is a thief (outlaw) and the other is a dragon prince who is meant to become a prophet, or sage, but has so far failed.

However, while archetypes work well for fantasy, that doesn’t mean that archetypes aren’t also useful within other genres. You might have an expert hacker who serves as a mentor figure in a cyberpunk novel. Or a very senior detective or police officer in a crime novel who must bring a rookie up to scratch. Perhaps your protagonist is an outlaw in the Wild West who wrestles with what justice and fairness mean in a lawless land.

You’ll see archetypes crop up in romance, in contemporary literary fiction—they emerge in all types of books because archetypes are recognizable shorthands which can also point, naturally, to the expected shapes of stories.

Archetypes and plots

Having characters who lean into, subvert, or move between archetypes can also help potentially set up plot expectations.

Sir James George Frazer interrogated archetypes in myth in his work The Golden Bough thirty years before Jung looked at them through a psychology lens, and literary theorist Northrop Frye also built on archetypal literary criticism in his work, too. Frazer noticed the commonality of death and rebirth in ancient stories and pointed to the importance of the harvest and how sometimes these stories are mapped onto the natural world:

• Summer: romance. The birth of the hero.
• Autumn: tragedy. Movement toward the death or defeat of the hero.
• Winter: irony or satire. The hero is absent.
• Spring: comedy. The rebirth of the hero.

Joseph Campbell also wrote the well-known The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The overlap between character archetypes and structural analysis of myths could easily be its own post, but if this rabbit hole proves interesting to you, you could burrow into comparative mythology and structural theory of mythology and see how your use of character archetypes might naturally map onto these plot elements. Character archetypes are ingredients in a larger recipe.

Other archetypal influences

Next, if Jungian archetypes aren’t calling to you for whatever reason, there are other influences that play with similar concepts and might unlock aspects of character.

Tarot

Tarot has been around for hundreds of years and is absolutely packed with symbolism.

These cards have embedded themselves in history, art, and many, many stories over the centuries. Two recent releases include Evocation by S.T. Gibson, which shows the cover illustration of the protagonist as the Hanged Man, and One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, which has a magic system around cards similar to tarot. The cover of One Dark Window even lists three potential archetypes the protagonist will wrangle with at the top: Maiden. Monster. Martyr.

What about a serial killer in a crime series who might choose victims according to these cards? What would that add in terms of thematics or potential plot? Or a romcom about someone going on a series of tragic dates with people who have aspects of different tarot cards before meeting the other half of their Lovers card?

Below is a list of the Major Arcana cards and (very brief) explanations of their usual symbolism:

The Major Arcana Cards

• The Fool: young, vulnerable, able to embrace without worry.
• The Magician: unique, with many gifts, containing the power to accomplish goals.
• The High Priestess: awareness and connection with an inner voice.
• The Empress: compassion, beauty, love, and mother nature.
• The Emperor: leadership, power, authority. Structure, solidity.
• The Hierophant: messenger from the heavens, deeply spiritual.
• The Lovers: a card about values and decisions that can represent a crossroads.
• The Chariot: connected to drive, determination, and success.
• Strength: often associated with courage and resilience.
• The Hermit: associated with withdrawing from the world and seeing what solitude offers.
• Wheel of Fortune: the ever-changing nature of fortune.
• Justice: the consequences of actions.
• The Hanged Man: small sacrifices are required for the larger picture.
• Death: not physical death, usually! Usually, this actually means all things pass and you can’t hold on forever. An ending might be a new beginning.  
• Temperance: moderation, patience, and going with the flow.
• The Devil: restraint and powerlessness, symbolizing being stuck by your own actions.
• The Tower: destruction and letting things fall.
• The Star: hope and healing, renewal.
• The Moon: hidden thoughts, feelings, doubts, and fears.
• The Sun: happiness, joy, vitality.
• Judgment: past and future colliding. The future is not set in stone.
• The World: completion and fulfillment.

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Tarot and Jungian Archetypes

Do you see how some of these cards already have plenty of overlap with Jungian archetypes anyway? The Fool can map onto the Jester, or the Hermit with the Mentor. The Emperor and Empress sound similar to the idea of the anima and animus.

I know authors who might randomly draw cards as warm-up inspiration before settling into their writing day, or do spreads for their protagonists and see what the card meanings might spark for their stories.

One of my works-in-progress is a near-future thriller set on the moon, and so I have been drawing some inspiration from the Moon card, for example, even if the story itself is unlikely to reference tarot specifically.

Dungeons & Dragons

This game is many fantasy writers’ introduction to fantasy, and when you choose your ‘class,’ you’re essentially choosing your archetype. We see this influence appear in books like Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, which kicked off the rise of the cozy fantasy subgenre.

• Barbarian: Berserker, Wild Heart
• Bard: Lore, Valor, Glamour
• Cleric: Trickery, Knowledge
• Druid: Dreams, Shepherd
• Fighter: Champion, Knight
• Monk: Elements, Shadow
• Paladin: Glory, Vengeance, Devotion
• Ranger: Beast Master, Hunter
• Rogue: Assassin, Thief
• Sorcerer: Draconic, Wild Magic
• Warlock: Celestial, Fiend, Great Old One
• Wizard: Abjurer, Diviner, Illusionist
• Artificer: Alchemist, Battle Smith

If you’re a bit stuck on your character, you can choose your fighter (or your rogue, your warlock, or your artificer).

Astrology

Next, astrology can also point to various archetypes. Like Jung, there are even twelve in Western astrology:

• Aries: the Warrior
• Taurus: the Sensualist
• Gemini: the Messenger
• Cancer: the Nurturer
• Leo: the Creator
• Virgo: the Healer
• Libra: the Diplomat
• Scorpio: the Alchemist
• Sagittarius: the Explorer
• Capricorn: the Ruler
• Aquarius: the Maverick
• Pisces: the Mystic

Two recent books that focus on zodiacs as inspiration are The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, a historical novel set in New Zealand that won the Booker Prize, and Katie Zhao’s fantasy novel Zodiac Rising, which draws inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac. Like tarot, D&D, and Jungian archetypes, they can provide rich sources of insight.

Breaking beyond archetypes

You might find your characters might pick and choose some aspects of archetypes, or some simply refuse to be defined. Our suggestion here is to use archetypes as opportunities, but don’t strangle your characters with their expectations, either. Clinging too tightly might end up flattening them instead of setting them free.

Your characters might also surprise you or reveal which archetype they’ll grow into later in the book in ways you didn’t expect. Or maybe you want to deliberately set up a character as one archetype to almost misdirect the reader. The possibilities are endless!

Even if your inspiration is light or not made explicit to the reader on the page, you knowing for yourself behind the scenes that one of your characters is fundamentally more of a diplomat-type character rather than a maverick may help guide you, too.

So go forth and play around with these archetypes and see what sort of characters begin to emerge. Have fun!

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