Archetypes
Someone once said, "Between the Bible and Shakespeare, there are no new stories" or some mishmosh of words saying basically the same thing. I couldn't find the exact quote.
And it's true, no story or character can be 100% original. There will always be aspects that have been done before.
Carl Jung [July 26, 1875-June 6, 1961] identified archetypes that everyone falls into.
The Archetypes
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Originally Posted by The Shadow
The most basic potential for patterning is the Shadow Archetype. This is the potential of experiencing the unconscious side of our unique personalities. As we move deeper into the dark side of our personality personal, identity begins to dissolve into "latent dispositions" common to all men. We experience the chaos which indicates that we are drawing close to the material structure of psychic life. This "Other Side" may be manifested in a wealth of images. The image of "wilderness" is fundamental. Remember that Hanzel and Gretel were led "into the woods" and were trapped. Knights discover dragons, ogres, and thieves in the woods. Robin Hood is at home in the wild. The image may be that of the mob and its underworld, an urban equivalent in which "Pretty Boy" Floyd is a hero. There is always "the concrete jungle." Dragons sail the sea, "the watery wilderness." Jesus and John the Baptist met God "in the wilderness," as did Israel at Sinai.
The Shadow is the easiest of the archetypes for most persons to experience. We tend to see it in "others." That is to say, we project our dark side onto others and thus interpret them as "enemies" or as "exotic" presences that fascinate. We see the Shadow everywhere in popular culture. He is Batman. She is Spider Woman. It is the Ninja Turtles. We see it in popular prejudice as well. We "imagine" that the Black Man is our enemy; that Communists are devils. We incline towards Hawaii as the "land of paradise." We accept people uncritically if we perceive them as "Fair Haired." Of course, Satan is the great Shadow image of popular religion (Consider: the word only occurs 54 times in the entire Bible.)
The Shadow is the personification of that part of human, psychic possibility that we deny in ourselves and project onto others. The goal of personality integration is to integrate the rejected, inferior side of our life into our total experience and to take responsibility for it.
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Originally Posted by The Anima Or Animus
The second most prevalent potential patterning is that of the Soul (Anima is the male name for soul; Animus is the female name for soul). Here we meet our inner opposite. Males meet their Anima; females their Animus. The Anima may appear as an exotic dancing girl or a weathered old hag--the form generally reflects either the condition or the needs of our soul presently. Remember the wicked witch encountered by Hanzel and Gretel.
The Animus may appear as an exotic, sensual, young man or as an old grouch. Remember the Great Oz who ran the Emerald City? There is always Simon Legree who took in Little Eva. Consider Super Man and Lois Lane. Clark Kent is the inferior, shadow side of Super Man, but he is also closer to ordinary people. Lois Lane has no interest in Clark. She is infatuated with Super Man, her Animus; the masculine completion of her personality. Wonder Woman offers us an example of the Anima in action.
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Originally Posted by The Syzygy (Divine Couple)
If one comes to terms with the Shadow and the Soul, one will encounter the enchanted castle with its King and Queen. This is a pattern of wholeness and integration. The opposites of the outer and the inner life are now joined in marriage. Great power arises from this integration. Christ and the Church, God and Israel are syzygy images. The believer who aspires to be the "bride of Christ" is modeling his or her experience in response to the syzygy archetype.
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Originally Posted by The Child
The Child Archetype is a pattern related to the hope and promise for new beginnings. It promises that Paradise can be regained. Child images like the New Year's Babe obviously derive from this archetype. So do the golden ring and the golden ball and most flower and circle related images. The birth of the Christ Child who unites Heaven and Earth, Man and God, is a powerful archetypal event. Were the life of Jesus not interpreted by this archetype, it would lose most of its meaning. Jesus would just be one more teacher from the Hellenistic world.
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Originally Posted by The Self
The ultimate pattern is the Self. For Jung this is the God image. Human self and divine self are incapable of distinction. All is Spirit. Images of Spirit abound. Wind and breath being two very common ones. The Spirit descends as a Dove upon Jesus in the wilderness. The voice declares to him his true nature: "Your are my Son, my Beloved." This is an archetypal drama of the Self. Galahad achieving the Grail and ascending with it to Heaven is likewise an archetypal drama of Self. Lancelot's failure to achieve the Grail speaks of his failure to achieve the final discovery of Self. Chariots and cars point in this direction. Remember the death car which comes in Darby O'Gill and the Little People? Enoch is taken up in a chariot of fire. Ezekiel Chapter One describes the chariot conveying God into the world.
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However, these archetypes are only the beginning of character creation...
...Now to delve further into the story archetypes that ultimately have a hand in the character creation process.
The Syzygy
The whole made up, not of two opposing parts, but two complementary parts. An example of this in a story form would be the wonder twin. Yes, it's a bad example to use, but it does work in theory. While Zan and Janya were 'twins', they were seperate and had their own identities, but worked best with each other. And while Zan's power was lame, it always worked to their benefit; in fact, they couldn't use their powers without one another.
The Child
The child is not what you'd think originally. It is not the Peter Pan syndrome. That would be the Puer Aeternus. Or the Eternal Boy. The child is actually a figure that is taken and gives advice in an adult like manner, despite an appearance of youth or stupidity. An example would be Stewie from Family Guy, or the
Rain Man.
The Hero
The Hero. In their own story, everyone is the Hero. In a roleplay scenario, each character is the Hero of their own personal story, whether they are the Hero or not of the Roleplay. This is the identifier. The Roleplayer is the Hero, and therefore from the point of view of the roleplayer, everything happens and centers around themselves.
To other Roleplayers with whom they play, they may seem as one of the other archetypes, this sense of self never leaves the 'Hero's identity. Without this sense of "I'm the story", there becomes no point to the roleplay, and defeats itself.
This however is also the reason for a lot of Mary Sues. Because of this sense of overall important-ness, a lot of roleplayers make their character more and more powerful, more and more unique in order to make their characters and therefore themselves more important.
You can go too far in this however, and this is the Anti Mary Sue...
More to Come...
The Great Mother
The Wise old man
The Trickster or Ape
The Puer Aeternus
The Cosmic Man
The artist-scientist