1. Archetypes

2. Agree or Disagree?
As the following statements appear on the screen, move to the right side of the room if you strongly agree. If you strongly disagree with the statement, move to the left side of the room.

3. There is no such thing as a completely original idea.
Certain symbols mean the same thing to everyone.
Everyone can agree on what is right and what is wrong.
Everyone is capable of doing evil.
Symbols and dreams mean different things to every person.
There is a knowledge we are all born with that influences our experiences and behavior.
People have been acting the same way since time began.
Human behavior is the same across different cultures.
Stereotypes are real and valid.
Every story contains the same characters.

4. Carl Jung Psychiatrist that advanced the idea of archetypes.
Collective Unconscious:
All cultures use archetypes to build their stories without communicating with one another about them.

5. Folklore and Myths
As generations of people passed stories down through both oral storytelling and eventually the written word, archetypes became clearly visible.
The archetypes are characters that represent patterns of behavior and even stereotypes.
They are characters that everyone can recognize and understand.

6. So What is an Archetype?
Archetypes are patterns that can be, and are, copied.
They are symbols or characters that appear again and again in myths and literature.
They survive because they portray characters, conflicts and events that are timeless.
They help the reader to understand the theme of the work.

7. VAMPIRE

8. Archetypes
Characteristics that you see repeated over and over again in different stories and media form an archetype.
Some classic examples of archetypes are:
The hero
The damsel in distress
The battle between good and evil

9. Recognizing Archetypes

10. Recognizing Archetypes

11. Recognizing Archetypes

12. Situational Archetypes
Situational archetypes are plot events that we see repeated in numerous works of literature, movies, and other forms of entertainment.

13. The Call
The call to adventure is the point in a person’s life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.

14. The Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

15. Crossing the First Threshold
The point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

16. The Belly of the Whale
Represents the final separation from the hero’s known world and self.
Point when the person is transitioning between worlds and selves.
Often symbolized by something dark, unknown, and frightening.
Hero showing willingness to die

17. The Quest
A Search for someone or some object, which when it is found and brought back will restore life to a wasted land.

18. The Task
To save the kingdom, to win the fair lady, the hero performs some superhuman deed.

19. The awakening of a teenager or an initiation into adult life.
The Initiation
The awakening of a teenager or an initiation into adult life.

20. The Journey
The hero goes in search of some truth or information to restore life to the kingdom. He must descend into a real or psychological hell and is forced to discover the blackest truths about himself. He must then decide to return to the world of the living.

21. The Fall
Characters experience a loss of innocence and often experience expulsion from a kind of paradise as a penalty for disobedience.

22. Death and Rebirth
Deals with the similarities between the cycle of nature and life; morning and springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth; evening and winter suggest old age or death.

23. Nature vs. Mechanistic World
Nature is good while technology and society are often evil.

24. Battle Between Good and Evil
Good triumphs over evil despite great odds, keeping mankind hopeful.

25. The Wound that Won’t Heal
A wound that is either physical or psychological; it cannot be healed fully; indicates a loss of innocence; always aches.

26. The Ritual Ceremony that marks a new stage in life
(weddings, funerals, coronations)

27. Descent into Darkness
Place of transformation; hero undergoes change here.

28. The Ultimate Boon
The “prize” a hero receives; the gift he has worked for.

29. Symbolic Archetypes
Places or objects that carry the same meaning across different storylines.
People understand what they mean and what they represent because of their prevalence in literature and media.

30. Light vs. Darkness
Light suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness suggests the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

31. Water vs. Desert
Water is necessary to life and growth and so it appears as a birth or rebirth symbol; the appearance or rain in a work can suggest spiritual birth or rebirth. Characters who live in the desert are often dead to morals or the good side.

32. Heaven vs. Hell
Gods live in the skies or mountaintops, evil forces live in the bowels of the earth.

33. Infinite Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity
Uneducated characters can often be wise using their common sense while some very educated characters have no common sense.

34. Supernatural Intervention
The gods most often intervene on the side of the hero to assist him in his quest.

35. Haven vs. Wilderness
For the hero, places of safety are required for time to regain health and resources. These hideouts are usually in unusual places.

36. Fire vs. Ice
Fire can represent knowledge, light, life, and rebirth while ice can represent ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death

37. Magic Weapon
Some object used to fight the forces of evil that has magical properties

38. Apotheosis
A period of rest and safety at the end.

39. Character Archetypes
These character types are seen in various stories, movies, and other forms of entertainment.
They are easily recognizable and have common traits that we can predict.

40. The Hero
Mother is sometimes a virgin, circumstances of birth are unusual, some attempt is made at birth to kill him; raised by foster parents, returns to kingdom to right wrongs; body may be burned rather than buried.

41. Young Man from the Provinces
Hero is taken away as a young man and raised by strangers; when he returns home, he can view problems objectively and can solve them more easily than others.

42. The Initiate
Young heroes or heroines who go through training; usually innocent and wear white.

43. Mentor
Teacher or counselor to the initiate; often are father or mother figures to the hero or heroine.

44. Father-Son Conflict
Father and son are separated and do not meet until the son is an adult, often the mentor is loved and respected more.

45. Hunting Group of Companions
Loyal companions willing to face any number of dangers to be together.

46. Loyal Retainers
Somewhat like servants to the hero who are heroic themselves. Their duty is to protect the hero. They are expendable.

47. Friendly Beast
A beast on the side of the hero who shows that nature sides most often with the forces of good.

48. Devil Figure
Evil incarnate. Offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the hero in exchange for the possession of the soul.

49. Evil Figure with Good Heart
Redeemable evil figure saved by the nobility or love of the hero.

50. Animal or human who is unjustly held responsible for others’ sins.
Scapegoat
Animal or human who is unjustly held responsible for others’ sins.

51. Outcast
Figure banished from a social group for some crime against his fellow man (could be unjustly accused or could banish himself because of guilt)

52. The Earthmother
This character is symbolic of fulfillment, abundance, and fertility; offers spiritual and emotional nourishment to those who she contacts; often depicted in earth colors, with large breasts and hips

53. Temptress
Sensuous beauty, brings about the hero’s downfall because he is physically attracted to her

54. Platonic Ideal
Female figure who provides intellectual stimulation for the hero. He is not physically attracted to her.

55. Star Crossed Lovers
Two lovers forbidden to be together because of rules of society or family, often ends tragically.

56. Creature of Nightmare
Animal or creature disfigured or mutilated, monsters who are the antagonists in the story.