Grab Bag of Archetypes Part 1

What are your goals in life?  What do you want to accomplish by the time you're 30?  50? 75?  Do you have a destiny?

All good questions we should be asking ourselves about our characters to help us determine what sort of story we're writing.

The sword in the stone is perhaps one of the best known
quests in literature.

One of the stories I'm currently dabbling with, my main character is attempting to solve a murder which has happened and is completely foreign to his people, while his uncle is attempting to steal the sovereignty of the nation.  So now my hero is on a journey to save his people while ridding his land of danger.

I have made a lot of mention of the various archetypes that have been identified in mythology, literature, film, and general story telling.  Let's first look at quests and journeys.

There are ideally ten different quests and journeys which have been identified.  Other authors will claim more some less, but it all comes down to how we twist our stories.

Quests: 

Identity - The hero is seeking who they really are.  Perhaps this is a coming of age story or a high school drama.  Perhaps the hero has discovered they are adopted or the last remaining member of a forgotten race. Perhaps they fell from the sky in a meteorite.  In any way that there can be confusion about who he or she is, there is a quest for identity.  This is considered a quest because once the hero has realized who they are, going home is extremely hard or in some cases impossible.


Tragic - Tragic quests usually result in the death of the hero or the complete failing of the hero on their quest.  This tragedy has a tendency to also be the point where the hero dies on their voyage, but not entirely.  There are second chances, but in whatever case, the tragic quest is typically a trial of utter torment which ends poorly.


Vengence - This is very interesting because many, many cultures believe that seeking vengence actually alters you into becoming that which you hate, thus altering who you are to the point that you are no longer who you started out to be.

Soldier watching their fire line.
Photo found at  http://militaryphotos.deviantart.com/gallery/
Thank you for allowing me to borrow it. 

To Rid the Land Of Danger - I always wondered why this was considered a quest, and then I sat through a class on Native American mythology.  There are always monsters in our stories, but these monsters are much more powerful than we are as humans.  However, in other cultures, when there is danger and trouble the humans must become powerful enough to defeat this evil, but unfortunately the power that it takes to rid the evil also consumes the hero and they become that evil.  Thus, in order to truly rid the land of that evil they must flee their home and never return.

The Fool's Errand - This is a very interesting type of story because the entire quest is based around the person who is unaware that they are on a quest and being acted upon by all others around them.  These stories can also be journeys, it all comes down to what is learned, how the hero has grown, and what how the situation is resolved.

The Grail - This quest dates back to the age of King Arthur and his round table.  However, these quests are the subject of true Romantic literature.  They are the search for Rome, thus Romantic.  They are a search not for the city, but for the ideal.  Romantic literature is the search for perfection.  Human perfection, spiritual truth, Utopia.  Unfortunately, these quests either end with the corruption of the perfection or the perfection has a horrible cost far beyond what any wish to pay.  For example, Camelot fell, Arthur died, and the round table lay in ruins.  Lancelot and Guinevere never return to the Isle of Britain and Merlin's dream is never realized.

Journeys:

Love - The journey for love is exactly as it sounds.  The hero is seeking love.  This is usually the premise for most chick flicks and the stories are usually very formulaic. Girl meets Guy, Girl refuses to admit her feelings for Guy, Guy is forced to leave Girl, Girl races to keep the Guy.  However, this version is played out differently in a film I really enjoy, Family Man with Nicholas Cage.  Ideally, Cage's character is given a glimpse of what he could have had had he made a different decision.  Once the realization is made, the character's life is forever altered, but not as drastically as a quest.  We usually want to take our dream date home to meet mom...well depends on the kinkiness of that date...



Find the Promised Land - Just as the name suggests.  The characters are seeking the land promised to them in some means.  The story is basically a tale of finding a new home.  For example, the Puritan pilgrims in American history or the tale of Exodus.


Knowledge - There really isn't much to be said here.  The hero is seeking knowledge.  Lately this has come down to some sort of mysticism or science formula in modern science fiction or fantasy, but it could be something as simple as a recipe.  The mundane can be just as exciting as the elaborate and intense.  As a quick addendum, I usually lump the journey for wealth in this same category because there seems little difference in the tales where one person achieves great knowledge and the other achieves great wealth.  Ultimately, the both seem to find trouble and sorrow in their journey and they both accrue something sacred and sought after by all.  I probably should change the name, but then I'd have to give up that lecture time talking to the student who had to ask me the question about the journey for wealth and that helps me to identify my classroom pets.  Only kidding of course, all my students are guinea pigs for literary experiments. (Insert Maniacal Laugh Here) *Crash of Thunder*

Warrior's Fight To Save His/Her People - This is just as it sounds, however it is not the same as the tales of danger or vengence for one simple reasons, the hero returns home as a hero and is praised for their success.  This is a happy story and a great example of this would come from a series of video games, The Legend of Zelda franchise.  Link always goes through a horrific quest to save Zelda or Hyrule or both and always returns home to his uncle, tree, farmland as a loyal servant to the princess.  I've always been intrigued by how Link gets treated in the series.  He is the altruistic white knight, wearing green and we, as the audience, are always waiting for that love affair to get moving.  I am probably wrong, but I have played all the games, not memorized them, but The Adventures of Link is the only time he got a kiss from Zelda and the new Skyward Sword the flirtation is very thick...but I haven't beaten it yet (okay hardcore fans, attack my facts now).

Of course we shouldn't limit ourselves to just one of these journeys or quests as a good novel is usually a twisted rope of subplots along the main thematic plot.  Link is trying to save the princess, struggle with various romantic advancements while being blissfully unaware of his destiny which is revealed as we play our games.  Yet Link also regularly goes through the voyage of the hero discussed in the previous post.

End of Part 1.