Even More Character Archetypes: Literature Style.

We all know the formula.  Dragons steal damsels.  Kings rule lands.  Knights quest.  Dragons die.  Damsels are saved.  Tra-la-la-la-la!

Or is it?

I know, for anyone who read through my other posts, I'm beginning to sound a lot like a college professor spouting out the rules and guides to writing.  The great thing about writing is that none of these rules or guides need to be followed.  In fact, you can smash these archetypes to bits with your creations and, trust me, it is encouraged.  No one wants to read the exact same stories over and over.  That's why the TV cop dramas keep getting redone with new angles, new problems, new ways to kill someone and/or solve the case.

Anyway, with that thought out of my head, let's talk about archetypes, but instead of looking at our ancient history, we're going to look at some big ones for modern literature: Warrior, Mentor, Geek, Seductress, Femme Fatale.  As a note, I would like to point out that this is a quick rundown and each group can be broken down further and I can even add more types.  However, right now, I'm more worried about building up ideas and beginning to play with the concepts.

There are of course many others to be looked at, but let's start small so that we may actually find our way into getting into the rising action of our story examinations.

Author Neal Stephenson, image borrowed from
Bloomberg Businessweek at
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-15/
a-sword-fighting-lesson-with-neal-stephenson
(you need to close the gap between the "15/" and "a-s")

The Warrior is simply the character who we are following.  They're the ones struggling and battling to obtain some goal.  This includes the gaunt, scrawny kid who no one suspects to ever fight back.  If they are physically struggling against something, they're a warrior.  The warrior is often smart, regardless of what the name conjures.  The warrior is typically honorable, serves a higher purpose or a higher power than himself.  Although, love is probably a much grater cause than oneself, it is not always the driving force behind a warrior.  Particularly today, a lot of readers and writers have made the point that love is seen as passé and weak to a characters central motives.  A bit of a sad commentary on the times we live, in it would seem.

The Mentor is the character who has accrued a great wealth of knowledge in their lifetime and uses it to further the cause of whichever hero we're dealing with.  Wizards, Jedi masters, librarians, anyone with a great acquirement of knowledge who is helping the warrior through his journey or quest.  Or, helping the villain destroy his nemesis...as we play with conventions and changes.

The seductress, once a staple in most pieces of literature as a woman who lures the hero (occasionally a villain) into a trap with her wiles, was a method of depicting the hero as a human character.  The seductress could have been a love interest who betrays him in a teenage drama.  The seductress could be one of the women who help bring down a crooked general by luring him away from his guards.  However, rarely is the seductress a pivotal character.  Her ultimate job is to create movement in the plot...but this has occasionally been changed from time to time.

As times have changed new conflicts and additions to the literary bouquet have surfaced.  One of these is the Geek, or the hacker, or the nerd.  Basically, this is a mesh between the mentor and the warrior except that this character holds the weak, unassuming assets of the mentor and truly survives off of luck and his knowledge.  Their charms seem limited to their circle while they're clumsy around those outside their circle.  A great example of this is the sitcom Chuck.  Charles Bartowski is a hapless and unwitting participant in the world of the spies.  His costar, Yvonne Strahovski, as the next new archetype.

"The night air, rich with heat and humidity, revealed little of its mysteries.  The moon refused to offer any of her insight tonight.  Fear welled up in his chest, but he refused to allow it to become dread.  He did his best to chase the demons of Phobos and Deimos away with the click of the safety of his pistol.

Shots suddenly rang out.  Echoing throughout the streets.  He darted to one side, but it was all for naught.  There she stood, her pistol smoking and pressed to the back of his head..."

Thus we see a Femme Fatal archetype.  Sexy, intelligent, charming, strategically well endowed, and loaded with courage.  Though they have existed in history books, it took a long time before the female assassin to become a staple of literature.