What are some archetypes (e.g.
common character types) of fantasy fiction?
I am not really a fan of fantasy fictions but I really enjoyed reading
Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings. Tax(2002) stated that great fantasies, myths and tales are indeed like dreams: they speak from the unconscious to the unconscious, in the language of the unconscious-symbol and archetype. Many
famous fantasy novels include some archetypes and they naturally arise in the
story, instead of just coming out into it. So without being aware of them,
archetypes are deeply involved with the story.
Two important archetypes are Father and
Wise old man. For example, in Lord of the Rings, Gandalf appear as a wise old
man and as a guide of Frodo. On the other hand, Elrond is a father figure who
takes care of Frodo.
In the Harry Potter, the headmaster of the
Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore is a wise old man who guides Harry. The
film Star wars, Yoda acts as an old wise man.
Another important archetype is Hero. Hero
usually represents the good side of human that fights against bad guy. The
examples of archetype heroes are Beowulf, Harry Potter and Ged from (A wizard
of Earthsea). Whereas the shadow represents the dark,
bad side of human, and sometimes they arise in animal figure. In the Harry
Potter series, Voldemort sometimes shows up as snake and Snakes speak a language called Parseltongue.
Only a select few wizards can speak this language, most of whom were Dark
wizards. (Harry Potter Wiki, 2012)
References
Harry Potter Wiki. (2012). Snake. Retrieved from http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Snake
Tax, M. (Jan 28, 2002). In the Year of Harry Potter, Enter the Dragon. In The Nation.
Good blog! but note the wise of man/father version of the Mentor archetype is not the only version. The mentor is a dramatic role that can be filled by any human or creature that guides the hero at the beginning of the journey. In some folk tales the mentor is an animal - in the story Baba Yaga the mentor is a mouse!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree! Also there are some mentors with no physical apparance. Heroes often carry their own internal mentor in the form of their own conscience or can also be a dead person whose advice lingers in heroes' mind. I really can't think of a good example, but there is one in the last Harry Potter series (after Professor Dumbledore's death). Even though Dumbledore is dead, Harry remembers his word in mind and keeps on fighting with Voldamort.
DeleteI myself have never been a huge fan of the Fantasy genre, but I can see and appreciate the archetypes that it consists of. I never really pointed out each archetype as I watched a film, but taking this into consideration, almost every film has these archetypes in one form or another. Particularly to the fantasy genre, I can appreciate the character's roles more, such as the typical 'wise' mentor role that is so obvious, or how you have pointed out in Harry Potter when he follows Dumbledore's words in his head even after his(Dumbledore's) death
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