Archetype
Pronounced AR-kih-type.
Archetype: A universal character type, image or story pattern that recurs across cultures and eras.
Archetypes are the reader's pre-installed expectations - mentor, trickster, reluctant hero; writers earn surprise by honoring the pattern just long enough to break it.
Archetype examples
"Gandalf and Dumbledore both descend from the mentor archetype: the grey-bearded guide who dies before the final test."
— common usage
"Loki, Anansi and Br'er Rabbit are the trickster in three different mythologies."
— common usage
"Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces mapped the hero's journey pattern under a thousand surface stories."
— The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
"Odysseus is the archetypal cunning voyager; every clever castaway since carries his outline."
— The Odyssey, Homer
Spot the Archetype
Score: 0/0A universal character type, image or story pattern that recurs across cultures and eras.
"Gandalf and Dumbledore both descend from the mentor archetype: the grey-bearded guide who dies before the final test."
Which work is this from?
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Archetype: common questions
What is archetype in literature?
A universal character type, image or story pattern that recurs across cultures and eras. Archetypes are the reader's pre-installed expectations - mentor, trickster, reluctant hero; writers earn surprise by honoring the pattern just long enough to break it.
What is an example of archetype?
A classic example is "Gandalf and Dumbledore both descend from the mentor archetype: the grey-bearded guide who dies before the final test." (common usage).
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