Our last character lesson is actually based on a series of psychological traits put together by psychoanalyst Carl Jung, known as the “Jungian archetypes”. His study was meant to show that every person has subconscious desires that fall under twelve different embodiments (which, furthermore, are collected under three headings). These desires affect our daily lives, and what we prioritize (whether we realize it or not). However, we’re not going to go down that road too deeply. A great source for finding out more about this is professor Conor Neill’s write up, which can be found here. You can see where all of the archetypes fall, and how they relate to one another directly. All of the bullet points for each archetype below came from this great source (which, furthermore, come from Jung’s teachings).

I’m focusing more on the literary side of this discussion, and how an aspiring writer can better craft their characters based on these models. Maybe discovering these labels will help you define characters that aren’t really working out; you might realize what their true desires might be. Furthermore, you can hopefully spot these traits in films that you watch, and get familiar with them on a frequent basis.

Ego

Ego based characters seem to care about their position in society, especially in relation to others. You’re looking at characters who are aware of what they can bring to others, and what can be brought to themselves. These following four archetypes fall under “ego”.

The Regular Person/Everyman

These are characters that just want to be normal. They aren’t striving for attention, or want to start a movement. They just want to live. Oftentimes, other characters or events disrupt their equilibrium, and this discomfort is greatly noticeable.

Max Schumacher in Network just wants to work, but tires of the nonsense that he and his fellow coworkers are dealing with (particularly the exploitation of his best friend). He changes later on, but he starts the film off as a character who just wants to lead a normal life.

Motto: All men and women are created equal.
Core Desire: Connecting with others.
Goal: To belong.
Greatest fear: To be left out or to stand out from the crowd.
Strategy: Develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch.
Weakness: Losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships.
Talent: Realism, empathy, lack of pretence.
The Everyman is also known as: the good old boy, regular guy/girl, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, and the silent majority.

The Hero

This archetype is fairly obvious: it’s the person trying to save the day. However, that doesn’t mean they succeed, or that they’re doing this for the right reasons. In fact, their quest can be detrimental to others or themselves, despite their best efforts. A hero is just someone who feels the need to always win and be the face of success.

Officer Jim Kurring in Magnolia feels inferior to his other officers, but tries his best to be the best cop he can be. He makes it a priority to “save the day” at any cost, and any failure reminds him that he didn’t do a good enough job at being the hero of the town.

Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Core desire: To prove one’s worth through courageous acts.
Goal: Expert mastery in a way that improves the world.
Greatest fear: Weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken”.
Strategy: To be as strong and competent as possible.
Weakness: Arrogance, always needing another battle to fight.
Talent: Competence and courage.
The Hero is also known as: the warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, the dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

The Caregiver

Caregivers tend to others, and are known for placing others before themselves. This lets them be reliable in a story’s narrative, but they also can become sitting targets, and easily manipulated. Nonetheless, they still want the best for others, and will try their best to grant them safety and health.

Mercedes in Pan’s Labyrinth is a nurturing force for both her relatives and the revolution after the Spanish Civil War. It is clear that she is reliable for any of the good main characters, because of her commitment to providing safety for loved ones.

Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself.
Core desire: To protect and care for others.
Goal: To help others.
Greatest fear: Selfishness and ingratitude.
Strategy: Doing things for others.
Weakness: Martyrdom and being exploited.
Talent: Compassion, generosity.
The Caregiver is also known as: the saint, altruist, parent, helper, and supporter.

Breaking the Waves. — *Breaking the Waves*.

The Innocent

Innocent characters want everyone to be happy. They value themselves no higher or lower than everyone else. They can be easily swayed due to naivety, sadly, but their intentions are always golden.

Bess McNeill is overly gullible in Breaking the Waves, to the point of extreme danger. She believes greatly in her faith and her possible ability to help others by sacrificing herself, but her naivety becomes fatal.

Motto: Free to be you and me.
Core desire: To get to paradise.
Goal: To be happy.
Greatest fear: To be punished for doing something bad or wrong.
Strategy: To do things right.
Weakness: Boring for all their naive innocence.
Talent: Faith and optimism.
The Innocent is also known as: utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, and dreamer.

Soul

Soul archetypes are more obsessed with their desires, and what they yearn for. Sure, life around them matters, but they are clearly motivated by what they want, first and foremost. If anything, their identity is a personification of their dreams. These four archetypes fall under “soul”.

Chungking Express. — *Chungking Express*.

The Explorer

On a literal level, explorers need to, well, explore. They don’t feel comfortable here and are aspiring for something more. More figuratively, explorers are curious and know that there’s something else out there. They itch for a new reality, and will take any open opportunity to realize these dreams.

Faye in Chungking Express is an explorer on a few levels. She’s forever discussing her obsession with going to California, so she wants to escape. She also goes into uncharted territory, including the home of a considerable stranger, to live a new life entirely.

Motto: Don’t fence me in.
Core desire: The freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world.
Goal: To experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life.
Biggest fear: Getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness.
Strategy: Journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom.
Weakness: Aimless wandering, becoming a misfit.
Talent: Autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul.
The explorer is also known as: the seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, and pilgrim.

The Lover

Lovers can be romantic, but they’re mostly people who wear their hearts on their sleeves. They must be liked, and feel maybe unloved (or not loved enough). They’ll put others ahead of themselves in order to be better respected.

Mother Cynthia Rose Purley in Secrets & Lies lives a dysfunctional life, and is clearly plagued with great sadness. In almost all of the moves she makes, she is trying to be loved more by those around her. Even when she is angry, she is asking for forgiveness, fearing she will lose loved ones forever.

Motto: You’re the only one.
Core desire: Intimacy and experience.
Goal: Being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love.
Greatest fear: Being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved.
Strategy: To become more and more physically and emotionally attractive.
Weakness: Outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity.
Talent: Passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment.
The Lover is also known as: the partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, and team-builder.

Sorry to Bother You. — *Sorry to Bother You*.

The Creator

Creators can be on a supreme level (gods), but this archetype is usually used for imaginative minds: artists, musicians, anyone that can conjure up something entirely of creativity. Their devotion to their work can get in the way, but that’s how they represent themselves: the end results are creator’s entire beings in art.

In Sorry to Bother You, Detroit is an artist with a strong sense of self. She “speaks” often in how she is dressed (with earrings that literally carry words on them) and what art she makes; a performance piece is an entire sequence in the film, for instance. Her art carries much of the political significance in the film.

Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done.
Core desire: To create things of enduring value.
Goal: To realize a vision.
Greatest fear: Mediocre vision or execution.
Strategy: Develop artistic control and skill.
Task: To create culture, express own vision.
Weakness: Perfectionism, bad solutions.
Talent: Creativity and imagination.
The Creator is also known as: the artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer and dreamer.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. — *The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance*.

The Outlaw

You know what you’re getting here. Outlaws do not care for the rules, and they do whatever they want. These rebels have zero respect for others and the societies based on cooperation matter not one iota.

The titular villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is beyond irritating, because of his refusal to care about anyone else other than himself. Whenever a rule is set in place, he dares to defy it; this includes even a political procedure that he believes he should be a part of, despite having zero actual say. That doesn’t matter, because Valance wants everything his way.

Motto: Rules are made to be broken.
Core desire: Revenge or revolution.
Goal: To overturn what isn’t working.
Greatest fear: To be powerless or ineffectual.
Strategy: Disrupt, destroy, or shock.
Weakness: Crossing over to the dark side, crime.
Talent: Outrageousness, radical freedom.
The Outlaw is also known as: the rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, and iconoclast.

Self

In a weird way, self archetypes are exactly what they sound like: motored by themselves. They know their own worth, and are very invested in what they can do for others and themselves. They may even appear to be in their own little world, given how much their own ambitions occupy their every fibre of their being. All four below archetypes fall under “self”.

Back to the Future. — *Back to the Future*.

The Magician

Magicians don’t necessarily have to deal with magic. These characters can invent and create. They feel as though they must solve something with their capabilities, and that their creations are the answers to life’s questions (or maybe just their own).

Do I even need to explain Doc Brown from Back to the Future? He’s constantly trying to create inventions and devices, even for problems that don’t really exist (and yet he has to solve them). His entire existence is centred around what he can invent, and that is the legacy he wishes to leave.

Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: Understanding the fundamental laws of the universe.
Goal: To make dreams come true.
Greatest fear: Unintended negative consequences.
Strategy: Develop a vision and live by it.
Weakness: Becoming manipulative.
Talent: Finding win-win solutions.
The Magician is also known as: the visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, and medicine man.

The Sage

Sages are strongly academic, and are fuelled by what they can discover. This can be for a specific cause (a cure, a location of treasure) or simply to never stop learning. They are forever curious and wanting to seek out more information.

In Interstellar, adult Murphy Cooper has a never ending quest to try and discover what may have happened to her father in space. We’re not even certain of how long her mission was, as we get planted right in the middle of it. It’s clear that this has been a lengthy amount of time, however, and she never gave up her research.

Motto: The truth will set you free.
Core desire: To find the truth.
Goal: To use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: Being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: Seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: Can study details forever and never act.
Talent: Wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: the expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, and contemplative.

The Jester

You might think jesters are comedic relief, and they don’t necessarily have to be. They’re just characters that love life, and try to extract joy out of anything. They become the bringer of joy to those they feel need it, whether it’s a reminder that not everything is serious or a joke to lighten the mood quickly. They become the source of temporary happiness, as this is seemingly their life mission.

There are a few characters that can be called comic relief in The Lion King, but Timon and Pumbaa explicitly discuss taking life’s problems with a grain of salt. They even have a song about it, for crying out loud. They place Simba’s problems ahead of their own, and try to be his source of entertainment and joy.

Motto: You only live once.
Core desire: To live in the moment with full enjoyment.
Goal: To have a great time and lighten up the world.
Greatest fear: Being bored or boring others.
Strategy: Play, make jokes, be funny.
Weakness: Frivolity, wasting time.
Talent: Joy
The Jester is also known as: the fool, trickster, joker, practical joker and comedian.

The Ruler

We end on maybe the most obvious archetype: the ruler. Rulers must have everything. They can’t settle for anything less. They can’t just be in charge: they must own all. They are driven by their corruption and greed, and their own existences are barely definable outside of their need to lead.

Steve Jobs in, well, Steve Jobs, is completely driven by the power he obtains with his Apple presentations, and he places others (including loved ones) beneath him in order to keep owning more.

Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Core desire: Control.
Goal: Create a prosperous, successful family or community.
Strategy: Exercise power.
Greatest fear: Chaos, being overthrown.
Weakness: Being authoritarian, unable to delegate.
Talent: Responsibility, leadership.
The Ruler is also known as: the boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager and administrator.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Screenwriting Tips: Character Archetypes

Ego