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50+ Character Archetypes to Use in Fiction

Archetypes are a great tool for developing your story’s cast of characters. 

In this article we’ll examine some popular archetypes, how they’ve been used in literature throughout the years, and how you can write strong archetypes 

What is a Character Archetype? 

A character archetype refers to a collection of personality attributes and behaviours which are often found together in people – both in real life and within fiction. 

The psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung, who founded the school of analytical psychology, is often considered the father of archetypes.   

Let’s turn to Jung himself for the definition: 

Character Archetype Definition 

In The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, Jung wrote: 

‘Archetypes are the living system of reactions and aptitudes that determine the individual’s life in invisible ways.’ 

Archetypes provide the foundation for some of the most common story themes and symbols. 

Jung believed we developed these archetypes in response to innate biological instincts, which cause us to act out in specific behavioural patterns. 

Jung linked these archetypes to the collective unconsciousness of all human beings, which causes us to develop traits or images of our personalities, depending upon our life experiences.

Archetypes in literature, therefore, provide a way for humans to analyse and assess our different types of personalities as a reaction to conditions we’ve experienced.   

Archetypes are not meant to pose a restrictive set of traits when creating fictional characters, but rather to guide writers as they develop psychologically realistic personalities which can explore the themes and symbols throughout mythology and storytelling traditions. 

There’s something exciting about viewing your characters as part of the collective development of the human unconsciousness, don’t you think?

Character Archetypes List

Much as there are countless possibilities for human actions and reactions, the list of character archetypes is essentially endless. 

Archetypes can be split into male, female and gender-neutral archetypes. Some of the most popular gender-neutral archetypes include:

Some popular masculine archetypes include: 

  • The King
  • The Father
  • The Warrior
  • The Enchanter
  • The Tyrant
  • The Manipulator
  • The Weakling 

Some popular female archetypes include: 

Archetypes can also be divided in other ways. For example, you can categorise characters in archetypes based on a Hero’s Journey model:

  • The Hero/ Heroine
  • The Antagonist
  • The Allies
  • The Guardians
  • The Guide
  • The Mentor

You could also divide your character archetypes based on the Zodiac star signs, or the Myers-Brigg Personality test, or so on. 

Moreover, you can divide archetypes based on their light and shadow sides. 

So, one of the Ruler’s shadow sides is the Tyrant. The Lover’s shadow sides can be divided into subcategories of the Addicted Lover, the Impotent Lover, the Unrequited Lover, the Libertine, and so on.

The further you divide each type into sub-categories, the closer you move them away from a broad-ranging archetype and into a more tightly-defined stock character, with a greater risk of falling into cliché.

Common Archetypes

Let’s briefly examine some of the most popular and enduring character archetypes.

The Lover

With their prime purpose in life being romantic love, the Lover is driven by passion, connection and commitment. 

The Lover tends to be sensual, devoted and thrilled by beauty and harmony. Their need for love can blind them to reason, caution and rational desire. 

Romeo and Juliet provides a perfect example of two Lovers meeting: they recognise their shared desires and immediately form an unbreakable bone, but can’t survive being separated from each other. 

The Magician

Whilst Magicians typically consist of characters who can control magical forces, more generally the archetype covers those with the strength and inspiration to turn their visions into reality. 

Magicians are dreamers with the ability to manifest, and they form powerful agents of change. 

Magicians always run the risk, however, of allowing their magic or visionary insights to control them, and of losing touch with their humanity. 

Gandalf in Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings is an example of a Magician who understands the dangers of magic, as he refuses to wear the ring of power himself. 

The Sage

The Sage is a character deeply connected to wisdom, knowledge and learning. 

Sages are often mentors for a Hero, for they excel at helping others get to know themselves better. 

Sages often possess deep intuition, with a channel into the collective unconsciousness which enables them to gain deeper understanding than most – they may be highly spiritual and mystical, although this isn’t essential. 

Yoda in Star Wars provides a perfect example.

The Ruler

The Ruler embodies order and authority, and is motivated by the desire to retain and lead the social hierarchy. 

Rulers can be beneficent or tyrannical, but they must be strong in order to meet the archetype – whether through physical strength, strength of character or intellect or any other form of strength. 

Rulers must possess strategic abilities and social awareness in order to hold onto their position of power. 

Mufasa in The Lion King demonstrates a classic example of the Ruler.

The Rebel 

Motivated by social change and a desire for a fairer world, the Rebel perceives the need for change and possesses the courage to act. 

Rebels are goal-orientated, often finding themselves outside the realm of polite society, and understand the need to break rules. 

Think of William Wallace in Braveheart, and you’ve got your archetypal Rebel. 

The Trickster

You’ll never be bored around a Trickster. With an irrepressible sense of humour and irreverence for social structure and hierarchy, the Trickster will break rules with a smile on their face. 

Possessing wit, a proactive mind-set and a desire for chaos, Tricksters are often motivated by a desire to turn the established order on its head – or at least challenge the status quo. They can be motivated by morality or immorality, depending on their individual character, containing varying levels of light and darkness. 

Within Norse mythology, Loki is the ultimate example of a Trickster, the god of mischief who loves to defy the other gods – even as he benefits from being a god himself. 

The Warrior 

Brave, strong and a natural fighter, the Warrior thrives in battle. Goal-oriented and usually driven by a strong sense of purpose, the Warrior will never run from a physical challenge, and possess the discipline, dedication and focus to achieve goals. 

Though frequently a force for good, who lives to protect the weak, the Warrior must always beware of becoming addicted to the fight and to their own sense of achievement, and they must be careful not to reject peaceful overtures. 

We see a strong example of the Warrior in Game of Throne’s Jon Snow, a character dedicated to his role in the Night Watch, protecting others from the White Walkers. 

The Explorer

The Explorer is driven by a desire for discovery, adventure and travel, and seeks journeys offering the opportunity for both outer and inner exploration. 

Explorers tend to be strong individuals who resent being tied down to responsibilities to others, desiring their freedom above all else. 

They’re risk-takers, possess a deep curiosity for the world, and value their relationship with themselves beyond their relationships with others. 

Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark is a typical Explorer. 

The Redeemer

With clear religious overtones, a Redeemer character is ready to sacrifice themselves to save others. The Redeemer is a character of hope, compassion and inspiration to others, driven by a desire to make the world a better place and heal others. 

Usually possessing charisma, warmth, inner strength and resolve, a Redeemer will always end as a force for good, whether or not they began the story that way. 

Aslan in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe embodies all the classic Redeemer qualities. 

The Servant 

The Servant character may be an actual servant, or they may simply be as dedicated to serving a cause as it’s possible to be. 

Servants are motivated to support causes or people they believe to be greater than themselves, and tend to be fiercely loyal and trustworthy. 

Servants must be careful not to lose their own sense of right and wrong as they work to support another, and must often learn to assert themselves if they’re to grow. 

For example, Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings will take on any risk and give up anything – his life, his love, his soul – to serve Frodo and the quest to destroy the ring of power. 

The Creator

Driven by the desire to create, to innovate, to be original and to make new things, the Creator can be many things, including an artist, scientist, architect, builder or some other form of genius. 

Although a Creator lives to make new things, they can be morally ambiguous characters, with some wanting to make creations of beauty and inspiration for the benefit of humanity, some acting for nefarious reasons, or some acting without any thought to morality but simply creating because they can. 

Many struggle with dangerously oversized egos, and may take risks to themselves and others in order to prove their own genius, as for example in the case of Mary Shelley’s Dr Frankenstein.

Examples of Archetypes in Popular Literature 

Warning, these examples contain spoilers!

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Arthurian mythology is, unsurprisingly, riddled with archetypes, and this classic poem from late Fourteenth Century Britain is no exception.

The poem details the journey of the Hero, Gawain, who steps up to protect his Ruler, King Arthur, from the challenge posed by the mysterious and supernatural Green Knight (the Challenger).

Abiding by the terms of his deal, Gawain must travel to a mystical court belonging to Lord, Bertilak, to have his head cut off.

Gawain is then put through a challenge of character, posed by Bertilak’s wife, the Temptress. It’s only because he stays true to his oath and sense of chivalry that Gawain’s life is then spared by the Green Knight (who is also Bertilak) and the Enchantress who has been pulling the strings the entire time, Morgan Le Fay.

Gawain has a moment of faltering, for which he loses some self-respect, but despite this, he ends the story an ever greater Hero than he began, due to his strengthened ability to overcome temptation. Back at King Arthur’s Court, all the knights of the Round Table celebrate Gawain for his humanity and his strength in growing to become even more chivalrous than before. 

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

The story of one of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies originated from medieval Scandinavian legend, and is as riddled with archetypes as any other story from mythology and folklore.

Hamlet’s a multifaceted character who takes on numerous different character archetypes himself (both intentionally and unintentionally), in a Court filled with yet more archetypal characters.

Hamlet can be seen as the Hero, the Child, the Prince, the Trickster, the Rebel, the Lunatic, and the Scapegoat, amongst others.

Ophelia makes a tragic Ingénue and a Lover, Polonious is the Wise Old Man, the Fool and the Scapegoat all combined, Claudius is both the Ruler and the Tyrant, Hamlet’s mother Queen Gertrude is both a Lover and Wife, faithful or unfaithful depending on which perspective one takes, Laertes can be seen as both a Prince and a Rebel – and that’s really only just the start. 

You could undoubtedly find yet more archetypes and by looking at these characters through different perspectives – the possibilities for analysis are endless.  

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility 

There are different ways you could argue Austen’s use of archetypes in this novel. One way is to view both Marianne and Elinor as different sub-categories of the Lover. Elinor is the Sensible or Rational Lover; Marianne the Emotional Lover.

One of the great values of literary character archetypes is that they allow writers to debate themes prevalent in their present-day discourse whilst also engaging with traditional or historical depictions of these themes and personality traits. 

Writing in a time of great Romantic literature, Austen used archetypes (or sub-archetypes) of interest to her specific time. Now that her book has become a classic, writers of our own time have the ability to build upon the archetypes Austen helped develop.

For example, it’s hard not to see Bridget Jones play both the Romantic Lover and the Sensible Lover in Bridget Jones 4: Mad About the Boy as she moves from the young, hot, but unreliable Roxter, towards the more reliable and steadfast Scott Walliker. 

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

Character archetypes burst out of this classic novel left, right and centre. 

Our eponymous protagonist, Oliver, is a traditional Orphan archetype, whose childhood is defined by neglect and hardship. His story is fairly traditional of the Orphan-protagonist, who learns to become a Hero as he seeks family, belonging and survival.

Dickens is a writer who leans into archetypes, drawing out their familiarity to explore specific themes such as redemption, morality and social injustice. 

Within this novel we also see the Villains, in Fagin and Bill Sikes; the Mentor, in the form of the Artful Dodger; we have the Rescuers, Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie; and the Fallen Woman, Nancy. 

Side characters are often slightly caricatured stock characters, such as Mr Bumble, the petty bureaucrat, and used to create humour within the story.

(NB: I hesitated to include the Fallen Woman archetype in the list above, due to its link with outdated morality codes. These days, we tend to examine such characters from a different lens. If we take Vivienne in Pretty Woman, for example, I’d argue she more accurately falls under the Orphan archetype.) 

Daphne DuMaurier, Rebecca

This novel provides a masterclass in how to use and subvert archetypes. 

Our unnamed heroine-narrator presents as the Innocent, or the Ingénue and then the Wife. 

Her husband Maxim remains a mysterious character, a gothic-romantic Lover. 

His dead wife Rebecca, as presented by Maxim and his new wife, is the Seductress. 

Mrs Danvers, who remains loyal to Rebecca, is both the Servant and the Antagonist. 

The female characters all fall so easily into their gothic archetypes – and yet, as the novel closes, we can’t help but ask exactly how reliable this portrayal is. 

After all, it’s Maxim who presents Rebecca as the Seductress, and he’s her killer, so it’s hardly surprising he portrays her this way. And our narrator, the stead-fasted and loyal Wife, isn’t one for challenging her husband. 

Can we trust either of them? Or have we allowed Maxim to call Rebecca a Temptress and all-too-easily place the blame for her murder squarely on the Victim?

John LeCarre, The Constant Gardener

This is an interesting example of a writer interweaving old and new archetypes within their narrative. 

Our protagonist, Justin Qualye, makes an excellent Everyman who must become a heroic Rebel as the story progresses.  

His wife, Tessa, can be seen as the Challenger to Justin’s conventional life and ideals, and a Rebel against modern capitalist society. 

There’s a Redeemer in the form of Arnold Bluhm, and new, post-colonial archetypes emerging in the form of the Americanized Woman, Ghita; and the Naïve Westerner, Sandy Woodrow.

The story also investigates how racist/ colonial stereotypes of the ‘Good African,’ ‘Dangerous African’ and ‘Victimised African’ have been created through structural wealth and power inequalities, and the harm perpetuated by this. 

Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library series 

This fantasy series features a multiverse, where different worlds contain varying balances of Order and Chaos. High-chaos worlds have come into existence due to the presence of Faeries, each of whom embody a specific archetype. 

Faeries will twist the forces of the world around their individual archetypal narrative. The stronger the archetype, the stronger the Faery, and the harder it is for any other character to resist the force of that individual narrative. 

Chaos ensues when powerful individuals and their archetypal narratives clash.

These books provide a fun exploration of different archetypes, from the Libertine to the Librarian.

Tips for Using Character Archetypes in Literature 

Avoid Cliché and Stereotypes

The first and most important advice I can give you here, is to beware harmful stereotypes and ensure your archetypal characters never fall into these clichés. 

It’s easy to accidentally write a stereotyped character: it doesn’t mean you’re a prejudiced person or a lazy writer. But it’s critical that if you find you have written a stereotyped character, you immediately deal with this by editing and revising your story accordingly.

Nothing will anger or repel readers like perpetuating a harmful stereotype. 

Examples of these include ‘the happy slave,’ ‘the damsel in distress,’ ‘the gay best friend,’ and so on. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t write about a character with a gay best friend; it just means that best friend must be a complex, three-dimensional character with more to define them than just their sexuality and their best friend status.   

A complex character will usually contain both light and dark, with aspects of the archetype and the potential to fall into one of these archetype’s shadow sides. In order to avoid cliché, you want to explore your character’s individual traits in specific detail. 

One way to achieve this is to work really hard to….

Explore Character Psychology and Motivations in Depth

Archetypal characters generally fall into archetypes because their backstory has led to them developing certain motivations and desires – which are understandable and believable in the context of their upbringing. So, an Orphan is motivated by a desire for love, family and belonging, and an Outlaw is motivated by a desire for social change after witnessing injustice. 

The most complex characters contain multitudes, and can often be viewed in the light of different archetypes, such as Hamlet. 

Consider how your character’s specific backstory has led to them developing specific archetypal characteristics, and don’t be afraid to create characters who can meet more than one archetype – as long as their backstory provides a believable explanation for the complexity of their character.  

Hamlet, for example, has a backstory of both privilege and loss, which leads him to struggle between the different roles he’s expected to take in life: as a royal, he’s expected to be a strong Prince, yet as son called upon to avenge his father’s murder, he’s also required to be a Rebel. He’s both a Hero, taking on the murderous quest assigned to him by his father’s ghost, whilst still being a Child, struggling with indecision and passivity. 

The impossible opposition between these contrasting roles or archetypes leads to him falling into both the Jester and the Lunatic. 

The specificity of the difficult situation Hamlet finds himself in – asked by a ghost to kill his uncle to avenge his father’s death, to both destroy and save his kingdom by killing its current Ruler, and to both harm and protect his mother by killing her new husband, torn between familial duty and moral belief – calls for Hamlet to take on many opposing traits and desires at once. 

In this way, Shakespeare creates one of literature’s most unique and memorable characters.

By creating such a morally complex situation, Shakespeare also manages to…

Use Archetypal Characters to Explore Themes

Every character archetype, by nature of its combination of traits and behaviour patterns, will raise certain themes. 

The Ruler will likely link with themes of power and responsibility; the Outlaw with themes of social injustice and conformity; the Lover with themes of love, compassion and self-abandonment.

One way to vary the themes and to avoid traipsing over well-trodden ground, is to combine different archetypal traits in exploratory ways.

For example, your story’s protagonist could be both a Ruler and a Lover, who needs to balance out responsibility for their kingdom alongside their love for their partner and their compassion for others.

Or you could create a character who combines elements of the Outlaw with the Mother, who must juggle her desire for social justice with her desire to protect her children – motivations which may align at times and compete at others.

The incredible complexity with which Shakespeare interweaves these archetypes and themes within his work is one of the reasons why critics have written countless books about his plays, and why his plays have remained relevant to different societies over centuries. 

Specifically Develop Character Backstories

The deeper you dig into your character’s individual backstory, and the more you grapple with the circumstances that led to them developing these archetypal traits and desires, the greater your ability to avoid cliché.

If your Orphan grew up parentless in Victorian London but survived by joining a band of other plucky Orphans, and if his backstory goes no further than that, you risk creating a clichéd character.

But if your Orphan, for example, lost their father to the Crimean War and grew up with their mother’s family in a wealthy Cotswolds estate, knowing a few years of love, before their mother succumbed to mental illness, leading the child to run away to London to escape the unpredictability of his mother’s rages, then, you’ve the basis for a far more complex character.

This character might have an understandable fear of other’s anger, resentment towards war-happy soldiers, and be carrying a deep Mother wound which affects his future relationships. 

This character might crave belonging, yet struggle with a sense of entitlement from their experience of wealth, whilst also feeling compassion for others who’ve experienced hardship. 

You might bring in aspects of the Rebel or Outlaw, as well as the Unrequited Lover into your Orphan character.

In brief, the more believable and detailed backstory you give your character, the better.  Once you’ve done this, you’ll also be in a much better place to…

Consider Character Growth Arcs 

The more specific you make your character’s backstory, the more you can tailor the plot to ensure that you create the exact conflict and obstacles that will most trigger your character’s individual fears and weakness, and therefore provide them with the maximum opportunity for growth, should they take it. 

The better you know your character, the more you’ll be able to interweave character, plot, setting and theme, making your story as integrated and satisfying as possible.

This will be even more effective if you… 

Be Creative with Archetypal Character Interactions

The interplay of different archetypal characters within your story is a great way to create conflict both in the plot and in the story’s themes.

On a material level, conflict between characters is one of the most important elements of a story, in that it will keep readers glued to the page. 

On a more subliminal level, the conflict between different themes will create deeper meaning for your readers, making your story more memorable and thought-provoking. 

For example, when readers see a relatable Orphan, seeking belonging and family, taking dangerous risks in an attempt to earn the approbation of a principled Outlaw, who is motivated by social injustice and the desire for change, the internal conflict readers will face over which character to sympathise with can engage them in your story and its themes.

Conclusion

As exciting as it is to be interacting with the collective literary unconscious as you write, I’d argue this comes with a degree of responsibility. 

Archetypes, when used well, help deepen readers’ understanding of people’s behaviour and what’s important in life. However, when used poorly, archetypes contribute to unnecessary and harmful categorisation of people and groups, and can reduce readers’ empathy for people who seem different to them. 

It’s worthwhile researching the literary history of any archetypes you’re using, in order to understand how the current archetypes models have come to be, and then consider whether you agree with these models, or wish to challenge or develop them. 

For example, you might believe that the masculine archetypes are overly restrictive in their views of gender-conformity. Take the Father archetype, which is often associated with authority, responsibility, protection and stability; and the Mother archetype, usually linked the with nurturing, caring and protective aspects of femininity.

Are these Archetypes in need of updating? That’s a question for any writer to consider when using such archetypal characters. 

Another example: the Wife is a fairly classic feminine archetype, but the Husband rarely gets a mention within lists of masculine archetypes. This shows us how archetypes have generally grown out of a male-gaze perspective.

Not only can you think about updating archetypes and creating new ones for the current world, but there’s great scope for expanding historical archetypes to consider including characters who’ve often been excluded from archetypes in the past.

A great example is Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, which expands out the Enchanter and Enchantress archetypes to consider where trans people fall within these strictly gender-conforming types.

Or take Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black, a historical novel set in the Nineteenth Century, featuring a protagonist who begins as an escaped slave (more of an Orphan) and then becomes an Explorer. It’s a story which broadens our view of which people from that historical time period can meet the Explorer archetype.

When we look at the existing limitations of archetypes and use them to draw out to meet modern day themes, we’re able to find links between the past and the present to highlight the universality of certain themes and human behaviours – as long as we do so in a convincing and inclusive way. 

It’s up to every writer to decide how they use archetypes within their fiction, but don’t ignore the power archetypes have over readers, and their potential for creating great stories.