The Rebel Archetype is a popular character trope within fiction.
Rebels drive conflict and change, making them an invaluable archetype to have at your fingertips as a fiction writer.
Let’s look at what the Rebel is, what makes them tick, and how you can write them well.
What is a Rebel Archetype?
Firstly, it’s important to distinguish the rebel as an archetype rather than as a stock character or stereotype.
Archetypes are broad and wide-ranging, allowing for a vast array of characteristics and personality attributes.
A Rebel will become a stock character or stereotype when you allow your character to fall into overused cliché, failing to draw out their unique characteristics and background. In Young Adult stories set in High Schools, for example, you can often find examples of rebellious teenagers whose individual personality traits aren’t fully developed, and therefore feel like stereotypes or clichés.
Rebel Archetype Definition
A character meets the rebel archetype when they fight against social norms and conventions. Both their personality and their actions must demonstrate their defiance of the status quo.
The Rebel Archetype Features
Aside from the requirement to oppose social expectations, there are no essential personality features of this archetype. However, there are certain features that are found commonly in this archetype throughout literature, and it’s worth considering these as you design and write your own rebel character.
Passionate About a Cause
The majority of Rebels will fight against society for a cause.
They perceive the unjustness of the status quo, and dedicate their lives to making a positive change.
This requires passion, dedication, single-mindedness, and bravery.
A Misfit
Rebels are often aware of society’s ills because of their position on the outskirts.
It’s often (although not always) the case that a rebel will have grown up in a low-status position, or have certain attributes that isolate them from those in power.
Independent
Rebels are often loners by choice.
As characters who think differently from others, they often isolate themselves as a form of self-protection.
In these cases, a Rebel often needs to learn to work with others in order to achieve their goals–although this is by no means always the case.
Resourceful
When fighting against power, Rebels often need to learn how to maximise their personal strengths and possessions.
Watching how a Rebel leans to fight back can be one of the most satisfying parts of a story, because their resourcefulness acts as inspiration for others.
Confrontational
Rebels are great at creating conflict.
Readers love watching this conflict play out on the page.
Without conflict, there’s no growth, whether that growth be societal or individual. However, many Rebels may struggle with being over-confrontational, and need to learn to balance this out by developing more diplomacy and empathy.
Reactionary/ Revolutionary
Because a Rebel must always define themselves by what they’re fighting against, there’s a risk that they can become reactionary characters, only opposing the status quo and not proposing alternative visions.
To grow as a character, this type often needs to learn to become more truly revolutionary: not just fighting the status quo, but actively creating an alternative path for society.
Rebel Archetype Character Examples in Literature
Prometheus, from Ancient Greek mythology
In ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus is the archetypal Rebel figure.
In some versions of the myth, he steals fire from the Gods of Olympus and gives it to humanity, allowing for the creation of civilization. As punishment for his defiance, Zeus condemns him to eternal torment.
Prometheus is a brave figure with a tragic ending, who effects great change in his world, despite immense personal sacrifice.
Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A lawyer who represents a falsely-accused African American man in 1930s Alabama, Atticus Finch is a principled man motivated by a desire for justice.
This fictional Rebel has so inspired real-life lawyers that the Alabama State Bar erected a monument to him.
Paige Mahoney in The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon
Paige is forced onto the outskirts of her dystopian society as a result of possessing telepathic powers.
With her own life in danger from the authorities, Paige must become a revolutionary character, seeking to change the status quo. She fights in order to improve the lives of everyone suffering under this authoritarian regime.
Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
I’ve included a less traditional example here. She’s not your classic Rebel, because she’s too self-motivated. However, I enjoyed analysing her under this archetype lens!
Victorian society told women they should be nice, submissive and never aspire to go beyond their assigned station in life.
Vanity Fair’s protagonist, Becky Sharp, knows how to play her role perfectly, whilst subverting every expectation heaped upon her.
No matter what obstacles the universe or society throws at her, Becky will never become anything apart from what she is: an ambitious woman prepared to use anything and anyone on her quest for wealth and status.
And given how much fun it is watching Becky claw her way up the social ladder, we readers can’t help but love her for rebellion–even if we don’t always approve of her goals or methods. Thackeray created an ingenious character who inspires and shocks us at the same time.
Rebel Archetype Character Examples in Movies
Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator
A successful Roman general, Maximus falls prey to Imperial power games.
Commodus, the son of the Roman emperor, murders his own father to steal the throne.
Maximus is a threat to Commodus, and so Commodus has Maximus’s family brutally murdered.
After being forced into slavery, Maximus eventually becomes a gladiator.
Although initially motivated by revenge against Commodus, Maximus’s goals become grander and more generous as the story develops.
By the story’s end, Maximus not only kills his antagonist, but also deposes a tyrant and obtains freedom for his friends.
Mulan in Mulan
Mulan is a misfit in her society: while her parents hope that she will marry well and settle down to be a wife, she would rather be brave and seek adventure.
When Imperial soldiers demand that her crippled father join the army, she steals his horse and armour, pretending to be a man so that she can take her father’s place.
Due to her resourcefulness, Mulan achieves great feats in the army, only to be cast out when her true gender is discovered.
Despite her poor treatment by the Imperial soldiers, Mulan continues to use her resources to rescue the Emperor when he’s captured by enemies, and is eventually rewarded by the offer of a position within the Emperor’s guard.
In acting in this way, Mulan rebels against social restrictions upon women, and proves that women can also be effective warriors.
Archbishop Vincent Benitez in Conclave
Whilst not your typical Rebel, it’s interesting to look at this character through the lens of the archetype.
For in his own, quiet way, Archbishop Benitez rebels against the pragmatism demonstrated by other Cardinals within the Papacy. He refuses to vote strategically for the new Pope, relying only on his own conscience.
Benitez speaks his truth to the other Cardinals, and never tells them only what they want to hear or what will make him popular. His primary interest is in serving God, not the Papacy, and he actively seeks no power for himself.
By acting in this quietly rebellious way, he inspires others within the institution to do the same.
Tips for Writing the Rebel Archetype
Avoid Stereotypes
Whenever you’re writing an archetypal character, you want to avoid letting your character fall into a stereotype.
The best way to do this is to be aware of common stereotypes, so that you can prevent your character from becoming one of them.
And the best way to prevent your character seeming stereotyped is to draw out unexpected details within their backstory, personality and motivations.
For example, if you’re writing about a teenage high-school rebel, avoid relying on standard teenage angst as justification for your character’s rebellious feelings and actions. You want to explore the exact reasons why your character opposes the standard social conventions of their school, in a way that gives this character depth and relatability.
It’s helpful to consider over-used tropes within your specific genre.
For example, within Fantasy and Science Fiction, you’ll often find stories featuring Reluctant Rebel protagonists: characters who seek a simple life, yet are forced into greatness by their unique ability to overcome tyrants.
Now, I’m not telling you that you can’t or shouldn’t use this character trope. So many successful stories feature these protagonists because they;re so well-loved and effective. Such successful and popular tropes abound within genres such as Fantasy, Romance, and Crime.
However, when you write such a character, it’s helpful to be aware that you are employing a character trope. To create a Reluctant Rebel who doesn’t fall into stereotype, you’ll have to work extra hard to develop a unique, believable backstory and motivations for your character.
Develop your Rebel’s Growth Journey
Archetypes can be exciting to work with as a writer because there’s much potential to develop these characters as the story progresses.
All of us have the potential for rebellion inside us. Rebel characters are most loveable when we can identify with their rebellious tendencies, and identify aspects of ourselves within them.
For this reason, you might choose to avoid making your Rebel too idealised a character.
Rebels are loveable for their bravery, their perceptiveness, their willingness to fight for justice and their individuality. But they can have dark sides to their character: they may be reckless, too quick to anger, lacking empathy, cynical, vengeful or judgmental.
These flaws provide ample fodder for developing your character’s journey of inner development throughout the story. How will your plot require your Rebel to dig deep inside themselves and grow, in order to achieve their external goals?
One way to help ensure that your narrative structure is bringing the full potential out of your Rebel character is to investigate Fictionary Storyteller. This software will help you to visualise the development of your character and plot clearly, allowing for easy editing of your story.
Conclusion
Rebels are ubiquitous in certain genres. Can you imagine a dystopian story, or a high school drama without one?
Rebels speak to our desire to shake up the status quo, and to become someone who makes a difference in the world.
Because we’ve all got a bit of the Rebel within us, every Rebel has the potential to be a unique and relatable character, driving your story forward in meaningful ways.