originally posted at Imaginary People…date unknown
Tom Gauld is a Scottish cartoonist and illustrator. I have enjoyed his work for some time, especially his satirical look at literature and the writing process. Here is a little sample that I have swiped from around the web and am only posting here to educate ya’ll, and get to the point of this post.
This poster got me thinking about characters and where they come from.
I know characters do not come from the ether. As a writer, I know that my characters come from a long line of figures that have been used in stories since human beings first sat around their fires at night and told stories of heroes, their enemies, and lovers. Carl Jung first organized the stages of life humanity seems to share, the collective unconscious from which all of our experiences are pooled from. Some of these experiences are birth, death, and the events in between like childhood rites of passage, court-ship, and marriage. Jung also pointed out motifs that appear myths around the word, like a great flood, creation and apocalypse.
From this soup of human experience come archetypal figures which Jung also called Primordial Images. Writers like Frazer (The Golden Bough) and Joseph Campbell (Hero of a Thousand Faces) later expounded on Jung’s ideas. Campbell organized common motifs in story telling into stages called the Hero’s Journey, the hero and the characters he or she comes across fit one or more archetype. They help move the story along according to who they are.
The hero/heros journey – the protagonist.
The Mentor – the wise old man or old woman, the teacher.
The Threshold Guardian – a character who tries to hold the hero back from a stage in his/her journey.
The Herald – brings information or news.
The Shapeshifter – changes roles or personalities, a shape shifters loyalties are uncertain.
The Trickster – comic relief, can be an ally of the hero or the villain.
The Shadow – the antagonist, but not always a villain.
To me, they read like Tarot cards, like something mystical to spread out when I begin to plot or half-ass plot a new story. No matter how many writers and theorists reinterpret these ancient mythic themes they will always remain with us.
