Emily Wiemken
Analytical and Pursuasive Writing
Prof. Robinson
9/22/08
Annotations for Vogler’s, “Different Archetypes” pg 49-80
In this section Vogler identifies and explains several different archetypes including the Theshold Guardian, The Herald, The Shapeshifter, The Shadow, The Ally, and the Trickster. First the Threshold Guardian. It is not the main antagonist in the story, but it is usually a person or thing that places itself as an obsticle between the hero and its goal. The Threshold Guardian could be a bodyguard, or a simple mindless minion, or even an omnious cliff that the hero has to climb to get to the captured princess. They usually test the hero, and always tend to make the hero stronger before he or she has to face their final advisary. The Herald is the character who issues a challenge and announce the coming of a significant change. This character can be employed at any time, but is usually introduced at the beginning of the story in act one. The Shapeshifter is a figure who constantly changes and shifts, which the audience has continual difficulty pinning down exactly where their allegiance lies. Often times it could just be our own projection upon that character that we as an audience see. The funtion of the Shapeshifter is usually to bring drama and suspense into the story, to continually keep the hero and the audience guessing. The Shadow is the character who represents the energy of the dark side, the unexpressed, unrealized, or rejected aspects or something. It represents the antagonish, villan or enemy that is hell bent on the hero’s destruction. However, this just like any other archetype, is just a mask. It can be slipped on and off by any other type of character. For example, the mentor can also slip into the shadow role, or the ally, who becomes jealous of the hero’s successes. The Shadow usually also has some kind of humanizing aspect which appeals to the audience and makes them sympathetic to the evil character. An Ally is the character who helps and accompanies the hero on his or her journey. They do “many mundane tasks but also serve the important function of humanizing the heroes, adding extra dementions to their personalities” (71). The Ally is also known as the “sidekick”, like Robin from Batman and Robin. Finally, the Trickster is the character who often provides comic relief to a story. They often bring about healthy change and transformation, often by drawing attention to the imbalance of absurdity of a stagnant psychological situation.
I enjoyed reading about these different personalities and trying to pin them to popular stories and characters I know. I also absolutely loved the psychological aspect Vogler brings into the descriptions of the characters. Like the Threshold guardian who represents our own inner neuroses and inner demons that rise up to test us to see if we are really determined to make a major change in our lives. Another example would be the Herald, who symbolizes either a dream figure, a real person, or a new idea that we encounter that calls forth a change in ourselves that eventually becomes inevitable. Vogler also gave the example of Carl Jung’s Anima and Animus that symbolize the corresponding male or female qualities that each of us have within us.
1. Do shape shifters always have to be the antagonist? Or could a shape shifter also be like, a constant hero figure that continually shifts and in turn brings about change into the other characters?
2. Could there be any modern day major theshold guardian figures serving as a kind of test to see if we are really resolved to change?
3. Could any character in Vogler’s list of character become a shadow figure at any point in a story?
