This week: Character Archetypes Edited by: Lilli 🧿 ☕  
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| This week, we’re going to explore my take on character archetypes, which is primarily based on Dramatica’s eight characters. I like this approach because of its logic and comprehensiveness and also because it offers structure without boxing me in. |
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1. Protagonist
This one doesn’t need much explanation. Your Protagonist is the most important person in your story. The story belongs to him. He is:
 The main actor.
The person most greatly affected by the Antagonist.
The person whose reactions and actions drive the majority of the plot.
The person with whom the readers will identify most strongly.
The person whose inner journey, as influenced by the outer conflict, will be the most obvious manifestation of your story’s theme.
2. Antagonist
This one’s also pretty clear. The Antagonist will probably be a character in his own right or maybe an antagonistic force (e.g., weather). The point of his existence, in whatever manifestation, is that he is:
The main obstacle to your character’s achievement of his main plot goal.
Directly opposed to your Protagonist (rather than incidentally).
The person who shares important similarities, whether good or bad, with your Protagonist, in order to highlight and advance areas of Protagonist growth.
3. Sidekick
Sidekicks (or, as Hauge calls them, “reflections”) come in many different forms, everything from a best friend or accomplice to an employee or family member. What’s important is that the Sidekick is:
Loyal to and supportive of the Protagonist.
Aligned with the Protagonist’s goals.
Someone who differs from the Protagonist in important ways, whether good or bad, in order to highlight areas of Protagonist growth.
4. Skeptic
Here’s where Dramatica’s pairing of characters gets interesting. According to this model, every character has his opposite, which allows the author to draw important contrasts and plumb the depths of his theme. Just like the Antagonist is the opposite of the Protagonist, the Skeptic is the opposite of the Sidekick. He is:
Skeptical (no, really).
Someone who doubts everything, particularly the Protagonist’s choices.
Someone who is mostly on the Protagonist’s “side,” but who is pessimistic about the Protagonist’s choices, rather than optimistic.
A voice of caution (sometimes to the Protagonist’s advantage), more likely to provide reasons why something won’t work than why it will.
5. Guardian
Also popularly known as the Mentor, the Guardian is a classic archetype (think Obi-Wan, Morpheus, and the three ghosts in A Christmas Carol). He is often visualized as a grey-bearded old man, but he can take many forms, everything from a child (Piggy in Lord of the Flies) to an animal (think Pooka in the animated film Anastasia) to a seeming fool (Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life). He is:
A teacher or helper.
Someone who guards the Protagonist during his quest.
Someone who guides (or sometimes just attempts to guide) the Protagonist down the right path.
A moral standard against which the Protagonist (and the Antagonist) will be measured.
Someone who alternately supports or opposes the Protagonist’s ideas, depending upon the Protagonist’s shifting alignment with the story’s moral standard.
6. Contagonist
This is a term unique to Dramatica’s list of archetypes. As defined by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley, the Contagonist “hinders and deludes the Protagonist, tempting it [sic] to take the wrong course or approach.” The Contagonist is:
Contrasted with the Guardian because he, wittingly or unwittingly, seeks to ultimately hinder rather than help the Protagonist.
Different from the Antagonist because he is not directly opposed to the Protagonist’s plot goal.
Someone who may be on the Protagonist’s side in the overall conflict, but who gets in the Protagonist’s way and causes him to consider backing out of the battle against the Antagonist or taking the wrong path to reach his end goal.
7. Reason
Just as his title suggests, the Reason character is present in the story to provide a voice of logic. He is:
Someone who is fundamentally logical.
Someone who makes decisions based on logic, not emotions.
Someone who acts in logical ways independent of the Protagonist.
Someone whose logic influences the Protagonist’s choices, for better or worse.
8. Emotion
If you’ve guessed that the Emotion character is pretty much the opposite of the Reason character, then it’s a gold star for you. The Emotion character is:
Someone who is fundamentally emotional.
Someone who makes decisions based on emotions, not logic.
Someone who may be negatively emotional (e.g., angry) or positively emotional (e.g., compassionate)—or both.
Someone who acts in emotional ways independent of the Protagonist.
Someone whose emotion influences the Protagonist’s choices, for better or worse.
For more information, please see:
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| | | Anxiety (E)
Short story of a psychic that just wants to relax. (Deciding if I want to expand it.)
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Drama: December 29, 2021 Issue [#11103]
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