{"id":1335,"date":"2012-04-05T21:01:16","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T01:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2016-07-09T23:51:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T03:51:07","slug":"character-chemistry-archetypes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/?p=1335","title":{"rendered":"Character chemistry archetypes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m continuing to work on my arbitrarily-ultra-secret cartoon idea, and this week I\u2019ve been spending an enormous amount of time thinking about character and, more importantly, character relationships.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve had a sort of epiphany that none of the books on writing I\u2019ve read seem to mention (not that I\u2019ve read a ton), but it\u2019s pretty obvious once you realize it: character chemistry is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So often books on writing or plotting talk about characterization as if characters are complete entities in and of themselves.\u00a0 That\u2019s the natural way to think of them.\u00a0 But in a story, a character does not exist in a vacuum.\u00a0 A story, and our interest in it, is born of the interactions<\/em> between one character and another.<\/p>\n

The best way to understand this is to think about your favorite character being placed in a world in which everyone was just like him.\u00a0 Unless the character has multiple personality disorder, an interesting story is impossible because there\u2019s no way to get any character contrast, no way for the character to be defined, and thus no way for us to get any meaning out of the character.\u00a0 A canvas painted one color holds no interest; it is a specific collection<\/em> of colors that attracts our eyes.<\/p>\n

Many books on writing talk about character archetypes.\u00a0 I still think those are valid, but I think they\u2019re incomplete.\u00a0 For example, the \u201cold wise mentor\u201d character archetype is useless without a student to teach.\u00a0 It is not the \u201cmentor\u201d archetype that we relate to, but the mentor-student relationship<\/em> we enjoy.\u00a0 Both<\/em> characters are necessary because it\u2019s a relationship<\/em>, not just a character sitting there by himself.<\/p>\n

So I paced around and tried to come up with the main basic relationship archetypes we see again and again in stories.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I came up with.\u00a0 Let me know if you can think of any I might\u2019ve missed:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Straight Man and The Fool<\/strong><\/p>\n

AKA: The Annoyed and The Annoyer, The Serious and the Unserious, \u201cThe Double Act\u201d<\/p>\n

Examples: Shrek and Donkey, Squidward and SpongeBob, Bert and Ernie<\/p>\n

This is definitely one of the most popular relationship archetypes.\u00a0 One character says stupid things and acts annoying, and the other character gets angry.\u00a0 We, the audience, laugh not at the fool (or at least not only<\/em> at the fool), but at the relationship<\/em>.\u00a0 We laugh more when other characters react<\/em> with serious looks.\u00a0 The humor is born of the relationship.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Hero and The Client<\/strong><\/p>\n

AKA: The Rescuer and The Rescued<\/p>\n

Examples: Mario and Princess Peach, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, Shrek and Fiona, Dr Alan Grant and the grandchildren<\/p>\n

Another extremely powerful and popular relationship.\u00a0 A character needs help, and another character agrees (often reluctantly at first) to help them.\u00a0 Pretty easy to understand.<\/p>\n

There are many stories in which a hero is on a mission to save a city or a kingdom or an entire world, such as Frodo destroying the One Ring or Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star.\u00a0 I would not consider these quests to be part of this relationship; it\u2019s not concrete enough to be a relationship.\u00a0 Caring about such stories only works if, within those stories, there are other pre-established relationships we care about.\u00a0 We really don\u2019t care about an entire world for its own sake, we care about the specific relationships within it.\u00a0 I think this is a very important point.\u00a0 Character relationships<\/em> we care about have to be at stake for the peril of the world to matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mentor and The Student<\/strong><\/p>\n

Examples: Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker, Gandalf and Frodo, Shifu and Po, Doc and Marty<\/p>\n

Another age-old powerful relationship.\u00a0 One character teaches, the other learns.\u00a0 We, the audience, get to learn with the student, but we also get to observe his progress along with the teacher.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Envied and The Envious<\/strong><\/p>\n

AKA: The Used and The User<\/p>\n

Examples: Mozart and Salieri, Frodo and Gollum, Captain Hammer and Dr Horrible<\/p>\n

A simple and understandable way to create animosity between characters.\u00a0 Since we\u2019ve all known the feeling of envy at one time or another, this relationship allows us to identify with the otherwise negative envying character.\u00a0 When he wants something specific that the other character has, we understand his motivation for doing evil things.<\/p>\n

I would also lump into this category relationships in which one character is merely using the other character as a means to an end.\u00a0 There may or may not necessarily be any envy involved, but the character can\u2019t achieve what he wants on his own, so he forms a relationship, perhaps faking friendship, to get what he wants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Noble and The Rogue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Examples: Will Turner and Jack Sparrow, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Christine and The Phantom, Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House, Wendy and Peter Pan<\/p>\n

One character tries to play by the rules, while the other character\u2019s moral compass is a bit harder to follow.\u00a0 I think we, the audience, tend to gravitate our fascination toward the rogue character, but they\u2019re at their most interesting when they\u2019re playing off or arguing with someone whose moral compass is more like ours. \u00a0Note that the rogue character doesn’t necessarily have to be evil or have evil tendencies; his ways of doing things simply have to seem foreign to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Guard and The Prisoner<\/strong><\/p>\n

AKA: The Ruler and The Ruled, The Boss and The Employee<\/p>\n

Examples: Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House, Mother Gothel and Rapunzel, Vernon Dursley and Harry Potter, The Wicked Stepmother and Cinderella, Captain Stottlemeyer and Monk, Monk and Sharona or Natalie, Mr Krabbs and SpongeBob<\/p>\n

This is basically an authority relationship; one character has the power to tell the other character what to do.\u00a0 We immediately relate to it because we all have to deal with authority of some form, and I doubt any of us really like it.\u00a0 It\u2019s a relationship that naturally and constantly creates conflict (hopefully not as much in real life as in fiction).<\/p>\n

There can be different degrees of this relationship, from the cruel wicked character keeping the other character trapped, to the friendly boss who works with an assistant.\u00a0 The point is that we clearly understand the direction of the authority.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dysfunctional love \/ friendship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Examples: If you can\u2019t think of any, you have no hope<\/p>\n

This is probably the penultimate relationship; it makes all the other relationships interesting, and it can be found in some fashion in almost every<\/em> story.\u00a0 Two characters somehow connect or fill a need for one another.\u00a0 They care about each other.\u00a0 While conflicts may force them apart, love or friendship is the magnet that keeps them coming back to each other.<\/p>\n

I use this relationship to describe any relationship in which both characters care about each other.\u00a0 It could a romantic love, in which the characters will probably want to eventually get married, it could be family love, or it could just be the friendship of two buddies who get along.<\/p>\n

In many stories, this relationship begins as one of the preceding relationships, such as a Hero and Client<\/em> relationship leading to romantic love, or a Straight Man and Fool<\/em> relationship leading to friendship.<\/p>\n

For most of the story, perhaps even for the entire story, the love or friendship must<\/em> be dysfunctional.\u00a0 We are not interested in love or friendship that is working fine.\u00a0 The relationship is only interesting if it is being tested by one of the other relationships or outside conflicts.\u00a0 Perhaps authority figures from the Boss and Employee<\/em> relationship do not want the character to fall in love, perhaps there\u2019s a love triangle and another character is envious, perhaps the characters in love have ideological differences due to a Noble and Rogue<\/em> relationship.\u00a0 The point is that it\u2019s never perfect unless we\u2019re past the story\u2019s climax.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They\u2019re all mixed up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, within a story, characters can take on multiple roles in multiple relationships.<\/p>\n

For example, in the Back to the Future<\/em> trilogy, Doc is often the Unserious-Mentor-Hero while the young Marty McFly is the Serious-Student-Client.\u00a0 Sometimes Doc becomes the Client while Marty becomes the Hero.\u00a0 Their relationship is held together by Dysfunctional Friendship<\/em>, and there are multiple Dysfunctional Love<\/em> relationships throughout the trilogy.<\/p>\n

Role reversals are also fun.\u00a0 In the Shrek movies, Shrek is usually annoyed by Donkey (\u201cYou\u2019re headed the right way for a smacked bottom\u201d), but he sometimes becomes the annoyer himself as he makes his own jokes (\u201cWell, sure it\u2019s big enough, but look at the location!\u201d) which are made funnier because Donkey doesn\u2019t laugh<\/em>, maintaining the Straight Man and Fool<\/em> relationship.\u00a0 As long as the characters stay in character, relationship switches can keep things interesting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conflict itself is not a relationship \/ Having a crush on someone is not a relationship<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the movie Jurassic Park<\/em>, what relationship does the T-rex have with Dr Alan Grant?\u00a0 Obviously none.\u00a0 OK, that\u2019s an easy one, since the T-rex is not a human.\u00a0 How about the Joker in The Dark Knight<\/em>?\u00a0 What relationship does he have with Bruce Wayne?\u00a0 Again, none.\u00a0 He causes conflict, sure, but he has no motivations other than to cause conflict.\u00a0 He might as well be an unconscious volcano.\u00a0 (You might claim it\u2019s a Noble and Rogue<\/em> relationship, but I\u2019d argue it\u2019s not, because, like I said, the Joker has no desires or motivations.\u00a0 Rogues do.)<\/p>\n

You can find this with a lot of villain characters.\u00a0 What about The Emperor and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars<\/em>?\u00a0 Obviously there\u2019s some conflict there.\u00a0 But, again, I\u2019d argue there\u2019s no relationship.\u00a0 There\u2019s just conflict created by the Emperor wanting Luke to turn to the dark side (maybe if they changed its name?).\u00a0 What about Sauron and Frodo in Lord of the Rings<\/em>?\u00a0 Again, no relationship, just conflict.<\/p>\n

My point is that just because a character acts as a conflict does not mean he necessarily has a relationship with the character (he may or may not).\u00a0 But it is through<\/em> these outside conflicts that Love <\/em>and Friendship<\/em> relationships are threatened and tested.\u00a0 It is against these conflicts that Love<\/em> and Friendship<\/em> must remain standing (or not, if it\u2019s a tragedy).<\/p>\n

Similarly, if one character has a crush on another character, that is not a relationship.\u00a0 It is just an interest.\u00a0 Such an interest might play a part in the character\u2019s already-existing relationships, and it might lead to another relationship, but it is not a relationship in and of itself, because it\u2019s one sided.\u00a0 And we, as an audience, probably don\u2019t care much about it until some actual interaction takes place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simplicity<\/strong><\/p>\n

How many main character relationships can we find in stories?<\/p>\n

I think books have the space to become as complex as they want to, but in TV shows and movies, I think it is usually kept quite simple; probably at most three for a single TV show episode, and at most four for a movie, and even that might be pushing it (I have yet to seriously analyze any films for this).\u00a0 TV shows and movies can still have many small relationships that play out for a scene or two, but only a few will be important for the overall story arc.\u00a0 (For example, in the Lord of the Rings<\/em> film trilogy, I would not consider the relationship between Aragon and Arwen to be of prime importance to the overall story; hence the reason some of their scenes were edited out for the theatrical versions.\u00a0 Nor would I consider the friendship between Gimli and Legolas to be too important.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK, hope that was an interesting post.\u00a0 You will now either begin to see these relationship archetypes all over the place, or completely forget everything I just told you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m continuing to work on my arbitrarily-ultra-secret cartoon idea, and this week I\u2019ve been spending an enormous amount of time thinking about character and, more importantly, character relationships.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve had a sort of epiphany that none of the books on writing I\u2019ve read seem to mention (not that I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gI4B-lx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wizardwalk.com\/newblather\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}