As important as it is to have a compelling story, the story should be anchored by having inspiring heroes, insidious villains, helpful allies, challenging henchmen, and other characters that bring your story to life. Characters are crucial to a story. With characters, you can have action, conflict and drama, and humor that entertains viewers and readers alike. Without characters, your story will not move forward to its conclusion.

Most characters follow the archetypes of The Hero’s Journey or Monomyth. Writer and scholar Joseph Campbell created this theory. It examines the Hero’s steps during their adventure when facing obstacles and their triumphant return to the ordinary world.

Campbell postulated that different myths from different civilizations follow the same steps or journey of the Hero. As a result, the Hero’s Journey has influenced many writers and filmmakers, including George Lucas, James Cameron, Lana, and Lilly Wachowski, among others.

Along with the steps of The Hero’s Journey, it also postulates that the characters of these myths and stories follow a group of universal archetypes of characters that populate these stories.

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

Joseph Campbell

Let us explore those archetypes:

1. The Hero: The Hero is the character with whom the audience identifies. They must overcome their flaws to grow in wisdom and maturity.
2. The Mentor: The Mentor is the Hero’s guiding figure. They provide teachings and gifts that may serve as weapons for the Hero along their journey. The Mentor acts as the Hero’s conscience, much like the veteran advising the rookie.
3. The Herald: The Herald challenges the Hero and provides the call to adventure. A Herald can be a character or an object that brings a message.
4. The Threshold Guardian: The Threshold Guardian provides obstacles for the Hero to overcome. These characters tend to be henchmen or lieutenants of the main villain (See Number 8, The Shadow). They test the Hero on his way to face the villain. Defeating the Threshold Guardians provides growth to the Hero.
5. The Ally: Sometimes, the Hero can’t continue his journey alone. He may need a companion who will share the Hero’s burden. An Ally may start antagonistic towards the Hero, but the Ally’s outlook usually changes once they gain respect and admiration (See Number 6, The Shapeshifter) towards the Hero; once the Hero earns their respect.
6. The Shapeshifter: A Shapeshifter is a character that constantly changes from the Hero’s point of view. The Shapeshifter can often be an ally of the Hero, like a fellow cop in a buddy film.
7. The Trickster: The Trickster(s) add humor and fun to the adventure. They give the audience a much-needed break when times get gloomy or tense.
8. The Shadow: The Shadow is the villain in your story and creates a threat or conflict for the Hero. The Shadow can mirror the Hero in some ways. The Shadow might also be what the Hero becomes if they succumb to the temptations of evil and highlights the Hero’s internal struggle.

The eight character archetypes of the Hero’s Journey appear in many stories, myths, and movies.