Archetypes can be a good start point for character creation. Sometimes constraints are great drivers of creativity. There are a few different types of archetypes for characters out there, but I like these Jungian ones. The ideas here are taken from The Hero And The Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson and Awakening the Hero Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Save the World, also by Pearson.
Meta-Desires
• Provide Structure/Stability
• Explore Spirituality
• Leave a Legacy
• Connect with Others
THE CAREGIVER
“LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
• Core Desire: Protect people from harm.
• Goal: To help others.
• Fear: Selfishness, ingratitude.
• Strategy: Do things for others.
• Trap: Martyrdom of self, entrapment of others.
• Gift: Compassion, generosity.
• Examples: Hagrid, Mary Poppins, Mother Gothel.
THE RULER
“POWER ISN’T EVERYTHING. IT’S THE ONLY THING.”
• Desire: Control.
• Goal: Create a prosperous, successful family, company, or community.
• Strategy: Exert leadership.
• Fear: Chaos, being overthrown.
• Trap: Being bossy, authoritarian.
• Gift: Responsibility, leadership.
• Examples: Tony Soprano, Frank Underwood, Anna Wintour, Darth Vader.
THE CREATOR
“IF IT CAN BE IMAGINED, IT CAN BE CREATED.”
• Desire: Create something of enduring value.
• Goal: Give form to a vision.
• Fear: Having a mediocre vision or execution.
• Strategy: Develop artistic control and skill.
• Task: Create culture, express own vision.
• Trap: Perfectionism, miscreation.
• Gift: Creativity and imagination.
• Examples: Kevin McAllister, Tony Stark, Doc Brown, Tinker Bell
THE INNOCENT
“FREE TO BE YOU AND ME.”
• Core Desire: To experience paradise.
• Goal: To be happy.
• Fear: Doing something wrong or bad that will provoke punishment.
• Strategy: Do things right.
• Gift: Faith and optimism.
• Examples: Buddy the Elf, Kaylee from Firefly, Luke Skywalker, Dory.
THE SAGE
“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.”
• Core desire: The discovery of truth.
• Goal: Use intelligence to understand the world.
• Fear: Being duped, misled; ignorance.
• Strategy: Seek information and knowledge; become self-reflective, grasp thinking processes.
• Trap: Can study issues forever and never act.
• Gift: Wisdom, intelligence.
• Examples:Yoda, Professor X, Late Katniss, Athena.
THE EXPLORER
“DON’T FENCE ME IN.”
• Core desire: Freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world.
• Goal: A more authentic, fulfilling life.
• Greatest fear: Getting trapped, conforming.
• Strategy: Seek out/experience new things, escape entrapment and boredom.
• Trap: Aimless wandering, becoming a misfit.
• Gift: Autonomy, ambition, be true to own soul.
• Examples: Captain Kirk, Indiana Jones, Erin Brockovich, Pocahontas.
THE OUTLAW
“RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN.”
• Core Desire: Revenge or revolution.
• Goal: To destroy what is not working (For the Outlaw or for society).
• Fear: Being powerless, trivialized, inconsequential.
• Strategy: Disrupt, destroy, or shock.
• Trap: To go over to the dark side, criminality.
• Gift: Outrageousness, radical freedom.
• Examples: Robin Hood, Elle Woods- Legally Blonde, Early Katniss, Wolverine.
THE MAGICIAN
“IT CAN HAPPEN.”
• Core Desire: Knowledge of the fundamental laws of how the world or universe works.
• Goal: Make dreams come true.
• Fear: Unanticipated negative consequences.
• Strategy: Develop vision and live it.
• Trap: Becoming manipulative.
• Gift: Finding win-win outcome.
• Examples: Anakin Skywalker, Gandalf the Gray, Evil Queen in Snow White, Mystique.
THE HERO
“WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY.”
• Core Desire: Prove one’s worth through courageous and difficult action.
• Goal: Exert Mastery in a way that improves the world.
• Fear: Weakness, vulnerability, “wimping out.”
• Strategy: Become as strong, competent, and powerful as you are capable of being.
• Trap: Arrogance, developing a need for there always to be an enemy.
• Gifts: Competence and courage.
• Examples: Rocky, Aragorn, Wonder Woman.
THE LOVER
“I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU.”
• Core Desire: Attain intimacy, sensual pleasure.
• Goal: A relationship with people, work, experiences, and surroundings they love.
• Fear: Being alone, unwanted, unloved.
• Strategy: Become more attractive- physically, emotionally, and in every other way.
• Trap: Desperate to attract/please others, loss of identity.
• Gifts: Passion, gratitude, appreciation, commitment.
• Examples: Baby in Dirty Dancing, Beast, Charlotte from Sex and the City, Rapunzel.
THE JESTER
“IF I CAN’T DANCE, I DON’T WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR REVOLUTION.”
• Core Desire: To live in moment with full enjoyment.
• Goal: To have a great time and lighten up world.
• Fear: Boredom or being boring.
• Strategy: Play, make jokes, be funny.
• Trap: Frittering away one’s life.
• Gift: Joy.
• Examples: Austin Powers, Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect, Weasley Twins.
THE REGULAR GUY/GAL
“ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.”
• Core Desire: Connection with others.
• Goal: To belong, fit in.
• Fears: Standing out, seeming to put on airs, and being exiled or rejected as a result.
• Strategy: Develop ordinary solid virtues, the common touch, blend in.
• Trap: Give up self in exchange for only a superficial connection.
• Gift: Realism, empathy, lack of pretense.
• Examples: Annie, Homer Simpson, Ron Weasley.