He is Oberon of Amber. He is Abraham. He is Odin.
The Father is always a man. This may seem obvious, but it is not.
The Father is distant. The Father loves his children, but he is not close to them.
The Father children can be Heroes or Villains. When they are Villains they betray him and may murder him. When they are Heroes, they serve him and avenge him if he dies.
The Father is wise, powerful and frightening.
If the Father dies, he lives on in memory.
The Father does not intervene in the affairs of his children other than to express pride or disappointment.
The Father may bequeath a Treasure to a deserving son. That treasure may take the form of a Legacy.
All legitimacy flows from the Father.
The Father must not be questioned. To question the Father is to betray him.
The Father is not weak. If a father is weak, he is merely a parent.
It is possible for a Father to be fallible, but it is improper for a Son to point out his Father’s failings.
The Father is old. He is as old as time.
A Good Son will love his Father. Only Good Sons can become Heroes. Bad Sons who do not love their Father are doomed to become Villains.
A Father only has one Good Son. He may have any number of Bad Sons.
He may have daughters, but they are largely irrelevant except as items that his Good Son must protect.
The Fathers only overt expression of love is in the form of pride for his sons, which is reserved for those times when they have performed heroically and virtuously.
The Father does not believe in God. The Father is God.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Unstructured Archetypes: The Father
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5 comments:
Here's a sugestion for a couple of Archetypes that you might consider:
1)The Scientist (Spock, Dr. Who)
The Scientist has many similarities to the Competent Man, the main difference being his principle of always using deductive reasoning as his main method of dealing with problems. (Perhaps Holmes is a Scientist rather than a Competent Man.)
2) The Mad Scientist (Davros, Dr. Evil)
The Mad Scientist is a Scientist that no longer cares, or perhaps never did, what effects his research and inventions have on others.
How does Anikin Skywalker (as distinct from Darth Vader) stack up as a Father?
Arturo has been kind enough to write up The Scientist, which will be
appearing in a forthcoming article. I've considered the Mad Scientist
but I need to think about how he is distinct from the scientist
proper.
If you think you'd like to take it on, I'd be happy to publish your
thoughts (although you might want to wait until you see Arturo's).
As for Anakin vs. Vader, that's a very good question. I don't believe that he qualifies. If anything, I think that Anakin is a perverted version of the Special Boy whose transformation into Vader is tantamount to his Encounter with Destiny.
Now Vader may well fit into the Father archetype and, indeed, I believe that he does (while, of course, occupying several other archetypal niches).
My "Scientist", as will become apparent, is very different from what Ron is proposing. To be honest, the only difference I see between his proposal and The Competent man is the weapon of choice. I would say Ron is proposing just a particular version of The Competent Man.
By the way: I think you forgot the tags for this entry...
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