‘The Warrior’ archetype, for example (characters such as Hercules, Odysseus, and Aragorn) is often courageous and tough, but also egotistical. Examples of parodying character archetype clichés To parody them is to exaggerate those traits to their absolute extremes. Subverting them means ignoring expected traits, even though your audience may expect them. That, naturally, is what makes them archetypal. To parody is to make a familiar thing humorous through exaggeration.Įvery archetype has a set of recognizable traits. You can take this character and their development in the opposite direction to the first approach and parody this type. If you prefer to introduce a character who isn’t any deeper than a cliché, there are ways to make this interesting too. Subversion such as these add surprise complexity to your characters and story.Ģ. Then create a character to fit that mold perfectly… before revealing that, say, their “wisdom” is just stolen from a book of idioms.Dumbledore or Charlotte the Spider will always be wise and cautious.
This is a stock or clichéd comic book character who is overshadowed by brawnier counterparts in strength but not smarts.
The character Ozymandias is set up as the typical “smartest man in the world”. In Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel series, the authors turn many superhero tropes on their heads. Subversion can also be used as a means of character or plot development. It turns a secondary character into a source of conflict.īut it also works rhetorically, similarly to a ‘red herring’: it surprises the reader and makes them question their own intuition. He ultimately fills an adversarial role opposite Quentin, the protagonist, Fogg’s would-be mentee. However, unlike the wise, benevolent leader of Hogwarts, Fogg quickly shows himself to be cowardly, selfish, and severe. The author surely knew his character’s type and function could invite comparisons to another fictional wizard: Dumbledore. In The Magicians, Grossman’s character Henry Fogg is a Master Magician and Dean of Students at a school for magic. Lev Grossman - the author of The Magicians (often referred to as “Harry Potter for adults”) gives us an example. In other words it’s still okay to introduce a valiant knight in the mold of Sir Lancelot… So long as he eventually reveals himself to be more than just an obvious symbol. The most common means of subversion, of making something other than what it first appears, is to introduce a cliché before revealing things aren’t what they appear. Subvert archetypes to avoid character clichés Here are five easy ways to inject life into familiar character types: 1. You can turn common or overused character tropes on their head, too. Embracing stock characters can be more effective than making your character over-complicated.
This guest contribution by the team at Reedsy explores ways to subvert character clichés for a less predictable story.Ĭreating the next Harry Potter or Holden Caulfield is no easy feat! When writing secondary characters in particular, it’s easy to fall back on clichéd archetypes and stock characters.
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