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The Character Archetypes In King Arthur

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Around the world, there are very different myths and folklore, each suiting a specific culture’s beliefs. Nonetheless, amongst those different narratives, there are certain elements, such as themes, character types, and design, that keep manifesting. These recurrences are labelled as archetypes. One type of archetypes is character archetypes. Prevalent in myths from Sigurd the Volsung to The Epic of Gilgamesh, character archetypes are types of characters that are conventional amidst literature. In the Medieval British legend King Arthur three character archetypes are prominent; the Hero, the Mentor, and the Villain. These archetypes are universal, found in myths from around the world.

One ubiquitous archetype that is present in King Arthur …show more content…

The Villain is the main force opposing the Hero. They are cunning and determined, going to great extents to achieve their wish. Mordred, King Arthur’s son, is the classic Villain. The illegitimate son of King Arthur born out of wedlock with his half-sister Queen Margawse of Orkney, Mordred’s existence was not known by King Arthur. Merlin prophesied that King Arthur’s kingdom would be razed to the ground by Mordred and that Mordred did after he became a Knight of the Round Table. Mordred, “ . . . [scheming] to reign in King Arthur’s place and marry Queen Guinevere . . . ”, exposed publicly that Sir Lancelot, King Arthur’s knight, and Queen Guinevere, King Arthur’s wife, were having an affair, initiating a war between Sir Lancelot and King Arthur. During the war, “. . . Mordred had [himself] . . . crowned [as] king of Britain . . .” , usurping King Arthur from the throne. The Egyptian God of the desert, and chaos, Seth, is another prime example of the Villain archetype. In Egyptian Mythology, Seth has performed innumerable wicked deeds, from murdering his brother Osiris, to defiling his brother's remains, “. . . [tearing] the corpse . . . into fourteen pieces . . . [traveling] throughout the kingdom of Egypt, scattering the pieces of Osiris . . . ”, all to rule Egypt. Seth even attempted to murder his nephew Horus, who was Osiris’s

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