Jungian Archetypes in Movies & Shows

By Matt Baker   Updated 15 Dec 2011

An archetype is an ideal model upon which characters in stories are often based. Psychologist Carl Jung gave these archetypes names and they can easily be recognized in modern movies and TV shows, particularly in the science fiction / fantasy genre:

	Hero	Sidekick	Maiden	Wise Old Man	Villain	Shape- shifter	Trickster / Comic	Eternal Child	Adult-like Child	Mother Figure
Harry Potter	Harry	Ron	Hermione	Professor Dumbledore	Voldemort	Professor Snape	Weasley twins	Hagrid	Hermione	Professor McGonagall
LOTR	Frodo	Sam	Arwen	Gandalf	Sauron	Gollum	Merry & Pippin	Hobbits	Frodo	Galadriel
Lost	Jack	John	Kate	Jacob	The Man in Black	Ben	Sawyer	Hugo	Walt	Rose
Star Wars (Original)	Luke	Han Solo	Leia	Obi Wan Kenobi	Darth Vader	Darth Vader	Han Solo	CP30	R2D2	Absent?
Firefly	Mal	Zoe	Inara	Shepherd	The Alliance	Saffron	Wash	Jayne	River	Absent?
Farscape	John Crichton	Dargo	Aeryn	The Ancients	Scorpius	Crais	Rygel	Chiana	Absent?	Zhaan
The Princess Bride	Wesley	Inigo Montoya	Buttercup	Mad Max	Humperdinck	Dread Pirate Roberts	Vizzini	Fezzik	Absent?	Absent?
Batman	Batman	Robin	Rachel	Alfred	The Joker	Two Face	The Joker	Absent?	Absent?	Absent?
The Matrix	Neo	Trinity	Trinity	Morpheus	Agent Smith	Cypher	Absent?	Absent?	Spoon Boy	The Oracle
Smallville	Clark Kent	Chloe Sullivan	Lana Lang	Jor-El	Lex Luthor	Lionel Luthor	Absent?	Absent?	Clark Kent	Martha Kent
The Lion King	Simba	Timon & Pumbaa	Nala	Rafiki	Scar	Absent?	Timon	Pumbaa	Absent?	Sarabi
Cars	Lightning McQueen	Mater	Sally	Doc Hudson	Chick Hicks	Absent?	Mater	Mater	Absent?	Absent?
The Simpsons	Bart	Millhouse	Absent?	Absent?	Mr. Burns	Absent?	Bart	Homer	Lisa	Marge

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