Of all of the archetypes used to give authors and screenwriters the skeletal structure from which to further develop a beloved Full Persona, it is the Wise Elder who is perhaps the most easily recognized for what they are at their core. The reasons for this are actually more obvious than most of us care to admit. Typically, this character is older, sometimes in sci-fi and fantasy they can be hundreds or even thousands of years old. Secondly, the Wise Elder character is, more often than not, a long-time practitioner or veteran of the same sort of pursuits as the primary protagonist. I speak here not of skills or abilities specifically; after all, in the example I will point to later on for the fantasy genre, the Wise Elder possesses abilities that the protagonist of those tales would never even dream of having. However, he does share in the protagonist’s sense of adventure, friendship, and duty.
Archtypes in Genre: The Wise Old Man
Archtypes in Genre: The Wise Old Man
Archtypes in Genre: The Wise Old Man
Of all of the archetypes used to give authors and screenwriters the skeletal structure from which to further develop a beloved Full Persona, it is the Wise Elder who is perhaps the most easily recognized for what they are at their core. The reasons for this are actually more obvious than most of us care to admit. Typically, this character is older, sometimes in sci-fi and fantasy they can be hundreds or even thousands of years old. Secondly, the Wise Elder character is, more often than not, a long-time practitioner or veteran of the same sort of pursuits as the primary protagonist. I speak here not of skills or abilities specifically; after all, in the example I will point to later on for the fantasy genre, the Wise Elder possesses abilities that the protagonist of those tales would never even dream of having. However, he does share in the protagonist’s sense of adventure, friendship, and duty.