Male Archetypes in Earthbound
Wow, I never realized how much work an article takes. To think, I actually had to do RESEARCH for this. In the end, I guess it's better that I contribute something to Starmen.net rather than just fester around making comments on the forums. So I thought I would delve deep into the realm of articles! (dramatic DUH DUH DUH follows.) So let's get to it!
An archetype is an idea or mode of thought derived from the experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious of an individual. Every coming of age story features some kind of archetypal figure. It should follow, then, that Earthbound also must have archetypes. Today I will focus mainly on the positive male archetypes that can be found in Earthbound. There are 10 positive archetypes of which I could focus on: the Pilgrim, Patriarch, King, Warrior, Magician, Wildman, Healer, Prophet, Trickster, and Lover. Since there is way too much to go over in one article, I thought I would do this by characters. So, for my first article, I figured the logical starting point is Ness.
Firstly, and most obviously, Ness plays the part of the Pilgrim. Ness is a searcher. His search is for hope, peace, and the wish to improve life. He searches for these things not only for himself, but for the whole of mankind. For this reason, Ness also falls under the category of King.
The King is the embodiment of male greatness. Trustworthy and wise, the King never lets his people down. And neither does Ness. He gets his instructions from a BEE fro crying out loud! And yet the human race can still rely on him to save them from some creature from the past looking to destroy them. The King is known to be one that follows people to places they don't want to go, but must go anyway. Of course, the argument could be made that Ness is not following but rather is being followed by Paula, Jeff, and Poo. In that sense, Jeff and Poo would be kings. But save that for another article. I think enough of the King's traits apply to Ness that he also fits into that category.
For Ness to be able to blindly traverse into any of these situations must mean that he has a great sense of bravery. Bravery isn't enough, however. Ness also had to have a sense of honor. These qualities apply to the Warrior, the next male archetype that fits Ness's personality. The warrior contrasts greatly with male greed and lack of humanitarian spirit. This is also true of Ness. Okay, so Ness steals the occasional hamburger from the trash. That doesn't make him greedy. Ness is one of the most selfless characters in all of video game history. All for the sake of saving people he didn't even know. Look at every town by the end of the game. Everyone knows Ness. He went through every town a warrior, out to rid towns of whatever ailed them. Ness is almost the physical embodiment of humanitarian spirit.
That humanitarian spirit doesn't just make Ness a warrior. It makes him a healer. The healer has the ability to bring wholeness to societies that are incomplete and suffering. Ness certainly does that. Look at Threed, a town of perpetual darkness. Ness fixes their suffering by removing the Zombie threat and their leader, Master Belch. Ness went into Threed and ended their suffering. Once again, Ness has shown that he has pretty much everyone except himself on his mind.
Phew, that was a lot of work. Who knew that one character could embody so many different archetypes. I'm glad I didn't try to tackle every character in one article. Everyone would have stopped reading it by now. Well, I hope to continue this discussion of the ten positive male archetypes in a future article. Maybe I will do it tomorrow night... maybe next week. Who knows. But I have learned that articles take a lot more work than I thought. I now have a greater respect for those who churn out original articles every week. Next time I hope to talk about Jeff, and how he applies to the archetypes. Or maybe I will talk about something totally different. THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW.
Wow, I never realized how much work an article takes. To think, I actually had to do RESEARCH for this. In the end, I guess it's better that I contribute something to Starmen.net rather than just fester around making comments on the forums. So I thought I would delve deep into the realm of articles! (dramatic DUH DUH DUH follows.) So let's get to it!
An archetype is an idea or mode of thought derived from the experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious of an individual. Every coming of age story features some kind of archetypal figure. It should follow, then, that Earthbound also must have archetypes. Today I will focus mainly on the positive male archetypes that can be found in Earthbound. There are 10 positive archetypes of which I could focus on: the Pilgrim, Patriarch, King, Warrior, Magician, Wildman, Healer, Prophet, Trickster, and Lover. Since there is way too much to go over in one article, I thought I would do this by characters. So, for my first article, I figured the logical starting point is Ness.
Firstly, and most obviously, Ness plays the part of the Pilgrim. Ness is a searcher. His search is for hope, peace, and the wish to improve life. He searches for these things not only for himself, but for the whole of mankind. For this reason, Ness also falls under the category of King.
The King is the embodiment of male greatness. Trustworthy and wise, the King never lets his people down. And neither does Ness. He gets his instructions from a BEE fro crying out loud! And yet the human race can still rely on him to save them from some creature from the past looking to destroy them. The King is known to be one that follows people to places they don't want to go, but must go anyway. Of course, the argument could be made that Ness is not following but rather is being followed by Paula, Jeff, and Poo. In that sense, Jeff and Poo would be kings. But save that for another article. I think enough of the King's traits apply to Ness that he also fits into that category.
For Ness to be able to blindly traverse into any of these situations must mean that he has a great sense of bravery. Bravery isn't enough, however. Ness also had to have a sense of honor. These qualities apply to the Warrior, the next male archetype that fits Ness's personality. The warrior contrasts greatly with male greed and lack of humanitarian spirit. This is also true of Ness. Okay, so Ness steals the occasional hamburger from the trash. That doesn't make him greedy. Ness is one of the most selfless characters in all of video game history. All for the sake of saving people he didn't even know. Look at every town by the end of the game. Everyone knows Ness. He went through every town a warrior, out to rid towns of whatever ailed them. Ness is almost the physical embodiment of humanitarian spirit.
That humanitarian spirit doesn't just make Ness a warrior. It makes him a healer. The healer has the ability to bring wholeness to societies that are incomplete and suffering. Ness certainly does that. Look at Threed, a town of perpetual darkness. Ness fixes their suffering by removing the Zombie threat and their leader, Master Belch. Ness went into Threed and ended their suffering. Once again, Ness has shown that he has pretty much everyone except himself on his mind.
Phew, that was a lot of work. Who knew that one character could embody so many different archetypes. I'm glad I didn't try to tackle every character in one article. Everyone would have stopped reading it by now. Well, I hope to continue this discussion of the ten positive male archetypes in a future article. Maybe I will do it tomorrow night... maybe next week. Who knows. But I have learned that articles take a lot more work than I thought. I now have a greater respect for those who churn out original articles every week. Next time I hope to talk about Jeff, and how he applies to the archetypes. Or maybe I will talk about something totally different. THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW.
