Archetype

(1) Archetypes are universal themes that occur in all places, in all peoples, in all times. In the example of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, we can see many of these figures: The Wise Old Man -Gandolf, The Reluctant Hero -Frodo, The Shadow -Gollum, Wormtongue, the Wise Priestess -Queen Galadrial, The Warrior -Boromir, The Lovers -Aragorn and Erwen, The Trickster -Tom Bombadillo

 

(2) The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology defines archetypes as "primordial images and symbols found in the collective unconscious, which in contrast to the personal unconscious-gathers together and passes on the experiences of previous generations, preserving traces of humanity's evolutionary development over time,". Jung suggested that specific archetypes could be passed from "generation to generation," similar to biological traits.

See Extraversion, Introversion & Archetypes

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