Examples Of Archetypes In Star Wars A New Hope

George Lucas’s film Star Wars: A New Hope displays and follows the pattern of the hero’s journey as well as the implementation of various literary archetypes very well. All of Lucas’s characters represent an archetype and the plot line follows the hero’s journey. An archetype is defined as a prototype, a model or a classic example. In literature, archetypal characters are the “typical character patterns” you see. In Star Wars: A New Hope, you can clearly see these patterns. The main archetypes in the film are the hero, the sage, the damsel in distress, and the villain. Luke Skywalker is the obvious hero of the story as he leaves his home to go fight to save Princess Leia from Alderaan. Princess Leia is the damsel in distress and that becomes apparent when she sends the hologram message to Obi Wan exclaiming that she needs to be rescued. The message stated, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.” Obi Wan is the sage in the film. A sage is defined as a mentor or a respected elder and that is exactly what he is to Luke. Finally the villain …show more content…
The Hero’s Journey follows a sequence of events that usually have the “Hero” starting off in their ordinary world then being called to do a task that only they can complete and something out of the ordinary. The story usually continues with the hero leaving his ordinary world, completing the task with obstacles, and then returning home as a “Hero”. George Lucas does an outstanding job of incorporating the Hero’s Journey into Star Wars: A New Hope. The film starts out with the hero, Luke Skywalker, in his ordinary world living on a farm with his aunt and uncle. The hero gets the call to adventure to go save princess Leia. He then refuses the call and tries to return back home but finds his house has caught on fire. Luke then accepts the call and continues with the path of the Hero’s