Your Favorite Character Archetypes

[Slenn]

The title says it all. What are character archetypes in media that, for one reason or another, you enjoy? They can be characters from TV, movies, books, games, etc. They don't necessarily have to be types that you relate to, but you know for sure they entertain you.

For me there are a few:

The stalwart hero. - As Lorewalker Cho once said "Every good story needs a hero." Stories with such classic characters like Luke Skywalker always feel like good inspiration for me. They're not invincible, but they're determined towards their goals to make their world better. They fight the good fight and bring bravery and inspiration in a time of despair and chaos.

The bratty princess - This is such an odd type considering my own self. The best ones I've seen are in comedies like Princess Vi in Samurai Pizza Cats, or Princess Ayeka in Tenchi Muyo. On the outside they're kind and demure, but really they're whiny aristocratic brats. I guess it's because the irony in their characters that are entertaining for me. The aforementioned examples are well balanced enough that they're not overly annoying.

The bounty hunter or witty thief - The people that break all the rules, or at least some of them, to do good or evil are some of the more entertaining characters to watch for me. I suppose it's because I tend to follow rules and have been a goody two shoes for pretty much the whole of my life. So seeing someone that doesn't follow the rules, like Lupin III and his gang, are fun to watch because they're the polar opposite of my rule following mentality.

 

[Keoul]

The Broken Ace, a very talented individual with a whole heap of emotional baggage.
I just find them interesting I guess since there are a lot of those perfect hero types out there, happy family, great friends, found a significant other, beat the bad guy, life is perfect. I enjoy seeing those that despite being the hero and saving everyone, they themselves still got a lot of problems they gotta deal with.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Capable, well rounded women. The more powerful the better.

Motoko Kusanagi comes to mind.
Power Girl at least when she's in her own book.
Tifa Lockhart.
She-go.
Lady Kayura from Ronin Warriors.
Alice from the Resident Evil movies.

They don't have to be super capable, they don't have to be perfect, they just shouldn't so focused that they keep getting screwed over, and basically need rescuing, or they just can't seem to shine.
Humor, brains, beauty, power, skill all in good measure. Enough to be heroic, and a star in what ever medium they're in.
Not sure how much it makes sense, I guess.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

The mighty warrior who will not die. The guy who gets into fistfights with demonic horrors and comes back after youve surely decided he is dead, hes probably all kinds of fucked up and dragging his leg, but not dead. Guys like Conan the Barbarian or Grunt (That Mass Effect 3 moment was awesome) Whether its from the sheer defiance of wanting to go down with a fight, or because they are fighting for something greater than then, they will not stop, they will not lie down.

It seems to be pretty standard these days to have our heroes finding themselves in periods of lacking motivation, giving up hope and wanting to give up, and thats fine but thats not the only way to do character development. Sometimes I just want to read about a badass who just goes harder and gets madder when things get troublesome.

Brutal, pragmatic, and willing to work until they drop. Usually the flaws come in lacking sympathy and being kind of a jerk. But ive always found something inspiring about being a paragon of strength and determination.

 

[JoJo]

The old wise man who is incredibly skilled at martial arts but only does so in the most dire of situations. Usually some form of monk. When the old master starts cracking heads, you know shit has got serious.

Also, the mischievous urchin can be very amusing, if done right. An archetype that must be handled with care though, as if they end up a little too smart arse and/or helpless then they can easily fall into annoying rather than endearing territory.

 

[Zhukov]

The Loyal Sidekick. Think Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings. Also including the Simple Soldier as a subtype.

The Badass Tomboy. Think Vasquez from Aliens or Furiosa from Mad Max.

The Soft-Spoken Bruiser. Think basically any character played by Tom Hardy.

The Long-Suffering Straight Man. The one who has to put up with everyone else's bullshit.

The Sympathetic Villain. Basically, I love it when The Enemy have reasons and motivations beyond simply being, well, The Enemy.

 

[KenAri]

I like the enemy that's good at heart, and eventually ends up helping your team, if only distantly. Beatrix (FF9), Albel (SO3), that dude from the Avatar series, some of the Fire Emblem recruitable dudes. It's always interesting to see what story and character developments will finally cause them to flip. I don't think there are many struggles as great as forcing somebody to choose between their family and homeland loyalty versus their heart.

 

[Aerosteam]

I like the characters which are always happy and crack jokes even in times of danger. Bonus points if something tragic happens to them, fucks them up and are no longer that (which should happen late in the story, obviously).

 

[Eddie the head]

I've always liked the guy who is "not as bad as he thinks he is." The guy who says he's only in it "for the money" but when it comes down to it he's kind of heroic. Think Mat in The Wheel of Time books.

Also don't know what you might call it but the "Obi-Wan on the counsel." You know when there is a counsel and it's full of ass holes, but there's one nice guy. Like obviously Obi-Wan, but that one Guardian in Green lantern Ganthet? I want to say?

 

[Old Father Eternity]

Capable, well rounded women. The more powerful the better.

Wouldn't Balsa from Guardian of the Sacred Spirit also count.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I enjoy pretty much all of the 'dere' types, aside from yanderes, of course, I mean I'm not fucking suicidal.

Gimme a cute Tsundere (Taiiiiiiga) or snarky Kuudere any day...in part because I tend to exhibit tendencies from both, as have my past/current romantic interests.

It...it's not like I wanted to post in this thread or anything. B-b-baka!

 

[necromanzer52]

The lone wanderer. The character who wanders into someone else's story and ends up helping out for whatever reason. Then, when it's all over, they just walk off into the sunset.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The one who is feared by everyone, even his allies (Batman)

The foil to the serious guy (Nightwing, Wally West)

The "insane clown pussy" type character (Harley Quinn)

The irredeemably evil guy (Joker)

The empathetic villain (Harrison Wells, Karai)

The teacher's pet (Leonardo)

 

[J Tyran]

The character that struggles against their own nature, got some bad habits and unpleasant personality traits like a tendency towards violence or selfishness but that wants to do better and be better. Not the kind of "bad person come good", they never truly become "good" but they do their best and it leads to acts of kindness, generosity and compassion but then someone annoys them or greed/other desire gets the better of them and it undoes everything.

After all who is truly "good"? Someone born and made up that way? Raised that way? Or someone that knows they have faults and try their hardest even if they fall down almost as much.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The underdog.

The character of which everyone in the story's like, 'Oh yeah, that guy, pffft.', but then he goes and shows them up by being super awesome. Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon is a good example of that. It's a giant stereotypical wish fulfillment trope, but I love it.

 

[Childe]

The bartender in the dingy little bar in the side street back alley that used to be a famous adventurer or an old god, or some other super powerful person that's retired but helps the protagonist anyway. My favorite archtype character, i just forget the word to describe the above.

 

[laggyteabag]

I have always been a fan of the good guy turned bad archetype. Especially when you get to experience that character's fall. (ie Darth Vader, Lich King)

I am also a fan of the sassy sidekick, or witty rogue chracter (Sokka, Toph, Captain Reynolds, Han Solo). Just to inject a little humour into whatever I am watching.

 

[MiskWisk]

Throw in another vote for stalwart hero, the underdog and sympathetic villain.

Also, I have a guilty pleasure for juggernauts, the unstoppable moving walls who are the epitome of the unstoppable force. I think they just make great characters to read/watch even if the villainous ones don't get much character at all. They force characters in the story to stop and think which can be great fun.

I also have a fondness for "screw destiny" types. This comes about from my personal hatred of "destiny says so" narratives. Throwing everything down and saying "We had no choice" because of destiny or whatever reason the story has for people doing absolute bugger all to avoid the apocalypse is a major pet peeve and seeing characters and stories defy "fate" is always a thing I love to read.

Edit:

The bartender in the dingy little bar in the side street back alley that used to be a famous adventurer or an old god, or some other super powerful person that's retired but helps the protagonist anyway. My favorite archtype character, i just forget the word to describe the above.

I believe you mean the "Retired badass" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RetiredBadass].

 

[loa]

Subverted ones.
Like gon from hunter x hunter who is yer typical shallow dumb shonen upbeat main character at first.
Then he won't really mind being best friends with an assassin who rips peoples hearts out and almost turns into a villain because of how compassionate he is.
Or the king who starts out as a typical bad guy dbz-cell-clone and goes through such a rollercoaster of characterization that he turns into one of the most deep characters I have ever seen realized in shonen.

Then there's characters so random, you never quite know what they'll do next because they may or may not operate on a completely different set of unknowable orange and blue morality like andre from flora [http://floraverse.com/comic/flora/page/297/], kreia from kotor2, hisoka from hunter x hunter, the witch from spirited away, griffith from berserk or most monsters, aliens or mythological creatures that aren't just depicted as "grr imma eat ya! I am different, therefore I am evil!".
Star trek does that a lot.

 

[RariShyZealot]

The Storyteller; an unusual archetype, but I love those characters that tell you the facts of the world, most obviously WoW has this with Cho and Reshaad. I like them because they make me feel like the lore actually matter, since you know, the people that are in this world care, it makes me want to care.

I also like characters that put some kind of twist to tired archetypes. Think Rarity, she's your typical "popular girl", but has a lot more going on: She's an accomplished businesswoman, an artist, and a fan of noir detective stories.

Another favorite is the already mentioned "mighty warrior who will not die", I just love when characters never give up, even in the face of overwhelming injuries.

And last but buy no means least:

The Paladin!
You know, that one guy that just wants everything to be fine. When the world goes to hell, he keeps on that fading flicker of hope, he won't sell you out, he won't give up. When the time comes and the villain has nearly won and is gloating over the heroes' broken forms? That's when he stands up, staggering on broken legs, and announces that EVIL CANNOT GO UNPUNISHED!

*cough*

Sorry, I was "in the moment" there... Bit of a shame that that archetype is so rare though...
It does make me wonder what happened to that Paladin: The Redemption homebrew /tg/ was working on a while back...