📜Greek Mythology - Heroes & Villains

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

Troy's greatest defender who fought knowing his city would fall. Hector balanced the Knight's Honor with Discipline, fighting not for glory but for family and duty. His farewell to Andromache and Astyanax shows the Provider's heart beneath the warrior.

Key Moments

• Farewell to His Family: His tender moment with wife and infant son reveals the Provider—fighting to protect what he loves, not for conquest.
• Killing Patroclus: Slays Achilles' beloved companion in fair combat, sealing his own doom but fulfilling his duty as Troy's defender.
• Facing Achilles: Stands alone against the greatest warrior, choosing Honor over survival—the Knight accepting death rather than dishonor.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The demigod whose Twelve Labors made him legend, Hercules embodied raw Warrior strength tempered by suffering. His madness-induced murder of his family became the wound that drove his redemptive journey, transforming brute force into heroic service.

Key Moments

• The Twelve Labors: Each impossible task transforms the Challenger—confronting monsters external and internal, earning redemption through service.
• Killing His Family: Hera's madness reveals the Bully shadow—Strength without Compassion becomes destruction of what he loves most.
• Choosing Death on the Pyre: Poisoned by Nessus' cloak, he chooses to die by fire rather than suffer—the Warrior's final act of agency.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The greatest Greek warrior whose wrath defined the Trojan War. His near-invincibility masked a fatal flaw—pride that made him withdraw from battle over honor, costing countless lives. His passion for glory and rage at Hector revealed the Addict shadow consuming him.

Key Moments

• Withdrawing from Battle: When Agamemnon takes Briseis, Achilles' pride drives him to abandon his allies, showing how wounded confidence becomes destructive Hustler energy.
• Slaying Hector: Avenging Patroclus, he kills Hector and desecrates his body—Warrior strength twisted by grief into Bully shadow.
• Returning Hector's Body: Moved by Priam's plea, he shows rare Compassion, briefly integrating his Warrior with humanity.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

Commander of the Greek forces at Troy, Agamemnon embodied the shadow King. His Power lacked Vulnerability, making him a Tyrant who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia for favorable winds and stole Briseis from Achilles, prioritizing dominance over wisdom.

Key Moments

• Sacrificing Iphigenia: Kills his own daughter to appease the gods for war—Tyrant placing ambition above family and mercy.
• Taking Briseis: Strips Achilles of his prize to assert dominance, fracturing Greek unity and revealing the Hustler's need to win at all costs.
• Death by Clytemnestra: Murdered by his wife upon return—the Tyrant's karma, as those he wronged exact justice.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The Titan who devoured his own children to prevent prophecy, Cronus represents the ultimate Tyrant—Power without Vulnerability. His paranoid grip on control created the very rebellion he feared, as Zeus survived to overthrow him.

Key Moments

• Devouring His Children: Swallows each newborn god to maintain power—the Tyrant consuming the future to preserve his reign.
• Castrating Uranus: Overthrows his own father violently, establishing the cycle of patricide he would later suffer.
• Overthrown by Zeus: Despite all precautions, falls to his son—proving that tyranny sows its own destruction.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The sorceress who mastered dark arts for love, then weaponized them in betrayal. Medea embodies the Alchemist shadow—Knowledge without Reverence, Mastery corrupted by obsession. Her murder of her own children to punish Jason shows Passion without Presence becoming annihilation.

Key Moments

• Helping Jason Win the Fleece: Uses her magic to secure his victory—the Alchemist's power in service of love, before corruption.
• Murdering Her Children: Kills her own sons to wound Jason—Passion twisted into the ultimate Addict destruction, consuming what she created.
• Escaping on the Dragon Chariot: Flees beyond justice on her grandfather's chariot—the Manipulator escaping consequences through power.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

Leader of the Argonauts who won the Golden Fleece but lost his soul to ambition. Jason's Confidence became the Hustler shadow when he abandoned Medea for political advantage, proving that Charm without Devotion destroys all it touches.

Key Moments

• Winning the Golden Fleece: The Explorer's triumph—leading heroes through impossible trials with courage and cunning, earning glory.
• Betraying Medea: Abandons the woman who sacrificed everything for him to marry a princess—Seducer shadow, Charm without Devotion.
• Death Under the Argo: Killed by the rotting prow of his own ship—a fitting end for one whose glory decayed through betrayal.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The slayer of Medusa who rescued Andromeda, Perseus exemplifies the integrated Warrior. His Strength served Compassion—saving others rather than seeking glory. Guided by divine gifts and his own courage, he fulfilled his quest without losing his humanity.

Key Moments

• Slaying Medusa: Uses divine gifts wisely to kill the Gorgon—Discipline and cunning in service of the quest.
• Rescuing Andromeda: Saves the princess from the sea monster—Strength protecting the innocent, Honor in action.
• Refusing to Become Tyrant: Gives Medusa's head to Athena rather than keeping its power—wisdom over ambition.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The king condemned to eternal hunger and thirst in Hades, Tantalus represents Receptivity without Generosity—the Mooch shadow. He stole from the gods and served his son as food, taking everything and giving nothing but horror. His punishment mirrors his crime: forever reaching for what he cannot have.

Key Moments

• Stealing Ambrosia: Takes divine food to share with mortals, or keep for himself—Receptivity twisted into theft.
• Serving Pelops: Murders and cooks his own son to test the gods—the ultimate corruption, consuming what should be protected.
• Eternal Punishment: Stands in water that recedes, beneath fruit that withdraws—the Mooch forever denied, the Addict never satisfied.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The Athenian hero who slew the Minotaur and united Athens, Theseus embodied the civilizing Warrior-King. His strength brought order from chaos, defeating monsters and establishing just rule. Yet his treatment of Ariadne and his father's death reveal the shadow of Power without full Vulnerability.

Key Moments

• Slaying the Minotaur: Enters the Labyrinth and destroys the monster—Warrior Strength bringing light to darkness.
• Uniting Athens: Consolidates Attica under one rule—the King bringing order and civilization from chaos.
• Forgetting the Sails: His carelessness causes his father's suicide—Power without attentiveness, the cost of heroic self-focus.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection, Narcissus is the archetypal shadow of Self-Worth without Agape. Unable to love others, he wasted away gazing at himself—the Caregiver inverted, giving nothing while demanding everything.

Key Moments

• Rejecting Echo: Cruelly dismisses the nymph who loves him—Self-Worth calcified into contempt for others.
• Falling for His Reflection: Becomes entranced by his own image in the pool—the Narcissist trapped in self-obsession.
• Wasting Away: Dies unable to leave his reflection—the Hermit shadow, isolation as self-destruction.

Archetypes

Pillar Virtues

Character Arc

The cunning king whose decade-long journey home tests every aspect of manhood. Odysseus embodies the tension between Wanderlust and Belonging—his cleverness saves him repeatedly, but his pride extends his suffering. He must learn that coming home requires becoming worthy of home.

Key Moments

• The Trojan Horse: His cunning wins the war, establishing him as the ultimate strategist
• Blinding Polyphemus: Clever escape undermined by proud boasting, the Trickster's fatal flaw
• Returning as a Beggar: Humbles himself to reclaim his home, Wanderlust finally yielding to Belonging