Fairytale Origins: Heroes And Villains

Embark on a spellbinding journey into the enchanting world of Fairytale Origins: Heroes and Villains. Uncover the untold stories behind your favorite fairytales as you delve into the rich history of iconic heroes and infamous villains. This captivating collection takes you deep into the origins of these timeless characters, revealing their hidden layers and intricate backstories.

Transcript

The Rogue Hero Many of the main characters in fairy tales are morally dubious and will steal or obtain their goals,

While they frequently steal just to enrich themselves.

They do it occasionally when it serves a greater good.

However,

One should keep in mind that there was a time when lying and trickery were deemed appropriate in some situations.

Rogues,

Bandits and thieves were also sometimes celebrated as folk heroes despite the fact that they were apprehended and executed.

Some examples of rogue heroes are Aladdin,

Robin Hood and Pussy Boots.

We do not always approve their actions,

But when they steal or lie to survive or to help people in need,

We can look their actions through our fingers.

The Outcast Hero These are heroes who have either been expelled from society altogether or who have slipped through the societal gaps.

In German fairy tales,

Outcast heroes are often tailors.

As a result of the industrial revolution,

Machines started to take tailor's occupations.

The most frequent representative of this archetype is the poor soldier or a veteran.

Veterans are left destitute and unprepared for life after the war.

Veterans and recent college graduates could fill many of these roles in the modern day.

The Valiant Little Tailor There's the tale of one of these poor tailors who uses trickery and cleverness to defeat giants and unicorns so that he can marry the king's daughter.

Character archetypes are universal,

Mythic characters that reside in the collective consciousness of all people across the world.

According to psychologist Carl Gustav Jung,

Archetypes represent fundamental human values and motives.

We can find all kinds of character archetypes from traditional fairy tales such as the hero,

Villain,

Monster,

The innocent,

The caregiver,

Damsel in distress and the trickster.

In the past both men and women told fairy tales.

They were told for both children and adults for entertainment but also as moral lessons.

Even a good storyteller was often a respected character in their community.

Despite the fact that both men and women told fairy tales,

It does seem that princess fairy tales were the most popular ones.

Why this is the case?

For thousands of years woman's position and her value as a human was acknowledged.

Here are some of the most common character archetypes.

Hard-working hero Many fairy tale heroes achieve prosperity through hard work rather than intellect,

Strength,

Luck or fate.

Even when fairies or other magical creatures give these heroes money,

It's because they earned it or because they were kind to the magical creature.

Best known of the hard-working hero is probably Cinderella.

Despite of the hardships that she goes through,

She still has faith in herself and eventually her desires are being manifested in the shape of the fairy godmother.

Villains Fairy tales are the source of every vampire,

Fairy or ghost story that has ever made us fear.

Many of our most memorable villains come from fairy tales and the stories that were inspired by them,

From the infamous Disney villains to the horrifying creatures of grisly horrors or the dark lords like He Who Shall Not Be Named from Harry Potter,

A name that also closely resembles the fear of mentioning certain evils and dangers of the world from fairy lore.

Peasants who had limited resources to combat evil told their stories in fairy tales.

They could do little to ward off disease or stop a famine,

And they had no power to influence the whims of the monarchs and nobles who controlled their life.

Perhaps because of this,

Heroes in fairy tales had to rely on cunning deception,

Good fortune,

Perseverance,

Generosity and the assistance of supernatural beings to beat their foes rather than welding swords.

As was the case with heroes in mythology.

The reason why giants,

Dragons,

Bad stepmothers and even the devil are so terrifying is because the protagonist is often helpless when they face them.

The wolf in A Little Red Riding Hood may have eaten the main character.

His true motivations were to corrupt and emotionally devastate her.

He doesn't always just eat her there in the wilderness,

As in many of the stories.

No,

After devouring Little Red's grandma,

He disguises himself and forces her to consume her grandmother's flesh and drink her blood.

The Deceived Villain A villain who is frequently larger than life and whom the hero defeats through deceit,

Exploiting their conceit,

Greed or evil.

These are kings,

Lords and formidable magicians who seem invincible but occasionally commit baffling mistakes.

In the fairy tale Puss in Boots,

Cat is able to deceive an ogre who serves as the ruler of a realm.

By acting as though the monster cannot transform into a mouse,

Puss being Cat immediately devours the ogre after he transforms into a mouse.

To demonstrate his power,

Because the ogre is angered by Cat's low opinion of him.

Giants frequently fit into this category,

Since in many stories their sole purpose is to deceive the protagonist.

In an interesting comic story,

The Tsar of Russia is tricked by a villain who is made to believe that one of his family members murdered his grandmother in order to force the Tsar to make amends.

As this final tale demonstrates,

Deceitful villains frequently appear in fairy tales as a method for the audience to laugh and make fun of the things they treat and the people in authority.

The Devil Devils offer people something they want in exchange for something magical and slightly dangerous.

Devils are transparent about their motivations,

They are upfront about what they expect in exchange for the character's assistance.

This implies that the characters in stories involving devils are always attempting to figure out how to break out of the agreement they have just made.

We can find the evil stepmother archetype from several fairy tales such as Hamsel and Gretel,

Snow White and Cinderella.

Many of these villains,

Like the evil stepmother,

Pretend to be wanting,

For example,

A kind wife to the outsiders,

But ends up being something completely different.

However,

They frequently unintentionally give the protagonist a gift.

Since one of the main ingredients for success in the realm of fairy tales is hard work,

The protagonist is set up for success when the domestic witch or evil stepmother makes them work non-stop.

The False Donor Of all the villains,

The false donor is probably the most entertaining.

They are a trickster figure,

Like the cunning fox in The Gingerbread Man,

Who tricks the gingerbread man into riding on his head so he can devour him,

Or Rumpelstiltskin,

Who helps a poor girl so he can steal her baby.

This category includes a lot of vampires and other similar characters.

At some point of the story,

The false donor will use the people's desires against them,

Tricking them into making a deal so that the false donor can obtain a quality to themselves or an object that they desire.

We have a tendency to adore cunning villains and their cunning moments because they allow for some really fascinating character acts.

This may be the reason why so many Disney villains are false donors,

Such as Ursula and Dr.

Facilier,

And they have the best music.

The viewer doesn't have to be able to see the villains' nuanced emotions in order to enjoy or respect them frequently,

In spite of the fact that one of the most well-known villains,

Rumpelstiltskin,

Is difficult to understand why he does what he does.

Many people adore him.

False donor can have several different motives to drive them.

Youth and beauty,

Wealth and respect,

And sometimes it's all about pure revenge.

The Rude and Lazy Villain These villains are bullies more than purely evil villains.

The purpose of the rude and lazy villain is to act as a contrast to the protagonist's qualities to show how good the protagonist is.

In stories like Cinderella,

The wicked stepsisters are likely lazy bullies,

Whereas Cinderella is beautiful and hardworking.

Evil villains sometimes assign heroes unrealistic or excessive amounts of work,

Because these stories frequently feature heroes who must prevail by doing menial tasks.

In the Slavic folktale Vasilisa the Beautiful,

Vasilisa is sent to work for the evil witch Baba Yaga.

Vasilisa's stepmother and stepdaughters secretly wish that Baba Yaga would eat the girl.

Vasilisa,

However,

Manages to win over the respect of Baba Yaga,

And as a reward she helps her to gain better position in the society and to get rid of her stepmother and the evil stepsisters.

The Helpful Trickster A trickster figure who aids another person in finding success through trickery,

Such as the cat from Puss in Boots who helped a young man become wealthy by tricking a king and an ogre.

These characters are often fairies or familiar spirits,

Just as Puss in Boots resembles the idea of a house fairy or a familiar spirit that were frequently passed down from parent to child.

Rampaging Villain Wild,

Outrageous rampaging villains might be frightful,

Amusing,

Or the starting point of a wonderful adventure story.

Consider Cruella de Vil,

Who drives a raft like crazy,

Slaps her dim-witted henchmen and acts in a manner that is so evil it's comical.

This is not to argue that all rogue baddies are amusing.

Werewolves that tear apart villagers' residences are not amusing.

Rampaging villains have the potential to be the most frightening of all villain archetypes due to their capacity for causing vandal damage and ruthless murders.

Vampires were commonly this type of villain.

They would slaughter villages and those they would kill.

Our last category is Helpers Most,

If not all,

Successful fairytale characters receive assistance from others.

A magical creature,

An animal spirit,

A fairy godmother,

A wizard or a witch are frequent examples of this someone.

A lot of the supporting characters in fairy tales are fairies or benevolent spirits.

Fairies were sometimes seen as symbols of hope,

A route out of a dreary existence,

Or a means of surviving the harsh world in which humans once lived.

Fairies are the illusions of the dispossessed.

They are not from a wealthy or privileged background.

They originate from the pits of suffering.

People whose existence is a constant struggle for survival are suddenly burdened with one additional responsibility.

A fairytale involves hitting the rock bottom.

This image sparkled the notion that,

Like in many fairytales,

Magical beings or affluent individuals may appear and offer assistance.

The Donor The donor is a magical person who counsels the hero or provides them magical items.

This frequently happens when the protagonist is kind to them.

Both Merlin and Odin were well-known donors because they counseled heroes disguising themselves as ordinary men.

The Grateful Helper Someone who the hero helps.

In return,

The Grateful Helper will come and help the hero when they need it the most.

This is often an animal whom the hero either helps or whose life they spare.

This can also include different fairies,

As they frequently needed human help.

In the fairy tale of Snow White,

It is the forest animals who help to guide Snow White to the cabin of the Seven Dwarfs.

This connection that Snow White has with the animals reflects her good heart because the animals are able to trust her and are willing to help her.