An archetype, in the sense used here, is a recurring character pattern used to compare figures across traditions. It is a tool of comparison rather than an object of belief: a way of noticing that the trickster of one mythology plays a role recognisably like the trickster of another.
The twelve archetypes in this category (the Innocent, Orphan, Hero, Caregiver, Explorer, Rebel, Lover, Creator, Jester, Sage, Magician and Ruler), follow the framework Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson set out in 2001, grouped into the Ego, Soul and Self types. The idea of the archetype itself comes from Carl Jung, who proposed archetypes as structures of a shared unconscious expressed in myth, dream and religion; it has been influential in comparative mythology, notably through Joseph Campbell, and also widely criticised as too loose to test.