A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity who exists in a work of art. The process of conveying information about characters in fiction is called characterisation. Characters may be entirely fictional or based on real, historical entities. Characters may be human, supernatural, mythical, divine, animal, or personifications of an abstraction.

Archetypes

A character may be based on a particular archetype, which is a common characterological pattern like those listed below. Jungian archetypes are modeled after mythology, legend, and folk tales. For example, both Puck from the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bugs Bunny are examples of the Jungian trickster archetype because they defy established standards of behavior. When defined by literary criticism, archetypes fulfill a particular role in a story.

Though Carl Jung, identifed the first archetypes based on story patterns in 1919,The Emergence of Archetypes in Present-Day Science And Its Significance for a Contemporary Philosophy of Nature by Charles Card on the Compiler Press Complete World Copyright Website, authors like Joseph CampbellJoseph Campbell Biography and James Hillman continued the work he'd begun. Other authors have reorganized the information, often blending Jungian archetypes or recognizing sub-archetypes within Jung's structure. These authors include Christopher Vogler, best known for his book The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers, and Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley, whose DramaticaDramatica: A New Theory of Story by Fourth Edition, Screenplay Systems Incorporated, 2001, online @ dramatica.com; Tenth Anniversary Edition, Write Brothers, Inc., 2004, ISBN 091897304X defines seven different archetypes defined by their "Action" and "Decision" characteristics:

• Driver Characters:
• Protagonist: "... the driver of the story: the one who forces the action." Defined by "Pursue" and "Consideration" characteristics.
• Jungian equivalent: Hero
• Antagonist: "... the character directly opposed to the Protagonist." "Prevent" & "Re-consideration".
• Jungian equivalent: Shadow and Villain
• Guardian: "... a teacher or helper who aids the Protagonist..." "Help" & "Conscience"
• Jungian equivalent: Wise Old Man or Wise Old Woman, also sometimes referred to collectively as The Mentor
• Passenger Characters
• Reason: "... makes its decisions and takes action on the basis of logic..." "Control" & "Logic"
• Emotion: "... responds with its feelings without thinking..." "Uncontrolled" & "Feeling"
• Sidekick: "... unfailing in its loyalty and support." "Support" & "Faith".
• Skeptic: "... doubts everything..." "Oppose" & "Disbelief"
• Jung's Trickster archetype often overlaps here, since its purpose is to question and rebel against the established way of doing things