Structurally speaking, it is always the end of a story—its Climactic Moment—that tells us what it is about. The Climactic Moment ends the external plot by telling us who “wins.” But it also, implicitly, ends the protagonist’s arc by showing us whether the character succeeded in arcing positively and helping others to do the same, or if the character failed to overcome inner challenges and “level up.” This also holds true within the overarching cycle of archetypal character arcs, which can be seen to make up the “story structure” of a human life.

The Mage Arc is the final moment in the story. It is the Climactic Moment, and as such it tells what the overall story of a single life has been about. Will the character complete the final arc positively, die a “good death,” and leave a powerful legacy to the descendants? Or will the character succumb in the end to the powerful temptations and struggles of either of the potential negative shadow archetypes—the Miser or the Sorcerer? The Miser, of course, represents the passive polarity within the Mage’s shadow; the Sorcerer represents the aggressive polarity.

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette (affiliate link)

If we think (rightfully) that the challenges of the Maiden and Hero Arcs are hard, these challenges look small indeed in comparison to the stakes of the Mage Arc. There is a reason so few people reach this arc much less fulfill it. As Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette point out in King, Warrior, Magician, Lover:

It is enormously difficult for a human being to develop to full potential.

The good news for the Mage, however, is that by this point in his long and full life, he has gained a treasure trove of resources. He could not have advanced so far had he not proven himself strong enough to push through previous arcs and learn at least some of their lessons.

Moore and Gillette remind us of the deep skill set available to the true Mage:

The energies of the Magician archetype, wherever and whenever we encounter them, are twofold. The Magician is the knower and he is the master of technology. Furthermore, the man who is guided by the power of the Magician is able to fulfill these Magician functions in part by his use of ritual initiatory process. He is the “ritual elder” who guides the processes of transformation, both within and without.

Writing Archetypal Character Arcs (affiliate link)

But, as always, whether or not the Mage will fulfill a beneficial role in relationship to society is a choice. And depending in large part on how well he managed the resources won in his previous arcs, he may find himself prone to slipping into his negative forms as either a reclusive and selfish Miser who hordes his life’s wisdom or a megalomaniacal despot who not only has the power to rule (as does a Tyrant) but also the power to obscenely manipulate others via his deep understanding of reality.

The heart of a positive Mage Arc is the ability to surrender not just power, but ultimately life itself. If he cannot master this, he will forfeit his responsibilities of guiding and initiating the young and end instead by trying to control the fate of the Kingdom according to his personal pleasure.

Once again with our series-wide reminder: The arcs and their related archetypes are alternately characterized as feminine and masculine. This is primarily indicating the ebb and flow between integration and individuation, among other qualities. Together all six primary life arcs create a progression that can be found in any human life (provided we complete our early arcs in order to reach the later arcs with a proper foundation). In short, although I will use feminine pronouns in relation to the feminine arcs and masculine pronouns in relation to the masculine arcs, archetypal representations within these journeys can be of any gender.

The Miser: A Passive Hoarding of Power

As a natural progression of the Crone’s passive counter-archetype of Hermit, the Miser is one who has not overcome the Third Act’s central challenge of relinquishing bitterness over his fate. His bitterness has only grown with the years, and he sees himself as unjustly “banished” from the Kingdom in spite of his long years of good service. He has evolved from being antisocial to being truly misanthropic. He disdains society and therefore young life itself, believing no one is any longer worthy of him and his gifts.

Although he may feel a deep and personal bitterness that he should be so treated, in actuality his fate is probably not specifically worse than anyone else’s at this stage in life. Whether he realizes it or not, what he is really angry about is the fact of his own mortality. He has amassed so much wisdom and power; he has done so “well” at life. And yet he will not be able to buy off Death in the end.

And so he “punishes” the Kingdom—which is always in desperate need of healthy Elders and Mentors—by withdrawing and hoarding everything he has spent his life to gain.

Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss (affiliate link)

In Sacred Contracts, Caroline Myss talks generally about the Miser archetype (i.e., not just specifically as the counter-archetype of the Mage):

The … Miser creates wealth by hoarding money and emotions at the expense of others, and refusing to share them. Although the desire to earn a living or become wealthy is not negative, this archetype also represents a need to control the forces around you for fear of losing your wealth.

The Miser’s Potential Arcs: Positive and Negative

The Miser can be seen to represent the foundational trial of the Mage Arc: the need to surrender. As Yoda, one of our culture’s most popular Mage characters, says:

You must give up everything you fear to lose.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005), 20th Century Fox.

If a Miser can learn to do this, he still has the opportunity to return to center as a healthy Mage and complete his final arc in a positive and life-giving way (literally). As ever, the shadow versions of a positive archetype are always present within the arcs. The passive archetype is active in the First Act of any specific arc, at the point when the protagonist is wrestling with the Call to Adventure and deciding whether he can overcome his own passive and cowardly tendencies in order to take one more journey of the soul.

Archetypally, the Mage/Mentor character is often seen to be either roaming about the Kingdom on his own (like Mary Poppins), or still more or less living in the Crone’s hut (like Yoda). Although he has somewhat reintegrated with the Kingdom in his previous arc, he is still separate from it. He lives in the liminal space of Elderhood, no longer enmeshed in the wheels of commerce and survival, although still interacting with it.

Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Pictures.

The Mage’s challenge arrives when the Kingdom comes under a supernatural threat (or a natural threat that only the Mage recognizes as also having a supernatural aspect), which requires him to embark on one last mission to mentor the young. If he chooses to accept that challenge, he will rise out of the temptation of the Miser and advance positively.

If he does not, he may remain the Miser by turning his back on the Kingdom and passively enabling its ultimate destruction (which, less symbolically, is always the result even if all he’s refusing is to initiate the young).

Worse yet, he may indeed yet rise up into his full power—only to egoically turn it upon his own Kingdom. Instead of acting the Mentor and using his great power to help the Kingdom learn to fight its battles and continue the life cycle, he instead seizes the Kingdom and its inhabitants as playthings by right of his own power.

The Sorcerer: An Aggressive Abuse of Power

As the final positive arc, the Mage’s journey is not about “gaining” anything, as in previous arcs. It is entirely about “letting go.” But if he refuses to let go and instead seeks to keep gaining power, he soon finds himself in the excessive and aggressive form of his shadow archetype—the Sorcerer.

The Hero Within by Carol S. Pearson (affiliate link)

In The Hero Within, Carol Pearson cautions:

Too much Magician, and we lack any sense of limits: we think we can transform everyone and everything.

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. LeGuin (affiliate link)

Like the Mage, the Sorcerer’s final antagonist is that of Death itself. But in seeking to have “power over life,” he becomes instead possessed by the death-force, as Pearson describes in her commentary of Ursula K. LeGuin’s fantasy The Farthest Shore (adapted, in part, into Studio Ghibli’s Tales of Earthsea film):

[The Mage Sparrowhawk] explains that what has caused [the Kingdom to become possessed by death’s shadow] is that people desire “power over life,” which he calls “greed.” The only power worth having, he notes, is not “power over,” but “power to” accept life, to allow it in. The desire to control life and death in order to attain immortality creates a void within and throws the cosmos out of balance. Sparrowhawk explains to [the Sorcerer] Cob that “Not all the songs of earth, not all the stars of heaven could fill your emptiness,” for Cob, in going for “power over,” has lost himself and his true name. Magicians, then, give up the illusion of control to allow life in themselves and in others. When they do so, they right the balance of the universe.

Tales of Earthsea (2006), Studio Ghibli.

Our other great fantasies of the age also offer us this same powerful contrast between the life-giving balance of the true Mage and the selfish destruction of the Sorcerer. We see Yoda contrasting Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, Dumbledore contrasting Voldemort in Harry Potter, and perhaps most precisely Gandalf contrasting Saruman in Lord of the Rings. The latter characters are all death-dealers, determined to amass dark power to themselves at the cost of “lesser” beings.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema.

Myss notes that the shadow sides of the Mage are found in:

…the misuse of the power and knowledge that comes through them. Seduction and trickery brought about through magic and wizardry play on the desires of many people to transform their lives.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell (affiliate link)

This emphasizes the point that the Sorcerer not only coerces submission from the Kingdom through his actual power, but he also convinces people to willingly follow his wishes by seducing them into their own shadow archetypes. In The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell references Goethe’s famous “devil” character:

Goethe presents the masculine guide in Faust as Mephistopheles—and not infrequently the dangerous aspect of the “mercurial” figure is stressed; for he is the lurer of the innocent soul into realms of trial.

Faust (1926), MGM.

The Sorcerer’s Potential Arcs: Positive and Negative

In many ways, the Sorcerer represents the ultimate “low” to which a human being can fall. If he truly embodies this archetype (or, in the potent phrase, is truly “possessed” by this archetype), he is unlikely to find within himself the ability to return to the light. Indeed, he will probably find it difficult to find within himself the desire to return to the light.

In part because he has advanced so far in his dark power, and also in part because his time on earth is running out, he has little to no chance of returning to a final positive arc. Only if, miraculously, he can return to what Pearson describes (below) will he be able to reclaim a glimmer of light:

Magicians, believing that nothing essential ever is lost, may welcome the organic and gentle letting go of the old to make way for new growth, new life.

But neither is he likely to arc negatively—because, again, he’s out of time. At worst, his story is likely to end with the total destruction of the Kingdom and himself with it. At best, he will either destroy himself through his own hubristic overreach, or the Heroes, Queens, Kings, and Mages will rise up to overthrow him.

The cycle of life wants always to continue. Even if a terrible Sorcerer rises up, wields great power, and does everything he can (whether consciously or unconsciously) to destroy that cycle by breaking out of his own sacred role of Mage and Mentor, new life and new growth will return to the Kingdom once more—like new green grass after a bitter winter.

Key Points of the Mage’s Regressive Archetypes

For easy reference and comparison, I will be sharing some scannable summations of each arc’s key points:

Passive Shadow Archetype: Miser is Selfish (to protect from consequences of Enlightenment)

Aggressive Shadow Archetype: Sorcerer is Evil (aggressive use of Enlightenment)

Positive Mage Arc: Sage to Saint (Liminal World to Yonder World)

Mage’s Story: A Mission.

Mage’s Symbolic Setting: Cosmos

Mage’s Lie vs. Truth: Attachment vs. Transcendence

“Love must protect others from the journey of life.” versus “True love is transcendent and allows life to unfold.”

Mage’s Initial Motto: “I, the knowing.”

Mage’s Archetypal Antagonist: Evil

Mage’s Relationship to Own Negative Shadow Archetypes:

Either Miser finally opens himself up through his Wisdom to gain Transcendence.

Or Sorcerer learns to surrender his worldly wisdom in exchange for true Transcendence.

Examples of the Miser and Sorcerer Archetypes

Examples of the Miser and Sorcerer archetypes include the following. Click on the links for available structural analyses.

Miser

• Grendel’s mother in Beowulf
• Scrooge in (the beginning of) A Christmas Carol
• Louis Renault in Casablanca
• Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol
• Ebenezer Balfour in Kidnapped
• Mr. Casby in Little Dorrit

A Christmas Carol (1984), CBS; Kidnapped (1995), Hallmark Entertainment; Little Dorrit (2008), BBC / WGBH Boston; Casablanca (1942), Warner Bros; The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Walt Disney Pictures.

 Sorcerer

• Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty
• Jadis the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Saruman the White in The Lord of the Rings
• Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars
• Mr. Tulkinghorn in Bleak House
• John Hammond in Jurassic Park
• Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (among others)
• Kang the Conqueror in Loki
• AUTO in Wall-E

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Warner Bros; Loki (2021), Marvel Studios; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema; Wall-E (2008), Walt Disney Pictures; Bleak House (2005), BBC Television; Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), 20th Century Fox.

Stay Tuned: Next week, we will begin the final part of the series with an introduction to the flat or “resting” archetypes.

Related Posts:

• Story Theory and the Quest for Meaning
• An Introduction to Archetypal Stories
• Archetypal Character Arcs: A New Series
  • The Maiden Arc
  • The Hero Arc
  • The Queen Arc
  • The King Arc
  • The Crone Arc
  • The Mage Arc
• Introduction to the 12 Negative Archetypes
  • The Maiden’s Shadow Archetypes
  • The Hero’s Shadow Archetypes
  • The Queen’s Shadow Archetypes
  • The King’s Shadow Archetypes
  • The Crone’s Shadow Archetypes

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Can you think of any further examples of stories that feature either the Miser or the Sorcerer? Tell me in the comments!

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