The Role Archetypes series is focused on presenting archetypal character roles in a way that focuses on their development throughout stories, with a particular eye to games (although most of the examples given will be taken from literature).
Today we're going to talk about the Shapeshifter, the eighth of ten roles we'll explore. This is the second part of the overview of the Shapeshifter; the first can be found here.
Derivative Forms
I'm not going to go into too much detail with derivative forms with the Shapeshifter because it is not necessarily productive to do so. The Shapeshifter rarely exists as a pure archetype, and as a result is often simply applied to a character whose nature leads them to change value. For instance, a Mentor who turns out to secretly be a Serpent figure is a Shapeshifter, but they are not necessarily a special type of Shapeshifter.
It is important to consider, however, that the Shapeshifter does have two potential broad variants: the positive of redemption and the negative of deception.
These have a very different role in telling stories. Redemption is used when the author wants to present an optimistic tone, but also to reflect the Hero's Journey. A Shapeshifter who goes from the Villain to an Ally when the Hero confronts the Serpent can be a reflection of an author's desire to show that there is room to grow and develop, a confirmation of the fundamental precept of the Hero's Journey.
This is associated with positive chaos; an archetypal concept associated with the bride who can bear children, the mother who knows secrets that the child has yet to learn. The princess who the knight must rescue is an example of this positive chaos taking on a physical form in stories, though the trope is more frequently deconstructed than played straight in this day and age.
The counterpart, a Shapeshifter who goes from a positive value (in the eyes of the Hero and the audience) to a negative one represents the negative element of chaos. The straying wife who betrays a husband, or the temptress who can lead a Hero astray, is a manifestation of this sort of character. They are unknown, but the unknown present in them is danger to the Hero, and can jeopardize the Hero's Journey at its core.
It's worth noting that a Shapeshifter rarely changes roles within the same value structure. You might have a character who serves as a Mentor and an Ally, but this is exceedingly rare and actually can jeopardize some of the message and meaning of a story (the Mentor in such a case tends to overshadow the Hero, as a sort of mature but senescent Hero themselves, can hijack the Hero's Journey).
It is also necessary for the deeper meaning of the Shapeshifter to be hidden. A character whose motives are clear, but whose role changes, is not necessarily a Shapeshifter. Shapeshifters are often not fully in control of themselves (I think of Lando in Star Wars Episode V as an example of this) and come into their own. Alternatively, they may be very self-driven, but suffer a loss of confidence or capability that leads them to change; the latter is more common for the negative transformation and the former is more common for a positive transformation, but this is not a hard and fast rule.
This doesn't mean that the Shapeshifter has to be universally hidden, however. Merely obscuring the Shapeshifter's nature from the audience or from the characters is sufficient. With this said, it is generally not possible to obscure the fact that a character is a Shapeshifter from the audience while revealing it to the characters on which a work focuses; if Gandalf knows Boromir has a secret burning desire for the Ring, this does not necessarily mean that the audience must, because the audience is concerned primarily with Frodo and Aragorn and has not seen into the mind of either Gandalf or Boromir.
The protagonist is also not usually a Shapeshifter. It is theoretically possible, but rather rare; the Hero has a transformative process at their core, so it is entirely possible that a Hero may break free of the Serpent's influence and turn from evil to good over the course of a story, but this is a redemption caused by the responsibilities of the Hero figure rather than the mercurial underpinnings that align with the Shapeshifter.
Application in Games
Shapeshifters are one of my favorite storytelling tools in games.
Having someone who turns out to be something other what they seem at first is a great dramatic driver at any stage of a game; Borderlands 2 presents Angel, for instance, who turns out to be Handsome Jack's daughter rather than the AI that she initially claims to be.
This works well as a transition mark between the second and third acts of the game; as the stakes raise and the conflict between the player and Jack reach their peak, it marks a change from what we have known so far to what we will have to face going forward, and it gives a great little kick in the pants to the plot. The shift in Angel's alignment actually marks the transition between the first and second Act as well; she appears to be an Ally, then a Villain figure, then an Ally figure again.
This sort of recurring loyalty change (or at least perceived loyalty change) is emblematic of the Shapeshifter, though Borderlands doesn't necessarily go full-force in providing Angel an adversarial role, since she is a more minor character up until the final revelation that she is Jack's daughter and her death.
It's worth noting that there's something of a gray area here. GLADoS in Portal, for instance, is probably not a Shapeshifter because her malevolence becomes clear fairly early on through a sort of Kafka-esque moment.
The original Deus Ex has a great moment with JC Denton's brother Paul, who defects from UNATCO, but he is probably not a Shapeshifter in form because he remains at least theoretically aligned with the player's agenda despite this.
The challenge with a Shapeshifter in games is that they're difficult to pull off successfully because they can infuriate the player.
To use a Shapeshifter character well when shaping a narrative, the player must be invested in them. Not every betrayal marks a Shapeshifter, so a figure like Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic who is enigmatic is perhaps a better archetype of the Shapeshifter because she occupies a role both as a Mentor/Ally and as a Villain/Serpent figure at different points in the storyline.
For comparison, someone like the other UNATCO agents who hunt JC Denton after the truth about UNATCO is revealed to him does not count as a Shapeshifter, because their loyalty hasn't changed: the Hero's has.
Wrapping Up
The Shapeshifter is a role archetype that is difficult to pin down by definition. Because it exists primarily as a distinct entity that is formed from the transitional state between two of the different archetypes, it is one that requires particular concern to develop fully.
The writer attempting to bring a Shapeshifter figure into the story must consider the difficulties that come with making sure that they come to fruition. It is not enough to create someone who turns sides, they must have a meaningful role in three different archetypes (at least): their first, their transitional role as a Shapeshifter, and in the archetype which the result of that transition. They may continue to change sides, if the Shapeshifter is their defining trait, but they need to be developed in each of the role that they are in to be a particularly distinctive character: they can be washed out by lack of definition otherwise.
Navigation
Introduction and Overview
Previous Entry: The Shapeshifter Part 1: Derivative Forms and Application
Next Entry: The Outsider