“Holy Allyship, Batman!” 6 Types of Ally Archetype and How They Can Support Their Own Story
Characters drive all stories. Archetypes stop you from driving your story off a cliff. The storytelling landscape is, however, changing. If the archetypes don’t evolve with the times, stories will become predictable to the point of becoming boring.
In this interconnected world, characters no longer exclusively occupy their original function. Every character you write is the hero of their story, and you should be telling those stories!
So far we’ve explored the nature of two archetypes and how they make great protagonists (the Mentor and Threshold Guardian), now it’s time for the Ally to step out of the shadow and into the Hero’s seat.
What is an “Ally” Archetype?
Don’t be fooled by the simple word. The Ally is a massively varied function in storytelling. Christopher Vogler specifies that an Ally “can serve a variety of necessary functions, such as companion, sparring partner, conscience, or comic relief.”
In many stories, the Ally will be the eyes through which we experience the story, accompanying the Hero on their journey and assisting where they can. It sounds like the Mentor, but where the Mentor’s primary function is to teach, the Ally’s is to assist.
Essentially, the Ally Archetype is a character in your story that follows or assists the Hero on their quest, highlighting strengths and flaws within the Hero for the benefit of the story and its audience.
Allies could follow the Hero like a lapdog or continually challenge them in their every action. Their relationship could be anything from romantic to adversarial. The point is that, as Vogler also states, they’re “someone who sees the Special World of the story with fresh eyes as we would if we were there.”
Why Make a Spin-Off About Your ally?
If their whole existence relies on the journey of your Hero, what could they possibly offer as the protagonist of a spin-off?
Quite a lot, actually.
Take yourself out of ‘storyteller’ mode for a moment and think about your life. Has there ever been a moment in your working or educational career that you’ve needed help with a project? You don’t need an education, you just need someone to help you lift a heavy box up some stairs or for someone to sign this document.
When that person is done helping you, what do they do?
Do they cease to exist?
Or do they continue with their own daily missions?
Alternatively, consider a situation where you start a new job. A member of staff has been there for a long time, and you become friends. They support you through training, and you spend a lot of shifts together. Before too long, you’re seen as the double-act of the shift. But one day you decide to quit. In the story of your career, that friend (or Ally) was an integral piece. In the story of theirs, you were a bright blip in a completely separate narrative.
The Ally of your narrative is much more than a voice to ask questions of the Hero. They have an interior life of their own, and it demands to be explored.
Well, the sentient ones do. Animal Allies probably won’t make the best protagonists. We touched lightly on non-sentient Archetypes in the Threshold Guardian article. Sometimes the best way to expand the narrative is to look at the Archetype from another perspective. If you have an animal Ally in your source text, why not tell another story about someone else where the character maintains their Ally function? Herbie hasn’t been around for a while, but a whole franchise was built around that very premise.
Types of Ally
Clueless and Curious
Definition
We’re kicking off with a touch of the stereotypical. When you think about Allies, chances are your brain will go to the annoying tag along that does nothing but ask questions and get in the way.
To be fair, that is a type of Ally, and an important one. The Special World of the story isn’t where we live, and it can be difficult to get a grasp on the rules that govern the story world. Clueless and Curious Allies, functionally speaking, ask questions because your audience will have questions, and you need them to know the answers for the story to carry on with any sense of momentum.
Doctor Who has built over 60 years of compelling television using this kind of Ally. Introducing characters that don’t know or understand the Doctor and their way of living is what keeps the show fresh (or should, but more on that in a bit).
Similarly, The Last of Us: Part 01 has a strong clueless Ally in Ellie. The audience knows Joel’s story, the stakes, and the goal, but the nuances of the games story world are alien to them. They’re also alien to Ellie, who periodically will ask Joel questions about the current and old world.
Sometimes, the Clueless and Curious Ally can become a caricature. Robin in the Batman franchise is frequently memed for his supposed inability to grasp the obvious of what’s in front of him. Narratively, however, he represents the intellectual baseline of the story world, making Batman look more clever by result.
When written correctly, the Clueless and Curious Ally is more than just a mouthpiece of questions. Sarah Jane Smith is one of the most popular characters in science fiction exactly because she brought so much characterto her function. It’s those Allies that deserve their own story, and here’s how to do it:
How to Adapt
Sticking with Sarah Jane Smith, I’d be surprised if any of you reading this weren’t at least aware of The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from Doctor Who for children’s TV that put the one-time companion in the protagonists seat.
We’ll come onto Student Allies later, but I’ll quickly state that Sarah Jane was never meant to take over from the Doctor, and she doesn’t. Her show is her own thing. She has her own roster of adversaries, her own Allies, and her own home.
To properly adapt the Clueless and Curious Ally into a protagonist, you need to start doing what Sarah Jane did and start answering the questions they asked in the source text. How to do that? Well, there’s a number of ways:
Give them Allies that ask questions, forcing them to take direct action
The Clueless and Curious Ally learns a lot from the Hero, so converting the Ally to Hero naturally turns the former-Hero into a Mentor. Explore the source text through this lens,
Give their ignorance consequences. Force them to grow under the vice of narrative structure.
I haven’t mentioned medium in a while, but I think it’s important here. The knowledge a Hero gives to the Clueless and Curious Ally is more than just information; it’s the way it’s presented. Because this Ally is taking that knowledge back to their own life, medium can vary to suit the character, but not so far as to dilute the core lesson.
Just to wang on about it one last time, The Sarah Jane Adventures was made specifically for children, something Doctor Who never was, but it was still a loose anthology adventure serial, something that her era of Doctor Who was defined by.
To anyThe Sarah Jane Adventuresfans, I have one more gift to make you cry, enjoy:
Wilfully Ignorant and Godly
Definition
Okay, so we’ve looked at the Allies that probably annoy you but ultimately want to learn, now let’s look at the Allies that, for whatever reason, can’t or won’t learn.
Wilfully Ignorant Allies occupy two types, those with no ego, and those with enormous ones. Godly Allies tend to fall in the latter. These are characters like angels, beings that believe they’re beyond mortal experiences. Not only can an angel not make a cup of tea, but it’s also a waste of their time. Until they find themselves in your story.
Maybe.
The Wilfully Ignorant Ally with no ego also can’t make a cup of tea, and the fact the Hero can make one is AMAZING! This is where Spongebob Squarepants’ Patrick Star lives, where Donkey can be found in Shrek. And, most importantly, it’s where JarJar Binks swam in from.
These Allies don’t grow. They don’t change. And they don’t need to.
But if they don’t change, how can you make them a protagonist?
How to Adapt
Not every protagonist changes. Stories are about change, but that change can be split into two types.
The character changes
The world changes
The Paddington films, for example, are so good because it’s not Paddington that changes, but the world that is made kinder by his presence.
The Wilfully ignorant Allies occupy a similar space, narratively speaking. Depending on the story of your source text, your audience is probably going to react poorly to a spin-off where this Ally goes through a traumatic shift in their character.
If the Angel Gabriel changed Jesus’ nappy, it diminishes their angelic status in the New Testament. Those stories can and should be told, but separately from your source text.
Instead, what you often find that the Wilfully ignorant Ally is thematically ignorant, meaning whatever they’re ignorant of is indicative of the theme of your source text. That gives you a jumping off point for a spin-off.
Donkey is blindly optimistic in his pursuit of companionship. He marries and has children with an introverted dragon that has crippling doubts about her self-worth. He doesn’t change, but surely there’s a story there? (There isn’t! Dear Dreamworks, do NOT make the Donkey romantic comedy)
This kind of spin-off is mostly uncharted waters, so you’re free to do what you want medium-wise. Spongebob Squarepants have tried to make it work, but the suits in charge commissioned a money printer, not a spin-off, so maybe don’t do that. Otherwise, really go in on your themes, the things your Ally brought to the source text, and find other ways that they can change the world, even if they themselves can’t or won’t change.
The Devout
Definition
Sometimes all your Hero needs is a cheerleader. That character that sticks with them through thick and thin, keeping them on the path, and picking them up when they’re down.
The two best examples of the Devout Ally:
Samwise Gamgee
Chewbacca
We’ve previously mentioned that the Ally can represent the ‘conscience’ of the Hero, and that’s never truer than here. When Frodo can’t carry on, its Samwise who picks him up and carries him up Mount Doom. When Han Solo wants nothing to do with the scruffy old man and delusional twink ruining his drink, it’s Chewbacca that sets him right.
Now, both Sam and Chewbacca have the ability to do ‘the thing’ themselves. Chewbacca can fly the Millennium Falcon. Sam can carry the ring (though that one’s a little more complex, lore-wise). What stops them? Their devotion. They believe in the character’s ability to do the right thing, and they’ll happily remind them what that is.
These characters are often siblings, children, close friends, and others with deep ties to the Hero. What they aren’t, though, is a student (just hang on a little longer). They’ll follow the Hero down the right path and pull them back onto it when they falter.
How to Adapt
A character so closely tied to the Hero can be a tricky one to focus on in their own story. But that’s where the exciting stuff happens.
Maybe they’re forced to separate from the Hero. What happens then? Do they try to get back to them? Do they try and go it alone? Were they always with the Hero they’re so devoted to? Who were they beforehand?
Are they actually as devoted as they appear?
Subversion is as important to storytelling as change. Even if it’s just a thought exercise, why not explore the possibility that everything your Devoted Ally says and does in the source text is a lie. Why would they do that? What purpose, thematically or otherwise, does this deceit achieve?
As Devoted Allies are frequently quite different characters from the Hero of your source text, you can explore them through almost any medium.
If, as their function suggests, they truly are ‘devoted’ in a biblical sense, why not explore their story through actual scripture? Transmedia storytelling is about more than expanding into commercially accepted mediums.
Frustrated Ally
Definition
While some Allies are completely devoted to the mission of the Hero, others grate against it. Frustrated Allies are the other go-to Ally for stories where the protagonist knows more than the audience. Using the Doctor Who example again, its original run was occupied predominantly by Clueless and Curious Allies, with a few notable exceptions. Since its return in 2005, they’ve skewed more towards Frustrated Allies.
The difference is in the name. Sometimes, your Hero forgets who they are, or where they are, and they need dragging back to Earth. Clara Oswald, for example, becomes exhausted with having to remind the Doctor of his heroic qualities after his regeneration.
Another, maybe more recognisable Frustrated Ally is John Watson in the BBC’s Sherlock series. Sherlock Holmes is a man of patronising intelligence, and John is having none of it. When Sherlock starts to elevate himself to his self-perceived godhood, John brings him back to Earth with shattering humility.
Where Clueless and Curious Allies look to the Hero for information, inspiration, and are often willing to adopt the Hero’s worldview, the Frustrated Ally already has those characteristics ingrained in them.
C-3PO is another perfect Frustrated Ally. R2-D2 is willing and excited to do whatever the Hero needs of them, but C-3PO constantly rubs against it as the course of action goes against his ‘programming’.
Character-wise, Frustrated Allies are some of the most compelling because they come with the gold-dust of all storytelling.
Conflict.
How to Adapt
With that conflict, magic can happen.
The thing to remember when centring any story around someone other than your protagonist, but especially here, is that you are telling a different story.
What I basically mean is that if you tell a story about John Watson setting up his own ‘consulting detective’ agency, you’re going to fail. The absence of your Hero will be impossible to work around.
I feel that’s an important thing to state here as Frustrated Allies, more than any other, have a conflict tightly wound with the Hero, thematically speaking.
But there’s more than one way to explore a theme. So, to adapt your Frustrated Ally, explore the thematic root of their conflict with the Hero.
John Watson has a psychosomatic limp. That limp is tightly tied to the trauma that not only led him to need a place to live, but is also at the root of every argument he has with Sherlock Holmes.
Look back at the Former Hero Mentor. Characters with such a strong sense of self have achieved so through dramatic ‘synthesis’. Explore that.
Again, do it however you want, but make sure it’s a different medium than your source text. Tying the mediums together is just going to highlight your Hero’s lack of involvement.
The Student and Successor
Definition
We got there!
DC fans and fans of comics in general will notice there’s something of a surge of Student Allies at the moment.
Robin becomes Nightwing.
Jon Kent becomes Superman.
Sam Wilson becomes Captain America.
The whole Young Avengers roster.
These are characters that, knowingly or not, are put in your story for the specific intent of one day becoming the Hero. In many ways, your source text is the spin-off focusing on the Mentor character.
This means there’s a lot of overlap with two particular Allies; Clueless and Curious, and Frustrated.
Sometimes, the Ally is the perfect student for an imperfect teacher, asking questions and making notes and mimicking the Hero to gain their approval and prove their worth. Sometimes, they go it alone and reject the teachings of the Hero, believing they’re already worthy of taking the mantle. Both roads end the same way.
Except they don’t.
What is it they say about knowing rules to break rules?
Dwight Schrute believes he is going to take over from Michael Scott in the US version of The Office. He doesn’t. But he believes he should, and he believes the best way to get there is to be a great Ally to whoever sits in the managers chair.
How to Adapt
Flip the script!
Unlike pretty much every other kind of archetype, the Student / Successor Ally abounds if you’re looking for examples.
The most popular way to tell this story? Their first time taking the mantle of Hero.
I’m here to tell you that you should absolutely under no circumstances do that.
Time and again, it’s been proven that telling the story of ‘taking the mantle’ just leads to the new Hero being plagued with comparison to the original.
Instead, make them make their own mantle. Nightwing is such an iconic character that Batman comes to himfor help sometimes. Sam Wilson (especially in the MCU) has been Captain America since 2019 and is still compared to Steve Rogers in every outing.
Of course, the succession is only one facet of this Ally. They’re also a Student. All students (should) go to school, and all school days contain lessons to be learned. Sometimes literally.
A great way to further explore your theme and teach your Student Ally a lesson is to give them a similar conflict to the one facing your Hero, but remove the Hero from the equation. Highlight a specific teaching, and see how this Ally copes under pressure.
I’ve got no medium suggestions here, as it very much depends on when on the timeline you’re setting your story. If it’s after the source text, get the medium as far away from the original as possible. If not, you can work a little closer to home.
JAck of no Trades, Master of One
Definition
Spy movies.
Zombie apocalypses.
Heists.
Sometimes an Ally isn’t needed for everything. And sometimes not every helping hand is a Mentor. If Q taught James Bond how to make the gadgets, nobody would have picked up Casino Royale.
Jack of no Trades, Master of One Allies are characters that appear in a story to assist the Hero on their way with a very particular skill. In heist movies, these Allies will be the ‘crew’ that the Hero puts together to exploit their particular skillset.
The important thing? Their goal is the same. In heist stories, they want whatever is in the vault, the same as the Hero. In spy stories, they want to bring down the moustache-twirling Alps dweller to save the day with the Hero.
How to Adapt
A very particular set of skills? Well, I wonder how they got them? I wonder why? There are probably moments in your source text where this Ally exploits their skill to the amazement of everyone around them.
They’re cool moments, and you can use spin-offs to make them emotional. What if the safe cracker learned the skill after they failed to save someone they love from a drowning cage? What if the sharpshooter overcame a tremor?
Remember, building stories into a Universe isn’t a cash-grab, it’s storytelling. You’re building a tapestry that shows a single image.
Everyone has ghosts in their closet. Jack of no Trades, Master of One Allies align with the Hero for a reason. Their reason.
For that reason, I’d suggest keeping the mediums quite narrow. Association to the source text is your friend, here.
Crossed Paths Allies
Definition
What if the goal is the same, but time is short?
Frequently, in quest stories, your Hero will end up trapped with a stranger and need their help to escape. Once they’ve achieved their mutual goal, the Hero will go on with their journey, and the Ally they crossed paths with will do the same.
These Allies tend to appear more in fantasy and adventure stories, as they offer the writer the opportunity to do an exposition dump about this particular region of the fictional world without inflating the core cast.
They do appear in other genres. Doug Judy in Brooklyn 99 frequently crosses paths with the police precinct to buddy up with Jake Peralta.
The tributes in the Hunger Games franchise equally will form allyships to try and survive as long as possible once in the arena. Even outside the arena, Katniss crosses paths with recurring Crossed Paths Allies like Cinna and Effie.
Their paths may cross multiple times, but the core tenet of these Allies is that their ultimate goal doesn’t align with the Hero’s, so their time together is fleeting.
A character with an openly declared goal that’s separate from the Hero?
Hm…
How to Adapt
Fictional worlds are at least as vast as this real one, sometimes more so.
Where does the Crossed-Path Ally go after their paths cross? Where did they come from? How did they end up in your source text? What do they have to say about this place that the Hero just doesn’t have time to explore?
Doug Judy gives Jake the opportunity to see the law from the other side and properly explore the people that live there.
The other tributes were reaped just the same as Katniss, but from districts completely distinct from her own with cultures built around what they offer to the Capitol. What was Rue’s story from Rue’s perspective?
Medium-wise, I’d say you can do whatever you like here. The audience is coming into this story already knowing the extent of the Hero’s influence, freeing up their brains to accept pretty much anything.
Story Frames for your Ally
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Wilfully Ignorant Allies often wind up in your source text through unusual methods. It’s not every day you try to sell a talking Donkey to an authoritarian military. It might be interesting to explore how they wound up in your source text.
Devout Allies often have a rich history with the Hero of the story, stemming from a time the Hero showed them a kindness or helped them through a traumatic experience. Explore the first time these characters met. What situation drove your Devout Ally and Hero together?
Frustrated Allies enter the story with a strong sense of self that they impose on the source text. How did they achieve this narrative ‘synthesis’? What skills did it teach them that they’ll later need to deal with the Hero?
Student Allies need to learn, meaning there was likely a time of unruly ignorance. Play in this sandpit and see what it highlights.
Jack of no Trades Allies have a particular set of skills. They got them from somewhere. Explore how they got those skills and make it hurt.
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Frustrated Allies frequently have lives outside the source text. Find a moment (or entry point) where the Frustrated Ally isn’t featured, and explore where they went, what they did, and how that experience will affect them when they return to the central story.
Student Allies need to learn, and there often isn’t enough time to teach everything in the source text. In fact, only one facet of the Hero is likely explored, the one that’s relevant to the Hero’s Journey. Convert your Hero to Mentor and explore other facets on the same timeline, this time focusing on the Student / Successor Ally.
Jack of no Trades Allies are on this journey for a reason. They may want to rob the bank or kill the bad guy, but they’ll have their own reason for doing it. Retell the story from their perspective.
Crossed Paths Allies meet the Hero for a reason. Explore what the Crossed Path Ally was doing when they met the Hero, and what that meeting meant for them.
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Clueless and Curious Allies will often finally have the answers to their questions when the source text ends and have reached a state of enlightenment. Now, as they return to their home life, make what they’ve learned completely obsolete AND important.
Wilfully Ignorant Allies never learn, but they do continue to live. The way they are as a static character will continue to shape the world around them, so send them onto their next adventure. Perhaps they take the Hero with them, perhaps (and preferably) they don’t.
Devout Allies, by a stories end, probably have something of a hero complex. Rip the Hero away from them, force them to stand on their own two feet.
Frustrated Allies will probably be glad of a bit of peace and quiet after the end of your source text. But, having been changed by the events of the core story, perhaps there’s a wound from their old life they need to go back to.
Student Allies become Successors. They step away from the central story to go it alone. Arriving in a new place, they find similar issues to the ones they left. After initially trying to do the former Hero proud, they realise they need to bring themselves to their new role as much as what they learned as a Student.
Jack of no Trades Allies return to their lives after a successful source story. The reward they have won, however, is not well received by their loved ones.
Crossed Paths Allies find themselves in a bind when the Hero finds them. But in their meeting, the Crossed Path Ally is sparked by inspiration, and now goes on a journey of their own.
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What if the Devout Ally was lying throughout the source text? Go back and explore why, then replay the source text through this new lens, and resolve the story after the source text ends.
Frustrated Allies are a great way to flip the script. In the source text, the frustration of this Ally keeps the Hero in check, but looking at it from the Allies perspective, the Hero seems to be deliberately antagonistic. Build outwards from your source text, exploring the possibility that your Hero is actually someone else’s Antagonist.
Crossed Paths Allies are most at home here. The meeting of the Hero is a likely mid-point on the Crossed Path Allies journey. Tell the story of how they got there, and where they went after the fact.
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