Vogler # 3

Summary
This section of Vogler's text reviews some other archetypes that conform the hero's sequence. Its starts with the Threshold Guardian, representing that obstacle that heroes generally confront when they are approaching the climax of their adventure. Then it talks about the heralds, their role as messengers or informants and their importance in the protocol procedures. They generally provide heroes with certain needed information or the motivation to go along with their enterprises. Then Vogler adresses the Shapeshifter, which he describes as a person that somehow has an influence on the character's perceptions and thoughts. Usually their nature represents contrasts with the character and this may be important on the character's discovery of new things. Then he discusses the archetype of the Shadow, which represents all of the hidden parts of a character's personality or any obscure parts of the story. And finally, he talks briefly about the allies, or the characters who go along in the journey with the character. Generally, they are key to the hero's consecution of his/her goals, since they provide the hero with the guidance of help he/she needs.

Reaction
I think this was a very interesting section. It provided a very complete and detailed analysis of most of the characteristics of each of the archetypes discussed. It is an important tool that Vogler provides the reader in order to identify the different components of the journey's sequence. It was interesting to see the characteristics of these archetypes and prove its theoretical validity by comparing them with actual stories. Especially, the guarding threshold, the shapeshifter and the ally, whose presence is remarkably important is most of the heroes' stories.

Reaction
I tried to connect the different archetypes to commonly known stories, in order to analyze their roles in the respective stories. I thought of Aladdin and how the monkey represents his ally throughout his adventure. Also, in Mulan the little dragon plays the same role. Continuing with Mulan, the leader of the army could be considered the shapeshifter. He has a very important influence on Mulan's characteristics and shapes her personality and character for her heroic interventions of the future. On the side of the Herald, I instantly thought of A Knight's Tale. A herald forms part of the main character's squad and he is in charge of introducing his knight before every challenge. He is very well spoken, fluent on his speeches and represents the motivation for the crowd to cheer for his knight. Finally, the shadows, I believe are a pretty evident resource of the authors in most stories. It represents sometimes the internal conflicts that the hero must face or sometimes it may represent affects the character negatively for some reason. Following the example of "A Knights Tale," his shadow was the fact that he didn't have any nobility titles, therefore, he couldn't be a knight. Mulan's shadow was the fact that she was a woman and women were not allowed in the army.

Questions
1. Can the shadows be represented by external features or characters, or is it just an internal matter of the hero himself?
2. In what cases may the herals represent a threat for the hero?
3. Can a character's shadow be sufficiently important to represent at the same time, the story's antagonic force?