Soul Triptych in Pop Culture

[Black Dragon]

What's a "soul triptych"? A powerful literary device used by many great authors.

Here's an explanation that I wrote as a guest post for the Vivid Scribe blog:

The Soul Triptych in Pop Culture | Vivid Scribe

 

[Spider]

That's pretty interesting. I think another example of the soul triptych would be the Three Musketeers: Athos (mind), Porthos (body), and Aramis (spirit). Maybe.

 

[Ireth]

That's pretty interesting. I think another example of the soul triptych would be the Three Musketeers: Athos (mind), Porthos (body), and Aramis (spirit). Maybe.

I second that, especially with how they were portrayed in the movie version of The Man in the Iron Mask. Athos was the most thoughtful one, Porthos was largely driven by carnal pleasure, and Aramis was very spiritual.

 

[CupofJoe]

I'd add Star Trek [TOS]
Kirk [Body]
Spock [Mind]
McCoy [Spirit]

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Joss Whedon manage a tryptych with four people [or should that be tetraptych?]
Buffy [Body]
Giles [Intellect/Ego]
Willow [Mind/Id]
Xander [Spirit]
[Splitting the mind in to the rational and irrational was I think a brave move but does let you see that there are no fixed roles in these characters.]

 

[Ireth]

I think your Buffy analysis fits, Joe, especially given Willow's tendency to do irrational and dangerous things (can't mention many of them due to spoilers, though).

 

[draken]

intresting notion, I went and reread/wateched some of the films/books mentioned with that in mind, a question does the trytitch apply only to hero charachters or can it be equally valid for the evil ones as well.

 

[CupofJoe]

Someone will prove me wrong no doubt but I think that "Evil" may have minions but it isn't a team game.
Having a hero with friends and supporters makes them stronger - if a villain has the same, they look weaker.
Might be fun to try and write though...

 

[draken]

I was actually thinking of the master-aprentice-thrall kinda thing being a sort of darker reflection of the triptych with the dominant persona gaining all the benefits of the 'relationship'. a sort of what happens if the try[tich goes dark side.

 

[Sheilawisz]

That was an excellent post for the Vivid Scribe blog, Black Dragon.

To be honest, I had no idea about the existence of the Soul Triptych. It's a very effective device now that I think of it, and I find it strange that I had not realized this before while reading Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games...

I think that I accidentally created a Soul Triptych in my Joan of England trilogy, and it would be like this:

Warren: The physical character. He is very tall and strong, always driven by his passion for Joan.

Violet: The mind character. She is the mastermind behind everything that happens in the world.

Joan: The spirit character, and also the protagonist just like Harry, Katniss and Bella. She always follows her heart.

I want to analyze my other Fantasy stories, to see if they have a Soul Triptych as well...