Literature – Are Characters Beloved Because They Correspond To Universal Archetypes?

snape.jpgA reader asks:

“Are our most beloved literary characters beloved because they correspond to the universal purpose of astrology? Last summer, in the midst of Harry Potter mania, I saw a list someone had compiled of the various birthdays of the characters. They all seemed to match very well. For example, I couldn’t imagine Snape as anything but a Capricorn. And would Harry be “the boy who lived” if he wasn’t a Leo?

My latest book is Anne of Green Gables. While listening the other day, and hearing the imaginative, dreamy ramblings of the main character Anne, I told myself that I would be shocked, shocked if she were anything but a Pisces. Within 5 minutes, the Anne character said that she had just turned 11 in March. More likely than not that the character is Pisces.

I think that the characters we love most resonate with the unconscious knowledge that we all have about what traits are believable. What do you think?”


I’d say the most memorable fictional characters very much hold true to some form. It reminds me of Jodie Foster’s refusal to reprise her role as Agent Starling in The Silence of the Lambs in the second movie, Hannibal Rising .

Foster felt her character in second movie acted out of character and so wanted nothing to do with it. She was so right…

Do you recognize the astrological archetypes in literature? Tell us!

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25 thoughts on “Literature – Are Characters Beloved Because They Correspond To Universal Archetypes?”

  1. lol, professor Snape tickles me to the bone. Definitely Capricorn.

    Ophelia, the little girl from Pan’s Labyrinth seems like a Pisces to me too 🙂

    1. Avatar
      Irmi1969 / Char555

      I know what you mean! And I knew from the word go that he was not the “baddie” he was portrayed as in the earlier books.
      He HAS to be a Scorpio!! Too sexy to be anyone else. The actor who portrayed (Alan Rickman) him died a few years ago. There’s some utterly fabulous stuff by him and about him on YouTube.

    2. Avatar
      Hildegarde's Noviciate

      Me too. A guilty secret because people look at me strangely when I confess it. He melts my heart. There is something about a man who acts prickly to protect a tender suffering heart. Someone who would take on pain for any person he loves and in a very private way. Nothing flashy. By pushing away the world yet still be pining to hold what he believes is whats good in it. Who would look you in the eyes and tell you in a calm and matter of fact way that nothing else matters and he would die for you.
      I dont know. Call me foolish.

  2. OMG Ana! Anytime I watch movies, I always label each character a sign. Professor Snape definitely a Cappy, and I definitely think Ophelia a Pisces. I have even gone so far as to give all of the Spongebob characters a sign, like Squidward, he is FOR SURE a Capricorn. The guy who does his voice over is a Capricorn, and I just knew it!!

    I just read the Epic of Gilgamesh, and I would have to say Gilgamesh was a Leo.

  3. But OTOH, Ron Weasley strikes me as very Un-Pisces (he’s March 1). He reads more like an Aries to me with the hotheadedness and insecurities. Hermione is a textbook Virgo, however.

    I see Harry as more of a Scorp, really.

  4. I think Ron is such a pisces…a tad passive aggressive, dreamy (wandering mind), wants to be a jock but doesn’t really go for it, a really good friend but not terribly aggressive in any way. He seems less hot headed to me and more passive which makes people upset (like virgo Hermione)…

    He reminds me of my pisces hubby at any rate.

    I do agree that when I watch a movie or read a book my mind wonders about the sign….I have a book somewhere that also assigns dog breeds to the different signs…ie., dobermans for sags, pointers for gemini’s, great danes for virgos, etc. It’s pretty fun.

    My pisces asc just pushes my mind to wander..now back to the world of work. ta ta.

    1. yes, JK Rowling said officially that he’s a pisces, and Hermione is a virgo lol know it all somewhat but so cute and lovable. xD

  5. I’ve just finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende and the main character Eliza had the ability to be invisible in social circumnstances (not magically invisible, but discreet) and I immediately thought of Neptune in the midheaven!

  6. I absolutely love this topic although my brain is too fluffy to come up with any good examples! I always felt Scarlett O’Hara must be an Aries although I can’t remember if the book said…

  7. I’ve always been fascinated by this but I really don’t know enough to assert an opinion. I have to agree with Gem, though — Ron is definitely a Pisces. I don’t get the ‘me-first’ attitude that a lot of Aries have, and Ron is anything but direct.

  8. Jo March was November, not sure if it was Scorp or later on and a Sadge. However, she married later in life, ended up running that school for boys, was very independent and liberated, oh, and sarcastic, so I’m going to say Sadge.

    Amy with all that artistic stuff and Europe and social graces and dresses and marrying Laurie, prob a Libra.

    Meg was very domestic and motherly, kind of serious and dutiful. Frugal too. Maybe a Virgo?

    And poor Beth–well, I don’t know. What’s the weakest, most-suffering sign? Cancer?

  9. oh this is a fun game! I agree with you on Jo and Amy, Pixie Dust. But my votes would be Capricorn for Meg, and Pisces for Beth.

  10. My first thoughts were Cappy for Meg (family, duty, stability) and Pisces for Beth (servant, dreamy, religious devotion). I completely agree with you, Jessica. I got sidetracked because I didn’t think Beth was costumey enough to be Pisces, and Meg seemed kind of organized and a household manager, keeping accounts and making that jelly that didn’t jell.

    Yes, I think we have the March girls figured out!

  11. Frodo Baggins a Tarus- that makes sense.

    I was dragged to see the Igor movie with some small relatives of mine last year.
    I was wondering why it was out in September, not October. Then I realized Igor was a Virgo. With a Saturn-Sun, no less.

  12. Elsa, you’re so right about Snape being a Capricorn. Sun conjunct Saturn, too. I did an astro profile on my blog after I saw the movie. Good fun!

    1. Avatar
      Hildagarde's Noviciate

      Ah…thats why this Virgo with Scorpio Venus Taurus moon swoons a bit over over this Capricorn chatacter. Alan Rickman made this character so Saturn-heavy and so cardinally intense and yet possessed such a tender heart, heavy with tragic unrequited love. It made my heart feel so much compassion for him.
      To be loved by a man such as this…

  13. omgosh i loved harry potter years ago. SPOILERS: i did notice when doing the charts of the beloved main characters of JKRowling’s Harry Potter, the Weasley twins are both Aries, infact double aries. wow thats alot of fire. and harry is Leo with Pisces moon, (the actor is actually a Leo too with pisces moon. his girlfriend Ginny Weasley is supposed to be a Leo with sagittarius moon in the book but the actress is actually Aquarius sun/aries moon. and i noticed everyone had alot of fire in their charts whether moon or sun. Even hermione virgo sun/sag moon. except for the new girl Luna Lovegood, i thought she was a Cancer sun or had cancer placements with that name and a bit looney. but she’s an Aquarius with gemini and pisces. Harry potter’s nemesis in the book is Draco throughout, more like a thorn, and a bully. But no real threat. Gemini Sun/Aquarius moon. but the real bad guy in the book is a Capricorn sun/Scorpio moon. and who saved the day was a Capricorn with taurus moon. how ironic about the whole thing. And his love for harry’s mother was fixed and long lasting. He never gave up. Isn’t that so taurus too?

    1. well wow, whatd do u know? the moon is in taurus tonight >_<
      sometimes there's so much ghostly supernatural stuff going on all the time.

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