If we view the human life and thus the six archetypal character arcs of the “life arcs” as taking on the classic story-structure format of Three Acts, then it is no coincidence that the all-important Midpoint marks the transition from the Queen Arc to the King Arc.
In any story, the structural Midpoint represents in many ways the turning point of the entire story. Within the plot it signifies a shift out of the “reactive” phase, in which the protagonist has been distracted by the Lie and by surface conflicts. Equally, it signifies the shift into the “active” phase, in which the protagonist begins to recognize what the conflict is really about and what antagonist he is really confronting. Thematically, this is represented by a Moment of Truth, in which the protagonist grasps the central Truth of his story (while not yet fully releasing or overcoming his Lie).
In our examination of the six life arcs, the middle two arcs of the cycle, comprising the “Second Act,” are the Queen (discussed last week) and the King. The Queen Arc ends with the protagonist essentially having become the King. Although not necessarily glimpsed within the Queen Arc itself, this signifies a total shift within the overall archetypal story. Up to this point, the arcs have represented the first half of life’s concerns with the exterior world—with one’s relationship to self, others, love, and power from both positions of subordination and of authority.
Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss (affiliate link)
Obviously, anyone inhabiting the King archetype has reached the apex of temporal life. As Caroline Myss puts it in Sacred Contracts:
The King is an archetype of major proportions, representing the height of temporal male power and authority….
From here, it would seem there is nowhere to go but down. In some ways this is true. From this point, the character descends (and the word is symbolically important) into the second half of life—into old age, crippling mortality, and eventual death. From here, temporal power wanes. Whether the character will rise to the even greater (and in some ways more powerful) challenges of the Third Act of life depend on his ability to successfully fulfill his final charge as King.
The King Arc, then, is about a character at the height of temporal power who is faced with the realization that the greatest good he can do for his beloved Kingdom—which he has so far proven himself so worthy to rule—is to sacrifice himself and surrender the throne. His arc quite literally ends with the traditional low moment of the Third Plot Point as the transition from life’s Second Act to the Third Act.
Reminders: Once again, before we officially get started, I want to emphasize two important reminders that hold true for all of the arcs we’ll be studying.
1. The arcs are alternately characterized as feminine and masculine. Primarily, this indicates the ebb and flow between integration and individuation, among other qualities. Together, all six life arcs create a progression that can be found in any human life (provided we complete our early arcs in order to reach the later arcs with a proper foundation). In short, although I will use feminine pronouns for the feminine arcs and masculine pronouns for the masculine arcs, the protagonist of these stories can be of any gender.
2. Because these archetypes represent Positive-Change Arcs, they are therefore primarily about change. The archetype in which the protagonist begins the story will not be the archetype in which he ends the story. He will have arced into the subsequent archetype. The King Arc, therefore, is not about becoming the King archetype, but rather arcing out of it into the beginnings of the Crone Arc—and so on.
The King Arc: Becoming the Sacrifice
The completion of the Queen Arc signified the rise of a worthy and aligned Ruler. Now represented as the King, the character is one who wields immense power. Symbolically, he is the ruler of a vast and successful empire. He is a good leader, possessing both the maturity to manage the Kingdom (in opposition to his passive counter-archetype the Puppet) and a true compassion for and understanding of his people (in opposition to the aggressive counter-archetype of the Tyrant).
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