vogler annotation 3

The reading touched on some key characters in a story of a hero. These characters that were explained were the threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, ally, and trickster. The reading explains the threshold guardian as a character that the hero must pass by in order to gain access to the villan. The herald was explained as a person who could pose as a messenger and bring the hero a message that calls him to power. A shapeshifter is generally someone who starts out as an ally to the hero, but eventually turns on the hero, or vice versa. Shadows are considered to be energy that represents the dark side and the face of the shadow is the villain. The ally is a character that serves as a companion to the hero, which also allows the hero to have someone to talk to, spar with, and fight alongside with him. And the tricksters are generally characters that cause laughter or relaxation in the story for the hero.


I felt that this reading was interesting and went into great detail on explaining the roles of each character. I also felt that Vogler did a good job of using references from movies to explain the roles of the characters to help me get the picture of each one. My favorite reference that Vogler used was the reference to the voice from field of dreams as a herald. The reference helped clarify that the herald doesn’t have to be an actual person in the story.


This reading relates to class discussions because it allows us to understand what each person in the story stands for. It also connects with our first paper, because it helps us come up with possible character ideas for our hero story. I thought it was interesting that the herald, or messenger doesn’t have to be an actual character, and that it can be a letter or a voice speaking to the hero.


1) What is your favorite example of a shapeshifter in a story?
2) Could the herald also be the hero?
3) Can you think of any stories where one character is the threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, ally, and the trickster?