The Archetypes of Cyberpunk Part 2: Cynicism and the Orphan

in #archetypes6 years ago (edited)

This is part 2 of my archetypes in cyberpunk overview, for the first part, click here.

Dystopian Ideals, the Villainous Innocent, and the Heroic Orphan

Another thing that makes the Innocent capable of being a poignant villain in cyberpunk is that they have achieved a worldview that views predatory behavior as the fulfillment of moral potential. Otherwise the Innocent tends to hit a sour note as a villain; they are idealists and true believers, and it is rare for such characters to avoid being strawmen or underwhelming adversaries.

In cyberpunk universes, however, this is entirely a moot point because the Innocent can strive for a world which is better for themselves alone, as opposed to most universes where the Innocent has a utopian ideal.

This dystopian ideal also plays into the role of the Orphan in cyberpunk fiction. Because the Orphan is already well-suited for such a world, many of the things that make them failures in traditional stories, where the universe is generally neutral, do not matter. They are able to be paranoid and correct simultaneously, which removes the tragedy in such hypercynical worldviews.

The Anti-heroic Innocent

One of the other roles of the Innocent in cyberpunk fiction is to play an anti-hero, someone who has adopted the malign values of the world but who faces serious challenges, and ultimately either Faustian or Pyrrhic damnation as a result of their own actions.

These characters are interesting because of their role in determining the fate of the world. In many cases, like in one of the Deus Ex game's endings, the anti-hero's role unfolds in a peculiar way.


Deus Ex Illuminati Ending courtesy of phadech on YouTube

Normally, the goal of the Hero's Journey is to change the status quo. In this outcome, the protagonist reflects the Innocent's ideals in the end, but they are again aligned with the dystopian nature of the universe.

This can be a compelling storyline because it shows the intricate balance between right and wrong in a context where nothing can be fully certain and the easiest solution is just to stop caring.

At the same time, it's worth noting that this is a rare case where an anti-hero doesn't fail because of weakness, but because they adopt the worldview that surrounds them. Where previously they had hoped to make the world a better place, they have abandoned that goal in favor of increasing their standing in the hierarchy.

The Orphan as Survivor

Cyberpunk protagonists tend to reflect Pearson's Orphan archetype. They adopt self-reliant and wary worldviews, and while they would love the prospect of any change to the universe that makes them less likely to die alone soon, they don't have the faith in such a future.

To borrow a line from Cyberpunk 2020 regarding the genre:

The traditional concepts of good and evil are replaced by the values of expedience–you do what you have to do to survive.

If the Innocent has internalized this with a dystopian ideal that fosters predatory behavior, the Orphan responds to this like cornered prey.

As the stories unfold, these protagonists find themselves coming out of cynicism (typically), but never moving beyond the perpetual adolescence of the Orphan. This is because the worlds of cyberpunk universes are inherently unsafe and dystopian. Without stability, there can be no security, and the lack of any stable center prevents the maturity and growth needed for most characters to move past the absolute thought patterns of the Orphan and the Innocent.

Beyond Good, but not Evil

The Orphan finds themselves in a situation where the protagonist's growth often revolves around a conflict about how far they will diminish their humanity to get by. Even in a grim universe, there is a line that the hero has to walk; they cannot resort to the predatory resolve of the Innocent without themselves becoming the manifestation of the dystopian future–selling out makes a hero into a villain.

On the other hand, they are still capable of doing a lot of harm just based on their role in life. Even in a conventional setting the Orphan finds themselves drawn into conflict with traditional moral norms due to their realism and cynicism. When they can't see the potential for good in the universe, they lose their way.

Of course, the counterpart to this is that when people don't aim to be good–when they resort to expedience–they have a tendency to hurt others, sometimes even for mere self-satisfaction and not simply on account of some personal need or greater cause.

In this sense, cyberpunk protagonists walk a thin line between crossing the moral boundaries that separate them from those that they stand against; the thin moral barrier that exists between redemption and damnation in the dirt and grit of a painful world.

Their development over the course of the Hero's Journey is not how to become a better, more mature person, but how they can avoid becoming the monster that they seek to fight, a Nietzschean abomination.

The Wages of Sin

Cyberpunk, as with any genre, can have three typical story arcs with respects to the Hero's Journey.

  1. A traditional hero, of the sort previously described, will have the ability to find a balance between the moral decay of the world and their need to survive. In some cases, they are destroyed, but if they are we can usually see the world transform as a better on account of their sacrifice.
  2. A tragic hero, on the other hand, will self-annihilate. They may self-destruct under the pressures of the task before them, but more likely they simply give up on the pursuit of a right course of action.
  3. An anti-hero never develops and never has the strengths associated with either other heroic protagonist; if they belong to the Orphan, they fail to overcome any challenges due to their lack of hope and aversion to risks; if they belong to the Innocent, they fail by embracing the expedient and pleasant over a future that benefits everyone.

Wrapping Up

Cyberpunk fiction is interesting because of how it plays with the archetypes that it is offered. Not only does it focus on particular types of personalities, and in doing so reflect a change in the cultural zeitgeist that occurred in the late 20th and early 21st century, but it also can provide unusual examples of heroic growth, with characters who have the physical and intellectual strength to overcome practical challenges, but who lack the spiritual strength to become good people either finding that strength within themselves or succumbing to the trends of the day.

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