Freudian Trio/Myth, Legend and Folklore

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Greek and Roman Myth

  • Zeus/Jupiter: Impulsive, greedy, prone to huge temper-tantrums, entirely motivated by his sex drive (Id).
  • Poseidon/Neptune: Depending on the mood, could be reasonable or nuts. But in general less impulsive than Zeus and less rigid than Hades. (Ego)
  • Hades/Pluto: Brooding, morbid, obsessed with rules and laws. (Superego)
    • Debatable, depending on your source. In some myths Zeus, god of law over men and hospitality, is the mediator between other gods and the enforcer of laws, while Poseidon, as roiling and angry as the sea, causes trouble. It was Zeus, after all, who decreed that the gods should stop interfering in the Trojan War, and who swallowed the Goddess of Prudence.
  • Elektra: Angry, vengeful and bloodthirsty, her hatred rules her quest for vengece (Id)
  • Orestes: Ready for battle, but willing to stop and think first. Unfortunatly, this leads him to wimp out at crucial mments, and he must depend on his friends for help. (Ego)
  • Pylades: Wise, clever AND leval headed, a rarity in Greekn myths, who only speaks when it's absolutey neccssary, but then, his words are perfect. (Superego)

Norse Mythology

  • Odin: Always seeking wisdom and enforcing the law (just ask king Víkar). (Superego)
  • Thor: greatest desire is to smash the giants and trolls with his lightning hammer. (Id)
  • Frey: In his most famous myth, Frey debates whether to follow his heart and mary a giantess or not. (Ego)
  • Taken a step further when you look at some of the different groups in Norse Mythology:
    • Jotnar: They tend to want to revert the Universe back to its original state of pure chaos. [1] (Id)
    • Humanity: We tend to prefer rules[2] and classify/organize things into categories, subcategories, and even sub-subcategories. (Superego)
    • The Aesir & Vanir: They interact with the Jotnar[3] and humanity, even acting as a viable go-between. (Ego)

Arthurian Mythology

  • Gawain: Hot-Blooded Badass Anti-Hero of Arthur's court; will kill, without question or orders, anyone who so much as insults him or his friends. Loves women, partying, and fighting. (Id)
    • What version is that from? In Gawain and the Green Knight he's actually rather timid. He admits to being the poorest fighter of all Arthurs knights and later proves to have incredible restraint and chastity. He's also very bound to honorable conduct.
    • It has been speculated that Sir Gawain was frequently trashed by French romances since he was considered the paradigmatic English knight. Some critics read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a rebuttal and a subversion of the French mockery of Gawain and adulation of Lancelot. However, the French version stuck, and authors from Chretien de Troyes to T.H. White have portrayed Gawain as hot headed, lecherous, and frequently a bit un-chivalrous.
  • Lancelot: The ultimate knight, Arthur's Right-Hand-Man; ever-questing for glory for God and King, and seeking enlightenment through the Code of Chivalry. (Super Ego)
  • Arthur: Mediator between all the knights, especially the above two, who are notably good friends despite absolutely hating each other. Has his faults (women, women, women), but in the end you can't ask for a better leader. (Ego)

Hindu Mythology

  • Brahma: The creator deity who brings the universe into being (Superego)
  • Vishnu: The one who preserves the universe in the here and now sustaining its existence (Ego)
  • Shiva: The deity that comes along at the end of time to destroy everything so that it can be reborn (Id)
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  1. ↑ Not all members of the Jotnar are like this, however.
  2. ↑ We give ourselves laws and regulations to adhere to.
  3. ↑ Sometimes marrying them, sometimes killing them.
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