A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.
A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).
An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned; a prototype.
An ideal example of something; a quintessence.
According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung: a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity.
To depict as, model using, or otherwise associate an object or subject with an archetype.
A stone used to check the quality of gold alloys by rubbing them to leave a visible trace.
A standard of comparison or evaluation.