The Underwater Quest of Prince Lee-Char: Renewing the Hero Archetype in Star Wars

The first three episodes of the fourth season of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars describe the adventures of the young Prince Lee-Char, the Mon Calamari heir of the throne of the famous eponymous water world, as he struggles against the droid armies, engaging in a form of a rite of pass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and popular culture
Main Author: Guitton, Matthieu J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Saskatchewan [2019]
In: Journal of religion and popular culture
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Star wars: The clone wars (Film) / Superhero / Theriomorphismus
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AZ New religious movements
Further subjects:B tale
B human-animal hybrid
B merfolk
B sea monster
B Paganism
B Ocean
B Messiah
B therianthropism
B Sea
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Description
Summary:The first three episodes of the fourth season of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars describe the adventures of the young Prince Lee-Char, the Mon Calamari heir of the throne of the famous eponymous water world, as he struggles against the droid armies, engaging in a form of a rite of passage with mystical components. This aquatic tale can be analyzed on three distinct levels: a "macroscopic" perspective suggesting that this trilogy takes place in a specific context, a "microscopic" analysis exploring some specific elements of this quest as a form of pagan journey, and an intermediate "mesoscopic" point of view focusing on Prince Lee-Char as an individual and evaluating his function as a messianic figure. Drawing upon these three interconnected layers and the therianthropic nature of Prince Lee-Char, this article will explore how this underwater quest of Prince Lee-Char belongs to the logic of the Star Wars narrative and symbolic frameworks, yet how Prince Lee-Char, as a non-Force user and non-human character, renews the Star Wars hero archetype.
ISSN:1703-289X
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.2018-0045