Artemis Archetype #1: Dark Artemis

Lisbeth Salander, Jessica Jones, The Bride, Furiosa

Warnings for tough topics in this post like rape, abuse, and death.

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This is inspired by a longer post I did about the Artemis archetype. I want to have some shorter pieces here on Mythic Beast so the info is easier to find. Some of the content here is repeated from that big mega post, but some is brand new.

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Who doesn’t love a good Artemis character?

She’s one of the most popular feminine archetypes in media today.

We like our lady characters badass, independent, not-needing-no-man, and not having children. That describes Artemis pretty well.

Artemis is a “virgin goddess,” (a term from Jean Shinoda Bolen, who wrote Goddesses in Everywoman). It basically means her existence, and her ability to serve, don’t depend on relationships.

So Aphrodite, for example, is not a virgin goddess. She’s very relational.

Artemis isn’t relational.

She’s known for living alone in the wilderness. So much so that she’s earned the nickname “Far-Distant Artemis.” Just as her twin brother Apollo is called “Far-Distant Apollo.” (Mega Apollo Post here if you’re into that.) She hunts her own meals and spends her time protecting nature, animals, women, and children.

And she doesn’t necessarily hate men.

But they better stay in their place.

There was that little thing that happened with Actaeon . . .

Actaeon

Remember the story? Actaeon was a hunter.

So one day, he’s out in the forest with his hunting hounds, and he comes upon the goddess Artemis bathing in a forest pool with her girls. They are all totally naked, including the goddess, and what’s a normal red-blooded Greco-Roman guy to do?

He hides behind a tree to watch.

Well, Artemis is a goddess. You can’t put one over on her. She clocks him and is immediately furious. How. Dare. He.

She turns him into a stag—at which point he’s promptly torn apart by his own hunting hounds.

Sucks to be Actaeon.

Now, this myth definitely has a feminist interpretation. But on higher levels, it’s more than that. This guy came into the presence of the Divine and didn’t respect it. He didn’t take his shoes off when entering the temple. You can’t encounter Divinity with ego and base desires in your heart. Impudent mortal.

Anyway, that’s Actaeon.

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There are different “versions” of the Artemis archetype.

Sometimes she’s Sporty Spice. Sometimes she’s a nature-loving hippie living in the forest. Sometimes she’s a nymph/goddess of the moon. Sometimes she’s Arya Stark.

And then there are the times when she’s an ass-kicking, man-hating badass out for revenge.

Dark Artemis

This version of Artemis isolates herself because that’s the only way she feels like she can be herself.

Her isolation is a protective response to guard her against men (and the rest of the world . . . but especially men), and it is the only way she feels capable of connecting with her intuition and wisdom.

It’s actually the only way she feels safe.

Dark Artemis feels as though she doesn’t fit into the world. Like there’s no place for her there.

She does not see the harmony of the entire system of creation (which more evolved versions of Artemis do). She only sees a kind of brutal harmony in the natural world—the dance between predator and prey catches her attention particularly.

She might describe the world as a savage garden.

Sometimes she’ll hang out with a group of other women, but even then she tends to feel isolated from them, if not ostracized or verbally attacked. She’d be the weird, moody, non-verbal one in a group of giggling Aphrodites and sensible, productive Athenas.

She feels silenced by others and does not know how to use her voice around them, so she often works alone, behind the scenes, or in the dark.

And even if the other women do attack or ostracize her, she’ll still take their side against men.

Because this Artemis is antagonistic toward men.

Okay, she hates them.

She has been silenced, ignored, misunderstood, and abused by them.

She often takes action against them, especially in protection of women.

Dark Artemis’s reaction to men is anger, hurt, and self-righteousness.

It is a valid reaction to the way men treat women in her world (she experiences the world as a dark, violent place), and anger is very empowering for Artemis at this phase. Because she is coming from a place of feeling victimized and powerless, and anger is a more powerful emotion than fear.

Go watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and you’ll see Dark Artemis in action in the character of Lisbeth Salander.

Warning for violence, abuse, and sexual violence in this clip. (It’s from The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a sequel to Dragon Tattoo.)

Dark Artemis stands up and refuses to be abused.

However, this is a phase of Artemis’s development, and as justified as she might be in her rage, lingering here does not ultimately result in her healing or happiness.

That healing is a process.

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Through the lens of Dark Artemis, the story of Actaeon is basically the angry feminist one. A misogynistic man dared to look upon the naked goddess. As though he had the right to her body. As though he wasn’t an intruder in her realm, and laying claim to something that was divine and certainly not his to use as he liked.

Screw that guy, amiright?

Other Faces of Dark Artemis

Jessica Jones: She’s a MARVEL heroine, but her story has more depth than your basic “learn to embrace your special magic and save the world” plotline. Sure, she has super strength, but she doesn’t use it to save the world. She’s got enough on her hands just trying to survive her abusive ex, who has the terrible power of being able to control people (like Jessica) with his voice. The series does a great job exploring Jessica’s trauma. This series is great and David Tennant steals the spotlight.

Furiosa: In the Mad Max verse, women are treated as property. Furiosa says fuck that, and rescues all the women she can. She swipes across the post-apocalyptic landscape like a reaper of men, trying to save women and (maybe, eventually) create a better world for them.

The Bride: In Kill Bill, the Bride is on a quest for revenge against all the men who made the very poor life choice of betraying, silencing, or brutalizing her. She works alone, relying on her skill and her weapons.

I’m sure I’m leaving many Artemises out, but let’s wrap this up before the post gets out of hand.

Later gators. :-)