Rank–Raglan hero archetype

In narratology and comparative mythology, the Rank–Raglan hero archetype is a combined or independent set of narrative patterns proposed by the Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank and later on by the British amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan that list different cross-cultural traits often found in the accounts of heroes, including mythical heroes.

Otto Rank developed his concept of the "Mythic Hero" in his 1909 text, The Myth of the Birth of the Hero that was based on Freudian ideas. It includes a set of 12 traits that are commonly found in hero myth narratives. Lord Raglan developed his concept of the "Mythic Hero" as an archetype, based on a ritualistic interpretation of myth, in his 1936 book, The Hero, A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama. It is a set of 22 common traits that he said were shared by many heroes in various cultures, myths and religions throughout history and around the world. Raglan argued that the higher the score, the more likely the figure's biography is mythical. Raglan did not categorically deny the historicity of the heroes he looked at, rather it was their common biographies he considered as nonhistorical.

Comparative mythologists have continued to deploy the checklist in teaching and research, with Jaan Puhvel adopting it as a baseline for Indo-European hero studies and Michael Witzel integrating its royal hero arc into a global survey of mythic kingship.

Scholars have criticized the Rank-Raglan scale's methodology, noting that while it automatically awards points to historical rulers due to their royal status, it was not designed to determine historicity. Scholars have debated how to consistently score hero biographies due to differing interpretations of the criteria. Rather, as folklorist Alan Dundes argues, it demonstrates how folk traditions shape biographical accounts of heroes along common narrative patterns, regardless of whether the figure actually existed.