Who is the Earth Hero? The Earth Hero is the rebel, the chaotic troublemaker, the trickster. They are fun, carefree, but protect their own above all. They are the underdog, the Resistance. They are Sun Wukong, Maui, Loki. They are associated with the Jungian Archetypes of the “Everyman” and the “Jester”.

They don’t challenge the system. Instead, they entirely reject its very purpose and existence. They don’t fight the system on its terms but deny its authority altogether. It is a quasi-nihilistic approach of passion and opposition. They are seductive to those who feel rejected by the system because they feel like they have nothing left to lose. The Earth Hero simultaneously opposes all greater systems while protecting (or claiming to protect) local, small-scale communities.

They have slogans that reject the system in broad strokes and often appeal to a decentralised “Will of the People” that is generally undefined, allowing blanks to be filled by any personal vision. Slogans like “Drain the Swamp” or “America First” (Donald Trump), “Italians First” (Matteo Salvini), or “Get Brexit Done” (Boris Johnson).

“Brexit Demonstrator London” by ChiralJon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

It is not just that they are populists, or that they are nationalists. What is most important is that they exist in the absence of systems beyond the local level. If they attach themselves to a greater idea, it appeals to the core identity of any individual, an identity that is specifically distinct from the systemic structures that they reject.

That is the great power of the Earth Hero: they don’t play into the existing story, but invent an altogether new one. A story where “the system”, whatever it is, is painted with the worst elements of both the “Sky Hero” and “Divine Parent”: the enemy, whether they are “The Establishment”, “The Deep State” or “Eurocrats”, is elitist, out of touch, unaccountable, heartless, bureaucratic, unpatriotic, tyrannical. And that is how the Earth Hero creates unity: they paint a picture of this enemy, this “Sky Tyrant”, that only they can fight, and unite everyone in that fight.

Meanwhile, defenders of the systems are hard-pressed to defend themselves, for no system has a perfect record and every system will have winners and losers. The Earth Hero doesn’t have that problem. Being an opponent to all systems, they have no past to defend, no image to overcome, no compromises to make. And then when they get into power, they can blame any failed promises on the “Sky Tyrant” hampering their efforts.

Seeing characters like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson in the light of the “Earth Hero” archetype explains many things. Why do people not only tolerate Trump despite his offensive language and disregard for all that is moral and proper, but seem to actually love him for it? Because it continues to show the system’s powerlessness over him, the essence of the Earth Hero. Why doesn’t Boris Johnson finally comb his unruly hair? Because looking a bit bufoonish, a bit silly, is all part of the Earth Hero’s persona. Why do they act and look so completely silly and ignorant? Because “the right way to look and sound” is associated with “the system”, and is thus the enemy.

Let Sky Heroes be handsome, let Divine Parents be presidential — the Earth Hero will not play their game, and that is precisely what makes their strength.