Deciding on the Minotaur Archetrope

Been thinking more on the minotaur archetype. I haven't seen anyone talk about what that means, nor is there much discussion on the minotaur archetype in general. Most of it what I can find are ai written articles. Which actually really sucks. I may look a bit deeper and in a few different places to see what good analysis of the minotaur I can find, but seeing that I can not seem to find any other mention of a minotaur archetrope anywhere, it's probably on me to define it and talk about it. Since I guess I've decided that I am one now.

This is, again, a concept I've been chewing on for close to a year now and something I've been feeling about myself since 2019 when I was first introduced to the minotaur as an individual, and not just the monster that Theseus killed that one time (thank you, Madeline Miller, for writing Circe). The timing worked out wonderfully, and I was given the chance to make a minotaur TTRPG character right around the time that I first started thinking of myself as minotaur-like. It's been fun to explore myself through Io.

The minotaur came from a union that was foolishly made. He inhabits both the status of his mother and the temperament of his father. Because of his humanity, it would be cruel to treat him as an animal. Because of his animality, it would be detrimental to treat him as human. So, instead, he is retired to the labyrinth. The few real-life friends I have on this blog can likely see how my personal life maps onto this well. I won't go into the details, because then it feels melodramatic and vent-y, but it's good to note that its there.

Like the minotaur, I inhabit a place between what is expected of me as a human and what is inherent to me as a beast. I sit at a midpoint between "so different that she can be dismissed" and "exactly what she should be". I am uncanny. So I get to tag along with everyone who is Good and Proper, but I don't get a seat at the table.

I don't want to change, and I'd rather be in my labyrinth than hide my cow-head. I enjoy getting beastly with it. I'd rather embrace and talk about beasthood than pretend to be something I'm not. But that doesn't mean that the other half of me is inaccessible or doesn't exist. It just means that you can not interact with one without encountering the other. This experience is... very integral to how I see myself in relation to my family and then world I'm from.

The minotaur means accepting and embracing that duality, it means turning my labyrinth into a garden instead of a briar patch. I am a beast to this world, and neither extreme that I sit between will ever feel "right" to me. And that's okay. There is joy to be found in that, and the minotaur archetrope really encapsulates that experience for me.