The myth of Ferdrick II is only a famous example of a far more widespread and persistent phenomenon. In fact, the religious prestige and eschatological function of kings survived in Europe to the 17th century. The secularist ion of the concept of eschatological King did not extinguish this hope, deeply rooted in the collective soul, for a universal renewal brought about by the exempliary Hero in one of his new forms [...] Mythical thought transcends and discards some of its earlier expressions, out modeled by History, and adapts itself to the new social conditions and new cultural fashions--but it resists extirpation. (Eliade 176)
Joseph Campbell also sees this "hero" figure as recycling through human history. Jung saw it as recycling as a result of the resurgence of the human subconscious, not only in our collective myths, but also in our dreams and art. While drawing different conclusions on the nature of these recyclings, All these mythologists seem to agree on several things: one, that the primitive mythological motifs are still very alive and well; two, the nature of these myths is plastic and, more often than not, subconscious; and three, these mythical manifestations are essential to understanding of human origins and ethics.