Basic Information
Tricksters are characters who play tricks, disobey normal rules, or otherwise challenge authority. Mythopoetically tricksters tend to serve to break down barriers to progress and/or overcome unjust authority - a trickster may also serve as a form of donor, either by stealing ill gotten resources from a villain, or in a culture hero capacity (for example, by stealing fire from the gods to give to Mankind). In a divine myth, tricksters sometimes create useful or dual natured things by accident - objects carelessly discarded or lost during a prank often take on great significance, but, given the culture hero role, an otherwise ambiguous trickster may be credited with some very significant gift. At lower levels trickster may assist the hero of a narrative for a variety of reasons: sometimes because the hero's cause will create disruption (which amuses the trickster) and/or discomfit some long term enemy of the trickster; sometimes he will assist in recompense for a trick played on the hero, or the hero's assistance in avoiding punishment for some earlier offense. The trickster is usually a male character, often representing the adolescent male in any given "path of life". (Indeed the trickster or "knave" is sometimes seen as one of the Three faces of Man.)
Other common roles for the trickster are as an amiable freeloader (often found engaged in fence painting and stone soup production), the wise fool (often as a foil to another, more malevolent trickster), the cunning servant (usually as a foil to a stupid master) and the agent of nemesis (or at least karmic balance - deflating the pompous and greedy).
That said, a trickster need not necessarily be humourous - the Machivellian chessmaster is an aspect of the trickster, as is the con man, the evil clown and the snake-oil salesman. Any character who favours deceit over hard work has the potential to fulfill this role. The Fair Folk are also fond of appointing themselves to this role (pooka being especially well known for it), but their sense of humour may leave something to be desired - especially for the more unseelie variety.
The Devil sometimes ends up taking over trickster roles in European legends (often from more ambiguous pre-Christian figures) but seems equally prone to being the victim of tricksters.
List of Trickster Archetypes
- Blithe Spirit
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Bugs Bunny
- Con Man
- The Chessmaster
- Deadpan Snarker
- Devil In Plain Sight
- Doppelganger
- Eccentric Millionaire
- Fox - often depicted as a trickster in myths and legends.
- Gentleman Thief
- Humphrey
- Lovable Traitor
- Magnificent Bastard
- Manipulative Bastard
- Master Of Illusion
- The Ozmodiar
- Parker Lewis Ferris Bueller
- Playful Hacker
- Screwy Squirrel
- Shapeshifter
- Supervillain
- Trenchcoat Brigade
- Trickster Mentor
- Turn Coat
- Villainous Harlequin
See also:
Named Tricksters
- Eddie Chapman
- Figaro (18th Century fictional character from the works of Pierre Beaumarchais and others)
- P.T. Barnum
- Count of St. Germain
Tricksters from Myth and Legend
- Abenaki mythology: Azeban
- African Mythology : Agadzagadza, Ajapa, Anansi, Ekwensu, Hare (mythology), Ikaggen, Kalulu, Kwaku Ananse Mbeku, Tsuro, Tokoloshe
- Afro-Cuban mythology: Eleggua, Eshu
- Akan mythology: Kwaku Ananse
- Algonquin Mythology: Wisakedjak
- American folklore: Brer Rabbit (or Compere Lapin), Aunt Nancy (a corruption of Anansi/Anansee), John the Conqueror
- Arabian mythology: Juha, Sinbad
- Ashanti folklore: Anansi
- Australian Aboriginal mythology: Bamapana, Blue tongue lizard, Crow (mythology)
- Aztec Mythology : Huehuecoyotl
- Babylonian mythology: Lilith
- Bantu mythology: Hare (mythology) (Tsuro or Kalulu)
- Basque mythology: San Martin Txiki
- Belgian mythology: Lange Wapper
- Brazilian mythology: Saci, Saci-perere, Curupira
- Bulgarian Mythology : Hitar Petar, Kuma Lisa
- Macedonian folklore: Itar Pejo
- Bushmen/San Folklore: Cagn (IKaggen)
- Caribbean folklore: Anansi
- Celtic mythology: Fairy, Puck, puca
- Chinese mythology: Huli jing (Fox spirit), Nezha, Red Boy, Sun Wukong (Monkey King)
- Cree mythology: Wisakedjak
- Crow mythology: Awakkule, Mannegishi
- Dene Mythology: Wisakedjak
- Dutch folklore: Reynaert de Vos, Tijl Uilenspiegel
- Egyptian mythology: Set (mythology), Isis (mythology)
- English folklore: Jack (hero), Robin Goodfellow, Robin Hood, Reynard the Fox, Puck, Brownie (creature)
- Fijian mythology: Daucina
- French folklore: Renart the Fox
- German mythology: Reineke Fuchs, the Pied Piper, Till Eulenspiegel
- Greek mythology: Dionysus, Dolos, Eris, Hermes, Odysseus, Prometheus, Sisyphus
- Haitian folklore: Anansi, Ti Malice
- Hawaiian mythology: Kaulu, Kupua
- Hindu mythology: Baby Krishna, Narada, Mohini, Hanuman
- Hopi mythology: Kokopelli
- Igbo Mythology: Mbeku
- Indonesian mythology: Kantjil (aka Sang Kancil)
- Inuit mythology: Amaguq
- Irish folklore: Leprechaun, Briccriu
- Islamic mythology: Iblis, Khidr, Nasreddin
- Italian folklore: GiufĂ , Pulcinella, Puss in Boots
- Japanese mythology: Kitsune, Susanoo, Kappa, Tanuki, Hare of Inaba
- Jewish folklore: Hershele Ostropoler (Ashkenazi), Joha (Sephardic)
- Kazakh folklore: Aldar kose
- Korean folklore: Kumiho, Dokkaebi
- Lakota mythology: Iktomi, Heyoka
- Latin American folklore: Pedro Urdemales
- Levantine mythology: Yaw (mythology)
- Malaysian Mythology: Sang Kancil
- Maori mythology: Maui (mythology)
- Mayan mythology: Maya Hero Twins, Kisin, Maximon
- Mesopotamian mythology: Enki, Lilitu (see Lilith), in some situations Ishtar or Ereshkigal
- Micronesian mythology : Olifat
- Miwok mythology: Coyote (mythology)
- Native American Mythology : Amaguq, Awakkule, Azeban, Cin-an-ev, Coyote (mythology), Heyoka, Huehuecoyotl, Iktomi, Kisin, Kokopelli, Koshares, Mannegishi, Maya Hero Twins, Maximon, Nanabozho, Raven (mythology), Wisakedjak
- Nigerian mythology: Agadzagadza
- Norse mythology: Loki primarily, but Odin also does a lot of wandering the world in disguise, and even Heimdall does a bit of it. Meanwhile little ratatosk does some inciting and trouble-making in the animal kingdom.
- Nart Saga of Northwest Caucasian mythology: Sosruko
- Norwegian mythology: Espen Askeladd
- Ohlone mythology: Coyote (mythology)
- Ojibwa Mythology : Nanabozho
- Ojibwe mythology: Nanabozho
- Pacific Northwest Native American Mythology: Raven (mythology)
- Philippine mythology: Nuno sa Punso, Pilandok, Tikbalang
- Polynesian mythology: Maui (mythology)
- Pomo mythology: Coyote (mythology)
- Portuguese Folklore: Pedro Malasartes
- Pueblos dancing: Koshares
- Roman Mythology : Mercury
- Romanian mythology: Pacala
- Russian mythology: Ivan the Fool
- Slavic Mythology : Kuma Lisa, Veles
- South African Mythology: IKaggen
- Spanish mythology: Don Juan, Pedro Urdemales, The Trickster of Seville
- Sumerian mythology: Enki
- Thai folklore: Sri Thanonchai
- Tibetan folklore: Akhu Tonpa,
- Tumbuka mythology: Kalulu
- Ute mythology: Cin-an-ev
- Vietnamese Mythology : Trang quynn
- Vodou/Voodoo: Papa Legba, Ti Malice, Baron Samedi
- Welsh mythology: Gwydion, Taliesin, Morgan Le Fay, Jack Mary Ann
- West African mythology: Anansi
- Yoruba mythology: Ajapa, Eshu
- Zulu Mythology: Tokoloshe
- Zuni mythology: Kokopelli
See also:
Sources
Game and Story Use
- If you introduce such a character as an NPC, especially as one intended to go against the players, play fair and make sure that there is some way of defeating or thwarting him.
- Using them as a recurring nuisance to syphon off excess treasure or otherwise tip the odds back against the party when they are doing better than you expected is always a potential application, especially if the trickster is someone the PCs cannot kill in all good conscience.
- In fact, this may bring back the option of trickster as karmic balance - when the dice are against them, the trickster swoops in and provides a distraction or escape route, when they are riding high, the trickster is there with banana skins and superglue. Moderately insane deities do well in this role.
- Player character tricksters are harder to pull off, but can be rewarding when done right. Just make sure that the other players are on the same page when it comes to your humor…
- Realistically this is an easy role for the party's faceman or theif to fall into - the one who pulls of bait-and-switches, shell games and Bavarian Firedrills to tip the odds for the combat monsters.
- The Runequest fRPG makes quite a feature of tricksters, who play a significant but somewhat ill-defined role in the Orlanthi social structure.
- Because so many tricksters are shapeshifters or masters of disguise it's possible that any of the characters mentioned on this page could be, or could be masquerading as, nearly any of the other characters mentioned on this page. This goes double if your campaign or story uses themes like bissociation, syncretism and interpretatio graeca.