| Role/Occupation Trickster |
| Total Entries 42 |
| Representative Puck (Folklore) |
|
A trickster is a character who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. The Trickster openly questions and mocks authority, encourages impulse and enthusiasm, seeks out new ideas and experiences, destroys convention and complacency, and promotes chaos and unrest. At the same time, the trickster brings new knowledge, wisdom and many “An Aesop”. Even when punished horribly for their effrontery, their indomitable spirit (or plain sheer foolishness) keeps them coming back for more. Tricksters can be anything from gods of chaos, bedeviling heroes for a few laughs, to master manipulators who use cruel ploys and “Sadistic Choices”. They can also be heroes (or more likely “Anti-Heroes”) who make up for a lack of strength or bravery with manipulation, planning, or just plain cheating. The trickster is often a “Master of Disguise” and may have magical or super-powers. They’re often found “Walking the Earth”. In mythology and religion, the trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously but usually, albeit unintentionally, with ultimately positive effects… Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both; they are often funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks. Even if not otherwise punished, they are often prone to being caught in their own trap, and are very vulnerable to “Counter Zany” schemes. Sometimes the Trickster appears as a sort of catalyst, in that their antics are the cause of other characters’ discomfiture, but they themself are left untouched. (Or at least unenlightened, if the trick backfires.) In modern literature, the Trickster survives as a character archetype, ranging from the self-aware and purposeful, through the merely impulsive and mischievous, to an openly hostile antagonist. Mythical versions may also be “Hijacked By Satan”, sometimes in direct contravention of their original legends… ~ The Trickster – TV Tropes
|
 |
