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A trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal 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 his effrontery, his indomitable spirit (or plain sheer foolishness) keeps him 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 Choice|sadistic choices]]. They can also be heroes (or more likely [[Anti -Hero|Anti-Heroes]]) who make up for a lack of strength or bravery with manipulation, [[Crazy Prepared|planning]], or just plain [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|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. Often, the bending/breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both; they are often funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks.
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* [[Con Man]]
** [[Crooked Contractor]]
** [[Honest JohnsJohn's Dealership]]
** [[Shady Real Estate Agent]]
** [[Snake Oil Salesman]]
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{{tropelist}}
{{examples|Examples}}
 
== Advertising ==
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* The Sinners in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', particularly Aion.
* Naruto Uzumaki from ''[[Naruto]]'' crosses this trope with [[Determinator]]
* [[Jo JosJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Joseph Joestar]], to the Nth frickin' degree. "Your next words will be..."
* [[Magnificent Bastard|Hiruma Youichi]] from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]''.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has both Kazumi Asakura and Haruna Saotome acting like this on occasion.
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* Kayako and Toshio from ''Ju-on'' (and the remake series, ''[[The Grudge]]'').
* Tyler Durden of ''[[Fight Club]]''. A more malicious example.
* [[Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off (Film)|Ferris Bueller.]]
* The [[Marx Brothers]], particularly Groucho.
** And by extension, Roland T. Flakfizer from ''[[Brain Donors]]''
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* Robin Goodfellow from ''[[An Elegy for The Still Living]]'' talks in riddles, plays practical jokes, manipulates anyone he can get his hands on and implies that he is the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Trickster Archetype.
* Harry Dresden of the [[Dresden Files]] believes himself to be this, but Murphy points out that he's actually very predictable, despite his occasional surpassing cleverness; he just has authority problems.
** Which doesn't help given that most of the White Council think's he's a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|black magic ticking time bomb dark lord]] who [[Badass|fights necromancers from the back of a dinosaur]] that the Warden Commander and her right hand can't get ''close'' to and who [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|fights eldritch nightmares on an annual basis]].
** Thomas Raith is this, often just as much for the sheer contrariness as anything else.
** {{spoiler|Given who his half brother is, this makes a fair amount of sense.}}
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* [[Aztec Mythology|Tezcatlipoca]]
** Subverted in that he was at the same time an authority figure, and a very important one at that. The only times he was really trickster-ish where mainly when he wanted to annoy his brother, Quetzalcoatl.
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huehuecoyotl Huehuecoyotl] "Very Old [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Coyote]]."
* Nasreddin Hodja (in Persian- and Turkic-speaking countries)/Juha (or Joha or Guha or Goha or...) (in Arabic-speaking countries), the [[Useful Notes/Islam|Sufi Muslim]] Trickster.
* Athena, in ''[[The Odyssey (Literature)|The Odyssey]]'', though you wouldn't know it from her more [[The Smart Girl|modern]] portrayals.
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* An entire watchtower is devoted to this concept in [[Mage: The Awakening]], the Acanthus. An entire fifth of mages in existence, and all of them devoted to the trickster concept of the Fool Tarot.
* The pooka from ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]''.
* ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'' has its typical [[Darker and Edgier|pitch black take on it]]. The Deceiver is a weaker [[Eldritch Abomination]] who is one of the bigger players in the [[Gambit Pileup]] in the setting, and the Laughing God is one of the [[Have You Seen My God?|few surviving gods of the Eldar]], whose followers are the [[Monster Clown|Harlequins]] ([[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|space elf ninja clown acrobat librarians]]). On a smaller scale, there's a direct reference to this archetype in the latest Space Wolves codex, Lukas the Trickster, a [[Almighty Janitor|low-ranking]] [[Space Marine]] who replaced one of his hearts with a [[And I Must Scream|stasis bomb]] that [[Taking You With Me|goes off on his death]].
** Let this troper emphasize. Ninja. Clown. The fact that it's their defining game mechanic and they get ''saves'' (effectively, armor) on that account only accentuates the hilarity. They're one of the few Eldar units that can charge in the open, comparable to units from other factions whose armor was designed for repairing ships' reactors ''while they're on'', all on account of the fact that anyone who is [[Refuge in Audacity|both a ninja and a clown]] is impossible to hit.
** The whole archetype is part of the Space Wolves' hat. The majority are [[Boisterous Bruiser|Boisterous Bruisers]] to varying degrees, and many of the younger ones have a real fondness for harmless (or sometimes, not-so-harmless) [[Screwy Squirrel|practical jokes]]. Lukas is a prime example on how extreme the Space Wolves' rebellious nature can be, since he doesn't even respect superiors within his own chapter as much as any other character.
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== Theater ==
* Early plays frequently featured [[Stock Characters]] of this type, usually underlings or servants--a trope solidified by the plays of [[Plautus]]. This was carried on into the ''[[Commedia Dell 'Arte]]'' and Elizabethan plays, such as the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]].
* Robin Goodfellow from ''[[A Midsummer Nights Dream]]''--otherwise known as Puck.
* Tranio from ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]''--named for a similar character in Plautus' play ''Mostellaria''.
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* Yuffie Kisaragi and Cait Sith from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''
* Namine from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''
* [[Highly -Visible Ninja|Highly Visible]] [[Phantom Thief|Thief]] Kay Faraday of ''[[Ace Attorney]]''.
* Juppo and Meg from the [[Suikoden]] series are "tricksters" by occupation.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' has [[Reality Warper|Yukari Yakumo]] and [[Screwy Squirrel|Tewi Inaba]].
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== Web Comics ==
* [[April Fools' Day]] in the webcomic [[Holiday Wars]] is a shapeshifting prankster.
* Coyote and Reynardine (based somewhat on the above-mentioned Reynard the Fox) from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]''.
** [[Word of God|Word of Tom]] is, Coyote visited the [[All Myths Are True|other tricksters]]. He doesn't like them much.
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{{quote| '''Vish:''' ...Lady Luck. My Goddess. Yours now. Sanctifier of Journeys, Lady of Crossroads, Gallows-Girl of Thieves and the Courts of Night.}}
* Nudge from ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' is [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/trickster/ a classic trickster]. She eventually discovers that she is the kind of trickster who makes people want to punch her.
* In [[Strays]], the [[White -Haired Pretty Boy]] [http://www.straysonline.com/comic/151.htm Holland].
* Sam "Some of my people have even survived after uttering the phrase 'Watch This!'" Starfall, of ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]''. (Also, his species.) Many other characters have elements of this as well; heroine Florence Ambrose is even [[Uplifted Animal|a relative of Coyote's]].
* In ''[[Thistil Mistil Kistil]]'', [http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch02-pg22/ Loki, true to form.]
* [[Labyrinth (Film)|Jareth]] is the resident one in the [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007 (Webcomic)|Roommates]]'' and its [[Spin -Off]] s (''[[Girls Next Door (Webcomic)|Girls Next Door]]'' and ''[[Down the Street (Webcomic)|Down the Street]]''), but his [[Tangled Family Tree|whole]] [[The Fair Folk|family]] has shades of this.
* In ''[[Eight 8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' the totemic spirit Raven once tricked Thief into thinking that he had died and was now in his own personal hell where he owned everything (and there was nothing left to steal). Then, several comics after "reviving him" tried to collect on the debt Thief owed him, instead Thief [[I Never Said It Was Poison|tricked Raven]] into admitting that he was never dead.
 
 
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* In ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'', one of the first things Raimundo does is pants Omi and complain about the mat beds.
* The Magic Man from ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' lives solely to knock heroes down a peg.
* Discord from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' looks and acts like a Trickster, but beneath it there's a hidden side of malice. Also, when push comes to shove and trickery fails, he's not above just [[Cutting the Knot]] to get what he wants.
** Princess Celestia from the same show is a good version of this trope; fans don't call her [[Fan Nickname|"Trollestia"]] for nothing.
* T.J. Detweiler from ''[[Recess]]''. King Bob was this as well before he became king of the playground.
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[[Category:index]]
[[Category:The Trickster]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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