History Main / TheTrickster

* If there is one professional wrestler who qualifies, it's "[[CatchPhrase Lie, Cheat, & Steal" Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. And to a lesser extent, his nephew Chavo (at least after Eddie's death). Eddie's favorite trick was to take advantage of the [[GlassJawReferee Glass-Jaw]]/[[EasilyDistractedReferee Easily Distracted Referee]] and couple it with a WoundedGazelleGambit (in which he'd slam a chair on the mat and toss it to his unwitting opponent before lying down) or LetsYouAndHimFight, such as using Shaniqua's [[WhipItGood whip]] on the Ref's rump before tossing it to Danny Basham. He became [[https://youtu.be/KgxsZYnruTU a fan favorite]] ''because'' of his [[https://youtu.be/32tN4kkeUM8 unabashed cheating]].

* If there is one professional wrestler who qualifies, it's Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. And to a lesser extent, his nephew Chavo (at least after Eddie's death). Eddie's favorite trick was to take advantage of the [[GlassJawReferee Glass-Jaw]]/[[EasilyDistractedReferee Easily Distracted Referee]] and couple it with a WoundedGazelleGambit (in which he'd slam a chair on the mat and toss it to his unwitting opponent before lying down) or LetsYouAndHimFight, such as using Shaniqua's [[WhipItGood whip]] on the Ref's rump before tossing it to Danny Basham. He became [[https://youtu.be/KgxsZYnruTU a fan favorite]] ''because'' of his [[https://youtu.be/32tN4kkeUM8 unabashed cheating]].

* If there is one professional wrestler who qualifies, it's Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. And to a lesser extent, his nephew Chavo (at least after Eddie's death). Eddie's favorite trick was to take advantage of the [[GlassJawReferee Glass-Jaw]]/[[EasilyDistractedReferee Easily Distracted Referee]] and couple it with a WoundedGazelleGambit (in which he'd slam a chair on the mat and toss it to his unwitting opponent before lying down) or LetsYouAndHimFight, such as using Shaniqua's [[WhipItGood whip]] on the Ref's rump before tossing it to Danny Basham.

%%[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
%%* If there is one professional wrestler who qualifies, it's Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. And to a lesser extent, his nephew Chavo (at least after Eddie's death).
%%* Wrestling/{{Edge}}
%%[[/folder]]

* Myth/BrazilianFolklore: The Saci is the archetypal prank-player of the folklore, though he plays mostly harmless pranks. Other characters like Curupira and Caipora, also qualify, as dwell in the jungles and use their guiles to lure poachers into traps.

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dread Wolf]] Fen'Harel, an Elven trickster god with a healthy helping of {{Jerkass God|s}}. He was purportedly responsible for locking the [[GodIsGood Creators]] and the [[JerkassGods Forgotten Ones]] in heaven and hell, respectively, leading to the downfall, and eventual destruction of elven society. According to legend, Fen'Harel hates wisdom and kindness and is fond of employing CruelMercy and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor to those who ask for his help. Possibly subverted however [[spoiler:when you meet him in ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Inquisition]]'' as [[TheHermit Solas]]. He's generally a pretty decent guy, who would rather spend his time wandering [[DreamLand The Fade]] and befriending spirits than willfully spreading misery, at least until the Trespasser DLC reveals that he plans to undo his past actions in order to bring back immortality to the Elves, which will undoubtedly cause devastation to all other races.]]

%%* Yuffie Kisaragi and Cait Sith from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''

** Its notable that in the stories, Loki became something of a deconstruction of this; his trickery and pranks eventually soiled his relationship with the other gods, who didn't like him much in the first place, which in turn made Loki resent them and become crueler in his jokes. This eventually lead to Loki being bound to a boulder by the entrails of his murdered son where he spent years tortured by a snake dripping venom into his eyes (in the earlier stories, this was because he [[SacredHospitality lashed out at them during a dinner]] after they snubbed him and made fun of him behind his back, in the later, post [[HijackedByJesus Christianization]] of the myths (in order to make the Aesir look less like psychotic jerks), this is in response for killing Baldr), until he broke out and lead the armies of Asgard's enemies against the gods, eventually leading to [[{{Gotterdammerung}} Ragnarok]].

* Myth/ClassicalMythology has various examples, the main ones being descendants of TricskterGod Hermes.

* MirthToPower

In modern literature, the Trickster survives as a character archetype, ranging from the [[TricksterMentor self-aware and purposeful]], through the merely impulsive and mischievous, to an openly hostile antagonist. Mythical versions may also be [[HijackedByJesus Hijacked By Satan]], sometimes in direct contravention of their original legends.

The Trickster is NOT the same as the {{Jerkass}}. While the Trickster may be mischievous, impudent and uppity, he is not necessarily openly malevolent or sociopathic; in fact, in many cases Tricksters are ''more'' friendly to humanity [[JerkassGod than the gods are]]. It is possible, however, for a character to be introduced as a Trickster before being gradually or suddenly revealed to possess depths of cruelty and malice that make them truly villainous, in a form of BaitTheDog.

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dread Wolf]] Fen'Harel, an Elven trickster god with a healthy helping of JerkassGod. He was purportedly responsible for locking the [[GodIsGood Creators]] and the [[JerkassGods Forgotten Ones]] in heaven and hell, respectively, leading to the downfall, and eventual destruction of elven society. According to legend, Fen'Harel hates wisdom and kindness and is fond of employing CruelMercy and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor to those who ask for his help. Possibly subverted however [[spoiler:when you meet him in ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Inquisition]]'' as [[TheHermit Solas]]. He's generally a pretty decent guy, who would rather spend his time wandering [[DreamLand The Fade]] and befriending spirits than willfully spreading misery, at least until the Trespasser DLC reveals that he plans to undo his past actions in order to bring back immortality to the Elves, which will undoubtedly cause devastation to all other races.]]

* ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' has Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without [=MercyTM=] is one as he is frequently overmatched by gods, demons, demigods, superheroes, and supervillains. He manages to survive only by the fact that he uses ObfuscatingStupidity and a variety of ConfusionFu tactics. He even gets the VillainousRespect of Baba Yaga who calls him a "clever peasant."

%%* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''.

%%* ''Anime/StudentCouncilsDiscretion'' has Chizuru.

%%* ''Anime/SeitokaiNoIchizon'' has Chizuru.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' gives us a smorgasbord of Trickster-types running the full spectrum from "light-hearted" to "sodding dangerous"... although quite a lot weigh more towards the dangerous; [[TheGadfly Gadflys]], [[WorldOfSnark snarkers]] and [[{{Troll}} Trolls]] abound. Included are the [[TheJester court Fools]], [[TheBard Bards]] or {{Mummers}} like Moon Boy, Patchface, Butterbumps, the Blue Bard, Penny, poor "Jinglebell" and Marrillion, as well the historical Florian and Mushroom who either have been trained to include sanctioned havoc in their acts or otherwise make it part of their living in various shapes. However, [[FateWorseThanDeath if they overstep]]... [[TheChessmaster Tyrion]] [[DeadpanSnarker Lannister]] ''could'' have wound up as a trained Fool, himself, were it not for being born a [[{{Pride}} Lannister]] trumping being a dwarf (however, he's not exactly escaped the trope, given his propensity to be [[KarmicTrickster a reactive]], [[GuileHero tricksome]] [[TooCleverByHalf blighter]] of epic proportions). In fact, to get ahead in both [[BattleOfWits Westeros and Essos]], it ''pays'' to have an extensive bag of tricks up your sleeve and a will to use them -- no matter who you may be. As a result, few major players ''don't'' have shades of the grifter and Trickster to them: [[DownplayedTrope even for those infamously without much of a sense of humour]]... eh, [[ManipulativeBastard Lord]] [[TheChessmaster Tywin]] or [[PrinciplesZealot Lord]] [[TheStrategist Stannis]]? However, arguably the two biggest and straightest ones are [[MagnificentBastard Lord Petyr Baelish and "Lord" Varys]]. Both play others for their own ends using misdirection and [[XanatosSpeedChess any other means going]], while being sardonic wits of the highest order. The major difference between them seems to be how much chaos they're willing to spread to achieve their goals and why. [[spoiler: Varys ''seems'' to view collateral damage as a [[NecessarilyEvil Necessary Evil]] to bring long-term stability. Petyr? It's all part of [[OpportunisticBastard his Game]]: the more the merrier.]]

* [[TheJester Dimentio]] from ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' manages to combine this with MonsterClown.

* Myth/NativeAmericanMythology:
** The Coyote plays this role in the legends of the Southwest Native American groups. Depending on the story, he ranges from simply being a clever animal to an outright god[[note]]In many of the Western cultures, he's one of the primary creator gods, though his role varies from being "''the'' main one" to "the one who screwed it up for everyone else"[[/note]]. Personality-wise, he ranges from an unreliable-but-friendly ally to humanity, to a too-clever-by-half {{Jerkass}}-{{ButtMonkey}} who teaches people how to behave by negative example, to the personification of chaos, definitely powerful, but ''nobody's'' friend.
** The Raven fills the role in the Pacific Northwest, where he is an anti-hero sort of deity. His claim to fame would be stealing the sun from its keeper, allowing light to come into the world for the first time ever.
* Myth/AfricanMythology:
** Anansi the Spider from West African folklore (known as Aunt Nancy in the Americas). He supposedly collected every story ever for Earth from a bargain with the gods, so if you want somebody to thank for all the storytelling elements this wiki documents, you've got the spider.
** The hare is often one in African tales. When his stories were brought over by slaves to America, he became Br'er (pronounced "bruh", for "brother") Rabbit / Compe' Lapin
** The tortoise often played this role alongside the hare with the two being rivals. Of course, the tortoise always came out on top. After all, where did you think ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' came from?
** Eshu, a Yoruba (West African ethnicity) deity known for his penchant for causing strife around the world.
* Myth/ClassicalMythology has various examples, the main one being Hermes.
** But then you've got Autolycus, [[ReallyGetsAround one of his multiple sons]], who is well known [[LamarckWasRight for having inherited his father's arts of theft and trickery]].
** And, of course, there's [[TheSmartGuy Odysseus]], who happens to be Autolycus grandson, although he uses his skills for [[BlackandGrayMorality hypothetically]] better purposes.
** Prometheus the titan demigod, who used his cunning to steal fire from the gods and give it to humans.
** Rare trickstress version: Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, in Greek mythology. How did the Trojan War start? Because she threw a Golden Apple reading "To the Fairest" amongst Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena.

** {{Kitsune}} and {{Tanuki}} are two classes of {{youkai}} defined as being magical foxes and raccoon dogs respectively, using their powers to make mischief harmless and otherwise.

* Sun Wukong (Son Goku) / Monkey in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. This guy was a literal god amongst monkeys, which he used in his early life to infuriate the gods. Later on, his travels would see him mellow out a bit and mainly use his cunning to dupe the MonsterOfTheWeek.

* Myth/AztecMythology:
** Huehuecoyotl, aka the Old Coyote, from Aztec Mythos is a shape-shifting trickster known for being equally likely to perpetrate cruel pranks against his fellow gods and mortal alike while also be prone to throwing grand parties as a god of storytelling, music, dance and merriment. Unfortunately for the Old Coyote, Huehuecoyotl's tricks frequently backfire and cause more trouble for himself than the intended victims.
** Tezcatlipoca subverts the archetype 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 was mainly when he wanted to annoy his brother, Quetzalcoatl.
** He was definitely at the far "god of chaos" end of the trickster archetype. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Alternative names]] for him translate approximately to things like "he to whom we are his slaves", "change through violence" (likely a reference to revolution), and "enemy of both sides".

* Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream gives us the mischievous Puck.
%%* Robin Goodfellow from ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''--otherwise known as Puck.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has Puck. "What fools these mortals be!" Coyote, Raven and Anansi. Xanatos (yes, [[TropeNamer that Xanatos]]) very much patterns himself after the mythological trickster. On his website, Greg Weisman was once asked about including the Egyptian god Seth, and [[http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=7368 noted]] that "He's basically a Trickster figure[...]and I already have four of those to play with."

%%* The GreatGazoo from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones''.

* Lunar {{TabletopGame/Exalted}}. Quoth Robert "The Demented One" Vance:
-->''[[TheFairFolk Raksha]] are the drunken sorority girls to the Lunar's fratboy, except the Lunar's fratboy is a world-walking trickster-god werewolf.''

* The player's characters in ''TabletopGame/KitsuneOfFoxesAndFools'' are {{Kitsune}} playing tricks on mortals to gain the approval of the Kitsune Elders.

* Hermes shows up in the 7th ''Literature/ChronoHustle'' story. While it is his status as messenger of the Gods that is in play, his trickster tendencies show up as well.
* Coober the Wizard in ''WebOriginal/UnforgottenRealmsLive''. He tried to sell the main party a bunch of cursed artifacts in ''The Nuren Campaign'', and he disguised himself as a Kobold for unknown reasons in ''The Sunswords''.

* Eris from ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' spends all of her time playing tricks on the protagonist (along with all the mortals in the story) and well, just causing general chaos. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQYCf4OXyg&feature=related just listen to this theme song]]

** Princess Celestia from the same show is a good version of this trope; fans don't call her [[FanNickname "Trollestia"]] for nothing.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Xelloss in ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}''. He even refers to himself as a "trickster priest." ("fuzaketa puriisto", "the playful priest"; sometimes translated as "roguish priest" or "mysterious priest".)

%%* [[MagnificentBastard Hiruma Youichi]] from ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}''.
%%* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has both Kazumi Asakura and Haruna Saotome acting like this on occasion.

%%* WordOfGod says [[TheWonka Romania]] from ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' is one.

* ''Anime/{{Kaiketsu Zorori}}'' who considers himself an Anti-Hero, a self-proclaimed prankster genius and one of his goal is to become known as the King of Pranksters or a [[ToBeAMaster Prankster King]].

* Sacanas from FanFic/TheCaptainGoodkingSaga fits this to a T, especially when he tricked his apprentice's father into being TakenForGranite by promising the father he would be "forever young and beautiful". [[MeaningfulName The clue's in the name]]. [[note]]Sacanas is Portuguese for "trickster"[[/note]]

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has Yukari Yakumo and Tewi Inaba.