What collection of mythos doesn't have a trickster? What is a tricksters? I'm dead serious...
Now when it comes to tricksters in myths in general, the first one to come to mind is Loki. So does that mean they're assholes( because let's be honest Loki is an asshole)? Well....not necessarily. By definition they are these archetypal characters who appear in the myths of many different cultures. They can be gods, but they can also be anthropomorphized animals, spirits, mortal, or a combination of them. In Slavic myths the tricksters are often the hero of the story.
Now tricksters often use knowledge to survive or to cause problems. So who are the tricksters? That depends on what culture you look at. To the Greeks, it's Hermes because he invented lies. To some Native Groups there are some type of animal, namely the coyote in some tribes. African cultures named rabbits and hares as tricksters. The list also goes into Fae creatures( fairies, will o wisps, brownies[is it odd we named a dessert after them?]), important deities, and some human who though they could pull one over on a god, which never ends well.
So why have tricksters? Well sometimes it's for some lesson in morality. Other moments are just for the hell of it or the need to survive. Odysseus uses this to get out of the cyclops's cave and to avoid being eaten. Loki did it to help out the Aesir, but seeing how it's Loki it was most likely a one time deal. There is even a fairy tale where a trickster somehow manages to beat dangerous foes and win the hand of a princess.
What does that have to do with anything? Well it has to do with how they developed in modern forms of media and literature. The most famous trickster known by many is Bugs Bunny. In modern literature, the Trickster survives as a character archetype, ranging from the , through the merely impulsive and mischievous, to an openly hostile antagonist.
All and all they are probably some of either the most beloved or hated people in a story, depending on the trickster you have in mind.
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Tropes and Cliches
RandomThere are a lot of tropes like the Token Gal and really hilarious cliches like Clumsy unless in Combat.And I want to discuss them here with you. Now there is nothing wrong with cliches and tropes, mostly because they're unavoidable. It's when you us...
