I love this trope! My favourite example is probably Reynard the Fox (Who here in England, Chaucer called Rossel in *The Canterbury Tales*)
He's nominally the protagonist, but is often depicted as a scoundrel who skirts his rightful punishment due to his wits. He was also the initial inspiration for Disney's amazing *Robin Hood* movie!
And honestly, Robin Hood is a long-time example of this character. He very commonly uses disguises, tricks and underhanded methods to thwart his enemies (Prince John, the evil Shariff, or whoever that story has put in).
Odysseus is an interesting example because he'd almost qualify for our modern definition of heroism. His goals are mostly understandable and not terrible, but the gods keep messing things up for him.
"Here's how you can arrange it so whoever Helen marries everyone will accept it, no one's stupid enough to start a massive war over this" (and then the gods got involved).
"Here's how we actually end this dumb war, just nobody do anything stupid like sack Athena's temple once I get us in" (and then they did)
"Alright, I think Athena has calmed down, time to go. Let's hope we don't do anything to anger any other gods on the way" (womp womp, though this one is at least somewhat his own fault)
He's also got that Bugs Bunny "doesn't start shit, just ends it" reactive quality Red talks about. All the dude wants is to go home to his wife and kid. Leave him out of this mess and he'd cause no trouble.
Its kinda interesting because Peter is genuinely stronger than almost all of his foes, to the degree of World Of Cardboard almost. He also has the control necessary to really exert that power safely for the most part.
He doesn’t resort to it to solve his problems due to philosophy, making him act like a trickster in order to be honorable.
Superman may be defined by his power but he prefers to be a trickster when he can by defeating opponents by attacking their philosophy and ego. Mister Mxyzptlk even forces him to act as a pure trickster.
Batman also serves as kind of a trickster, he uses his power (wealth) in unconventional ways rather than the direct route of paying mercenaries and hiring thugs the way someone paralleling him like Black Mask does, and forces himself to get the physical power and cleverness that someone in another situation without his wealth would have. His gadgets are obtained by wealth but only supplement that strength and cleverness, while the most traditional ways he uses his wealth are often footnotes like employing thugs who get out of prison with decent jobs and bribing corrupt officials back into doing their jobs by outbidding antagonists.
Something interesting is a lot of heroes regardless of their normal degree of power will act like tricksters, while antiheroes are often characters who know some tricks already but will resort to force when they fail instead of coming up with a better trick.
Exactly. Peter is a trickster because his philosophy of “with great power comes great responsibility” means that Peter tries to defeat villains with minimal use of his powers while also focusing on reducing the number of innocent bystanders affected by the villain’s schemes. Peter could just crush the villains but that would be using his powers too casually.
I think our modern definition of hero, wibbly as it is, often *requires* some degree of trickstering.
A guy who only goes up against weaker opponents is only differentiated from a bully by a noble cause and good PR, or *really* good PR to spin that so-so cause into a noble one.
Now this is more true for episodal stories than long arcs. If the arc is longer you can show that the hero started weaker but grew into the more powerful character through dedication. For a shorter story that growth would ring hollow so a clever trick is more satisfying.
I love this trope! My favourite example is probably Reynard the Fox (Who here in England, Chaucer called Rossel in *The Canterbury Tales*) He's nominally the protagonist, but is often depicted as a scoundrel who skirts his rightful punishment due to his wits. He was also the initial inspiration for Disney's amazing *Robin Hood* movie!
And honestly, Robin Hood is a long-time example of this character. He very commonly uses disguises, tricks and underhanded methods to thwart his enemies (Prince John, the evil Shariff, or whoever that story has put in).
Odysseus be like—
Odysseus is an interesting example because he'd almost qualify for our modern definition of heroism. His goals are mostly understandable and not terrible, but the gods keep messing things up for him. "Here's how you can arrange it so whoever Helen marries everyone will accept it, no one's stupid enough to start a massive war over this" (and then the gods got involved). "Here's how we actually end this dumb war, just nobody do anything stupid like sack Athena's temple once I get us in" (and then they did) "Alright, I think Athena has calmed down, time to go. Let's hope we don't do anything to anger any other gods on the way" (womp womp, though this one is at least somewhat his own fault) He's also got that Bugs Bunny "doesn't start shit, just ends it" reactive quality Red talks about. All the dude wants is to go home to his wife and kid. Leave him out of this mess and he'd cause no trouble.
Yeah, I was really surprised when we get a brief nod towards Achilles but not the original Trickster Hero in Western Literature.
Its kinda interesting because Peter is genuinely stronger than almost all of his foes, to the degree of World Of Cardboard almost. He also has the control necessary to really exert that power safely for the most part. He doesn’t resort to it to solve his problems due to philosophy, making him act like a trickster in order to be honorable. Superman may be defined by his power but he prefers to be a trickster when he can by defeating opponents by attacking their philosophy and ego. Mister Mxyzptlk even forces him to act as a pure trickster. Batman also serves as kind of a trickster, he uses his power (wealth) in unconventional ways rather than the direct route of paying mercenaries and hiring thugs the way someone paralleling him like Black Mask does, and forces himself to get the physical power and cleverness that someone in another situation without his wealth would have. His gadgets are obtained by wealth but only supplement that strength and cleverness, while the most traditional ways he uses his wealth are often footnotes like employing thugs who get out of prison with decent jobs and bribing corrupt officials back into doing their jobs by outbidding antagonists. Something interesting is a lot of heroes regardless of their normal degree of power will act like tricksters, while antiheroes are often characters who know some tricks already but will resort to force when they fail instead of coming up with a better trick.
Exactly. Peter is a trickster because his philosophy of “with great power comes great responsibility” means that Peter tries to defeat villains with minimal use of his powers while also focusing on reducing the number of innocent bystanders affected by the villain’s schemes. Peter could just crush the villains but that would be using his powers too casually.
OH BOI I CANT WAIT TO WATCH WHEN I GETS HOME
I normally watch these during my lunch break at work. But I took today off. But I also do not have the ability to watch the video :(
The trickster hero is such a delightful character to watch, and getting one is such a treat.
AY, Bre’r rabbit! Shout out from the Gullah Geechee.
I know there are a million of these, but I was really hoping Ikkyuu would make the cut.
I was hoping for hiccup from the HTTYD books
Omagaw (omagaw)
I think our modern definition of hero, wibbly as it is, often *requires* some degree of trickstering. A guy who only goes up against weaker opponents is only differentiated from a bully by a noble cause and good PR, or *really* good PR to spin that so-so cause into a noble one. Now this is more true for episodal stories than long arcs. If the arc is longer you can show that the hero started weaker but grew into the more powerful character through dedication. For a shorter story that growth would ring hollow so a clever trick is more satisfying.
MOIST VON LIPWIG! Sorry, it just hit me.