“That makes no sense and so do I.” – Daffy Duck

The Trickster archetype embodies the energies (t’el’efon) of mischief and desire for change. All the characters in stories who are primarily clowns or comical sidekicks express this archetype. The specialized form called the Trickster Hero is the leading figure in many myths and is very popular in folklore and fairy tales.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION

Trickster serve several important psychological functions. They cut big egos down to size, and bring heroes and audiences down to earth. By provoking healthy laughter they help us realize our common bonds, and they point out folly and hypocrisy. Above all, they bring about healthy change and transformation, often by drawing attention to the imbalance or absurdity of a stagnant psychological situation. They are the natural enemies of the status quo. Trickster energy can express itself through impish accidents or slips of the tongue that alert us to the need for change. When we are taking ourselves too seriously, the Trickster part of our personalities may pop up to bring back needed perspective.

DRAMATIC FUNCTION: COMIC RELIEF

In drama, Trickster serve all these psychological functions, plus the dramatic function or comic relief. Unrelieved tension, suspense, and conflict can be emotionally exhausting, and in even the heaviest drama an audience’s interest is revived by moments of laughter. An old rule of drama points out the need for balance: Make ‘em cry a lot; let ‘em laugh a little.

Tricksters may be servants or Allies working for the hero or Shadow, or they may be independent agents with their own skewed agendas.

The Trickers of mythology provide many examples of the workings of this archetype. One of the most colourful is Loki, the Norse god of trickery and deceit.  A true Trickster, he serves the other gods as legal counsellor and advisor, but also plots their destruction, undermining the status quo. He is fiery in nature, and his darting, elusive energy helps heat up the petrified, frozen energy of the gods, moving them to action and change.  He also provides much-needed comic relief in the generally dark Norse myths.

Loki is sometimes a comical sidekick character in stories featuring the gods Odin or Thor as heroes. In other stories he is a hero of sorts, a Trickster Hero who survives by his wits against physically stronger gods or giants. At last he turns into a deadly adversary of Shadow, leading the hosts of the dead in a final war against gods.

TRICKSTER HEROES

Trickster Heroes have bred like rabbits in the folktales and fairy tales of the world. Indeed, some of the most popular Tricksters are rabbit heroes: the B’rer Rabbit of the American South, the Hare of African tales, the many rabbit heroes from Southeast Asia, Persia, India, etc. These stories pit the defenceless but quick-thinking rabbit against much larger and more dangerous enemies: folktale Shadow figures like wolves, hunters, tigers, and bears. Somehow the tiny rabbit always manages to outwit his hungry opponent, who usually suffers painfully from dealing with a Trickster Hero.

The modern version of the rabbit Trickster is of course Bugs Bunny. The Warner Brothers animators made use of folktale plots to pit Bugs against hunters and predators who didn’t stand a chance against his quick wits.  Other cartoon Tricksters of this type include Warner’s Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, the Roadrunner, and Tweety Bird; Walter’s Lantz’s Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy the penguin; and MGM’s ubiquitous dog Droopy, who always outwits the befuddled Wolf.  Mickey Mouse started as an ideal animal Trickster, although he has matured into a sober master of ceremonies and corporate spokesman.

Native Americans have a particular fondness for Tricksters such as Coyote and Raven. The clown Kachina gods of the Southwest are Tricksters of great power as well as comic ability.

Once in awhile it’s fun to turn the tables and show that Tricksters themselves can be outwitted.  Sometimes a Trickster like the Hare will try to take advantage of a weaker, slower animal like Mr. Tortoise.  In folktales and fables such as “The Tortoise and the Hare,” the slowest outwits the fastest by dogged persistence or by cooperating with others of its kind to outwit the faster animal.

Tricksters like to stir up trouble for its own sake. Joseph Campbell relates a Nigerian story in which the Trickster god Edshu walks down a road in a hat that’s red on one side and blue on the other. When people comment, “Who was that going by in a red hat?” they get into fights with people on the other side of the road who insist the hat was blue. The god takes credit for the trouble, saying, “Spreading strife is my greatest joy.”

Tricksters are often catalyst character, who affect the lives others but are unchanged themselves.  Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop displays Trickster energy as he stirs up the existing system without changing much himself.

The heroes of comedy, from Charlie Chaplin to the Marx Brothers to the cast of “In Living Colour,” are Tricksters who subvert the status quo and make us laugh at ourselves. Heroes of other genres must often put on the Trickster mask in order to outwit a Shadow or get around a Threshold Guardian.

The archetype are an infinitely flexible language of character. They offer a way to understand what function a character is performing at a given moment in a story. Awareness of the archetypes can help to free writers from stereotyping, by giving their characters greater psychological verity and depth. The archetypes can be used to make characters who are both unique individuals and universal symbols of the qualities that from a complete human being. They can help make our characters and stories psychologically realistic and true to the ancient wisdom of myths.

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Now that we’ve met the denizens of the story world, let’s return to the Road of Heroes for a closer look at the twelve stages and how the archetypes play their parts in the Hero’s Journey.