List of fictional tricksters

The trickster figure Reynard the Fox as depicted in an 1869 children's book by Michel Rodange.

This list of tricksters attests to both the enduring nature of the mythological figure of the trickster and its continued popularity in a variety of media.

The trickster, in later folklore or modern popular culture, is a clever, mischievous person or creature, who achieves his or her ends through the use of trickery. A trickster may trick others simply for their amusement, they could be a physically weak character trying to survive in a dangerous world, or they could even be a personification of the chaos that the world needs to function.

An archetypical example is of a fairy tale of the King who puts suitors for his daughter to the test. No brave and valiant prince or knight succeeds, until a simple peasant arrives. Aided only by his natural wit, he evades danger and triumphs over monsters and villains without fighting. Thus the most unlikely candidate passes the trials and receives the prize. Such characters are a staple of animated cartoons, in particular those used and developed by Tex Avery et al. during the Golden Age of American animation.

Characteristics

Hynes and Doty, in Mythical Trickster Figures (1997) state that every trickster has several of the following six traits:[1]

  1. fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous
  2. deceiver and trick-player
  3. shape-shifter
  4. situation-inverter
  5. messenger and imitator of the gods
  6. sacred and lewd bricoleur

Tricksters in folktale and fiction

In movies, television, animation, novels, short stories, comics, and video games

Notes

  1. Hynes, William J. and William G. Doty. (1993). Mythical Trickster Figures, (pp. 34-42). Tuscaloosa:The University of Alabama Press.
  2. Characteristics of a Slave Trickster, Emerson College. Retrieved on July 11, 2007.
  3. Harper, Graeme (2002). Comedy, Fantasy and Colonialism. A&C Black. p. 100. ISBN 9781847142160. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  4. DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan (2007-09-06). Interview: Avatar's Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. Interview with Eduardo Vasconcellos. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  5. Grand Valley State University Trickster World Mythology Course (Eng 104). Retrieved on: 2007-07-20.
  6. The Incarnation of a Trickster, Retrieved on July 11, 2007 Archived September 1, 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Britton, PD (2011). TARDISbound: Navigating the Universes of Doctor Who. Yet the Doctor has seldom been a straightforward hero. He has often exhibited characteristics of the trickster, for he generally relies on wiliness and rhetorical skill more than martial prowess or physical force , and his character has been frequently tinged with antiheroism
  8. Patricia Vettel Tom. (1996) "Felix the Cat as Modern Trickster" American Art, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 64-87. Retrieved on July 11, 2007
  9. "Pirates Dead Man's Chest: Depp's Iconic Role". Emanuel Levy. 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
  10. elisi (2011). "The Doctor's Final Lesson: Courtesy of River Song". The Doctor needs his own trickster figure to transport him to his own greenworld which, perforce, must be that much more chaotic and magical and insane and governed by all the primal forces even he tries to ignore. And there he can confront those conflicts within himself and find resolution to them before returning, fixed, to his real world. And order was restored with a wedding!
  11. Tina Blue. (2001) Traditional Themes and Motifs in Literature. Retrieved on July 11, 2007.
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