He is the destroyer of worlds at the same time as he is the savior of them. He appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded thereby needing to be torn down and built anew. The central role of the Trickster is to question, and to cause us to question, and not accept things blindly. ( The Fool survives in modern playing cards as the Joker). The trickster in most tribal traditions is essential to the cycle of creation, death and rebirth. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Many early cultures and traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred, with many of their most revered shamans considered to be ' divine fools'. He successfully completes the trials and in the end, this most unlikely hero passes the tests and receives the reward. No brave and noble challenger manages to overcomes the obstacles, until some poor nebbish comes along, who by using his wits instead of his might, evades or fools the monsters and evil-doers with cunning and trickery. For example, many typical fairy tales have the king who wants to find the best groom for his daughter by challenging her suitors to undertake several deadly trials in order to to win her hand in marraige. The trickster is incarnated as a clever, mischievous creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. Trickster is the wise-fool who rebels against authority, pokes fun at the overly serious, creates convoluted schemes, that may or may not work, plays with the Laws of the Universe and is sometimes his own worst enemy. In modern literature the trickster survivors as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine. The Trickster is an example of a Jungian Archetype. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both and they are often funny or satirical, even when performing sacred or other important tasks. Sometimes their actions are seemingly malicious, but usually with ultimately beneficial results.

In mythology and folklore the ' Trickster' is a deity, a legendary being, an animal or nature spirit guide who plays tricks or employs other bemusing behaviors, designed to teach a lesson through the trickery.

Trickster mythology