Sneaky Spider

"Oh! what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive!"

— Marmion, Walter Scott

Spiders are well-known for the webs they weave and lay as traps for unsuspecting prey. In line with this, fictional spiders and characters associated with them will be cast as witty tricksters and/or deceitful, manipulative schemers with ulterior motives, lying in wait in the shadows and use physical or metaphorical "webs" to outwit their opponents. Other times, they are portrayed as sexy seducers who attempt to lure in unsuspecting prey for the kill — for an extreme example, the term Black Widow is partially derived from a genus of spiders whose females occasionally devour the males after mating. For extra sketchiness, these can be compounded with how some spiders secrete venom (because the usage of toxins is untrustworthy), or the weaving of spider webs can be related to illusion powers.

In many portrayals, they are more commonly evil, amoral, or morally ambiguous, and can also be cruel predators on top of being deceitful. Characters of this sort who are Guile Heroes may instead be Friendly Neighborhood Spiders.

This trope is Older Than Print. Anansi of West African myth and Iktomi of the Lakota Sioux are two examples of spider trickster figures from oral tradition.

Subtrope of The Trickster, and may also overlap with The Chessmaster or The Spymaster. Strategic web usage may also make them a Trap Master or The Strategist. Compare Spiders Are Scary, which is another reason spiders get a bad rap, and Giant Spider, which is usually more terrifying and brute-force-focused than cunning, although they can certainly overlap for pure horror. Characters sporting Arachnid Appearance and Attire or using Projectile Webbing may also be tricksters because of this trope. See also other sneaky animals: Cunning Like a Fox, Rascally Rabbit, Rascally Raccoon, Stealthy Cephalopod (another eight-legged one!) and Those Wily Coyotes.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The spider "family" of demons hide in a mountain and use their spider-themed powers, such as webs and poison, to torment passerby and slay arriving Demon Slayers.
• Megalo Box: The Megaloboxer "Spider" Iglesias is called "Spider" because of his use of Confusion Fu and a highly mobile style to trap opponents in the ring where he controls their movement.
• In Moriarty the Patriot, just as in the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Professor Moriarty is compared to a spider, scheming and scheming behind the scenes and weaving a web of plans around Sherlock and everyone else. The Moriarty family even has three spiders on their heraldry to symbolize the three brothers.
• Naruto: Kidomaru is a spider-themed ninja with eight limbs, the ability to produce webs, and a Giant Spider personal summon. Fittingly, he is the Sound Five's strategist, and an unrepentant sadist.
• Kumoko, the protagonist of So I'm a Spider, So What?, is Trapped in Another World in the body of a spider monster. As she steadily grows stronger, Kumoko opts away from the Evolution Power Ups that would turn her into an abomination the size of a building and opts to rely on speed and smarts, employing traps, poison, ambush tactics and all sorts of other dirty strategies to survive a brutally unforgiving environment.

Comic Books

• Marvel Universe:
  • Spider-Man is a quippy spider-themed superhero who frequently uses his wits and webs to outsmart larger and stronger opponents.
  • Black Widow is named for the famous spider and has weaponry themed around it. She fittingly started out a manipulative Femme Fatale Spy.

Fan Works

• Dungeon Keeper Ami: Keeper Arachne, a spider-using Keeper who worships the Vermin Lord, uses traps like flooding a room after people have entered.

Film — Animated

• Coraline: While the original book describes the Other Mother with various bits of spider imagery, the film adaptation has her turn into a full-blown spider lady as her One-Winged Angel form. Much like a spider's web, the colorful, surreal Other World — as well as its idealized doubles of Coraline's father and her neighbors — are a false illusion crafted by the Other Mother specifically to lure in and trap the eponymous heroine, with the intent of feeding on her like she did to other, less fortunate children in the past.

Film — Live-Action

• It's a Wonderful Life: When Mr. Potter tries to bribe George Bailey into giving up the Building & Loan, the latter is aware of his tricks and refuses, likening the deceitful businessman to a "scurvy little spider" who spins its web.
• In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Old Joe, the unscrupulous pawnbroker/fence who buys Scrooge's belongings after his death, is a spider.

Literature

• Anansi Boys is about spider trickster Anansi, who's "died", and his two sons, Fat Charlie and Spider, as they come to grips with his legacy. Fat Charlie is only book-smart and has to become more of a Guile Hero over the course of the plot, while Spider is a charming and manipulative trickster, but also incredibly shallow and selfish and turns out to not be a brother born normally but a Superpowered Evil Side split off from Charlie in his youth.
• Charlotte's Web: A heroic example. Charlotte uses her spider-y powers of deception and manipulation to get humans to believe Wilbur the pig is too special to butcher and eat. This is purely altruistic on her part; she is honest to a fault and has no malice whatsoever.

• Emberverse has Lady Protector Sandra Arminger, a cunning, cruel and highly intelligent woman whose adeptness at manipulating the politics and schemes of her nation has earned her the nickname of the Spider.
• Gentleman Bastard: In The Lies of Locke Lamora, "the Spider" is the secret head of Camorr's Midnighters, an order of secret police that reports to the Duke himself. The Spider goes unnoticed because she's a seemingly harmless old widow, Dona Angiavesta Vorchenza.
• It: Imagery of spiders's webs is used to symbolise the town of Derry, It's hunting grounds, as well as the town's underground sewer network, where It resides and uses as It's main method of transportation. Fittingly enough, It's real form, or at least the closest thing humans can perceive, resembles a giant, black spider. The "deceit" part of this trope is fulfilled by the fact that, though It's modus operandi shapeshifts into children's worst fears, It's Pennywise the Dancing Clown form serves to attract them.
• Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain: The supervillain Spider, an actual car-sized spider, is a chessmaster who controls Chinatown and has a large influence not just over other supervillains, but also over hero/villain relations. Although she adheres to a strict code of conduct, she's also not above exploiting the rules to mess with heroes.
• In Sherlock Holmes, Holmes's brilliant, scheming enemy James Moriarty is compared to a spider, just laying in wait for his plans to bear fruit.
  Holmes: [Moriarty] is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city, He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Varys, the Decadent Court's cunning spymaster, is associated with spiders (his In-Universe Nickname is even "the Spider") due to his secrecy and "web" of informants. Although he's ostensibly on the side of the crown, he appears to have his own agenda which the court is none the wiser to.
  Catelyn's narration: Varys was lord of nothing but the spiderweb, the master of none but his whisperers.
• The fable The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt features a spider luring a fly into its web through flattery and seduction, only to eat him once he decides to alight onto her web.
• The Wheel of Time: Of the Dark One's most dreaded servants, Moghedien (literally, "Spider") is infamous for being an insidious and devastatingly effective Spymaster, Chessmaster, and Dream Weaver. She got her Nom de Guerre from a type of tiny spider whose venom kills within seconds.
  Birgitte: She hides and takes no risks. She attacks only where she sees weakness, and moves only in shadows.

Live-Action TV

• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Played for Laughs; Russ and Jacquelyn invoke the Lakota Sioux spider spirit Iktomi and his sneakiness when coming up with their schemes against Russ's family.

Mythology and Religion

• The West African god Anansi is a largely benign spider trickster who supposedly collected every story in existence from a bargain with the gods, and is known for outwitting larger and stronger creatures.
• Iktomi/Unktomi from Lakota Sioux myth is a shapeshifting trickster spirit and mischief-maker who often takes the form of a spider.
• Japanese Mythology: The tsuchigumo, a Master of Illusion Giant Spider who lures the hero Minamoto no Raiko into his web and would have eaten him had Minamoto not seen through the illusion.
  • The jorogumo is another man-eating spider youkai, this one capable of shapeshifting into a beautiful woman to trick its prey.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: The spider goddess Lolth, patron of the Drow, is a goddess of deceit and trickery. Thanks to her influence, Drow society pretty much runs on Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
• Magic: The Gathering features Ravnica, a realm entirely controlled by 10 'guilds', each representing two different colours of the game's five colors of mana, and each of these guilds is responsible for some aspect of Ravnica's function. Among these, the Dimir guild, consisting of the blue and black mana, essentially operate as Ravnica's Spymasters, Knowledge Brokers, and Professional Killers, and their symbol is a heavily stylized eight-legged spider with a single big eye on its back. They were, in fact, so sneaky that for the longest time, most people believed there were only nine guilds on Ravnica.
• Pathfinder: Grandmother Spider, a deity who usually takes the form of an immense spider, is a goddess of trickery and illusions and an archetypal trickster god, being especially fond of humbling the arrogant and those who benefit from others. Her exploits include tricking the lioness out of her mane, stealing the keys of the cosmos from Asmodeus and agreeing to help another goddess save a powerful mortal empire in exchange for getting three attempts to bring it down.
• Shadowrun: In Shadowrun, each shaman worships and gains magical powers from a specific totem. One possible totem is Spider, who spins her web and waits for others to come to her and fall into it. Spider "...waits and plots, carefully and deliberately". Spider and her shamans prefer dark, quiet secret places with no one else around. One of her aspects is that of the trickster.

Video Games

• Diablo III: Cydaea, the Maiden of Lust, has the body of a woman but the legs of a spider. Deckard Cain describes her as both beautiful and grotesque. As her title implies, she tempts mortals (no matter their gender or sexuality) into her web with her sweet voice before devouring them alive.
• The Elder Scrolls: Mephala, a generally malevolent Daedric Prince whose domains involve manipulation, lies, sex, and secrets. Fittingly she has a spider motif, with her sobriquets including "The Webspinner" and "Lady of Whispers", her plans are likened to spiderwebs, she physically resembles a spider, and has minions called Spider Daedra.
• Fate/Grand Order: "Archer of Shinjuku" has the spider motif (specifically "spider web that catches butterflies"), and one of his skills is called "The End of the Spider Thread" which increases the attack power of Evil-aligned allies. He's also a rather cunning gentleman, with an Evil Plan that involves him pretending to be a good guy with amnesia. His true identity is James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' greatest nemesis.
• Mega Man X: Web Spider of the fourth game is the leader of the Repliforce's guerilla division, who used to be a member of the Maverick Hunters' 0th unit, which specialized in black ops. He's a tricky enemy who frequently hides in the trees and shoots paralyzing electric webs that leave his enemies open. He can also summon spider drones to aid him.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: The Fear has a spider theme, with his tree-climbing and how he challenges Snake to "come into (his) web". He can also turn invisible and is armed with a crossbow, a weapon notes for its silent quality.
• Pokémon Gold and Silver: Gym Leader Janine is a Ninja, and her signature Pokémon is the spider-like Ariados.
• Star Control: The Ilwrath are not only a race of evil spider-like aliens but their ships are capable of turning completely invisible in order to sneak up on enemy ships and kill their enemies with a giant flamethrower.

Visual Novels

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice: Queen Ga'ran is associated with spiders through her appearance and clothing once their true colors are revealed. This symbolizes her scheming and manipulative nature, and her machinations are described as an intricate web that ensnares Khura'in.

Web Animation

• Inverted in Bugbo. Gerbo the spider is the dumbest member of the main cast. He even says that "spiders aren't known for their intelligence."

Western Animation

• Tarantulas and Blackarachnia of Beast Wars both transform into spiders, and are easily the most cunning and duplicitous of the Predacons short of Megatron himself.
• Gargoyles: In Nigeria, the heroes meet the spider trickster Anansi, who makes magical deals with humans which are intended to be at their expense, but often end up backfiring on him.
• Hyperion's The Itsy Bitsy Spider, based on the short subject which played with the theatrical feature Bebe's Kids, has the titular arachnid constantly outwitting a feisty exterminator.
• Static Shock: On a trip to Africa, Static meets a superhero named Anansi, whose powers come from a golden spider amulet. Anansi has the power to stick to walls and ceilings and to cast illusions.

Real Life

• Some spiders are extra tricky and take it a step beyond the standard web trap.
  • Trapdoor spiders dig burrows and wait for prey to approach before ambushing and dragging them underground.
  • Bolas spiders don't spin webs. Instead they produce a single strand of silk tipped with a sticky ball of silk and glue, which is spun around and lobbed at prey coming by (hence the name). This strategy is only effective because the glue ball contains pheromones that mimic those its prey use in mating.
  • Ant spiders are spiders that mimic ants and usually prey upon them. While their morphological mimicry often leaves a bit to be desired, their behavior is seamless. They walk on six legs while "acting" and wave the forward pair around like antenna. If another ant catches them killing or carrying away their comrade, the spider will act like it was carrying the body away for disposal, and will even transfer the "duty" to the challenger if she doesn't back down.
  • "Writing spider" is a regional name for spiders of genus Argiope, who are known for making zigzag markings in a different type of silk on top of their regular web. The markings make the web harder for prey insects to see but make it stand out to large animals like birds and mammals who might otherwise accidentally destroy it. While they can't write SOME PIG, it's still a pretty clever adaptation.
  • Several spider species use various debris to build a spider-shaped decoy, sometimes known as an "effigy", inside their web. Depending on the species, this decoy can be either the same size as the spider itself (luring predators to grab the wrong one), or much larger (likely to scare away smaller predators).
• Less maliciously, most spiders like to hide in secluded areas and many have rather excellent natural camouflage. This is because all but the largest tarantulas are essentially the glass cannons of the animal world, with potent venom but a fragile body. Spiders need to hide in order to avoid becoming something else's lunch.
• A "spider hole" is a type of military/Survivalist fortification inspired and named after the above trapdoor spiders. A spider hole is essentially a foxhole with a camouflaged roof/hatch on the top. This limits the hole's combat utility, but makes for a very effective means for a quick get-away. The hider will sometimes even attempt to use the hole in ambush combat.
• King Louis XI of France was known as "the Universal Spider" ("l'Universelle Araigne" in Medieval French) due to his talent for plotting and diplomacy, and for the communications network he developed by improving postal roads.

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