History Main / KarmicTrickster

Being completely self-centered, the Karmic Trickster normally acts only on his own behalf, but can be convinced to help others -- he has a soft spot for babies, innocents, and those who are truly good, and when his sympathy is evoked will go to the ends of the earth for them. Sometimes he sows chaos for the sake of chaos, but only when he gets carried away in the midst of one of his campaigns. Most of the time he simply wants to be [[HeroicNeutral left alone]], and [[KarmicProtection heaven help whoever messes with him!]] Given all of their righteous retribution, sometimes these characters can exist somewhere between this, ScrewySquirrel and outright ChaoticEvil if their self-righteous attitudes end up attacking characters for little more than existing nearby them.

Being [[strike:somewhat]] completely self-centered, the Karmic Trickster normally acts only on his own behalf, but can be convinced to help others -- he has a soft spot for babies, innocents, and those who are truly good, and when his sympathy is evoked will go to the ends of the earth for them. Sometimes he sows chaos for the sake of chaos, but only when he gets carried away in the midst of one of his campaigns. Most of the time he simply wants to be [[HeroicNeutral left alone]], and [[KarmicProtection heaven help whoever messes with him!]] Given all of their righteous retribution, sometimes these characters can exist somewhere between this, ScrewySquirrel and outright ChaoticEvil if their self-righteous attitudes end up attacking characters for little more than existing nearby them.

Being somewhat self-centered, the Karmic Trickster normally acts only on his own behalf, but can be convinced to help others -- he has a soft spot for babies, innocents, and those who are truly good, and when his sympathy is evoked will go to the ends of the earth for them. Sometimes he sows chaos for the sake of chaos, but only when he gets carried away in the midst of one of his campaigns. Most of the time he simply wants to be [[HeroicNeutral left alone]], and [[KarmicProtection heaven help whoever messes with him!]]

* The Norse god Loki, although usually a ScrewySquirrel, was roped into Karmic Trickery against the villains for the greater good on a few occasions. Loki would often [[VoluntaryShapeshifting tart himself up]] in drag to trick his enemies -- a classic Karmic Trickery ploy.

* Jesus Christ in the Gospels. He is responsible for giving the Phariseans a bad name and exposing the hypocrisy of temple priests.

[[quoteright:300:[[LooneyTunes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karmic-trickster_bugs-bunny_7838.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:300:[[LooneyToons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karmic-trickster_bugs-bunny_7838.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karmic-trickster_bugs-bunny_7838.jpg]]

A {{Trickster}} who specializes in unstuffing stuffed shirts, deflating puffed-up egos, trivializing the self-important, and confusing know-it-alls. The Karmic Trickster is normally harmless, even friendly, if left unmolested. Once his dignity is dented or his person threatened, however, it's no holds barred -- the target is in for humilation, embarassment and bewilderment. Any tactic is fair game as long as it does not cause actual physical harm to the target. Only when the target has surrendered does the Karmic Trickster conclude his vengeance.

[[quoteright:130:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugsbunny.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:130:[[Characters/BugsBunny ...dis means whar!]]]]

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa; whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience supports and invariably laughs with, not at. This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[CloudCuckoolander dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[AnAesop taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa; whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience supports and invariably laughs with, not at. This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[TheDitz dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[AnAesop taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa; whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at. This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[TheDitz dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[AnAesop taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa; whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at. This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[TheDitz dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa; whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at.

This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[TheDitz dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[ThisLoserIsYou dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], irrepressible [[ScrewySquirrel agents of chaos]], lesser [[LoveableRogue chaos-bringers]] who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa. Whether silly or wise, he will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at.

This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[ThisLoserIsYou dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], other chaos-bringers who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa. Whether silly or wise, they will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa. Whether foolish or wise, they will always display HiddenDepths (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at.

This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[ThisLoserIsYou dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], other chaos-bringers who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s. Such traits rarely apply here.

May masquerade as TheFool, or vice versa. Whether foolish or wise, they will often display [[HiddenDepths hidden talents]] (if only a knack for {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably supports and laughs with, not at.

This is not always true of other [[TricksterArchetype Tricksters]] in general, who are sometimes cast as [[{{Everyman}} affable]] [[ThisLoserIsYou dunderheads]], [[EscapistCharacter escapist heroes]], other chaos-bringers who are constantly being [[StockAesops taught a lesson]] themselves, or cosmic {{butt monkey}}s.

[[ObfuscatingStupidity May masquerade]] as TheFool, or [[HiddenDepths vice versa]].

Whether they appear foolish or wise, they will often be exceptional in some regard (if only {{comedy}} and {{common sense}}) whom the audience invariably laughs with, not at.

[[ObfuscatingStupidity May masquerade]] as TheFool, or [[HiddenDepths vice versa]].

See also: KarmicProtection. May [[ObfuscatingStupidity masquerade as]] TheFool, or [[HiddenDepths vice versa]].

See also: KarmicProtection.

* The Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) in ''{{Animaniacs}}'' (although Wakko is closer to being a ScrewySquirrel). In one episode, they're being driven crazy by a parody of the nanny from ''{{The Sound of Music}}''... but can't bring themselves to clobber her, because she's not doing anything ''wrong''. [[spoiler:They hire [[ScrewySquirrel Slappy]].]]
* Most of the Tiny Toons from ''TinyToonAdventures'' fit into this category. Especially Babs and Buster. Makes sense, considering the entire show is an ''[[AffectionateParody affectionate parody]]'' of old LooneyTunes cartoons.