History Main / KarmicTrickster

* The titular character played by AudreyTautou in ''{{Amelie}}'', who sets out to drive a jerkass grocer insane by making [[GasLighting barely noticeable changes in his apartment.]]

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 humiliation, embarrassment 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. Let's be clear on one thing though, the Karmic Trickster is a {{Jerk}}, no ifs or buts.

* Randall Patrick [=McMurphy=] of ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is a somewhat more realistic version of this, with a touch of MessianicArchetype thrown in.

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 humiliation, embarrassment 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.

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 borderline ChaoticEvil if their self-righteous attitudes end up attacking characters for little more than existing nearby them and can often just seem like ComedicSociopathy if our trickster operates as a DesignatedHero regardless of where they sit on the TricksterArchetype scale.

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 borderline ChaoticEvil if their self-righteous attitudes end up attacking characters for little more than existing nearby them.

Between them, Karmic Trickster and ScrewySquirrel comprise two-thirds of the classic TricksterArchetype. His actions are as much to teach as to gain revenge, where ScrewySquirrel is the embodiment of mischief for mischief's sake.

[[caption-width-right:335:Exhibit: A]]

[[Caption-width-right:335:[[Case in point...]]]]

[[Caption-width-right:335: Case in point...]]

[[Caption-width-right:335:Case in point...]]

* AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog nudges Sonic into this direction, repeatedly foiling Robotnik's plans in the most WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes-eqsue ways imaginable.

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* Jughead Jones easily qualifies. How many times has he one-upped Reggie?
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[[folder:comics]]

* In the BBC Sitcom ''{{Waiting for God}}' this would be Diana Trent, most often deflating Harvey "The Idiot" Baynes in the midst of one of his schemes to defraud or otherwise suppress the tenets of Bayview.

* Literature/TillEulenspiegel in German folklore: many of his "merry pranks" aims at exposing the hypocrisy and greed of others.

* [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry Jerry]] generally waited until Tom victimized him before unleashing torment upon the cat... except when he occasionally didn't wait.

** [[SubvertedTrope In the end, though, Nurse Ratchet always wins]], and [=McMurphy=] is in fact a sociopath, and it could be said he gets his own [[LaserGuidedKarma Karmic Comeuppance]].

** [[SubvertedTrope In the end though, Nurse Ratchet always wins]], and McMurphy is in fact such a sociopath, that it could be said he gets what he deserves.

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', this is the [[EnsembleDarkHorse Trickster's]] MO: he seeks out people who he thinks are assholes or who annoy him, and punishes them in some manner he deems appropriate, generally killing them in the process.

* [[Theatre/TwelfthNight Feste the jester]] embodies this role, appropriately enough for a play celebrating Mardi Gras. The carnival is supposed to showcase the inversion of the social order and laugh at it all, which is precisely what Feste does. He points out the logical flaws in Olivia's mourning, sees through even Viola's clever wordplay, and cuts the pompous, Puritan Malvolio down to size... [[DisproportionateRetribution and then some.]]
* In the ''FoolsGuild'' swries the entire Guild works this way.