CHARACTER ARCHETYPES SERIES
The Trickster Archetype
Is the shoulder of the Hero and helps to ease the tension during the Journey.
We have thus come to the end of this long Journey. We explored the Hero’s Journey with its stages and Campbell’s archetypes. However, we need to know the latest archetype that supports the Hero on their Journey: the Trickster. We talk about them in the last article of the Character Archetypes Series. Last but not least.
Indeed, it is often a character that is remembered very easily, even after a long time. Let’s find out who the Trickster is and what their characteristics are.
Who is the Trickster
Trickster represents the archetype of the cheater, of someone who lies.
However, they are not an antagonist to the Hero. They are someone who accompanies the Hero on the Journey but cannot be honest about themself.
Often this character has a comic streak.
Let’s think of the Disney cartoon Mulan. Mushu, Mulan’s guardian red dragon, pretends to have been sent to protect her. In reality, his primary interest is to return Mulan’s home victorious, so he can be reinstated among the ancestors.
Like Donkey in Shrek, Mushu corresponds to the archetype of the Trickster and retains some comic characteristics. Donkey, too, in fact, supports Shrek in his business but for his interest.
In Harry Potter, instead, Dobby represents this archetype. He is the Malfoy family elf who accompanies Harry Potter, causing him some trouble every now and then.
The role of the Trickster
This archetype has a well-defined double function.
- Dramaturgical function: this character generally has the task of playing down the narrative.
- Psychological function: the Trickster laughs at their own limits while trying to overcome them.
We can simply define this character as the shoulder of the Hero.
It is a very useful archetype because it helps to ease the tension during the Hero’s Journey, such as difficult moments or a quarrel between the Hero and the Allies. For this reason, the Trickster usually has a part in moments immediately before the battle. For all these reasons, the reader or the viewer becomes easily fond of them.
The final steps of the Hero’s Journey
The Hero must now go home.
The Journey does not end with passing the “Supreme Ordeal”. Even the road back home is, however, full of pitfalls that try to make the Hero fall into temptation again.
The Hero makes it clear why they decide to return to their Ordinary World instead of staying in this new, extraordinary world. In this passage, at the beginning of the Journey's end, the protagonist faces the consequences of deciding to challenge the Shadow and their dark forces during the Supreme Ordeal.
The moment in which the Hero feels they have definitely changed is that of the “Resurrection”.
In this step, the Hero passes the ultimate test ever. In this Journey back to their Ordinary World, they prove to have changed, resisting what would have previously led them to a different way.
And for this reason, it is approaching the last phase of the Journey: the “Return with the Elixir”. The protagonist of the narration returns home but does not do it empty-handed. The Hero brings a treasure that will be useful to their entire community.
The message of this final part is clear. Knowing how to share one’s mistakes, growth, and change with the people around us is essential.
Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.
Conclusions
The Hero has come to the end of their Journey. In the same way, we have in this narrative between archetypes and moments of the Hero’s Journey.
The Hero has completed the “Supreme Ordeal” and deserves the just reward. This is usually an object, such as a sword, a person like one’s beloved, or simply the awareness of the change that the Hero has faced since leaving the “Ordinary World”.
In this Journey, we have learned that the different archetypes hide in every Hero and in each of us. Some are Allies or Tricksters, some have a function as Herald or Guardian, and some have become the Shadow because they have succumbed to their weaknesses and the dark side of each one.
Our Hero who accompanied us on our long Journey is now ready to enjoy their “Ordinary World” with a new awareness of themself and leaves us the way to continue on our personal and daily Hero’s Journey.
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