How to Trick a Trickster

By: Jaime Church

A true trickster would never need this guide because she knows she cannot be outricked. How does she know this? Because she knows she could be outtricked, and therefore takes the necessary precautions. So a true trickster would need this guide. Trickery is therefore quite simple, really. A trickster knows you’ve got to know the rules before you can break them. But a real trickster knows you’ve got to know the rules before you rewrite them. Rewriting is so much easier than breaking, as it saves you the trouble of guilt. And if you’re the editor of the rules, you can trick any trickster playing by them. 

Thus, knowing the rules, and knowing they rule nothing, is the crux of the trickster mentally. Which is, as you might suspect, simultaneously detrimental and advantageous. The scale of this moral dilemma is overwhelming, and that is what this guide will address. Trickers should be overwhelmed to understand why they shouldn't be. This makes the first step of trickery to diffuse the overwhelm. Consequent steps add the nuance, the indecision, the deliberate style that unnerves and intoxicates. Tricksters are never rushed, so you musn’t avoid their style if it is their tranquility and independence that you wish to emulate. So please, it is implored that you read with patient deliberation. Or, of course, any pace that suits your fancy, given that the rules do not apply. 

Step 1: Regulate 

“I can’t know everything,” said the Cheshire Cat. Quite comfortable in his disappearing and reappearing skin, the Cheshire cat is very much satisfied with his degree of confidence rooted in guaranteed absurdity. If you remember correctly, it is Alice who is doubtful and cross with the lack of instruction and traditional comforts of logic. Logic, however, is only so useful when you find yourself in an illogical world. Tricksters are oftentimes incorrectly assumed to be the black sheep of the flock, when in reality, it is the flock that is black and the trickster that is the standard ewe. The Cheshire cat has given up kicking against the pricks, and in doing so, has melted the confusion away by knowing it will always exist. One cannot trick a trickster by planning to do so. That would be taking a direct path, which is always the most common. No, the cheshire cat provokes confusion through mischievous admittance to having no information at all. This is the most honest thing he could possibly offer. To trick a trickster, one must diffuse the hopes of doing so. 

Step 2: Orient

Contrary to popular belief, no traps are required to trick a trickster. It is only necessary to expose their plan of deceit. You don’t have a plan of deceit, only a plan to expose theirs. Therefore you have nothing to be caught with. Robin Hood and his merry men knew this well. “Greed opens the trap, wit walks free.” Robin Hood’s trickery only exists for the purpose of undoing other’s trickery. It does not exist by itself, rather it is inspired by the injustice of others. “I was just wonderin’, are we good guys or bad guys?” Little John asks. And not knowing, on the surface level, is precisely the initial charm of any trickster. But on quite another level altogether, it is knowing that one’s actions are influenced by the latter only to be driven by the former is what comprises the lasting charm.  

Step 3: Frame 

“If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended.” Oh! What a quick-witted and loyal companion of mischief puck surely is to Shakespeare’s cast of characters. Puck knew that those who find themselves tricked are the very same who sell their own reality short. Reality is real to the extent that the one experiencing it believes it. Therefore taking reality at its face value is a typical resort to the unimaginative. Audentes fortuna iuvat! Fortune favors the bold! Plot is not reserved for the stage. Drama and costumes and deceit and passion do not solely unfold behind the thick red drapes of the theatre! Puck does not close his play with an apology but with a theatrical reframing. His tricks suspend morality just enough for their cunning nature to win the hearts of the audience through amusement rather than pure deceit. The trickster does not deny the trick, they adjust the lighting. Performance is absolution! The trickster is the puppet performing the mischievous deed. The trickster tricking them is the puppeteer. If the puppets aren’t real, is their story not real as well? Then why are you watching it? It is real, otherwise it would not have any effect. The ultimate trickster bends reality to their own suiting, rather than waiting for the reality to align with their intentions. Because reality will almost certainly never align with intention. If you don’t believe your whole existence isn’t on a stage, then you have presumed a reality without the exquisite elements of scriptwriting, and have therefore gutted your plot and characters to limp puppets, waiting for someone else to write their story. 

Step 4: Leverage

In our new frame, it can be understood that power does not come directly from strength or righteousness, but from the ability to discern what is and is not valuable. And while strength and righteousness are in fact valuable in their own right, having the ability to identify that in the first place would be the greater asset, no? “They lives rough, and they risk swinging… but I’ve lived easy in the meantime.” Spoken by the gentlemen of fortune, Long John Silver from Treasure Island. He wants the gold, the loyalty, the glory. But more importantly, he has the patience and brains to observe who eyes these objectives as well and adjust his plan accordingly. To trick a trickster, one must therefore stop opposing their mind and start observing their appetite. Silver is confident in his desire, liberal in his dreams. Do not kid yourself- tricking a trickster means you are a trickster yourself. You are no noble, omnipotent reed waving without desire or motive. Tricksters believe desire will corrupt others–not them. How haughty! To believe you are above temptation is to make a fool of yourself instead of others. Long John can outwit the other pirates by knowing just what they want and what they’ll do to get it. He knows this, because he is one. He is well aware of exactly what he wants- and it is not so different from the other outcast sailors. But unlike them, he does not presume himself to be special in this regard. The world does not revolve around logic but longing. So the ultimate trickster does not fight desire, but rather plants herself where desire is already running. 

Step 5: Release

Power is proven by relinquishing it. After all, if someone puts you in charge, you are positioned only by their authority, are you not? Independent power can only be gained by independently acquiring it, and it can only be retained by authentically releasing it. If someone takes it, you have lost it. If you relinquish it, you were never not in control, and therefore never truly without it. Thus, the most authentic tricksters aren’t worried about losing power, because they place the power in themselves. The real challenge then becomes losing oneself–a challenge that a novice trickster easily falls into. The advanced trickster isn’t chasing traditional glory, for their glory is redefined by their own satisfactions. In other words, the cleverest trickster does not win the game. She convinces everyone else they have already won, and slips out while they celebrate. This voluntary acceptance of temporary defeat is a form of victory in disguise. Benoit Blanc, a famous literary detective, takes pleasure in not material wealth or admiration. His reputation, as seen in Dead Man Wake Up, is of little importance to him. His reward comes in the satisfaction of solving the mystery itself. He tricks the trickster not by wanting to prove superiority, but by pursuing his own passion and letting the satisfying timing take care of itself. Therefore the most experienced tricksters separate themselves from the trick- they don’t put too much stock in success. 

And so the matter concludes where it began: with rules that rule nothing. The trickster studies them carefully, obeys them politely, and rewrites them when convenient. If there is any wisdom to be found in this guide, it is not that tricksters are cleverer than the rest of us, but that they are less committed to certainty. Where others insist upon order, the trickster keeps a light hand and a quicker wit. She knows the world is already halfway to absurdity and requires only the gentlest nudge to tip it the rest of the way. Should you ever meet such a person, do not be too certain you have understood them. After all, the greatest trick a trickster performs is convincing you the trick has already finished.