The Trickster (Love and War)
- You may be looking for the character who debuted in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
The Trickster was a god of randomness and jokes within Puterspace, created by the minds of the Travellers as a representation of a mythological deity worshipped by those born in the Convoy. He acted as a frequent obstacle for Jan Rydd, appearing to Jan regularly when he entered Puterspace to taunt him about a prior incident when Jan stole a goblet from the Church of Vacuum. He notably had the ability to change his form at will, making his appearance unknown. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
On one occasion when Jan Rydd entered Puterspace, the Trickster appeared to him to ask what he knew about card games. (PROSE: Prelude Love and War [+]Loading...["Prelude Love and War (short story)"])
Upon entering Puterspace with Ace, Jan once again encountered the Trickster, who had taken the form of Arlan Jardolz. The Trickster taunted Jan over his past crime of stealing a goblet from the Church of Vacuum due to the ceremonies they performed. As Jan and Ace left, he gave Ace a cryptic warning of "What's at the end of the race, Ace?".
The Trickster later reappeared to the the Travellers and Ace, now also joined by the Seventh Doctor, having changed his appearance again to one with a silver suit. He acknowledged the Doctor as Merlin and provided Ace with the sword from the Great Wheel to allow her to fight Phaedrus, before vanishing.
While in an escape pod falling towards Heaven's surface, Ace hallucinated seeing the Trickster dressed in a clown costume. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Trickster, as a god of jokes, had a chaotic and mischievous personality, mocking individuals when they became angry at his antics and telling tangential stories of his past. However this disguised a more cunning and manipulative side, with his mocking of Jan Rydd serving to push him towards first using the goblet to save the Doctor, and then sacrificing himself to help defeat the Hoothi. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Abilities[[edit] | [edit source]]
Within Puterspace, the Trickster possessed a wide range of abilities. These included shapeshifting, teleportation, and the ability to summon objects at will. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
Due to possessing the ability to shapeshift, the Trickster's true form — if any — was unknown. While encountering the the Travellers, the Trickster took multiple forms. These included a man in a blue suit with slicked back black hair who both Jan Rydd and Ace recognised as the appearance of a Betalan comedian called Arlan Jardolz, as well as an appearance that contained a silver suit. When Ace later hallucinated an appearance of the Trickster, she pictured him wearing a clown costume. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Trickster was created by Paul Cornell for his 1992 novel Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"]. Later, an identically named character would be created for The Sarah Jane Adventures; however, the two are not linked.
- For the 2012 audio adaptation of Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (audio story)"], the character of the Trickster was omitted.
