ugh i started talking about trickster gods and now i just have lots of big feelings about trickster gods and how they're the most affectionately self-realistic projection of humanity we have within the pantheon of the divine and--

Trickster gods!!! When they use their heads and their smarts and their bags of cunning, they work MIRACLES and WONDERS. When they get emotionally carried away or impulsive, they FUCK UP BIG TIME

THAT'S HUMANITY, BABEY.

That's humanity going, "There should be a god that's kind of down to earth, a god that GETS IT. Are they a bit of an asshole? YEAH. Are they going to be sympathetic to our problems? NOT NECESSARILY, THEY MIGHT LAUGH AT US. But they're gonna GET IT."

And so you have trickster gods, who are the annoying fuckup gods but also the brilliant genius gods, who cause five problems for every one they solve, but damn if that one doesn't pay for all the rest.

And that's humans looking at themselves and going, "That's us and it's ok."

The act of inventing a trickster god is just a society having a moment of radical empathy: "It's okay to be imperfect and an annoying fuckup, because once in a while you do something great and people have to begrudgingly continue to tolerate you" and I think that's beautiful