Hmm. Mattie's father as a trickster? That's a little tricky for me to wrap my mind around. I subscribe to your list of character archetypes, Scott, but I just don't see how her father plays that role. Number one: he is killed in the opening scene. He's a past presence in the story, not a present one, actively raising trouble, upsetting the status quo. Number two: A trickster character is by nature and deliberate purpose an anarchist, a capricious rule breaker, someone who makes trouble for the sheer sake of making trouble, some who by temperament or willful intention defies normative conventions, breaks the rules, upsets the status. What little we know about Mattie's father suggests he's none of the above. That he upset her status quo was involuntary, that he hired the wrong guy was unintentional. If I am compelled to fill the role of trickster for this film, my candidate is the Wild West -- the lawless milieu in which Mattie must pursue her father's killer. She lives on the edge of the frontier where the law is capriciously observed and enforced. We get a clue of this in the opening scene where in her V.O., Mattie notes that no one bothered to pursue Chaney, murder being so common in that time and place. And we get another clue at the hanging, when the Indian doesn't get his fair chance to say his final words. And then there's Rooster's court testimony which clearly reveals he's not one to adhere to rules of engagement. Nor does he have to in order to bring outlaws to "frontier justice". When Mattie asks the sheriff to recommend a marshal to hire, she rejects Quinn, who is fair, who brings his man in alive, for Rooster because he's the meanest and the most fearless. He's the marshal best suited to achieving her objective goal in the trickster environment of the Wild West.

I like the idea of Chaney as Mattie's shadow side since he is her temptation to sin (that she wants to kill him). Chaney has few qualities of his own other than as Mattie's quarry and then, when she finally manages to confront him, he is a pathetic individual - so she is given the choice of following through with her vengeance, though we know she should stay her hand. Therefore, when Mattie gives into her "shadow" she is cast down into a pit of snakes and must "cut off the hand that caused her to sin".

Paul, I like your idea about the Wild West as a Trickster, as nature can certainly provide a narrative dynamic. That said, I still think there's value in thinking of the father as a Trickster. I focus on two primary functions of a Trickster in movies: (1) They put the Protagonist through a test or tests. (2) They often do this switching from Ally to Enemy, Enemy to Ally. Mattie's father may be dead by the story's first scene, however his death is A LIVING PRESENCE throughout the rest of the story. EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS happens BECAUSE of his death. The weight of seeking justice for her father's death weighs on Mattie through her entire journey. Ally: He's her father. Enemy: His death sets her on the path for retribution, a series of tests leading to a Final Struggle. So while her father may be dead, his 'ghost' lives on, looming like a dark cloud over Mattie throughout the story. I agree it may not fit a more classic understanding of the Trickster model, however if we look at many movies where someone lives with the weight of another's deah a la Silence of the Lambs, Sleepless in Seattle, and Up, the deceased continues to influence the living almost like a kind of curse. So while the living person may love their deceased partner, they have to process grief and often feel an compulsion to do something on behalf of the decease. And that feels like Trickster dynamic to me. As always, it's worth remembering that archetypes are artifices. Characters and stories are organic, so anytime we apply any patterns, paradigms, types in an analysis of a movie, we have to be willing to bend the artifices out of respect for the story.

Jacob, that idea of looking at the Nemesis as a projection of the Protagonist's shadow. And I can see your point re temptation. That note about her losing her hand, quite interesting.