So i just read a trope called Truthful Trickster, a trickster who won't or cannot lie, but are still very good at deceiving someone.
My Dog is a trickster too; He can make me take him out whenever he wants, and I can't see his lies from his truths, at all. So maybe a truthful trickster has puppy eyes and a heartbreaking whine?
Think about summoned demons or even worse than that Lawyers, through wordplay and sophistry they can easily manipulate you using half truths.
You don't have to lie to someone to take advantage of them. Just becuase your telling the truth doesnt mean you are telling the whole story.
You tell them the truth, but not the specifics. You’re not lying to them you just aren’t telling them everything. Example: The princess, you want to save, is in X castle. Real Truth: The princess in x castle surrounded by an army and a dragon. Truer than all the others: That is it's the princess’s army. She is the leader of a rebellion, the dragon is her pet. She’ll kill you for trying to “rescue” her. Her father is trying to stop the rebellion by having you bring her to him.
Fairly simple, actually. This. the best lies are those that start from assumptions. It's all about how the trickster tells the truth. and sometimes, truth is just so unbelievable that the person being told thinks it's a lie and thus tricks themselves into believing a lie. It's why there is usually some version of 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth' oath in most legal systems. So that there is a risk to manipulating the truth in a legal case.
My first thought was for the trickster to be overly honest, so much so to the point where you want to force them to believe something so it will have the opposite effect. That said, This one is my favorite. Edit: I also saw that a lot of people said the same thing just in different wording...
Language is a means of communicating with others. But languages are the product of civilizations, and just like humans no civilization is perfect. This means the 'interpretation' of language is left up to everyone personally, but the flip side of that coin is that any language will have loopholes in it that can change the meaning by the one using it in the first place. This double issue is why it is possible to both misrepresent 'the truth' as well as its meaning to the people involved. Rather that's the ambiguity, omission, outright lying or other such tactics. Not to mention leading discussions that keep the audiences attention on a different or lesser subject than what would otherwise point toward the whole truth. Such things are more easy for those with smooth social skills and con-men though. Heh. I'm nowhere near that confident in social situations myself.
An apple fell and made Newton come up with the law of gravity, so a trickster in this case may go take that apple and invite Newton in front of people and in an atempt to deceive them he or she might say something like this: "This apple here is a special one, by the will of god it fell in front of mr Isaac here who was in distress to show him a revelation and illuminate his and our future, this apple here ladies and gentlemen is a holy apple that came in a time of need to save mr Isaac here and to show us the way of the world, whoever buy this apple now to receive the benevolence of god" Well or at least something ike that. Years later, he or she will probably be hailed as the savior of the origin of the law
Simply tell the truth directly as short facts and let the other person draw conclusions on their own. You dont have to mislead them, they mislead themselves. They will believe what they want regardless, you just have to ensure it lines up with what you want them to do
My best type is when you lead people on to make conclusions themselves Instead of outright giving them directions Suggestions if you will just like subliminal messaging
^This and Silence is also very important, rather than saying the truth or misleading people directly, staying silent and letting people make their own conclusions is very powerful.