Hello there, this is my first theory in a while and probably many of you will think this is kinda dumb some will say meh could be and the rest well the rest will not give a fluff like they should ahahah. So let's start!!
Mini disclaimer this are my views on the story and might differ from yours and I might be wrong don't take it to seriously
Theory
Who is the Trickster?
Before we go a bit deep in my theory I think it is necessary to give a description of the therm Trickster :
"In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior"
AND
"The trickster is a term used for a non performing 'trick maker'; they may have many motives behind their intention but those motives are not in public view largely. They are internal to the character or person"
This first definition fits from my point of view to Shanks perfectly, each story has a character that stands in the middle he is neither good nor bad he is a mediator between the 2 worlds.
Let's look at an other quote
“Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself… He know neither good nor evil yet he is responsible for both. He possesses no value, moral or social… yet through his actions all values come into being”
― Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art
Shanks Nordic mythological counter part
By all means shanks is given a Nordic aspect so it is logical for us to connect the 2, in fact many, including myself, had noticed and made theories about how Shanks was created based on the Norse god Týr whom lost his had to the wolf Fenrir the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.
While his aspect might or might not be inspired by the god Týr, Shanks personality is a lot more similar to that of Loki who is in fact categorized as Trickster. The parallels between them are many, at least from my point of view. In fact let's see some of them:
Is Shanks evil?
I don't think he is an antagonist, but he will be Luffy's greatest test before the end of the story. I think he will be quite brutal against Luffy to see if he can really accomplish what Roger and the others before him couldn't. You might say he is an agent of the WG, but I don't think so. He is as I said many times the middle man and he is the one that will decide in which direction the story will go, by this I mean Oda will use Shanks as a turning point.
Let's go back for a bit to his affiliation with the WG, we have seen how he was crushed by Roger's death and he was willing to put a bet for the next generation of pirates( Luffy representing the new generation).
So from my point of view he is not a WG dog, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but because he has great knowledge and is a smart man, he knows that some sort of order must be maintained so he collabs with the WG when the goal is similar, exactly like Roger did in the case of the Rocks he fought besides Garp and defeated them and I fell that was not the first nor the last time he did that. Shanks learnt many things from Roger as we have seen at the beginning of the story with the bar incident he let Higuma insult him and let it slide because he only insulted him and not his crew.
He is a pacifist so I think he fells the need to maintain this "pace" because he knows if to much power ends in the wrong hands a bloodbath will happen all over the world and again once more he becomes the middle man to maintain this "balance" in the world and because of that he is respected and has access to places that not many could have.
Conclusion
Shanks is classified in the category of the Trickster which is a pretty common thing in literature, in myths and gods. By nature this sort of character are ambiguous and their intentions are not clear and usually, from what I've understood, are used to give a turning point or a new direction to the story. From my point of view he is not an agent of the WG, but collabs with them for the moment to maintain this balance and some sort of pace in the world since he is by nature a pacifist and doesn't want any blood to be spieled if not necessary.
Mini disclaimer this are my views on the story and might differ from yours and I might be wrong don't take it to seriously
Theory
Who is the Trickster?
Before we go a bit deep in my theory I think it is necessary to give a description of the therm Trickster :
"In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior"
AND
"The trickster is a term used for a non performing 'trick maker'; they may have many motives behind their intention but those motives are not in public view largely. They are internal to the character or person"
This first definition fits from my point of view to Shanks perfectly, each story has a character that stands in the middle he is neither good nor bad he is a mediator between the 2 worlds.
Let's look at an other quote
“Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself… He know neither good nor evil yet he is responsible for both. He possesses no value, moral or social… yet through his actions all values come into being”
― Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art
Shanks Nordic mythological counter part
By all means shanks is given a Nordic aspect so it is logical for us to connect the 2, in fact many, including myself, had noticed and made theories about how Shanks was created based on the Norse god Týr whom lost his had to the wolf Fenrir the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.
While his aspect might or might not be inspired by the god Týr, Shanks personality is a lot more similar to that of Loki who is in fact categorized as Trickster. The parallels between them are many, at least from my point of view. In fact let's see some of them:
- The giant connection - > Loki is the son of a jötunn or Frost giant and a goddess and when Ragnarök started he fought besides the giants against the gods. Shanks is at least from our point of view the in some sort of alliance with the giants and for many he is the son of Im and a slave, so as Loki he doesn't really belong in either category but in the middle as a point of connection which is the exact trait of the Trickster.
- The buffoon/fool -> Loki like to play the part of the buffoon to reach his goals and maintain the ambiguity that characterized him. If we look at Shanks actions we see that he plays the part of the buffoon/fool a lazy dude who like to party and fool around and absent minded.
- Collaboration with the gods -> Regarding his relations with the gods, Loki has made a pact of blood brotherhood with Wotan / Odin and on many occasions has helped the ruler of the Gods or his son Thor to face exploits, to overcome dangers and to restore order. This is what Shanks is doing as well or at least from my point of view, because as we saw he is trying to maintain balance in the world, tried to stop Ace by going to WB, stopped Kaido from coming to Marine F, stop the war so that both parts will not weaken to much at so that the world, for now, maintain its balance and recently went to the Gorosei to warn them about an imminent danger.
Is Shanks evil?
I don't think he is an antagonist, but he will be Luffy's greatest test before the end of the story. I think he will be quite brutal against Luffy to see if he can really accomplish what Roger and the others before him couldn't. You might say he is an agent of the WG, but I don't think so. He is as I said many times the middle man and he is the one that will decide in which direction the story will go, by this I mean Oda will use Shanks as a turning point.
Let's go back for a bit to his affiliation with the WG, we have seen how he was crushed by Roger's death and he was willing to put a bet for the next generation of pirates( Luffy representing the new generation).
So from my point of view he is not a WG dog, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but because he has great knowledge and is a smart man, he knows that some sort of order must be maintained so he collabs with the WG when the goal is similar, exactly like Roger did in the case of the Rocks he fought besides Garp and defeated them and I fell that was not the first nor the last time he did that. Shanks learnt many things from Roger as we have seen at the beginning of the story with the bar incident he let Higuma insult him and let it slide because he only insulted him and not his crew.
He is a pacifist so I think he fells the need to maintain this "pace" because he knows if to much power ends in the wrong hands a bloodbath will happen all over the world and again once more he becomes the middle man to maintain this "balance" in the world and because of that he is respected and has access to places that not many could have.
Conclusion
Shanks is classified in the category of the Trickster which is a pretty common thing in literature, in myths and gods. By nature this sort of character are ambiguous and their intentions are not clear and usually, from what I've understood, are used to give a turning point or a new direction to the story. From my point of view he is not an agent of the WG, but collabs with them for the moment to maintain this balance and some sort of pace in the world since he is by nature a pacifist and doesn't want any blood to be spieled if not necessary.
