Odysseus Character Analysis: The Trickster & Righteous King

Odysseus can be described as fulfilling both the trickster and righteous ruler/king archetypes. This can be seen in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, where he is portrayed as a man capable of cunning and trickery, as well as being fair-minded and upholding order — qualities that he uses to save himself, his crew, and the Greek army in which he fights. In the Iliad, his fairness, judgement, and appeal for order as a king are emphasized, whereas in the Odyssey, we see him more as a trickster figure. 

In the Odyssey, the most obvious example of his cunning is the Cyclops episode, where our hero hatches a plan to escape the Cyclops by falsifying his name as No Man. However, a closer look at the Cyclops episode reveals that Odysseus doesn’t always come across as quick on his feet, and that his plundering directly gets him and his men into trouble.

In the Iliad, we have a second aspect to Odysseus’ cunning. Here, it is a rather positive connotation, which has less to do with trickery and more to do with a man who knows what to say, what to leave out, and when to say it. This makes him ideal to play the role of a diplomat or righteous ruler/advisor on behalf of Agamemnon in an attempt to heal the notorious rift between Agamemnon and Achilles. 

In extra-Homeric myths, legends, and lost epic poems (otherwise known as the Trojan Epic Cycle) about the Trojan War, the Ithacan is the genius whose cunning led him to invent the Trojan Horse, the war device that eventually resulted in the capture of Troy. In this article, we examine Odysseus as the archetype of a trickster and righteous ruler in Homer, Greek myth and legend, and literature stemming from traditions related to the Trojan War, including his dispute over Achilles' armor with Ajax.

The argument between Ajax and Odysseus over Achilles' armor. Oil on canvas. 18th-century painting by Agostino Masucci.

Odysseus as a wise and righteous king

In the Iliad, the main king is of course Agamemnon, not Odysseus. He is the commander in chief who has unified the various Greek kings (or chieftains) ruling over their separate kingdoms and has brought them to the shores of Troy to win back Helen and to sack the famous city. Agamemnon, although powerful, is far from a righteous king. He is portrayed instead as arrogant, disrespectful, stubborn, and impulsive, despite being a valiant warrior.

Christopher Nolan in his movie — The Odyssey — portrays him (as played by Benny Safdie) as a mysterious and powerful figure who carries the aura of authority, which also features heavily in Homer. Except that Nolan left out the arrogance that is prominent in Homer. In fact, the entire plot of the Iliad is based on a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, where Agamemnon deprives Achilles of his war booty, a beautiful captive by the name of Briseis, and Achilles responds by withdrawing his troops from battle, resulting in the Trojans almost routing the Greeks. 

Homer uses Odysseus as the ideal character foil against Agamemnon. Where Agamemnon is keen on abusing his power as king, Odysseus recognizes that greater authority does not mean avoiding admission to wrongdoing. For a more thorough analysis of Odysseus as a righteous king, you can consult Douglas Cairns' study titled The First Odysseus: Iliad, Odyssey, and the Ideology of Kingship.   Some of the ideas in this article are based on Cairns' treatment. Book 9 demonstrates Odysseus's balanced approach to diplomacy, where Odysseus, together with Nestor, an elderly and wise statesman, advises Agamemnon to reconcile with Achilles. 

Agamemnon agrees and is even willing to offer Achilles the hands of one of his own daughters back home in marriage, in addition to promises of riches and war booty. However, he wishes Achilles to submit first, as he is the elder and has greater authority as king: 

Let him submit to me! Only the god of death

is so relentless, Death submits to no one —

so mortals hate him most of all the gods.

Let him bow down to me! I am the greater king,

I am the elder-born, I claim — the greater man."

—Fagles (1990), The Iliad, Book 9, Lines 189-193, p. 256

Here, we see Agamemnon go as far as describing Achilles' refusal to submit as resembling the god of death. Odysseus is given the task of being part of the embassy that carries this message to the sulking Achilles in his tent. In Achilles’ tent, He repeats almost word for word Agamemnon’s promises of gifts and offer of marriage to one of his daughters to Achilles. However, instead of repeating Agamemnon’s command of submission and claim of being “the elder-born” and “greater man,” he says instead: 

But if you hate the son of Atreus all the more,

him and his troves of gifts, at least take pity

on all our united forces mauled in battle here

—Fagles (1990), The Iliad, Book 9, Lines 364-366, p. 261

Odysseus understands both Agamemnon and Achilles. He knows well enough that Achilles will not be moved by Agamemnon’s empty appeal to authority. So, instead, he appeals to Achilles’ sense of camaraderie and sympathy for fellow Greek soldiers. Achilles, who is as proud as Agamemnon, probably because they are so alike, understands that these are not Agamemnon’s words and rejects the reconciliation. As a result, the Greeks suffer even more at the hands of the Trojans in battle. Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend, convinces Achilles to borrow his armor and pretend to be him while fighting the Trojans. Achilles agrees; the ploy works for a while and the Trojans are routed, but Hector — the Trojan hero — kills Patroclus, forcing Achilles out of his tent and into the battle. 

Revenge for Achilles is sufficient motivation. He doesn’t care about the formalities of gifts and public reconciliation with Agamemnon and says as much in Book 19, where Achilles prepares for battle. Agamemnon apologizes to Achilles but blames the gods and the Furies for driving him mad, offending Achilles, and making bad decisions in a long, rambling speech, in which he reminds all who are listening that even Zeus once fell victim to a woman’s treachery. 

He offers gifts to Achilles, who responds tersely:

Field marshal Atrides, lord of men Agamemnon,

produce the gifts if you like, as you see fit,

or keep them back, it's up to you.

—Fagles (1990), The Iliad, Book 19, Lines 176–178, p. 493

And instead urges the men to battle. Odysseus cuts Achilles short and insists that the troops eat before battle. More importantly, he insists that there is a formal reconciliation between Achilles and Agamemnon, where Agamemnon swears a sacred oath that he never slept with Briseis and where Achilles accepts his apology and gifts in a public ceremony. Lastly, he indirectly rebukes Agamemnon’s earlier speech where he seeks to avoid responsibility by blaming the gods for his madness instead of fully owning up: 

And you, great son of Atreus . . .

You be more just to others, from now on. 

It is no disgrace for a king to appease a man 

when the king himself was first to give offense.

—Fagles (1990), The Iliad, Book 19, Lines 216–219, p. 494 

Odysseus as the enforcer of righteous order

Odysseus as the wise and righteous king is a theme that is repeated in the Odyssey. We see this in Book 2, where Mentor reminds a hostile crowd in a political assembly led by Telemachus of how good a king the absent ruler was: 

Hear me, men of Ithaca. Hear what I have to say.

Never let any sceptered king be kind and gentle now,

not with all his heart, or set his mind on justice—

no, let him be cruel and always practice outrage.

Think: not one of the people whom he ruled

remembers Odysseus now, that godlike man,

and kindly as a father to his children!

—Fagles (1996), The Odyssey, Book 2. 

His wife, Penelope, more or less says the same thing in Book 4 in protests after learning the suitors are plotting to kill her son Telemachus: 

Day after day,

all of you swarming, draining our life’s blood,

my wary son’s estate. What, didn’t you listen

to your fathers—when you were children, years ago—

telling you how Odysseus treated them, your parents?

Never an unfair word, never an unfair action

among his people here, though that’s the way

of our god-appointed kings,

hating one man, loving the next, with luck.

Not Odysseus. Never an outrage done to any man alive.

But you, you and your ugly outbursts, shameful acts,

they’re plain to see. Look at the thanks he gets

for all past acts of kindness!

—Fagles (1996), The Odyssey, Book 4.

Of course, this can be dismissed as biased, as Mentor is the missing king's best friend and Penelope is his wife, and they are not the most reliable narrators. However, what is noticeable is his role as a kind and fatherly figure to his people. Of course, this is just one side of the cunning hero. In the Odyssey, we see him deal destruction and death to the suitors and even the women servants in his household for their subordination and challenge to his throne and authority. 

This sterner side of Odysseus is featured in the Iliad, but not in such a gruesome manner. In Book 2, after the disagreement between Agamemnon and Achilles, a common soldier by the name of Thersites mocks and makes fun of Agamemnon as greedy and power-hungry in front of the Greek troops. Odysseus responds by smacking him on the back with Agamemnon’s golden scepter, humiliating him and shutting him up.

Forcing Achilles to take part in the public ceremony of reconciliation with Agamemnon can also be seen as a reflection of his role in enforcing order. Thersites, a common soldier, cannot be allowed to get away with disrespecting a man as powerful as Agamemnon. Likewise, Agamemnon’s insult against Achilles (by confiscating Briseis) was public; therefore, his apology and atonement also have to be public to stifle the dissension in the ranks such a public quarrel between two major figures of authority might cause.

His role as a righteous king enforcing a fair and balanced rule extends even beyond Homer. For example, he features in Sophocles’ famous play Ajax, written in the fifth century BC. The play is named after Ajax, who in the legends associated with the Trojan War grows to become the enemy of Odysseus after the death of Achilles. Just after the events of the Iliad, Odysseus is rewarded with the armor of Achilles after Achilles’ death, and Ajax feels cheated because he is seen widely as second only to Achilles in terms of military prowess and, as a result, much more deserving than Odysseus, who wins through his superior oratory skills. 

Ajax, the play, begins after the quarrel. After deciding to embark on a mission to capture and murder Odysseus and his allies, Ajax is driven mad by the hero's patron Goddess — Athena — who is less of a benevolent goddess and more like an evil witch or demon in the play's script. Nevertheless, she is effective in doing her job and defending her protectee, Odysseus. We see her leading him to Ajax, who, under the power of Athena’s mean magic, has mistaken Odysseus’ livestock for Odysseus’ allies (Agamemnon and Menelaus) and Odysseus himself. We see and hear Ajax torturing, tormenting, eviscerating, and killing livestock, which he believes in his madness to be his human enemies. 

The goddess first goads and encourages the insane Ajax, covered in animal blood, to exult in destroying his enemies. In his conversation with Athena, we see that he imagines that an animal he has tied to a pole in his tent is none other than Odysseus, which he plans to torture before killing. Then, she invites him, whom she makes invisible to Ajax, to laugh at his enemy’s fallen and sorry state. Odysseus does not laugh; instead, he is stricken with sadness and immediately recognizes his common humanity with Ajax. He says what may well be the most famous line in a play, where Ajax is the tragic hero: 

                               . .  .Yet I pity

the poor wretch, though he's my enemy.

He's yoked to an evil delusion,

but the same fate could be mine.

I see clearly: we who live

are all phantoms, fleeting shadows.

—Golder and Pevear (1999), Ajax, Lines 147-152, p. 32. 

Here, the absent ruler is nothing short of a noble philosopher king. His righteousness is further highlighted in the play when he defends Ajax’s dead body from desecration. Ajax kills himself after regaining his sanity and realizing his mistake. Agamemnon and Menelaus insist on denying him proper burial rites; however, Odysseus’ intervention ensures that Ajax is fully redeemed by having a proper burial. 

The ironic thing is that Odysseus’ relationship with Ajax, despite the noble portrayal by Sophocles, provides one of the best examples of Odysseus’ other side as a trickster figure, which is far from righteous and fair, and even shows him, if not as a dastardly villain, at least as questionable and duplicitous. 

Odysseus as the morally ambiguous trickster 

Odysseus’ rivalry with Ajax in the Iliad is not that prominent, but it provides what may be seen as a preview of his darker side associated with his role as a trickster figure. Let us first begin with the most famous example of Odysseus as a trickster in the Odyssey — the Cyclops episode in Book 9. I have gone over this in a previous article called Xenia or Zeus’ Law In Ancient Greek Literature & Culture. But it would not hurt to go over it briefly once more.

This is the most important part of the play, which includes the climax, the event that decides the fate of the hero. Odysseus ends up blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea that Odysseus and his men have to travel to reach home. It goes without saying: Poseidon makes his journey home almost impossible, with every member of his crew besides himself dying and failing to make it back.

This scene is also famous for the No Name trick, which Christopher Nolan leaves completely out of his 2026 film, The Odyssey, which was probably deemed too unrealistic or hokey for his gritty film. Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by telling him that his name is No Man, gets him drunk, blinds him, and escapes. When Polyphemus cries out to his countrymen for help, they ask who is hurting you, and he says No Man has hurt me. No Man has blinded me, upon which his friends think he suffers from mental illness and tell him to pray to his father Poseidon for good health. 

But this trick is an example of a man finding a solution to a problem that he caused. Odysseus ventures into the Cyclops’ cave and lingers for hours waiting for the one-eyed creature to return after his men warn him to take all they can and leave. As soon as the Cyclops returns to the cave, Odysseus realizes the danger, becomes scared, and fumbles. The Cyclops asks him if he is a merchant or pirate, whom Polyphemus describes as “sea-wolves raiding at will, who risk their lives to plunder other men” (Fagles, 1996, p. 219). 

Odysseus, the wisest of men, instead of lying and saying they are merchants, identifies himself as a soldier and raider of cities, in his own words “men of Atrides Agamemnon, whose fame is the proudest thing on earth . . . so great a city he sacked, such multitudes he killed” (Fagles, 1996, p. 219-220). When he realizes this attempt at coercion by name-dropping Agamemnon might not work, he appeals to xenia by warning of Zeus’ vengeance against hosts who fail to honor their guests.

This is obviously a scared and helpless man panicking in the face of danger. It doesn’t work. The Cyclops attacks and eats two of Odysseus’ men. Our hero's genius eventually awakens, and he hatches the No Name trick, which involved sweet-talking the Cyclops, getting him drunk and asleep, and blinding him. However, Odysseus, after escaping the Cyclops, errs again. He continues to provoke the beast even after he is clearly out of danger.

In the play Ajax, we see him sympathize with a fallen Ajax. However, here, we see him mocking and making fun of the pitiable and blinded Cyclops. In what can be described as his hamartia or fatal flaw, in a moment of hubris or arrogance, he gives the Cyclops his name, which is all that the blinded beast needs to pray to his father Poseidon for vengeance. The rest is history, or rather the sad Odyssey of taking 10 years to get back to a home besieged by suitors attempting to replace him. 

In other extra-Homeric legends, Odysseus also figures as a trickster figure. For example, to escape going to the Trojan War, he feigns madness and sows his field with salt when Agamemnon’s recruiters come to find him. He gives himself away when one of the recruits puts the baby Telemachus in front of the plough, and the father swerves to avoid mowing over his own son. Another interesting and funny legend includes Odysseus discovering Achilles on the island of Skyros, where his mother has hidden him to escape the prophecy of dying at an early age in war. Achilles is dressed as a woman with long hair among King Lycomedes’ daughters. However, Odysseus exposes the warrior when, disguised as a merchant, he offers gifts of fine clothes and weapons to the women, but Achilles ends up being the only one who chooses the weapons. 

Most famously, he is portrayed as the one who came up with the Trojan Horse ploy that captured Troy. Christopher Nolan emphasizes the Trojan horse heavily in his film. However, he fails to capture either the cunning or genius of the Greek hero or even his role as a righteous king. Instead, in Nolan’s film, we see mostly a man living under the strain of a guilty conscience from committing war crimes, trying to atone. 

With the Trojan Horse, Odysseus' cunning is not simply restricted to a war tactic. It is also an example of how well he excels in manual craft, as it involves building a war device. This tendency is also reflected in the famous bow, which is built so that only he has the unique combination of strength and skill to string and use it. There is also his marriage bed, which he adroitly built around a living rooted olive tree. Lastly, trapped on Calypso’s island, we also see him build an impressive raft singlehandedly from scratch after chopping down twenty trees.

Of course, his successful plan in disguising himself, tricking the suitors, and ensuring they are all trapped in one room to slaughter them to a man is the ultimate example of wiliness and crafty battle tactics. It can be said that Odysseus’ cunning is multi-sided and complete, encompassing skill in combat and war strategy, weaponry, building, and the art of diplomacy. This makes him a well-rounded man, capable of surviving and winning against the highest odds. 

Odysseus vs Ajax

The Iliad, without making Odysseus the center of the story, simultaneously captures his moral kingly nature as well as his craftiness. He is constantly described as the one foremost in planning out battle strategy. We can say that the Ithacan king is a complicated man, in whom there is a balance of fairness and craftiness, which ensures that he always survives or wins. This can be seen in his fight with Ajax in Book 23 of the Iliad.

The wrestling match is more or less a part of friendly war games carried out among the Greeks after the victory of Achilles over Hector and in honor of Patroclus’ burial. Achilles asks who is willing to step up for the prize of an expensive and well-crafted tripod: 

And the giant Ajax got to his feet at once,

Odysseus stood up too,

an expert at every subtle, cunning hold. 790

—Fagles, The Iliad, Book 23, Lines 778-790, p. 581. 

It is interesting what adjectives are used to describe the two men. Odysseus is described  as “expert at every subtle, cunning hold,” whereas Ajax is simply “the giant Ajax.” In short, we are looking at a match between brute strength and clever tactics. The match is at a standstill, and the crowd gets bored with both holding each other tight in a death grip, but Ajax, who is stronger than Odysseus, tries to break the stalemate by flipping the smaller man, a risky move that makes him vulnerable to Odysseus’ craftiness and wrestling tactics: 

As Ajax heaved him up Odysseus never missed a trick —

he kicked him behind the knee, clipping the hollow,

cut his legs from under him. knocked him backward—

pinned as Odysseus flung himself across his chest!

That roused the crowd, they leaned to look and marveled. 

—Fagles, The Iliad, Book 23, Lines pp. 581-582, p. 

Odysseus later tries to throw Ajax, but fails as Ajax is too heavy. The two end up rolling on the floor fighting in desperation until Achilles intervenes, stops the match, and declares a draw, afraid that one of them will end up dead. The friendly fight shows two men equally matched — Ajax is a stronger warrior, whereas what Odysseus lacks in strength, he makes up for in skill and tactics. This sets the scene for the later, more deadly rivalry between the two men, which features in Trojan War legend. 

Achilles, in events that occur directly after the Iliad, is later killed by the Trojan Prince Paris, and the Greeks have to fight to retrieve his body from the Trojans. Achilles’ body is saved when Ajax carries him on his back while Odysseus fights off combatants behind him. Ajax and Odysseus dispute over who deserves to be gifted with Achilles’ legendary armor. 

Despite Ajax being seen as second only to Achilles in combat, Odysseus wins the armor after giving an impressive speech. Ajax is offended, and based on various accounts, commits suicide from the disrespect and humiliation. Other sources, such as Sophocles’ play, portray him as going insane and mistaking Odysseus' livestock for the man and massacring them, and then committing suicide from the humiliation after regaining his sanity. 

It’s easy to see how Odysseus was chosen over Ajax. Among the Myceneans, combat skill isn’t enough. A man also has to excel in oratory. However, this would have been a hard pill to swallow for Ajax. After all, he was considered second only to Achilles, and he did carry Achilles’ dead body to safety. That alone, in his mind, should have been enough to be rewarded with the hero’s armor. 

Odysseus’ trickery in the dispute with Ajax is not that obvious. The decision was not up to him, and it was a vote by other nobles in the Greek army. However, one could say that he defeated Ajax long before the battle over Achilles’ armor. His diplomatic skill, his way with words, and his subtlety probably made him the favorite among the Greek elite who rewarded him with the prize. It highlights the main theme of the Odyssey — survival by any means necessary, an accomplishment that doesn’t rely simply on brawn or fighting skill but just as much on cunning. 

References

Cairns, D. (2015). The first Odysseus: Iliad, Odyssey, and the ideology of kingship. GAIA. Revue Interdisciplinaire sur la Grèce Ancienne, 18(1), 51-66. https://www.persee.fr/doc/gaia_1287-3349_2015_num_18_1_1642

Homer. (1990). The Iliad (R. Fagles, Trans.). Penguin Books. (Original work published ca. 8th century BCE)

Homer. (1996). The Odyssey (R. Fagles, Trans.). Penguin Books. (Original work published ca. 8th century BCE) 

Sophocles. (1999). Aias (Ajax) (H. Golder & R. Pevear, Trans.). Oxford University Press. (Original work published ca. 5th century BCE) 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2026, August 13). Odysseus Character Analysis: The Trickster & Righteous King. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/odysseus-character-analysis