trickster vs villain

trickster

noun
  • An impish or playful person. 

  • One who plays tricks or pranks on others. 

  • A fraud (person who performs a trick for the purpose of unlawful gain). 

  • Any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others; any similar figure in literature. 

  • One who performs tricks (parts of a magician' act or entertaining difficult physical actions). 

villain

noun
  • An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes. 

  • A vile, wicked person. 

  • Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”). 

  • In fiction, a character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero. 

  • A deliberate scoundrel. 

How often have the words trickster and villain occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )