Fools share many traits with bards but their aims are often entirely at odds. Bards are the centre of attention, with their performances inspiring courage and admiration for the performer and his audiences. In contrast, the skilled displays of fools may entertain but the fool is never the point of the performance. Instead, the subject of a fool’s efforts is rarely grateful as all his faults are laid bare for the world to see. Kind-hearted fools do this to teach, in the hope of their artistic victims learning from the display. There are also bitter fools, lost in their cynicism, whose aims are to humiliate and bring down those above them. An evil fool can be a vicious, cutting performer, making his audiences laugh even while he sows derision and hatred in their hearts.