This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Discussion leading up to rename from The Cedric
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Necromas: I would definitely say Tai was more of a sacrificial lamb, he gets almost no character development and it's pretty much presumed he's dead when he gets captured. When it's finally revealed he survived, his only further role is to commit suicide ten second later to show how nasty the Locusts torture was.
Wyvernil: I'm thinking one of the major distinctions between Sacrificial Lion and the Sacrificial Lamb that's been overlooked is the timing of their death. The Sacrifical Lamb tends to die early on in the series to provide an aura of danger to the story. They may get some character development, if only to fool the audience into thinking that Contractual Immortality applies to them.
Sacrificial Lion, on the other hand, tends to last longer into the story, and usually bites it about halfway through (usually at the hands of the Knight of Cerebus, if the story is shifting into high-drama mode). Because he lasts longer than the Sacrifical Lamb, he gets a good deal more Character Development as a result, and his death is accordingly a bit more shocking.
h_v: I removed the following example; the character in question lasts a whole third of an episode and doesn't even have enough character development to qualify him as a Mauve Shirt.
- Scott from Heroes definitely qualifies. He is introduced in the third season as the top Marine in the Pinehearst Super-Soldier program. The episode climax is devoted to his injection with the ability-inducing formula, which grants him the power of super strength, and the episode ends with him grinning and saying "I feel good." in response to questions about how he feels. In the very next episode, he promptly gets a bridge dropped on him when minor villain Knox snaps his neck from behind.
maarvarq: re the Jenny Calendar example, is it worth mentioning that part of the cause was Absentee Actor, i.e. the actor is a committed Christian who was getting concerned by the Wiccan fanbase she was accumulating, and decided to quit over it?
alliterator: Actually, I believe she only became a committed Christian after she left the show (leading to her being upset when she next appeared as the First Evil).
DoKnowButchie: Altered the The World Ends With You Example, given that Rhyme already fulfills the trope, and the trope itself is not something you can really repeat. Sota and Nao are something else.
- He dies specifically to bump the villain over the Moral Event Horizon.
Farseer Lolotea: Original discussion here.
Document N: That doesn't mention Moral Event Horizon.
