Suddenly Becomes Beautiful

Created By: totofan4ever on June 15, 2012 Last Edited By: totofan4ever on June 30, 2012

Nuked

Suddenly Becomes Beautiful

Something happens that makes a character beautiful to the viewer or another character's eyes.

Name Space:
Main

Page Type:
Trope

The main character has a friend who isn't the best looking, but after some plot development the realization of what he/she really means to them becomes overwhelming at one moment. The moment when he/she suddenly becomes beautiful to them. Example: Rumpelstiltskin towards Belle when he catches her falling off of a ladder in Once Upon A Time.

Could also be a YMMY trope when a character on a show is not exactly the best looking, but they become beautiful to the viewer based on how the actor portrays the character or how much the character impacts the viewer. Example: Jeremy Brett in the Granada Sherlock Holmes Series or Matt Smith in Doctor Who

Discard

0 0

Add Hat

Hello, Unknown Troper. You'll need to get known to lend a hand here.

June 15, 2012
bananasloth
I think this is a YMMV trope.
June 15, 2012
totofan4ever
Just added the possibility to the description. :)
June 15, 2012
randomsurfer
In AA Milne's play The Ugly Duckling a princess is objectively beautiful but due to a "blesssing" given by her great aunt so she wouldn't grow up vain, everyone sees her as plain until she meets her One True Love.
Related to True Beauty Is On The Inside.
June 16, 2012
TheEvenPrime
^ Uh, if everyone sees her as plain except a single person, then it's definitely NOT objective beauty.
Played for laughs in South Park in the episode Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society where Bebe's breasts start growing. This makes her extremely appealing to all the boys in the school - they see her not only as beautiful, but as smart and cool without even realizing why.
June 16, 2012
SKJAM
@randomsurfer: I think you mean "conventionally beautiful".
June 16, 2012
randomsurfer
We, the audience, can see she's a beauty; that's what I mean by "objectively beautiful." The characters in the play cannot see that, they think she's plain.
Chancellor: Her beauty is certainly elusive, Your Majesty.
King: It is. It has eluded you, it has eluded me, it has eluded everyone who has met her. It even eluded the Court Painter. His Last Words were, "Well, I did my best."
After she meets her OTL we, the audience, can see that she has physically changed not at all but the characters in the play think she's more attractive than she used to be.
King: Is it possible we were wrong about Prunella all this time? Just now, it seems to me she was looking not quite so plain as usual.
In between, the princess explains to the prince what the blessing meant:
When I was born, one of my godmothers promised that I should be very beautiful. But the other one said this: "I give you with this kiss / A wedding day surprise, / Where ignorance is bliss, / 'tis folly to be wise." And nobody knew what it meant. And I grew up very plain. And then, when I was about ten, I met my godmother in the forest one day. It was my tenth birthday. And she told me what her gift meant. It meant that I was beautiful - but everybody else was to go on being ignorant, and thinking me plain, until my wedding day. Because, she said, she didn't want me to grow up spoilt and willful and vain, as I should have done if everybody had always been saying how beautiful I was; and the best thing in the world, she said, was to be quite sure of yourself, but not to expect admiration from other people. So ever since then my mirror has told me I'm beautiful, and everybody else thinks me ugly, and I get a lot of fun out of it.
June 16, 2012
totofan4ever
Is there any other examples where a character's intended to look plain, but becomes beautiful to a character's eyes based on their personality and how they act around them?
Like this: Played Straight in Doctor Who when Amy literally says that Rory became beautiful (not in the glamorized version of the word) to her as their relationship developed. Rory isn't a grand looking guy, but based on his love for Amy he becomes beautiful to her which is why she chose him over the Doctor.
June 16, 2012
InsanityPrelude
Possibly related to Beautiful All Along and/or She Cleans Up Nicely?
June 30, 2012
planswalker
- Nanny McPhee has the title character go through a gradual transformation as the children learn their lessons, only to still be a plain-looking old woman right before they learn their last lesson. After that last lesson, she's a young, blushing 20-something who leaves the crew with an enigmatically happy message. Subtext throughout the movie implies that the change is in the childrens' perception and not a physical change.
- Xander and Willow in Buffy The Vampire Slayer have this trope mutually apply to each other in season two, causing a major point of drama when their girlfriend/boyfriend (respectively) catch them making out.

Crucial Browsing

Community Showcase Explore More