'''Basic Trope''': A hero's loved one is killed by a villain due to the villain's belief that the heroes's loved ones are holding them back from unleashing their full potential.
* '''Straight''': [[BigBad Emperor Evulz]] kills Alice, [[TheHero Bob]]'s LoveInterest, because he believes she is holding Bob back.
* '''Exaggerated''': Evulz kills ''all'' of Bob's friends and family because he believes that ''all'' of them were holding Bob back.
* '''Downplayed''':
** Evulz engineers a ThirdActMisunderstanding to estrange Bob from his friends.
** Evulz [[PutOnABus puts Alice on a bus]] to reduce her interference. Bob is still allowed to call Alice though.
* '''Justified''':
** Bob was a former {{Mook}} of Evulz's who performed a HeelFaceTurn. Evulz is planning an extremely complex plan and Bob is necessary for a vital part of the plan. Since Alice actually ''was'' holding Bob back, her death is necessary for the plan to work.
** Evulz used to be friends with Bob and still remains on a FriendlyEnemy basis with him; he hopes that Alice's death would prompt Bob to pull a FaceHeelTurn and join him.
** Bob worries about Alice (and Alice-related issues regarding his secret identity) to the point it has become SkewedPriorities. Evulz is upset that his foe does not has his mind completely in the game.
** Evulz is a BloodKnight who wants to [[ChallengeSeeker defeat Bob when the latter is in his full potential]], but the problem is that Bob is a NiceGuy. So Evulz decides to kill Alice to TeachHimAnger.
** Evulz losing his loved ones is what made him the man he is today. He figures that Bob could use a similar push too.
** In a case of VillainHasAPoint, Alice really is holding Bob back from using his full power. Evulz hopes that by killing Alice, Bob can finally use his full power to put an end to Lord Darkness's ForeverWar.
** Alternately Alice is EvilAllAlong and she was deliberately holding Bob back so that he wouldn't try to kill Evulz due to either her being a mole working for him or being another BigBad waiting in the wings. Either way, she has to die.
** Evulz's [[EvilVersusEvil rival Lord Darkness]] is forcing Bob's cooperation by threatening Alice, and Evulz concludes that killing Alice is the best way to free Bob from the leverage.
** Alice is a WetBlanketWife nagging the life out of Bob. She is literally holding him back.
* '''Inverted''':
** Bob, a BloodKnight whose hobby is fighting villains, kills the rest of Emperor Evulz's FiveManBand because he believes they were holding Evulz back.
** Evulz believes that [[ThePowerOfFriendship Bob's friends are the source of his strength]], and thus decides they must die.
** Evulz believes that [[TheMillstone Bob's friends are holding him back]] and spares no effort to make sure that Bob stays as close as possible to his moron buddies.
** Alice's death made Bob more dangerous and vengeful, so Evulz brings Alice back to life so he will be less of a threat.
* '''Subverted''': After Bob's BigNO, Evulz admits that he didn't really kill Alice; saying he did was a SecretTestOfCharacter to test Bob's loyalty to his friends.
* '''Double Subverted''': Of course, now that Evulz knows just how loyal Bob is to her, Alice has to die.
* '''Parodied''': Evulz kills Alice, and Bob, so happy to finally be rid of that [[AwfulWeddedLife hateful woman]], sends Evulz a thank you note and chocolates.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Evulz decides to have Alice killed by getting her shot by a sniper. However, the sniper turns out to be Bob and as a result doesn't fire at the last moment. Evulz, seeing all this, knocks Bob out, takes the rifle, and attempts to fire it. The rifle misfires, so Evulz takes a pistol out and shoots at Alice. He misses, so Evulz takes out a knife, charges at Alice, and attempts to strike her with it. He misses, so Evulz activates a C4, stick it onto Alice, and gets out of the area before it explodes...it doesn't.
* '''Averted''':
** Evulz doesn't even try to kill Alice.
** Although it's common practice for Evulz to do this, Bob doesn't have any friends, so it wasn't necessary.
* '''Enforced''': Evulz is an EvilMentor, and all of Bob's friends are good. They will not play nice.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Bob, your arch enemy has an obsession with making you a super competent loner. If you don't deal with him, I'm putting our relationship on hiatus."
* '''Invoked''': Bob has already performed a FaceHeelTurn, but Evulz can see he's still conflicted about his decision, so he arranges the assassination of Bob's former comrades to cut any ties he might have with his heroic past.
* '''Exploited''': Bob and friends fake their deaths so that Evulz lowers his guard before an ambush.
* '''Defied''': Evulz wants Bob to live up to his potential, but realizes targeting his friends won't win him over. So he just feeds Bob some DarkSide Donuts!
* '''Discussed''': "Why is it all my enemies think I'll be stronger as a loner?"
* '''Conversed''': "Poor Bob, he's going to find his girlfriend StuffedInTheFridge soon isn't he?"
* '''Deconstructed''':
** Because Bob loved Alice so much, he goes mad from her death at Evulz's hands, something which Evulz didn't intend.
** [[MoralityChain Alice]] really was holding [[TheFettered Bob]] back. And now that she's gone? [[TheUnfettered Bob]] has absolutely no qualms about [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutally slaughtering the guy who killed her]].
* '''Reconstructed''': However, Bob's friend Charlie [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps him to bring him to his senses]]. Together, they decide to avenge Alice by killing Evulz.
* '''Implied''': The film's opening credits sequence is a montage of Alice and Bob in the "past" being lovey-dovey and Bob being a boxer who insists on [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen fighting like a gentleman]] even if he loses and Bob in the "current day" being a CurbStompBattle-causing monster on the ring. It does not takes Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Alice will be dead or otherwise removed from Bob's life by the time the "Directed By" part arrives.
** Just as Bob is about to strike Evulz down, Alice tries to convince him to see the good in Evulz and give him a second chance. Evulz gives them a confused look while [[FiveSecondForeshadowing Lord Darkness is disgusted and pulls out his weapon.]]
* '''Played For Laughs''':
** The thing "holding Bob back" is something dumb like his ''Golden Girls'' collection.
** Evulz wants Bob to stop holding back. He convinces Alice to stop having sex with Bob. [[FauxHorrific Bob reacts like he had killed Alice and replaced her with a doppelganger]].
** Bob stops holding back. He becomes a ComicallyInvincibleHero.
** Evulz kills Alice. Bob falls apart in a fashion that [[{{Narm}} is seen as absurd]] InUniverse and out.
* '''Played For Drama''':
** Evulz kills Alice. Bob stops holding back and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge tears apart everything Evulz was working on]]. The inevitable "[[GoneHorriblyRight this is what you wanted, aren't you proud?]]" question will follow.
** Evulz convinces Alice to divorce Bob. It's equally effective in "removing the thing holding Bob back", but the long-term effects regarding Bob trusting Alice again or wishing to love again are more complicated than if Alice had just died [[ReplacementGoldfish and the writers put Jean in Bob's path]].
** Bob does not becomes stronger. He just plain falls apart.
* '''Played For Horror''':
** Evulz gets rid of Alice as an obstacle for Bob to unleash his full power... and audiences will be turned off looking into fridges for a while.
** Evulz wanted Bob to unleash his full power. Bob instead becomes DrunkOnTheDarkSide and proves himself [[EvilerThanThou more vile than Evulz]] with an extremely brutal massacre.
** Bob's dark side Pob orchestrates a SplitPersonalityTakeover by convincing him that Alice is holding him back. Due to Bob's HeroicWillpower, Evulz makes the choice for him and kills Alice so that Bob will stop holding back and hopefully get rid of Lord Darkness for him. Instead Bob snaps, his dark side takes over, thanks Evulz for killing Alice before gutting him and Lord Darkness before the story ends with an EveryoneDiesEnding that ends in Pob becoming a RogueProtagonist in the sequel.

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I had to... ''remove'' [[TheyWereHoldingYouBack the main page]]; it was distracting you from your true potential.
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???