Leitmotif - Television Tropes & Idioms

than the music store.

"Steve's dead now. From here on in, Steve's death will be represented by the oboe."

—Tom Servo , Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode # 209, "The Hellcats"

A leitmotif is a piece of music used repeatedly to represent a character, theme, or action. This is a well-established technique used in almost every medium that involves music and story. The leitmotif technique was invented (or at least perfected) by opera composer Richard Wagner in the second half of the 1800s. In his operas, not only would every character have his/her own motif, but also objects, places, and even abstract ideas.

Leitmotifs are often named simply "<character>'s Theme" or "<noun> Motif." They often make up the bulk of movie and anime soundtracks, and a fair chunk of video game soundtracks as well.

This is different from an Image Song in that Image Songs exist only outside of the scope of the show that produced them. Compare with 'I Am' Song.

If a character with a distinctive-sounding Leitmotif is in a production or episode that breaks the Fourth Wall, one of his or her fellows may come to make a comment on how loud and annoying their theme music is. (To which the character will almost always reply, "What theme music?") Might be a Musical Spoiler for audiences. The character might also have their leitmotif as their own ringtone, for a subtler joke. See also Left the Background Music On.

If a character's leitmotif starts playing during an action scene, start running.

Can become a Recurring Riff when used throughout a long-running series. In video games, there's also the Battle Theme Music. (If a character's Battle Theme Music is a remix of their Leitmotif, it's a Boss Remix.) Bootstrapped Leitmotif is a variation, where a song that wasn't originally intended as a Leitmotif later becomes one.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime

The Dominion Tank Police OVA did this: The cops had one, the Buaku gang had one (The "Hey, Boy" striptease number done by the Puma sisters), and the Red Commandoes had one. Bits of each were played to introduce each group in the beginning of the Mexican Standoff.
Sailor Moon has numerous bits of theme music and leit-motifs that appear repeatedly throughout the show. The first two seasons of the English dub used none of the original soundtrack, but it did retain the concept of having individual themes even though it used them more sparingly. When the show's license switched over after Sailor Moon R, the new license holder just kept the soundtrack as is.
- The arrival of Tuxedo Mask was usually accompanied by his own tinkly romantic theme complete with castanets. The English dub changed this to a distinct Spanish-sounding guitar riff that also had a "mournful" version.
  - Moonlight Knight got an Arabian-esq version whenever he appeared in the alien arc of R.
- Sailor Moon herself had the most individual theme music of any character. Each attack, transformation, and even her disguise pen had unique music themes. The transformations even had her name sung as part of the music. It was also common to hear one of these themes played as battle music when the Senshi had the upper hand in battle. The English dub gave her one transformation song and one attack song that were used regardless of what season it was, which led to some problems by the time they adapted Sailor Moon R because the songs clearly did not fit the length of the stock footage anymore.
  - Furthermore, Sailor Moon's requisite speeches also had their own theme music, though the dub gave her a different one.
- The other four Guardian Senshi, starting with Sailor Moon R and beyond, each had their own individual transformation themes. The dub, regardless of the season, gave them all one piece of music to share, but also added a second theme that played to indicate that a Sailor Senshi was attacking in general.
- ChibiUsa had a few themes exclusively for her in the Japanese version - one for whenever she used her Luna P, and one in Sailor Moon R that played whenever she was particularly upset and lonely, actually named "Chibi Usa no omoi" (ChibiUsa's feelings). In the Sailor Moon SuperS movie, she also had a full individual transformation sequence that included a song just for Chibi Moon.
- Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, first appearing in the third season, got their own theme, one for transforming and one for attacking.
- Hotaru, before actually becoming a Senshi, also had her own creepy song that played whenever she was being possessed by Mistress 9.
- So did Sailor Starlights in the fifth season. Some of the Big Bads, for example, Queen Beryl, had special theme music as well.
- Even Luna has her own theme music that plays whenever she gives the Senshi new items.
- In the first season, the show's theme song ("Moonlight Densetsu") is used as a theme for times when Usagi and Mamoru are remembering parts of their relationship from their past lives. This is accomplished via a locket that plays the song. The dub also used the theme song, but a new recording of it. The Japanese version also occasionally used a slower instrumental version of the first ending theme "Heart Moving" to the same effect. Later seasons would occasionally slip in instrumentals of ending themes as well to punctuate more serious moments.
- Each villain group has their own individual theme. The dub, with the exception of the aliens in the first arc of R, gave them all the same theme. In the case of the aliens, they have two different flute songs that Ali will play, one whenever he's playing for fun, and one when he's summoning a Cardian. The dub alters the first theme and uses it regardless of what he's doing.
- In the dub only, almost all of the incidental music was just various instrumentals of the opening version played ad nauseam to the point of madness.
- For obvious reasons, the Sailor Moon Musicals, or Sera Myu, also made heavy use of leitmotifs and designated character theme songs. For brevity's sake, they shall not be listed here.
  - Of note however is that by the end of the run each of the Sailor Sailor Senshi had their own... Except Uranus and Neptune who shared theirs each time. This was pointed out and lampshaded by their actresses in a Fan Kan event.
- Even Sailor Moon Abridged gives each character a leitmotif during their transformation sequence. One example is Sailor Moon's theme, which is Aqua's 'Barbie Girl'.
Like Tuxedo Mask, Tokyo Mew Mew's resident Mysterious Protector, the Blue Knight / Ao no Kishi, has his arrival marked by his own theme music. Each of the five girls has her own distinctive transformation music, and all of Mew Ichigo's attacks are accompanied by a special tune (except for "Reborn Aqua Drops", which is apparently so powerful that it required a song — "Glider" — to be accompanied with). There are leitmotifs for some other events as well, for example, the scenes with Kisshu talking to Deep Blue.
Excel Saga accompanied Pedro's scenes as a ghost with a sad, instrumental riff from "House of the Rising Sun".
- Il Palazzo also has his own suitably pompous and grandiose theme that plays during his big speeches. And Nabeshin has his own theme for his appearances as well.
- Excel's was really quick and had whistles and banging.
Quite a few characters in Lucky Star have leitmotifs, such as Konata, who has a slacker-esque melody quite fitting of her goofy-slacker-otaku personality.
The intro song to the Lupin III TV shows or movies is also the leitmotif for the titular main character.
Super Robot Wars gives most of the Banpresto Originals (characters created specifically for the game) and bosses their own Leitmotifs. With Original Generations even minor characters like Katina have theme songs. The most famous of these is Elzam/Ratsel's theme of "Trombe!". Due to a mistaken high priority in his first game, Trombe will override even boss themes. the only way to disrupt it is to blast music out of a speaker.
Many wrestlers from Kinnikuman have their own theme music.
In the dub of the Kirby anime, Meta Knight is always introduced by a Mexican fanfare.
- He has a similar one in the original, but it's not quite as foreign-sounding.
Vegeta's theme music from Dragon Ball It's iconic to his character, though its usage dropped considerably after the Frieza Saga.
- Leitmotifs were very common in the dub of DBZ. Piccolo had his own theme, usually played whenever he did something heroic (although it was occasionally used at other points). The various story arcs introduced new leitmotifs. Then there's the leitmotif that was first introduced when Goku shows off Super Saiyan 3. It's ostensibly the Super Saiyan 3 theme, but it tends to get played any time the heroes gain an edge during the Buu Saga. Buu himself, of course, has his own, devillishly jovial theme, befitting of a nightmarish trickster.
  - Piccolo had a whistling theme in the Japanese original, mostly seen in the movies when he swoops in to save Gohan.
- The strangest part about the dub is that every single situation had its own leitmotif. To the point where I can't remember a single scene where some sort of background music wasn't playing.
  - In fact argually leitmotifs weren't as strictly applied in DBZ as most other usages. Captain Ginyu, a minor character from the Frieza Saga, has his own epic theme for when he uses his body-switching technique, that is named after him. However, it was SO epic that it was used throughout the series for moments of awesome, whilst still being called 'Captain Ginyu's Transformation.' Also the Hyperbolic Time Chamber theme became Gohan's Super Saiyan theme near the end of the Cell Games Saga.
Ryoga's Theme is one of the most noticable in the Ranma ½ series
Also in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Note how Asuka's leitmotif sounds quite American-ish.
- Rei has three different ones, not counting reduxes thereof in the Alternate Continuity movies. Guess why.
  - Some of which are quite creepy. For good reason.
- We don't hear Shinji's much, but it's a very good study of the character; it's not a fast-paced epic full of dashing contrasts. It's quiet, reserved and moved to passion on a few recurring points. There are two themes, the first of which (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CptTCkAT2GM) clues us in just what he's all about when we hear it in the first episode. The second (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vcxJmOnVlw) expands upon this.
- There's also Angel Attack, which plays nearly every time an angel attacks.
- There's also Tokyo-3, the theme music for the city. It's big, impressive, and perhaps most importantly, never quite seems to get to where it's going, making it feel unfinished.
Some characters in Panty & Stocking with Garterbel have their own themes, like Corset. Panty and Stocking, nor their enemies Scanty and Kneesocks have individual themes - rather, they only have duo themes that play when both of them are together.
Yu-Gi-Oh!! and its spinoffs Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds have themes for most of the major characters.
- Obviously, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series makes fun of this, with all appearances of Duke Devlin being followed by Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack". At the end of the episode Yugi says he'll be friends with Duke if he stops playing that annoying theme music, to which Devlin replies "What theme music?"
  - In the latest 'Deleted Scenes' video, LittleKuriboh makes fun of this as well, with Tristan having found the remote for Duke's Theme Music. He then proceeds to browse through the several options and eventually chooses the least fitting... That is, after critisizing all the other options. Among those 'critisized' options are the second opening for Death Note, the first opening for Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and the first opening for Pokémon.
- "You just brought sexy back for the last time."
  - On the subject of Duke Devlin, when he's "dying" due to the lack of pretty girls around, you can hear the music skipping in the background.
- The Egyptian Gods also have their own epic orchestrated theme music that plays whenever one of them is Summoned.
- Kaiba has "Now I'm Back," a song unique to the 4Kids dub and a rare leitmotif with lyrics. It's mainly limited to the first season.
Eureka Seven has a rather frantic, chaotic leitmotif play whenever Nirvash and TheEnd fight each other.
Naruto loves this. All the major characters have more then one that changes on how dramatic the scene is or character development. Orochimaru has 2 versions of the same song: one used for fighting and the other used for plot relevance. Even non major characters like Konohamaru and Tenten have themes.
- Do not fuck with Rock , Lee, he has three theme songs in the first season which are used (almost) exclusively for him! They seemingly call him ROCK Lee for more than one reason! His awesomeness was apparently toned down in Naruto Shippuuden, though, and these awesome themes have been used on other occasions too, especially in the filler episodes.
The anime Rockman.EXE always plays the theme song when the characters are about to win. In fact, you can reliably tell when the characters are going to turn around even the worst situation because the theme music will immediately start to play. It is quite possible that the theme music may be the only thing between life and death for the heroes.
- In the first season, the music accompanies the climactic final battle between Rockman and Blues during the Inevitable Tournament. Rockman loses, and his hard fight is congratulated by Netto and Blues over a quiet piano version: "Kaze wo Tsukinukete ~Ballad Version~".
- This was not retained in the Mega Man NT Warrior dub, to great detriment. They won without their magic theme music.
The Big O had theme music for whenever Roger summoned The Big O that was a suitably dramatic orchestral fanfare. It also has a piece of foreign music that the Union uses to apparently summon its agents in Paradigm City to gather. Another song with Ominous Latin Chanting is used sometimes whenever something bad is happening, such as Alex Rosewater's dad burning himself to death.
- The Big O soundtrack is made entirely of reused leitmotifs that appear constantly. In particular Painful Dream, which had three different versions, and Apologize which had some four or five different versions.
Fullmetal Alchemist used a lot of leitmotif. The names for the Homunculi's themes were named in Japanese even in English, with multiple levels of meanings. For instance, Lust's theme, "Aishou", can mean "Sorrow", which is appropriate—and also a clue that nobody with that music can be totally evil—or "prostitute", because, well, she's Lust.
In the Pokémon anime, Satoshi (Ash) has quite a few themes and songs (usually doubling as opening songs) with various variations. Haruka (May) has Haruka's Theme ~ Watashi Makenai and in the Diamond & Pearl series, Hikari (Dawn) has Hikari's Theme ~ Kimi no Soba de which is often played in scenes focusing on her (usually karaoke) and has many variations, including a slow version for sad scenes, a Christmas-y version used as the winter ending song, and more.
Prétear has some examples as well. It's a Magical Girl anime, so predictably there is a transformation theme music (actually with three slight variations), a couple of battle themes, and a theme associated with evil. What makes it weird is that main characters don't seem to have any particular tunes reserved for them, but comic relief side characters do. Tanaka the butler even has his theme named after him; there is also a leitmotif played mainly during Yayoi's crazy speeches, and a leitmotif for Mayune's shower scenes.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - And how! Every character has their own theme song, ranging from the silly (Yoko's 'Boing vs Boing', an ode to Gainaxing) to the unbelievably badass (Viral's 'Nikopol') to the just plain weird (Leeron's heavily electronic... whatever it is). The series also has several motifs as background music, like the very well known Fight The Powah rap, and the operatic One-Woman Wail complete with piano accompaniment version of said rap, 'Libera Me From Hell' that plays to astoundingly awesome effect during the final battle.
- Don't forget Ten wo Tsuke, which whenever a scene that is filled with hope happens like where Simon, Kamina, and Yoko break the surface. And of course what happens, well, you know who dies. "Sniff"
  - Also, we have one of the most badass english song in the entire show, which plays in episode 3, when Viral activates Enki for the first time and proceeds to kick Gurren's shiny, metallic ass: Gattai Nante Kusokurae! (To hell with Gattai!)
  - And we have Nikopol, Viral's theme song which plays in episode 2, before Viral is even shown, during Kamina and Simon's attempt at taking over the Gunzan (later rebuilt into Gurren).
- During the final battle, as it begins, the Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann and Granzeboma walk towards eachother on top of a galaxy, while "Is it okay to just get fired up?" plays in the background, matching very well with the pace of the battle.
  - When the ASK uses his "INFINITY BIG BANG STORM!!!", the theme "All you bastards, get fired up!" starts playing for a short while, after which it changes into "Sora-iro Days" AKA the opening, which plays while the TTGL and Granzeboma ends the battle, by gradually decreasing in size, both being impaled, and TTGL launching the Chouginga Gurren-Lagann, which is also impaled, after which it launches Ark-Gurren-Lagann, which (surprise, surprise) is also impaled, and launches Gurren-Lagann, which loses both legs and an arm, before Viral rips the Lagann off and throws it at the Anti-Spiral King, who is then defeated by the same attack as the first Gunmen Simon ever fought... Timing it perfectly, so that with every new line, they launch the smaller versions of the Gurren-Lagann and the song ending exactly as the Lagann finishes drilling through the ASK.
The Death Note soundtrack has lots of tracks claiming to be Leitmotifs, but really the only one applied repeatedly and with narrative consistency is the Dies Irae, which always means a huge turning point as seen through Light's eyes.
- There's also at least one theme for L, Light and Misa. The rest of the songs aren't that much of leitmotifs, they just have titles related to their appearance in the anime For example, such songs are Ikari (anger), Himitsu (secret), etc...
- Near and Mello have their own themes together. When Near's Theme and L's Theme are played together, they actually have an almost call and response thing going on...YMMV, though.
Bleach has On the Precipice Of Defeatwhen someone on the side of the heroes is about to make a big comeback.
- And the fantastically amazing Number One for when that someone is Ichigo.
  - Takes a level in badass in its remake Chokkaku.
- Bleach is incredibly fond of these. You also have the haunting "Nothing can be Explained" when the heroes seem to be on the precipice of total defeat.
  - Clearly, there needs to be a song called "Big Comeback" for when nothing can be explained.
  - Also, the song Destiny Awaits might as well be named Byakuya's Theme.
  - Even the arrancar have their own theme songs — flamenco and salsa-type tunes that go well with their overall Spanish theme.
  - Treachery now seems to be the theme music for villains' One-Winged Angel transformations and powering up in general.
  - On the third soundtrack, Yasutora "Chad" Sado and Uryu Ishida both received individual theme songs, Uryu's being Quincy's Craft and Chad's being Dominio del Chad (roughly "Chad's Domain" in Spanish, although if you translate it exactly, it becomes the much more hilarious "Domain of the Chad").
Princess Tutu has leitmotifs for most of the major characters, pulled from (mostly) Romantic-era classical music. Fakir's theme is Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture, Mytho's theme is the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker (and later episodes use Siegfried's Funeral March from Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung when he's in danger, as well as "the Immortal Beloved" theme from the Siegfried-Idyll for his true prince form which are appropriate since his true name is Siegfried), Princess Tutu's is "The Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker, Drosselmeyer's is the Grande March from The Nutcracker (often arranged in a minor key and played on an ominous organ), Rue has several piano pieces by Satie for her themes, Ahiru has The Nutcracker Overture (that has several different arrangements for her changing moods), Edel's organ plays a slowed-down version of "The Dance of the Automatons" from Léo Delibes's Coppelia (can you say foreshadowing?)...even Professor Cat gets one—the Wedding March, of course! This isn't even going into some of the other leitmotifs used to represent various themes in the anime, or the fact that every episode has its own major musical theme named in the title card.
One Piece doesn't have particularly prevalent Leitmotifs, but they're around. Some of the main crew have them, particularly Sanji and his jazzy theme, and some villain teams feature their own as well - CP9, for example, had a strong leitmotif with strings and a mechanical-sounding beat. And then there's Sogeking... In the fighting games based on the series, each character has a short musical piece that plays during their finishing attack.
- Every crew member DOES have their own Leitmotif, though, little snippets of which play during their eyecatch. They don't show up all that often in the anime, though, except during their battles (usually at their moment of triumph.) Also notable in that they seem to each get their own primary instrument (Robin has the saxaphone, Chopper the flute, and so on) and musical style (Franky gets orchestral swing, Sanji has smooth jazz, etc.) Brook is the only one whose theme tune seems to have actual lyrics, since it's so important to his character arc.
- In the 4Kids dub, Shanks had a very noticeable Leitmotif of an Irish tune. Anytime he spoke. Wouldn't be as annoying if it wasn't also during awesome moments.
- Though perhaps not a proper Leitmotif, "Overtaken" functions as a Leitmotif for anyone who goes into Determinator mode and is about to do something awesome.
- I would think that One Piece is full of obvious Leitmotifs. Throughout the series they recycle tunes such as designated tear-jerker, awesome, and Big Bad-introduction music.
Pretty Cure is positively drowning in Leitmotifs. Every Cure has her own theme music; these are slow and quiet for the more intellectual characters, and cheerful and upbeat for the others. Every complete team has a Leitmotif for when they're kicking some butt, distinct from the opening theme (which in turn is used as a Recurring Riff). Every evil organization has one, and every Big Bad as well, including the movie villains. There's one for every Magical Land. Every mascot creature has a Leitmotif—usually this is individual, though Coco and Nuts share theirs, and creatures from the movies tend to share themes as well. Yes! Pretty Cure 5 even gave the school its own Leitmotif.
Code Geass has "All Hail Britannia" (for when The Empire does something epic), "Devil Created" (for when Lelouch uses his Evil Eye), and "0" (for when Lelouch's latest bit of magnificent bastardry comes to fruition.
- Beautiful Emperor plays when Lelouch creates the UFN, and becomes Britannian Emperor. You know, Emperor-y stuff. The "beautiful" part is self-evident.
The "Julia" music box theme from Cowboy Bebop certinally quallifies, as it harkens Spike's myth arc.
- Also, Andy would usually whistle his own generic Western theme whenever he showed up.
One from a manga, carried over into the OVA: Rip Van Winkle of Hellsing is continuously singing from the opera "The Magic Bullet" (about a huntsman who makes a deal with a devil for bullets that never miss; Tom Waits based The Black Rider on it). At one point, when Alucard attacks her, he sings the demon's part.
- This opera is actually called Der Freischütz (See Theater, below'')," although some English-Language versions of the folktale it's based on were called "The Magic Bullets" since "The Free-Shooter" doesn't make as much sense in English as it does in German.
In the Japanese Digimon series, each of the main characters gets their own Leitmotif. Hikari and Takeru get two, as they star in two separate seasons. If you're watching Digimon Adventure in Japanese, that quirky beeping techno music that plays every time Koushirou whips out his computer or realizes something important? It's called "Digital Scratch!" Get used to it. You will hear it a lot.
- There's no way the 02 songs "Bokura no Digital World" (the season's memorial song) and "Mirai e no Message" (an image song) can contain the same six note melody (da-da-DAH dah dah daaah) and similar chord progressions in the verses without some intention to tie the songs together by the composers. Even more, "3 Primary Colors" from Tamers (sung in the points of view of the three main kids, and it was used in that season's final episode) seems to use a variation of the aforementioned motif between vocal sections. Different characters, different continuity, same franchise...not surprised they sound alike.
- Digimon Xros Wars LOVES leitmotifs, with several variations of different songs. There's several, but special mention goes to the Bagra Empire's theme, which has no less than seven versions of the theme played throughout the series, each one of them fitting different moods.
In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, if someone has an elaborate Transformation Sequence, it will be accompanied by their Leitmotif. Some, like Fate's "Flash of Gold" or Teana's "Meteoric Marksman", are action-packed enough to be used for Theme Music Power-Up purposes as well. Others, like Nanoha's "Raising Heart, Set Up!", can't be used anywhere else so she has other character themes for befriending purposes, like "Ace of Aces".
- Special mention goes to the name of Subaru's personal I'm-Going-To-Kick-Ass-Now Leitmotif for managing to throw in yet another GaoGaiGar Shout Out. Its name? "The Meaning of Courage".
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! has a number but most notable is Hibari's which is about the only piece in the show on the piano and means that you know from the beginning just how awesome he is.
- Actually, each character has an epic theme song. The editors/writers just don't want to overuse them.
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei has some good examples, too. Each of the girls (and Itoshiki-sensei), or to be more precise the personality quirks their entire characters are based around, has their own specific theme - stalking, trolling, being incredibly positive, being incredibly depressing, you name it, it has a theme song.
Minami Ke does this often with Hosaka, usually resorting to a Harmonica version of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major during his many rambling monologues dedicated to his unrequited love for Haruka.
In Tsubasa Chronicle the main group of characters each have their own themes—most notably Kurogane, Fay, and Syaoran all have seperate themes that are often played when they're fighting, at least in the first season. Kurogane's is "break the sword of justice," Fay's is "strange names," and then Syaoran's "a song of storm and fire" is probably the best known one. Even some arcs have their own set of background music and insert songs.
Suzumiya Haruhi has a few good examples, but the one used with the most consistency is definitely "Nagato's Confession," a cool, stoic electronic tune. "How Promising" is also used pretty often and usually means Haruhi's about to pull some harebrained scheme again.
Mobile Suit Gundam has some memorable, if trippy motifs (it was 1979, after all!) "The Gallant Char" sounds downright heroic compared to the typical Zeon themes, which had a psychedelic spooky aspect. Music associated with the crew and suits of White Base featured triumphant horns - when not in battle.
- Zeta Gundam - Four Chords mean Somebody's Dead.
  - The AEUG's theme also features triumphant horns, and features heavily even in battle scenes, while the Titans and Axis had unique themes as well. Many of these themes were carried over into Gundam ZZ, as both were scored by Shigeaki Saegusa.
- G Gundam made extensive use of themes for the main fighters, not to mention the themes used for the Shining and Bakunetsu God Fingers.
- Gundam Wing has different themes for, among others, the five Gundam pilots, Relena, Wing Zero, the Mobile Dolls, and Treize. Heero's ("The Wings of a Boy Who Killed Adolesence") and Relena's ("Soft Hair, Clear Eyes") have several remixes, most famously the former's "Codename Heero Yuy" (the next episode preview theme), while Duo's ("Black Wind Inviting Death") and Quatre's ("Looking for Peace Hidden in the Corpse") never actually get used in the show and can only be heard on the soundtrack or in the SD Gundam G Generation video games.
- Both Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny gave us more leitmotifs. Whenever Freedom sortied in SEED, it was followed by METEOR by T.M. Revolution, the band that made the first opening for both shows. When Strike Freedom sorited in SEED Destiny, Vestige (also by TMR) started playing.
- Gundam 00. Each faction's ace-pilots have their own music. Graham had "Union", Patrick had one, Ali-Al Saachez had his own (but shared it with the Throne Meisters). And most importantly: Celestial Being had their music for whenever they appeared. And it even came in several versions: a normal version called Intervention, a slightly slower version, and one called Trans-Am, which (you guessed it) play when Exia unlocks Trans-Am.
  - The movie gave us even more epic versions of Intervention, one of which plays in its entirety and EVEN EXPANDED for the duration of the only battle where Tieria and Setsuna actually fight. The main battle in the end even had its own epic battle music.
Gunslinger Girl's anime adaptation gave all the girls one of these. They also have a version with lyrics. Here are Triela's, Claes's, Angelina's, Rico's, and Henrietta's.
In the anime of Baccano!, the brief appearances of the Torture Technician Mr. Chick are accompanied by a faint, upbeat and very unnerving whistling tune.
Slayers has a couple. The main heroes' Leitmotifs are pretty subtle, but the not-quite-main characters (especially the morally ambiguous sorts) have some very apparent ones, which sometimes serve as foreshadowing or add a flashbacky layer of emotional poignancy, especially when dead or absent characters' motifs turn up in the later series, Revolution. Rezo's theme in particular is an elegant, rather catchy little melody.
- Although "The Clan of the Fire Dragon King", a somewhat playful but sinister song was used in Season 3 for...well...the clan of the Fire Dragon King. But in Seasons 4 and 5, it plays quite often when Xellos is around. It fits perfectly for him.
Fairy Tail has quite a few to the point where some of their attacks get theme songs.
Alois Trancy from Black Butler has the Slightly Chipped Full Moon and its variations.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex has the song "I can't be cool" whenever the major is hacking; although that's more of a 1337motif.
Soul Eater has many of these (most of which have lyrics):
- "Never Lose Myself" for Black★Star (and by extension, we assume, his teammate Tsubaki—although he would make it all about him). The second OST gives him another theme, with the ironic title "Lost Myself".
  - Black Star also has "harmoNIZE" as his battle theme.
- Kid and his teammates Liz and Patty have "Death The Kid (So Crazy)", their general theme, and "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Have a Nice Dream", a Theme Music Power-Up.
- Similarly, Soul and Maka have "Soul-Eater (So Scandalous)" as a general theme and "PSYCHEDELIC SOULJAM" for their fight scenes.
- "Lady of Gorgon" for Medusa.
- "Kindertotenlied" (that's "child death song" in German) and "Salve Maria -Peace be with You-" for Crona.
- There's also "M.Albarn" for Maka, "C.Mosquito" and "D.Mosquito" for Mosquito, "Mifune" and "Masamune" for the characters bearing those names, "Camellia" for Tsubaki, and "Lycaon" for Free.
GaoGaiGar has several, though most seem to be more for specific scenes rather than the characters themselves. A few examples include the different themes that accompany Final Fusion, Symmetrical Docking, Big Volfogg's combination sequence, and Goldion Hammer. Additionally, there are other songs that seem to play in less specific situations, such as the Anime Theme Song playing during some of the titular GaoGaiGar's CMOAs.

Comics

Alan Moore wrote "This Vicious Cabaret" (complete with musical notation in the graphic novel) as the prologue to one of V for Vendetta's chapters, using its dark and nihilistic verses in several later panels to set their tone. Interestingly, he then passed it on to David J to make it into a real song[1] that was released on an EP.

Fan Works

In Respawn Of The Dead, Tom Lehrer 's "Werner von Braun" is the Medic's leitmotif (given to him out of hate by Soldier).

Film

The King of the Leitmotif: Jaws. Here comes the shark!
The Star Wars series has instantly recognizable leitmotifs for many of its characters, all of them awesome. Particularly notable are the Imperial March, which goes with both Darth Vader and shows of Imperial power, and Luke's Theme (also the main theme of Star Wars). Williams got to have some fun with his leitmotifs when scoring the prequel trilogy: Anakin's Theme has weaving through it Luke's Theme, Leia's Theme, and the Imperial March, thus telling us musically what we already know; this little kid is going to do some very big things before he's through. Likewise, when at the end of Attack of the Clones we see the Clone Army mobilizing, the fanfare morphs into the Imperial March played in a triumphant major key, telling us that while this is a good development for now, it's going to lead to much, much worse things. The best, however, is Augie's Great Municipal Band, at the end of Episode I; the melody of the song is the Emperor's Theme, switched from minor to major and sung at fast pace by an exuberant children's choir. The Emperor's Theme is also used as the motif for Darth Sidious who is the same person.
- This is notable to a lesser extent in Williams' other works; he has often been quoted as saying that Wagner was a great influence on his work.
- Knights of the Old Republic uses many of the leitmotifs of the films along with at least two original ones. Most notably, Revan's Theme is played during character creation.
  - Also, Bastila's theme is played as you approach the top of the Rakatan temple and your confrontation with her.
Rocky's Theme.
Christopher Reeve ... er, Superman.
Dr. Jones Jr. aka Indiana Jones (again by John Williams), always plays when he pulls off an Indy Ploy... enough so that sometimes other shows will play this theme when their hero pulls an Indy Ploy. Indiana Jones movies also have a few leitmotives, such as the Ark's theme and Marion's theme.
"Manos" The Hands of Fate always played a generic four-note synthesized tune anytime Torgo came on screen, which Crow of Mystery Science Theater 3000 called "The Haunting Torgo Theme". In one instance, it played went he went to get luggage, stopped when he was picking it up, and then started up again once he continued walking.
- On Mystery Science Theater 3000 this plays every time Mike Nelson enters Deep 13 as Torgo.
- The Master Ninja episodes featured character Leitmotifs (including stereotypical Japanese flute music that played whenever the title character's recurring enemy appeared). The idea of Leitmotifs is explored during a skit where Joel and the bots — dressed up and acting like characters from the movies — "battle" each other with their theme music.
  - Not to mention the end of the episode, where Joel cheered up the bots by leading them in a loud, acapella version of the Master Ninja theme while reading viewer mail (occasionally pausing to loudly add "Master Ninja Theme Song!" to the music).
- Fugitive Alien had a recurring horn-heavy piece of orchestra go on whenever something actiony happened. Thanks to Joel and the Bots, it will forever be known as the "He Tried To Kill Me With A Forklift!" theme.
Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean fame goes so far as to play his own leitmotif on a gigantic Ominous Pipe Organ, in the bowels of his cursed ship, during a thunderstorm, with his beard, in case we'd forgotten he was a badass demon squid pirate who had the time and money to put a pipe organ in a ship that frequently went under water. He also possesses a locket that plays a music box version of the same, though it's not one-of-a-kind. This inevitably forms a plot point of the third film.
- And of course, Captain Jack Sparrow also has his own one. It usually starts with a violin motif, sounding like it's supposed to represent an almost 'drunk' mood.
  - Jack's theme is actually a cello solo. It's incredibly fun to play and listen to, as it just sounds mischievous.
- Jones also has an organ theme for his pet Kraken.
- The character Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company (pure eeeeevil, in real life and in fiction) had a creepy single string melody that played every time a character affiliated with him/them, or even every time their logo appeared on screen. In the third movie, this melody evolved into a full fledged theme. It was based on the melody of Ennio Morricone's "Man With a Harmonica", which gets a full, electric guitar-led homage in the third film.
The Lord of the Rings movies are chock-full of themes:
- The "Fellowship theme", a traditional balls-to-the-wall triumphant brass theme as heard over the montage of the Fellowship traveling out of Rivendell towards Caradhras. Later used for the Three Hunters, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Notable in that, according to the composer Howard Shore, it never quite makes a full reappearance after the events in Moria; at least one note is off, or the rhythm is changed.
- The "Hobbit theme", a sort of jaunty flute piece with bassoons and oboes evoking pastoral countryside. Plays over the "Concerning Hobbits" narration. Gets more and more wistful the more the hobbits, especially Frodo, go through Break the Cutie - only to be restored to full orchestral glory when everyone bows to the hobbits during Aragorn's coronation.
- The "Rohan Theme". Wistful when we first hear it on the Norwegian fiddle when the heroes arrive at Edoras, it later appears in full-on brass mode for Helm's Deep. Plays over the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, with Norwegian fiddle and brass sections working together.
- The "Gondor Theme". Majestic, soaring theme that wouldn't sound entirely out of place in a pirate movie. Heard as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith and gallop up the city to see Denethor, as well as over the lighting of the beacons. An early version of this theme is played on solo French horn as Boromir speaks at the Council of Elrond.
  - A bit of Fridge Brilliance: 2nd half of this clip. Those blasting trumpets? The Gondor Theme. The soaring violins? That's the Numenor Theme.
- The "Mordor Theme". Dark and dramatic with lots of brass and ominous chanting when needed. Heard as Gandalf witnesses the arrival of the Nazgul. Used to excellent effect first as a threatening sound when Sauron first appears before the Allied Army, single-handedly stopping their attack with his very presence, and then blasting into angry brass and choir as he sweeps away scores of soldiers with casual swings of his mace.
- "Gollum's Theme", appears all the way through the second film whenever Gollum is around, but most notably as a song in the end credits sung by Emiliana Torrini.
- The "Isengard Theme," played with heavy brass and percussion in the Caverns of Isengard or when the Uruk-hai are on the move. Unlike other themes, which are in more conventional timing, Isengard's theme is done in 5/4 time, which sounds a little bit off or unnatural (as most music these days is done in 4/4 or 2/4 time), to reflect the twisting of nature and industrial methods of Saruman.
- The theme for the elves, or at least Galadriel's elves, is first heard as an ethereal, dreamy piece with generous amounts of Cherubic Choir and One-Woman Wail. In the second movie, though, it gets transformed into a badass military march during the scene where the elven army comes to the rescue at Helm's Deep.
- "The History of the Ring", representing the power of the One Ring, especially when it changes hands or when someone tries to take it — plays under the title card of each movie, so easily mistaken for the theme to the trilogy itself — or perhaps it is, in a way.
The appearance of Mrs. Tweedy in the movie Chicken Run is always accompanied by what sounds like a mandolin.
In Kill Bill the same eerie, whining siren-like riff plays in several scenes when The Bride lays eyes on her targets of vengeance.
- That tune they play when the Bride spots a target and remembers what they in particular did to her, is the first few seconds of the Theme Tune from the series Ironside.
Fritz Lang's 1927 movie classic Metropolis featured specific tunes for nearly every major character. In addition, many recurring events (such as the worker's monotonous march into the factory) also had their own distinct tunes.
Hedwig's Theme (Lumos) from the Harry Potter movies grew to prominence over the entire rest of the score. It essentially became the theme for Harry Potter and, more interestingly, a musical cue representing good magic. It has been retained through all eight films, even as the original composer, John Williams, left after the third.
- Notable in that it is played over the sight of the innumerable other owls trying to deliver Harry's letter of acceptance - long before Hedwig herself has even been introduced.
- The motif did get significantly more discordant and darker along with the movies. Notably, in the opening sequence of the fourth film, the first to have characters die outside of flashback, the theme starts up in minor.
- A handful of characters have their own leitmotifs. In the second film, Gilderoy Lockhart has a very noticeable, ostentatious theme which perfectly reflects his personality. Dolores Umbridge's leitmotif in the fifth film is cloyingly jaunty with a hint of poison behind it. Dobby has a leitmotif which is played only partially when he confesses to stopping Harry's mail, but which is included on the soundtrack.
- Fawkes' Theme, a heart-lifting, memorable melody, is one of the most successful adaptations from book to film: phoenix song builds courage in those who hear it.
Similar to Hedwig's Theme above, the James Bond theme is another. When taken by itself or as accompaniment to the Bond Gun Barrel sequence it stands for the franchise as a whole, but within the movie it stands for "Bond being Bond". It plays in fragments and licks woven into the score when he's preparing to be awesome, and rocks out in brassy belligerence when it comes time to give him an awesome Theme Music Power-Up.
- Exception: Dr. No and From Russia with Love, the first two Bond films, play it practically any time 007 is on-screen, sometimes bordering What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? (such as a simple driving sequence by the beach).
- Bond's theme was notable in Continuity Reboot Casino Royale by its absence — set up in several subtle moments across the duration of the film, it didn't play in full until the very last seconds, when he snipes a man and comes up to him looking dangerously dapper in a suit.
  - Bond's theme through the rest of the film was an instrumental version of the movie's theme song, up until the moment when the iconic Bond Theme appeared in full force.
The 2007 Transformers movie has a few notable leitmotifs, particularly the Ominous Latin Chanting of the Decepticons - No one has been able to determine exactly what's being sung, but by gum if it doesn't make you afraid of giant evil robots.
- According to the composer, he based the "Decepticons" theme on the Catholic prayer, Dies Irae.
- This is used to particularly great effect whenever Megatron shows up; given that he is the Big Bad of the film, this is somewhat appropriate.
- As compared with the Decepticons, the Autobots also get their own leitmotif, which compared to the deep, chanting, build-up present for the Decepticons, sounds far more uplifting and angelic.
- Optimus, Bumblebee, Scorponok, Sam, The All Spark and Sector 7 all get their own. Even the freaky little Frenzy, whose theme was never heard in the actual film had one arranged for him.
- The new Big Bad, The Fallen, also gets one for Revenge of the Fallen.
  - Optimus Prime also has his own theme that is different to what was used in the first film, although it could apply to the previous Primes. Moreover the theme first used for the government group, NEST, also makes a number of reprisals in the film. Most notably the 'main' part of the theme plays when anything especially 'heroic' happens.
  - In fact, the Autobots' leitmotif gets reused when Optimus goes into Unstoppable Rage/Papa Wolf during the Forest Battle (skip to 1:24). Parts of "Arrival to Earth" (considered one of the best tracks) gets reused twice: Optimus parachuting into Shanghai at the beginning, and during the search for Jetfire at the Smithsonian.
- Interestingly, the humans have one tucked into Scorpnok's theme, which is used when the cavalry is called in. A modified version, tucked into Optimus vs Megatron (at 1:56) complements Lennox's Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Pretty much every Toho monster has a leitmotif. Godzilla himself has several of them depending on the composer.
Disney's The Lion King. The first time the theme "This Land" appears is during the rainstorm immediately following the confrontation between Mufasa, Scar, and Zazu, and it is as grand and choral as you could possibly imagine...that is, until it takes things a step higher during the scene where Simba speaks to his father's ghost. There's also a heartbreaking rendition which occurs in the gorge after cub Simba finds Mufasa's body. By the time the finale arrives, and Simba is ascending Pride Rock to the most powerful, stirring, and uplifting version yet, you know Hans Zimmer is truly a genius. What is most disappointing, however, is that one of the most awesome versions of this theme ever, that which plays during Simba and Scar's Battle Amongst the Flames, does not appear on the official soundtrack and is in fact not available anywhere.
- There are also separate themes for the hyenas, along with Timon and Pumbaa.
In Disney's The Great Mouse Detective, the three main protagonists had their own recurring leitmotif tunes. Basil's leitmotif was also the film's main title theme music, Dr. Dawson's leitmotif almost always prominently featured a bassoon, and Olivia Flaversham's leitmotif was also used for the tune the musical dancing doll her father made would play. Professor Ratigan also had his own little leitmotif played on a clarinet.
In The Brave Little Toaster, composer David Newman gave all five the appliences a theme, which pops up whenever one of them does anything. You really have to pay attention. There are also themes for some secondary characters, the Master and Elmo St. Peters.
- There are similar tunes during when Blanky tries to snuggle with Toaster and he/she pushes him away and when Toaster similarly does the same to the flower later on, causing it to die and changing the Toaster's attitude to Blanky later.
  - That music actually IS Blanky's theme. He and Kirby probably have the least-heard music in the movie. Kirby's theme is heard primarily when he rescues Blanky from the tree and when he's first shown at the beginning. The Toaster's is most easily heard when he's looking at his reflection after the waterfall scene, Radio's plays pretty much any time he talks, and Lampy's can be heard in near the very end of the credits played on a xylophone.
  - Actually, if I'm right in what the leitmotifs are, you can hear nearly every one in quick succession when each one sinks in the mud. (Though Toaster's is usually longer than just three notes.) Ironically, the only one not heard is Radio's. The song cuts off when he's sinking.
The Little Mermaid has a theme for almost every character. Ariel is represented by "Part of Your World," Ursula has "Poor Unfortunate Souls," Scuttle's theme was used for "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" in The Musical (similarly, Flotsam and Jetsam's theme was written into "Sweet Child"), Triton is given a royal Fanfare, Eric has a wistful, longing tune, and the human society is represented in a more upbeat manner, with variations appearing in "Jig" and "Tour Of the Kingdom."
Aladdin is also based heavily on themes. Aladdin himself is represented by "One Jump Ahead," Jafar has a set of dark, descending notes, the Sultan has his own Fanfare, Jasmine has a haunting little tune, and there is a lovely theme represnting freedom. Jasmine's theme and the freedom theme were later combined to create a new song called "To Be Free."
The Batman franchise has spawned this a few times. Most notably, the famous title theme from the 1989 Batman movie became the initial leitmotif for Batman: The Animated Series, but was phased out as the show came into its own and replaced with the animated Batman's true leitmotif for every show in the rest of the DCAU - Shirley Walker's Batman theme, which eventually got its own cinematic treatment as a gigantic orchestra/choir version in the opening credits of the animated movie Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. When the film franchise was rebooted for Batman Begins, so was Batman's leitmotif — he got a sort of dark plucking of stings accompanied by strong percussion, reminiscent of the 1989 Batman theme but not identical to it. (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard deliberately left the theme incomplete until the very last scene of the film, much like James Bond in Casino Royale, mentioend above). In The Dark Knight, the Joker got a leitmotif of his own... of a sorts. Rather than any traditional sort of motif, the Joker is represented by a single sustained violin chord followed by discordant strings growing in crescendo as he pulls off his big badness (appropriately based on the notes D and C). Also in The Dark Knight, the pre-existing Batman themes become more complex as the character does, climaxing in the leadup to the final fight scene with the Joker when Batman is taking down police—nonlethally—to keep them from accidentally killing hostages, and only setting up his further fall from favor at the end of the film to a frantic and complicated treatment of the main theme.
- This use of villain themes began with the campy 1960s Batman t.v. series. In the 1966 film, the four primary villains (The Catwoman, The Penguin, The Joker, and The Riddler) are all introduced accompanied by their individual themes. The leitmotif for Burgess Meredith's Penguin became particularly well-known, even making an appearance in a popular rock song in the 1980s.
- The Nolan movies' Batman leitmotif sounds an awful lot like a minor key version of the Adam West series' "NUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh BAT-MAN!", of all things.
- Oh, "NUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh BAT-MAN!" counts as a leitmotif itself. So much any homage to those cheesy fighting scenes have to include both onomatopaeia and the theme.
The Witch's theme in The Wizard of Oz is also used for Miss Gulch, to demonstrate the connection between the two characters.
2001: A Space Odyssey, used "Also Sprach Zarathustra" for two key scenes, both times when humanity (or its forebears) made some kind of evolutionary/spiritual leap.
M created the cinematic Leitmotif. Everytime Hans Beckert is about to attack, he whistles "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edward Grieg.
Gone with the Wind has "Tara's Theme".
Gladiator has a choir crescendo every time Maximus does something... well.... awesome.
Dr Zhivago and Lara's Theme. So many times that it gets annoying!
Iron Man combined a Leitmotif with a shout-out to the original Marvel animated shows by using a jazz version of the cartoon theme as background music when Tony Stark is being crass and selfish in Vegas, then later by using the tune as his ringtone on a friend's phone.
- The Incredible Hulk does something similar as "The Lonely Man" theme from the 70s TV show plays as Bruce makes his way back to America.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is chock full of these, of course. They can be as subtle as Blind Mag's indiscernible vocals in songs she's not even part of (Things You See In A Graveyard) to the hilariously blatant "REEEEPO MAN!" that follows Nathan's alter-ego.
Calm but eerie music was used every time the title character in Mikey was scheming or about to do something evil.
Ennio Morricone liked to use instruments to represent characters in The Dollars Trilogy, rather than particular melodies, which is a tendency which gets more pronounced as the series goes on. In A Fistful of Dollars, Joe is accompanied by a swift descending scale on a recorder whenever he does something impressive/we see his face/he happens to blink. In For a Few Dollars More, Manco was represented by a different recorder riff, and Mortimer was accompanied by a single twang on a Jew's harp. In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, everyone has the same melodic motif, probably because everyone is an equally shitty human being in it, but it's played on different instruments for each character (recorder followed by a wah-wah voice for Blondie, screams followed by a wah-wah voice for Tuco, and a bass ocarina followed by an electric guitar for Angel Eyes). Which instrument goes with which character is drummed into our heads right from the very beginning of the opening credits when the rotoscoped characters appear in quick succession, accompanied by their themes. And they each get Boss Subtitles, which play their themes as they come up. Twice. You will not forget who's who.
- Played to the point of shear maddness with the Love Theme in Red Sonja...Ok Ennio, we get it! She going to boing him sometime, you don't have to point it out "EVERY" damn time they are on the screen!
Every major character in Mary Poppins is accompanied by a signature tune. This is most obvious with Mary Poppins herself (Spoonful of Sugar), Bert (Chim Chim Cher-ee), Mr. Banks (A British Bank), and Mrs. Banks (Votes For Women).
Snatch uses Leitmoffs occasionally by sampling bits of songs from its soundtrack when it shifts focus to another group of characters. Perhaps most noticeable is the use of "Dreadlock Holiday" several times when focus switches to the pawn shop gang. Just as conspicuous is the Russian folk tune "Korobushka", which tends to follow Boris wherever he goes. As in, he walks into a room, the song plays, he walks out, it stops, he walks back in, it continues.
The Third Man. The Harry Lime theme underscores the menace and charisma of Harry's presence in the film.
In Atonement, while Briony schemes against Robbie (albeit unknowingly), we are introduced to a sinister tune as she walks around the estate. The song returns whenever Briony does.
The music of The Matrix (composed by Don Davis) uses a staggering series of horns as the primary series leitmotif. While it doesn't seem that Neo himself has a specific leitmotif, he shares a love leifmotif with Trinity in all three movies (you first hear it after Neo saves Trinity after jumping from the helicopter). Agent Smith shared the original foreboding agent leitmotif in movie # 1 with the other agents, but later gained not only one, but two pieces of musical flair for "Reloaded" and "Revolutions." The first is a nasty chant (listen to it just as Neo begins wailing with the metal pole in "Reloaded's" 'burly brawl') and the second is a buzzing viral sound as he replicates relentlessly in the last films.
Scut Farkus, the bully in A Christmas Story, is always accompanied by the Wolf's theme from Prokofiev's Peter And The Wolf.
- Particularly fitting seeing that "Farkus" is the Hungarian word for "wolf'.
The Shredder from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie had a particularly memorable theme which started with an ominous drum bass before working it's way up the something decidedly more 'metal'. It then becomes a very unique sounding theme (most notably played when he fights the Turtles for the first time) that feels so thematically conflicting.
- In the 2007 CGI movie, Raphael's alter-ego, The Nightwatcher has one.
Back to the Future had the theme that would play whenever something epic was happening.
- "Mr. Sandman" appears to be the theme song of 1955 Hill Valley or something. It's played when Marty first enters the 1955 town square in both Part I and Part II, something which inspired us to name a trope after it.
Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame had the villain, Frollo, followed by an ominous greek choir singing "Kyrie Eleison", which in church greek translates into "Lord have Mercy."
- Also notice that the song "Hellfire" is essentially "The Bells of Notre Dame" tune, but in a ''minor'' key.
In Coraline, the intro track "Dreaming" is used as the theme for the Other Mother. She even hums several times. If you're creeped out by Ethereal Choir, then do not listen. Seriously.
- The leitmotif used for Coraline is "Exploration", which uses a boy solo.
- Wybie lacks a distinctive tune, but the music associated with him has spring-like noises.
The long, low, almost mechanical groan that can be heard in the Terminator franchise whenever there's a terminator doing something terminator-y.
- And also when Sarah Connor is trying to kill Miles Dyson.
In Pixar's 10th film Up, a leitmotif figures prominently, representing Carl's late wife Ellie.
Another Pixar example: in Monsters, Inc., Boo has her own leitmotif. Randall also has one whenever he appears, which sounds sneaky and sinister.
Various recurring themes are heard in the movie version of Battle Royale. Most recognisable are Kiriyama's theme (rising strings and a repeated blast of low choir humming) and the eerie choir music that plays whenever Noriko and Kitano are together.
Every character in Oldboy has his/her own theme. Oh Dae-Su has the low techno beat and trumpets of "In A Lonely Place"; Mido has the flutes and strings of "The Last Waltz". The theme most thoroughly worked into the movie, however, is Lee Woo-Jin's theme. This waltz is recurrent with some variations even on the soundtrack album, as "Cries and Whispers", "Breathless" and "Farewell My Lovely". Apart from reinforcing many scenes as a part of the soundtrack, it is also heard as the little midi tune accompanying the release of the gas in Oh Dae-Su's prison, and it is the ringtone on the phone Oh Dae-Su given when he is released.
Several songs were used as leitmotifs in Ken Burn's documentary The Civil War, mostly from the American Civil War era, and often played either when a quote from a specific person was spoken, or in a section devoted to them. Marching Through Georgia represented General William Tecumseh Sherman, while a piano rendition of Kingdom Coming represented Ulysses S. Grant. There were also specific songs played for parts involving Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, as well.Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier was often used during tragic events, and after the conclusion of battles.
Brief Encounter has Rachmaninov's Second Piano concerto, over and over again. The second movement is mainly used for love scenes, with the darker outer movements used to more dramatic effect.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has a themes for Dopey, the Magic Mirror, and the Queen/Witch called "Theme Sinister."
Pinocchio has his own theme based on the Cut Song "Turn on the Old Music Box," and there is a jaunty little ditty for Jiminy.
- And meanwhile, Geppetto and the Blue Fairy had "Little Wooden Head" and "When You Wish Upon A Star" as their themes respectively.
Sleeping Beauty gives Maleficent a wonderfully ominous theme.
Inglourious Basterds: Hugo Stiglitz has a deep, rock-ish, two-note leitmotif that shows up twice right before the film features his flashbacks. These are both accompanied by his awesome bitchface.
In Hal Hartley's The Book of Life, Lucifer has a brief 70's riff that plays for a moment when he appears on screen.
Some of the more iconic horror films have instantly recognizable leitmotifs. For example, the "ki ki ki, ma, ma, ma" music that accompanies Jason in the Friday the 13th films. Also, the simple piano melody played in the Halloween franchise.
If one were to listen to the soundtrack of Treasure Planet, there are several distinct leitmotifs throughout; there's a soft and tender melody for some of the more heartwarming scenes between Jim and Silver, an energizing and exciting one for Jim's solar surfing, and a triumphant one for the moments you want to cheer. All of which can be heard in the order mentioned here.
The Indiana Jones series has its fair share of memorable leitmotifs. The most prominent one is Indy's triumphant seven-note trumpet theme. The villains of the films, including the Nazis, Soviets and Thuggee Cultists, all get ominous leitmotifs too. Some supporting characters get their own themes too, including Mutt and Marion. The Indy series is notable in giving leitmotifs to objects: all the central Macguffins have their own recognisable themes. The Ark of the Covenant in particular has an awe-inspiring, mystical and downright spooky one.
Pink Floyd's The Wall reuses Another Brick in the Wall, Part II's riff over, and over, and over.
Wilbur's theme from TheRescuersDownUnder was the guitar riff to "Wipe Out" when ever he was about to take off for flight.
Zeiram has an incredibly unsettling theme, being equal parts classical Japanese instruments, spacy sci-fi music and Ominous Latin Chanting.
The version of Treasure Island starring Charlton Heston as Long John Silver featured leitmotifs provided by the Chieftains for the loyals, the pirates, the island, and the ship. The only character to have his own leitmotif was Silver, however.
In Once Upon a Time in the West, Harmonica plays his own leitmotif. Usually just before he kills somebody.
Black Dynamite has the phrase DYNOMITE! DYNOMITE! played pretty much every single time the titular character appears.
Beauty and the Beast has the Beast's theme(first heard in the intro), "Belle", "Gaston", and "Prince Charming"(the love theme).
X-Men: First Class plays with leitmotifs quite a bit for foreshadowing. The X-Men theme plays heavily in Cerebro and X-Training and heartwarmingly shows up for Erik in Sub Lift, while Erik's theme forms the core of of Not That Sort of Bank and Frankenstein's Monster, before finally blasting into the bombastic Magneto at the end of the film. Mystique's theme shows up in Would You Date Me? and To Beast or Not to Beast.
In the "Godzilla" films, nearly every monster in the franchise gets its own leitmotif. The most famous ones probably are Godzilla's, King Ghidorah's and Rodan's. And that's only three of them!
Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain America March.
The Black Cauldron is built on leitmotifs. Almost every character has their own theme.
Both Kung Fu Panda movies have a few subtle ones, but they're there. At least Po, Tai Lung and Lord Shen have themes that usually accompany their appearances. Po's is called "Panda Po" (Remixed as "Dumpling Warrior" and its remix in the sequel's OST), Lord Shen has "Ancient China/Lord Shen" and Tai Lung's, while not named in the OST, first appears as the music Shifu plays on his flute/staff, and is featured prominently in their battle.
The Crocodile from Peter Pan has a leitmotif based on the Cut Song "Never Smile at a Crocodile."

Live Action TV

In The Mighty Boosh, whenever a shaman (mainly Naboo) turns his back on someone their leitmotif plays.
On Clarissa Explains It All, whenever Clarissa's friend Sam put his ladder up to her window, he would be introduced by a drawn-out guitar "twang."
The new Doctor Who series has several, including:
- "The Doctor's Theme", also known as "The Bad Wolf Theme", used as the character's "mystery theme" and later joined by the heroic "The Doctor Forever". The original theme finally got its heroic moment at the climaxes of Forest of the Dead and The End of Time, Part Two. It also makes a cameo in a couple of The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes and in the Torchwood episode "Day One".
- Themes for the companions: "Rose's Theme", "Martha's Theme" (which crossed shows, appearing with her on Torchwood), "Astrid's Theme", "Donna's Theme" and "Amy's Theme".
- Several Dalek themes, generally including choirs: "The Daleks" and "The Dark and Endless Dalek Night" in particular.
- The Cybermen, first appearing in 2006, was a Leitmotif for the Cybus Industries (and later, Mondas) Cybermen, with a particularly epic version in "The Next Doctor", and still being used as of "Closing Time".
  - The 1960s Cybermen had a tense drumming arrangement, with some otherwordly music thrown in.
  - The 1980s Cybermen had their own distinctive plodding march - originally written for Earthshock.
- "UNIT", beefed up for "UNIT Rocks" in Series Four (and joined by a B-theme in "Planet of the Dead"), also appearing in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
- The Torchwood Theme, used in series 2, and as the theme tune for Torchwood. Later crops up when Captain Jack comes back in series 3.
- Then there's the Master theme, consisting of a four-note drumbeat. He also has a three-note motif the composer admits musically states "The Ma-ster!" for moments of notable eeeevil.
  - The Delgado Master has his own evil theme music of creepy awesome. It gets repeated so often it becomes a fanfare announcing his arrival before you even see him on screen.
- The Eleventh Doctor has a Mike Oldfieldian action theme, "I Am The Doctor", that's something of a spiritual successor to "All the Strange, Strange Creatures". Series Five also introduced motifs for Amy Pond, the new Daleks, the cracks (in the form of a creepy buzz) and a joint theme for Amy and the Doctor.
- River Song's theme is partly backmasked.
- The same music plays over Adric's departure as does over his introduction the season prior.
Most of the Torchwood cast have themes to themselves: Jack's barnstorming (literally) action theme; Owen, Gwen and Rhys, as well as Gray.
In Twin Peaks you usually heard the Theme Tune Falling whenever a situation or character demonstrated or expressed sincere love, in whatever ordinary, strange or abstract form it manifested itself.
In Top Gear, a variation on the theme from For a Few Dollars More was a Recurring Riff until it was used extensively in the destruct test of the Toyota Hilux pickup. When the truck proved to be Made of Iron, the theme was associated entirely with the Toyota Hilux, in its honor.
Alias used these frequently.
Bear McCreary, the composer of the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'', has developed leitmotifs for nearly every primary and secondary character on the show, as well as numerous locations, themes, and relationships. He runs a very detailed blog of the process which can be found here. The themes include:
- Number Six: this theme appears in virtually every scene where Virtual Six appears to Gaius Baltar, and is played on the gamelan.
- The Adamas: their Celtic-inspired theme is often played on a uilleann pipe. Commonly known as 'Wander My Friends.'
- Roslin: the theme that most commonly represents her by Season 4 started out as the Destiny (religious) theme, heard prominently in the season 1 finale.
- Adama and Roslin: a waltz that plays over many of their romantic scenes throughout seasons 3 and 4.
- Baltar: a number of short phrases. In the season 4 premiere he gains a new religious theme for his scenes among the cultists.
- Lee: due to being so inflexible, it is rarely heard on the show.
- Kara: associated with a number of themes, including Starbuck's Destiny (originally used to represent her relationship with Leoben) and the Forgiven theme from season 1.
- Lee and Kara: a string-heavy theme inspired by the Shape of Things to Come (Opera House) theme, it first appears over flashbacks to New Caprica in season 3, as well as Lee's attempt to help Kara in 'Maelstrom' and their good-bye in 'Six of One' among other episodes.
- Kara and Anders: another string-heavy theme that plays over the two scenes where Kara says good-bye to Sam. In The Plan TV movie it is used for Anders alone.
- Tigh: a military-inspired brass theme that first plays in the season 2 episode 'Fragged.' The instruments used vary wildly from season to season, underscoring Tigh's growth.
- Gaeta: introduced midway through season 4 when Gaeta is injured, the theme comes in both instrumental and choral variants (sung by Alessandro Julianni, Gaeta's actor, no less). In season 4.5 it sees heavy use during the mutiny arc.
- Military theme: used most often for scenes between Adama and Tigh, as well as during the season 4.5 mutiny arc.
- Shape of Things to Come: AKA Opera House theme. Plays over the season 1 finale, as well as various destiny-themed moments throughout the seasons.
- All Along the Watchtower: chiefly played on the electric sitar and electric violin. This theme first appears in the season 3 premiere, and in 'Crossroads' comes to represent the Final Five, which becomes its primary use in season 4.
- Basestar: a piano piece first introduced in season 3 to accompany Gaius Baltar's scenes on the Cylon basestars. Used in season 4 during the Cylon Civil War arc.
- Boomer/Athena/Hera: A gamelan theme that's probably among the most commonly heard on the show.
- Religious ceremony: the "Two Funeral" theme from season 1, also the US season 1 theme, is heard at a lot of funerals.
Every Power Rangers Big Bad (and at least one Dragon) is recognizable by music, Lord Zedd's being the most well-known. A few rare good guys have a song (early in the series) or their own little tune, and there was one instance of a mystery Ranger's identity having a nicely sneaky Reveal: He mentioned that they'd met him before, at which point the intro to the music that always accompanied a certain little boy from an earlier episode is played. Sure enough, it turns out the mystery Ranger is that child's adult self, sent back in time.
- Power Rangers Reunion Shows will bring back the theme song for each series that returns. The 15th anniversary episode "Once A Ranger" (part of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive) makes it a little absurd, however: Rangers from five teams (Mighty Morphin, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, SPD, and Mystic Force) appear and we get all five of their theme songs*
  Except Mighty Morphin's, due to legal issues
  in each of the three battles in which they participate. The big final battle throws in the Operation Overdrive theme as well, since the battle is the OO team's collective He's Back moment following their earlier De Powering.
- Although, the most recognizable music from Power Rangers after the main theme has to be Bulk and Skulls theme, which is kind of silly and complimented with gag noises. Possibly due to the fact that the pair remain the longest running recurring characters of the series.
- The Green Ranger's theme had his own theme. *
  GO GO GO, GREEN RANGER GO GO!
Star Trek has several memorable motifs: The Enterprise fanfare, the Klingon theme, the fight music of doom from the Original Series...
- The fight music was used in The Cable Guy in a clever Shout Out to the Spock vs. Kirk fight: Jim Carrey's character actually sings along to the music while it plays in the background. It also highlights just how unbalanced he is, as he takes the fight as seriously as Spock does and almost winds up killing Matt Broderick several times.
- Also used on Futurama, in an episode more or less directly parodying the Original Series' Amok Time - when Fry hears the iconic fight music, he knows he's really in trouble.
- The Motion Picture had a distinctive theme for Decker and Ilia, named "Ilia's Theme" on the soundtrack; and introduced a Klingon theme that would make appearences in later movies and TV shows.
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan makes extensive use of this, with three very distinctive themes for Kirk, Spock, and Khan.
- Composers seem to love putting their own personal stamp on Mr. Spock, who has had three different leitmotifs to his name, all of which are very different from each other, though they all have a certain wistfulness to them...
  - His TOS leitmotif, by Gerald Fried. This is the one with the lone bass guitar, though it was often played by the string section as well.
  - The leitmotif from Star Trek II, by James Horner. It will always be associated with his death, because a version of it plays during that scene.
  - The version from the new movie, by Michael Giacchino. Also a Regional Riff for the planet Vulcan and the Vulcan people.
In Smallville, everytime some dramatic something hints at Clark's future as Superman, a few bars of the theme music from Superman: The Motion Picture can be heard.
The syndicated series The Adventures of Superboy had themes for just about every character and many other elements of the show, including: Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Metallo, Smallville, kryptonite, and the Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters (Clark's workplace in season 3 and 4). Even minor villains that appeared only in one or two episodes got their own themes.
Bridget, from Eight Simple Rules hears a short guitar chord every time the cool new guy, Damian appears. She is the only character to notice the music, which stops when she falls for a nerd instead.
- A little Lampshade Hanging went on as well, since Bridget would ask if anyone else could hear the guitar.
Numerous Heroes characters have leitmotifs.
- Claude's theme involves wind and voices to create the feeling of a ghost-like presence in reference to his invisibility.
- Sylar's involves marimbas and bassoons with staccato to re-create the sound of clocks ticking in reference to the character's ability to see how things work. Brilliantly subverted(!) when Sylar gains shapeshifting powers. You see Mr. Bennet walking down the hallway while Sylar's theme plays; he looks incredibly smug, which he really shouldn't be, given that Sylar has successfully used his new ability to completely discredit Bennet and nearly destroy his marriage. So, obviously, you conclude that this must be Sylar shapeshifted into Bennet, right? Wrong! Makes the Batman Gambit actually working that much more believable, if you- with all your Genre Savvy- have just fallen for it from beyond the Fourth Wall.
- Matt Parkman's theme involves voices being played backwards when he uses his power of telepathy.
- Peter Petrelli's theme involves marcato strings.
- Niki Sanders' theme was based on her character's alter-ego named Jessica and involved winds and Indian voices chanting in an underscore to give a feeling that she was possessed.
- Mohinder Suresh's theme is the piano composition that plays at the end of some episodes.
Pushing Daisies is crawling with them. Emerson's and Oscar's are the most obvious, while the Ned And Chuck music is sufficiently prevalent to double as the show's Theme Tune. And in the episode [...]... Ned and Chuck's bed scene wasn't accompanied by the usual music, which was the most immediate clue that it was actually a Dream Sequence. Of course, Chuck pulling her skin off to reveal Olive underneath was also a bit of a giveaway.
Lester's Theme in Beakman's World played whenever he gave a wrong answer or was generally super annoying. Which was most of the time he was on screen.
Supernatural has "Dean's Family Dedication Theme", a slightly mournful tune played when that love for his Dad and brother gets a little too obsessive.
- There's also a much rockier "Brothers' Theme", played during the lighter brotherly moments and distorted a little when the relationship is being strained.
The first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a tendency to play Buffy and Angel's love theme every time there was a moment related to their relationship on screen. It's a semi-mournful tune most often played on a piano. Apparently the score for season 2 won awards, though that doesn't stop some people from mocking the Wangst factor every time it appeared. Listen here.
- Starting in Season Three, the Buffy/Angel theme changes, and undergoes a slow metamorphosis that parallels their relationship coming apart. During the Mayor's advice for them in "Choices" we can hear several of the different themes played back to back, indicating that this is a pivotal scene, at least for Angel
- Played with in The Zeppo. The episode is dedicated to showing how awesome Xander is, whether he (or anyone else) realise it or not. Meanwhile, an intentionally trite episode of Buffy's playing in the background. Mid-episode we cut suddenly to a massively OTT emotional scene with Buffy and Angel with this music being played - it cuts off when Xander appears at the door, hesitantly starting to ask for help, then offer help...then when he walks off, the music and the scene crank up again at full tilt while we cut away to follow Xander, instead.
- Jenny Calendar picked up a similar semi-mournful theme underscoring her derailed romance with Giles - unfortunately for her it was on the last episode where she was alive. It did play in later episodes where Giles recalls her, or when he sees her in a Drusilla-induced hallucination.
- Similarly Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara both had prominent themes, which are played together at the end of "New Moon Rising" as she decides who she wants.
- There's also the dramatic music that plays every time Xander and Cordelia make out, played quite clearly for laughs.
- And don't forget the plunky little theme that plays whenever Xander and Willow have an illicit "moment."
Stargate SG-1 has "Sam and Jack's Theme" and the "Goa'uld Theme" among others.
Used frequently in Arrested Development, but especially with Gob. It's to the point that he, in-character, must consider Europe's "The Final Countdown" to be his own personal theme song.
- There's even a specific seven-note stab of music used every time Oscar suggests that he's Buster's father.
Every character on Lost has a theme. Some have as many as eight. Locations and abstact ideas receive motifs as well.
- Possibly the most famous is "Locke'd Out Again," the emotional theme of John Locke. Considered by many (especially during the ending of "Deus Ex Machina") to be one of the show's Crowning Music of Awesome moments.
  - Locke's hunter theme from season 4 also qualifies. It also takes an epic turn for the creepy in season 6 when Locke is the Man in Black
- Ben's theme, "Dharmacide," is another common one. The eerie main notes, at the very least, play at least once during every important scene involving Ben.
  - Not to mention that the emotional part of the song played in Ben's "redeeming" moments is tragic all on it's own.
- "Make Your Own Kind of Music" by Mama Cass is always associated with Desmond, because it played during the famous opening of season 2 when he was introduced, and again in another episode involving him. In an example of Fridge Brilliance, the title of the song actually applies to the fact that Desmond, in time travel scenarios, is the only person who can "make his own kind of music," or change future events—a concept that wouldn't be revealed for three years.
  - However, he does have an official theme that plays in songs like "The Constant" and "Distraught Desmond".
- A theme that has currently been in only one episode, but has quickly become a fan favorite, is the mysterious, Egyptianesque theme of Jacob, which plays many times in the season 5 finale.
- Man in Black's theme also has become a favorite, especially when it is featured prominently in the season 6 episode "Across the Sea".
- Kate's main musical motif is Patsy Cline music, which always appears in episodes revolving around her.
- Charlie's theme (Called on the soundtrak "Charlie's Temptation") consists of many low chello notes strung together beautifully. An especialy emotional version of it playes over the Life and Death Theme while Charlie drowns in the Looking-Glass Station
- One of the most instantly recognizeable themes is Sayid's because of its distinct meledy and how it's often a violin solo. Not that there's anyhting wring with that.
- Hollywood and Vines is another major theme which is pretty much guaranteed to play in any season finale (as well as the pilot episode) whenever the cast has gathered together to trek across the island towards some sort of climactic encounter.
- The Life and Death theme is an absolutely beautiful theme that playes whenever someone dies. A particurally epic/sad version plays in the final moments of the show as Jack staggers through the bamboo grove and dies.
In the series starring David Suchet, Hercule Poirot has his woodwinds heavy theme that is also used in the credits.
In Scrubs, a certain piano melody plays during emotional moments or when the main character J.D. learns a lesson.
- Lampshaded once.
- though only appearing twice in the whole series, the janitor's evil eye has its own theme, Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass
Human Target, in classic action movie style, uses an heroic orchestral leitmotif for main character Christopher Chance in various forms and tones throughout the episodes.
The Amazing Race uses this for certain teams, like when Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy (Season 15) got the Globetrotter theme "Sweet Georgia Brown" and cowboys Jet & Cord (Season 16) had generic Western movie music.
Kamen Rider Double has "Two in One", the Leitmotif for the protagonists, which has a few different remixes throughout the series. The best of these is probably "Futo Wild Battle" from The Movie, which combines it with "Accel's Dash", the theme of Kamen Rider Accel's Super Mode Trial Form.
Chuck on NBC has Tim Jones composing many different themes, the most commonly used of which is a remix of Cobrastyle by the Teddybears. Different mixes of it have been used to fit action sequences since the pilot, though it has been most often used in the third season.
- Oh: that's an actual named piece of music? It's been the end-title theme for all three seasons, and was almost never heard during an episode the first two — which of course meant that you * never* heard it until you got the DVD set, since TV networks hate paying performance royalties on end-themes.
Thomas the Tank Engine: Every single engine has/had their own separate leitmotif for their adventures. Thomas's was a variation on the main theme, Duck's was very lyrical, Donald and Douglas's theme featured bagpipes, etc.
Skins never usually bothered, but Cook will eternally be associated with "Ace Of Spades" (plays at the start of his first episode, the end of his first episode, and his kid brother playing it in Rock Band 2 during his S4 ep).
- Sophia of all people got one too; the (deilberately) extraordinarily creepy "Organum" by Max Richter, which plays when Emily goes to her house and when they find her shrine to Naomi.
Whenever Dennis Duffy shows up on 30 Rock, the soundtrack greets him with harmonica music. Which is weird seeing how he's a Recurring Character and none of the actual regulars seem to have their own musical cues.
- Liz Lemon definitely has her own, varied instrumental versions of the "Who's That?" song from the Pilot episode.
In Glee, both times April Rhodes is introduced in her episodes, a version of Heart Of Glass is playing in the background.
- Sue also has her own: A marching band drumline plays to announce her appearances.
In Kamen Rider OOO, every major character gets one, but more noteworthy is that every combo has a Letimotif which are sang by the belt. It got lampshaded in the very first episode.
Throughout the entire series, Gilmore Girls had a series of acoustic leitmotifs performed by Sam Phillips at important moments.
The old Richard Greene Robin Hood TV show generally had a 10 note intro for the title. Blackadder turned it into a Leitmotif for Robin Hood in the final episode, Back and Forth.

Music

The Alien-like "Weeow Waoow Waooh" sounds in Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds Musical, That and the martian ULLA.
Prokofiev's Peter And The Wolf is composed solely of leitmotifs and narration, and is frequently used to introduce the concept to children.
- The page quote is a reference to Peter And The Wolf. For the record, the oboe actually represented the duck.
- Les Luthiers' Teresa y el Oso, which directly parodies Peter And The Wolf, does this to the extreme. The characters also have silly rhyming names in Spanish: "El Pajarillo Amarillo" (The Yellow Birdie), "La Mariposa Golosa" (The Sweet-toothed Butterfly), "El Molusco Pardusco" (The Brownish Molusk) and, most notably, "El Oso Libidinoso" (The Libidinous Bear).
- And of course, as always, the part of Bob the Janitor is played by the accordion. (He also tried to get Don Ameche to play the grandfather, but was stuck with a bassoon instead.)
As numerous references on this page make clear, Richard Wagner may be considered the KING of the Leitmotif; though he was not its inventor, he certainly made the most extensive, elaborate, and probably the most intelligent use of it throughout the canon of his works. His great Ring Cycle, for instance, consists almost entirely of a symphonic/dramatic development and interweaving of motives and themes and had a good 30 or 40 different ones in it!
Karel Husa's four movement piece "Music for Prague 1968" has a few of these as well. The piccolo at the beginning and end of movt. 1 represents a songbird, the symbol for freedom. The ending sounds like it's dying. One part of the first movt. introduces the brass section, which represents the Soviets marching in and attacking with tanks and guns. A pretty good example of the first movt. is found here, though the best way to listen to this would be to close your eyes and imagine what it would've been like.
Death metal band Bolt Thrower have the centrepiece song on most of their albums begin with a fade into the same riff, developing over the years. In its first iteration, World Eater, and in most since, it is also the outro to the song.
Coheed and Cambria have the "Time Skip" leitmotif appearing on several tracks across multiple albums, denoting...well, guess.

Professional Wrestling

Professional Wrestling's entrance themes could be considered a Fourth Wall breaking version of this. Even when wrestlers change entrance music, the new music generally has a lot of similarities to the old, unless the wrestler has undergone a massive character change:
- The Rock went through eleven different theme songs during his time with the WWE, all built around the same melody.
- Triple H has used two different theme songs in by the band Motörhead. The group Evolution, which was led by him, used yet another Motörhead song.
  - The melody of "The Game" is a heavy metal version of the Rock Rap "My Time" and the instrumental "High Brain Pattern".
- Some wrestlers have specific sounds at the beginning of their theme that announce their arrival, such as glass shattering for Stone Cold Steve Austin, the tolling of a bell for The Undertaker (even during his "Bikertaker" phase), a machinelike countdown for Chris Jericho, and the phrase "You think you know me" spoken in a woman's voice for Edge. Other examples include the car crash sound for [2] and the "WHOOOOOA-OOOH" for Cody Rhodes. These sometimes get removed after a Face Heel Turn, since they're an obvious cue for the crowd to cheer. And sometimes a sound effect or Catch Phrase will get added to the front end of a song once a wrestler gets over.
  - Some wrestlers keep it regardless of their current alignment. Jeff Jarrett for the entirety of his TNA career has his theme start with the same wailing guitar riff to this day and Edge never lost the "you think you know me" once it stuck.
- As Shawn Michaels said on an episode of Raw, while listing his various accomplishments: "I don't know if I've mentioned this lately, but I sing my own theme music!"
- Commonly, when a new wrestler debuts, they're given their own generic music written by someone in-house. If they make it big, the core theme is then featured—usually as a guitar riff—when the theme is redone by a famous artist. This has happened with Chris Benoit, Kane, and Batista, among others.
  - Often subverted, particularly in regards to Diva Search winners. Also, WWE has a habit of recycling themes, as ECW wrestler Jack Swagger debuted on TV using Jamie Noble's old theme, then switched to "On Your Knees" by RATM tribute band Age Against The Machine once Lance Cade (who had used that theme prior) departed from the company. Another noteable re-debut, Christian, received a version of the theme he used just before departing ("Just Close Your Eyes" by Waterproof Blonde) redone by Story Of The Year.
  - When Christian went to TNA, he used a similar-sounding theme lifted from Evanescence's "One Last Breath".
  - Kurt Angle's WWE theme "Medal" was formerly the theme for The Patriot.
  - In a What Could Have Been, "Across the Nation", Raw's theme song from 2001-2006 was originally a leveled-up version of Test's theme.

Theater

The Phantom of the Opera.
- In addition to the Phantom's distinctive chromatic chords, the phrases "He's there, the Phantom of the Opera" and "I am your Angel of Music" (which refer to opposing aspects of his personality) share the same melody.
- Really, most of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work — best exemplified in Jesus Christ Superstar.
- Especially Evita. Almost every song is a leitmotif of the singer.
  - For Eva herself, her songs are almost all based on the tune of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", "I'd be surprisingly good for you", or "A New Argentina".
  - For Peron, it's most often "Dice are rolling"
  - The aristocracy and the army both have their own themes, first heard in "Peron's latest Flame", which are later repeated whenever they speak.
  - But the most chilling example is her dressers/cosmeticians. They first sing their theme in "Rainbow High", and then repeat it in "Lament"- only the latter scenario has them repeating the tune (and most of the lyrics), but said while preparing and preserving her corpse.
Older Than Radio: Richard Wagner's operas, particularly Ring of the Nibelung, are packed full of leitmotifs which represent each character or plot element. In fact, Wagner is regarded by many as the original creator of the Leitmotiv technique in composition, and though this is not absolutely accurate, he was certainly its popularizer and its most devoted and thorough practitioner.
Jekyll, in Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde musical, has a dark piano and violin theme that plays when he sings in group songs, from the dramatic Board of Governers to the light-hearted Engagement Party.
Rapunzel shares a Leitmotif with the magic beans in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. The witch took Rapunzel as payment for the magic beans, so her story is tied to them in that way.
- In fact, Sondheim employs leitmotif in most of his major scores, but the technique is most evident in its truest sense in his Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; melodies, accompaniment figures, rhythmic patterns and chords are introduced, fragmented, developed, reprised and interwoven throughout the entire score, each of them representing a different character, mood or aspect of the story. Perhaps the most awesome example is also the most spoiler-y: The Beggar Woman's Jig motif ("How'd you like to fish me squiff, dear?") is actually the minuet waltz heard at the Judge's ball in the song "Poor Thing" when the Judge prepares to rape Lucy, Sweeney's wife, which clues us in to the fact that the Beggar Woman is actually Lucy. Likewise, the Beggar Woman's "Alms, Alms" motif - based upon a falling second - is derived directly from the "Eleison" motif used to represent Sweeney's keening for his lost wife ("And my Lucy lies in ashes"). The two motifs pointedly merge together in the underscore at the very end of the play, when Sweeney finally makes the connection too late.
In Show Boat, non-singers Captain Andy and Parthy have characteristic themes, though Andy's is sung by the chorus a couple of times. Though Magnolia is a singing character, she also has an instrumental motif first heard when she plays it awkwardly on a piano.
You might not expect to find Wagnerian Leitmotifs in a fairy-tale opera for children. But Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel has quite a few.
Gilbert and Sullivan (well, Sullivan) have the 'Tower theme' in The Yeomen Of The Guard and the Lord Chancellor's distinctive entrance music in Iolanthe.
Les Misérables has a ton of them. The Thenardiers' songs are almost entirely repeats of the melodies of "The Waltz of Treachery" and "Master of the House", and then "One Day More" is Valjean's main theme ("Who Am I?") combined with a transposed version of "I Dreamed a Dream", "Master of the House", and Javert's little leitmotif that's featured in "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Robbery" put into a major key. Oh, and not to mention "Look Down" is repeated 3 times in the show, and the song "Turning" is "Lovely Ladies" at a slower tempo.
- For that matter, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" - Marius's song of mourning for his lost comrades - is the same piece of music that the Bishop of Digne sings in Act 1 when showing generosity to Valjean. Since true leitmotifs are meant to be associated with a specific character, mood or idea, it's uncertain to what extent the repetition of music in Les Misérables is actually leitmotif in action or just practical frugality on the part of the composer.
- Not to mention "What Have I Done" and "Javert's Suicide" have the exact same tune too (except that a few lines in the latter are an octave lower), even some of the lines are the same or similar. Just, you know, the outcome is different.
In Bernstein's Candide, Cunegonde's theme first appears as the melody of "Candide's Lament" (originally a Cut Song but included in most later productions). The theme is subsequently transformed into the "Paris Waltz," an instrumental valse brilliante which is echoed at the climax of "You Were Dead, You Know." The first act finale has the theme sung in counterpoint with the melody of "My Love," and the theme plays a decisive role in the finale ultimo, "Make My Garden Grow."
In the musical RENT, there's a little musical theme that is played every time Collins come onstage, and it's a good part of the melody/background music in his song "Santa Fe." Also repeated when singing about the dead Angel later.
- The most obvious example for RENT is arguably Roger's version of "Musetta's Waltz", which is composed for Mimi and played when she is thought to be dead.
Composer Michael John LaChiusa makes frequent use of motifs, especially in Hello Again (with characters echoing sentiments expressed by others), and in Marie Christine (in which an eerie tritone set to the word "beautiful" and "arrogance" is frequently repeated.)
Wagner's use of Leitmotif was likely suggested by the practice of Carl Maria von Weber, whose Der Freischütz Wagner adored. The figure featuring a diminished seventh and ominous timpani thuds that introduces the devil Samiel in that work is one of the most famous uses of Leitmotif in Early Romantic music.
Stravinsky's music for the ballet The Firebird is heavily leitmotif-laden. There are identifiable themes for the Firebird, the villain, the hero, the princess, and the villain's monster guardians.
Wicked has two major recurring motifs, the Overture (aka Elphaba's theme), and "Unlimited". The former is based on an earlier composition by Schwartz from The Survival of St. Joan.

Video Games

Ōkami has most major characters with one. Most notably, Rao has quite the, erm, suggestive theme.
Assassin's Creed II has Ezio's Family. First played over the opening credits, remixed several times as "Earth" which plays when Ezio recovers his father's Assassin robes and then as "Venice Rooftops", which plays during chases, races and courier missions (occasionally). Played in all it's glory over the credits of both II and Brotherhood. And don't lie. There were manly tears.
- And on top of all that, it's Ezio's theme in Soul Calibur V.
- Comes in spades in Brotherhood, and in contrast to the previous game's somewhat sentimental mood brought upon the soundtrack, gives you a more Bad Ass flavor to them. To name a few:
  - Master Assassin. With assassins you can recruit in-game to help you, don't tell me you don't feel like a boss going around killing enemies and targets by summoning them.
  - Borgia Occupation. It really makes a point reminding you that in the game, the Borgia are reigning over Rome and you're to free it from them.
  - Borgia - The Rulers Of Rome. You can't help but feel the pressure the citizens of Rome feel from the Borgia rule when listening to this.
When you're being chased by a prefect or a cop in Bully you hear some music that lets you know some shit is going down.
Knights Of The Old Republic uses Bastila's theme for foreshadowing as you approach the top of the Rakata temple.
The Final Fantasy series is in love with this trope. Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of much of its music. is known for creating memorable leitmotifs for characters, locations, and events. In Final Fantasy VI, for example, almost all of the playable characters (and some of the villains) have their own leitmotif (with the exception of the twin brothers Edgar and Sabin/Mashe, who share one). Terra's leitmotif, which is also the Overworld Map theme, is effectively the Theme Tune for that entire game. Even more well-known, though, are the Recurring Riffs for concepts that span more than one game, such as the Crystal Theme/Prelude, the Final Fantasy Theme/Prologue, the (much-remixed) Chocobo Theme, the Moogle Theme, and the Victory Theme.
- Terra's true character theme is actually called "Awakening". Celes's character theme is the famous opera song "Aria Di Mezzo Carattere" played slower and more sad in tone.
- Dancing Mad, the music that plays during the party's final confrontation with Kefka Palazzo, incorporates numberous letmotifs that, when you sit down, listen to them, piece them together, and think about it sums up everything Kefka is so perfectly, it couldn't be the final boss music for anyone else but him.
- The ending music for Final Fantasy VI is often cited as Uematsu's magnum opus, as it takes new versions of every character theme, plus the main Final Fantasy theme (a total of fourteen pieces) and blends them together into a single 20 minute piece. It's impressive enough to make you forget you're listening to video game music.
- Likewise Yasunori Mitsuda, composer for some of Square's other games, including Video Game/Xenogears. In a great case of combining forces, Mitsuda and Uematsu co-composed Chrono Trigger, which has some of the most memorable Leitmotifs.
  - In said game, "Lucca's Theme" probably got played the most, as it starts up whenever anything science/awesome/awesome science-related happens. In fact, the track name is simply "Fanfare", and is adapted, in two separate versions, as the victory theme in the sequel, Chrono Cross. This doesn't mean it isn't Lucca's theme, though - it plays when you talk to her in the End of Time, the same way everyone else's theme does.
- Contrary to common misunderstanding, Sephiroth's leitmotif is 'Those Chosen By the Planet', which is played during his slaughter of Nibleheim, not the immensely popular 'One Winged Angel'.
  - Well that was the case in VII, but due to its popularity, One Winged Angel has become Sepiroth's leitmotif in all of his future appearances.
  - "One-Winged Angel" does incorporate the tune of "Those Chosen By The Planet" in part though, but it can be a bit hard to pick out if you're not listening for it.
- Crisis Core features no less than eight songs titled "Theme of Crisis Core (Subtitle). The theme also appears in songs that don't follow this naming convention, such as "Burden of Truth" and "The Burdened".
- Dirge of Cerberus uses two different motives throughout, which can be considered "Vincent's Theme" and "Lucrecia's Theme".
- Gilgamesh of Final Fantasy V, from his second appearance on, is one of only two enemies in the game to get his own theme, "Battle on The Big Bridge". This one was so memorable that when Gilgamesh made a cameo in Final Fantasy XII, his theme came with him (in a well-done orchestration, at that) as well as a big bridge to fight on.
  - On top of that, The fight against Necrophobe, when the boss just doesn't seem to die, then suddenly you hear the theme. Crowning Moment of Awesome for Gilgamesh.
- Tidus's theme in Final Fantasy X is remixed into a more upbeat and generic Blitzball theme.
- Final Fantasy XII, on top of having the usual leit-motifs for the main characters, also had a short melody that appears in every track of the game at some point (besides tracks that are borrowed from other Final Fantasy soundtracks of course). The Final Battle actually becomes a small war between the Imperial and Heroic leitmotifs, with the latter eventually overwhelming the former.
  - In Final Fantasy XII, the themes are actually remixes of each place special(s) to the characters. Example, Ashe's theme is really the theme song of the creepy dungeon Giruvegin, and the Pharos, because that's where her father placed the magicite. You can also hear the theme of the Tomb of Raithwall.
- The leitmotif for Final Fantasy XIII is "Fabula Nova Crystallis". Tracks contain this melody include two location themes, three event themes and a character theme with lyrics to boot.
  - Lightning's Theme is also used for a Battle Theme, aptly named "Blinded by Light".
- Final Fantasy Mystic Quest subtly pokes fun at the idea with the character of Tristam, whose leitmotif begins playing just before he appears on screen. The main character, Benjamin, apparently hears this music and begins looking around for him whenever it begins playing.
- Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series where many different characters are given leitmotifs. Nearly all of the protagonists have one, as do some of the villains, most notably Golbez, with "Clad in Black." Nothing says "Oh shit, I'm about to get my ass kicked by the Big Bad" quite like those Ominous Pipe Organs.
- How has nobody mentioned Kuja's Theme from Final Fantasy IX yet?
- "Melodies of Life" from Final Fantasy IX. This song appears everywhere, from when the game starts to the ending credits.
- Bea trix from Final Fantasy IX has three versions of hers, and they double as Mood Motifs. Though one of the three doesn't resemble the other two as much.
- Luso's leitmotif in Final Fantasy Tactics A 2 is second to be the Theme Tune (the actual Theme Tune is "Summer Vacation") since the music was used in other songs.
House of the Dead 1 and 2 feature the Magician boss leitmotif. The series also has the recurring "Game Over" and "Chapter Clear" ditties.
Xenogears has leitmotifs for Bart (Bonds of Sea and Fire) and Chu-Chu (The Sky, the Clouds, and You) among others.
Kingdom Hearts also uses leitmotifs extensively, particularly in the sequels. Kairi has 4 different variations on her leitmotif, while Sora only has one. Bosses also have their own leitmotifs. If a character is fought as a boss at some point in the game, their battle music will be a remix of their theme. Nearly all of Organization XIII's battle themes use the piano. "The Other Promise" and "Rage Awakened" are also remixes of Roxas and Terra's themes, respectively. Ventus's theme as well as Vanitas's battle theme include strains of both Roxas and Sora's themes.
- "Dearly Beloved" and "Destati" are essentially leitmotifs for the entire series.
  - Characters and concepts also have instruments and Recurring Riffs associated with them. Ominous Pipe Organs for the Heartless, mournful piano melodies for Nobodies, strings for Keyblade Wielders, chanting for the heart in general.
  - In the series, certain bosses' battle music will sound suspiciously familiar. Xion's boss music in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 by 2 Days has strands of Sora's. Kairi's, Naminé's and her own theme as well as Dearly Beloved.
  - The secret boss of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Mysterious Figure) has 3 other character's theme in his battle music: Terra's theme, Darkness of the Unknown (Xemnas), and Lord of the Castle (Marluxia). Respectably, the last 2 were bosses in their games.
Until some of the later games, every character in Guilty Gear has had their own theme, which plays during battles against them. Certain storyline rivalries have their own themes as well; the theme for battles between Sol and Ky, "Noontide", is practically a theme for the game as a whole.
Whenever Proto Man showed up in the Mega Man games, his appearance was accompanied by a mysterious whistle. In 5 his doppelganger Dark Man has a off-key version of the whistle, an early hint that he isn't who he says he is.
- Bass's battle theme in 7, 8 and maybe Mega Man & Bass.
- The Mega Man Battle Network spin-offs often play a version of each game's theme song whenever a dramatic speech is being made by the main character. Many people were quite disappointed when the theme music changed in the fourth game because it wasn't nearly as suited to those scenes.
- The Wily Tower motif in 3.
  - Also, the Wily Castle motif in 10, which has three variations.
Done to death by fighting games, except for the ones that only have stage music as opposed to individual character themes.
- By far the most famous examples are the original character themes from Street Fighter II, with Ryu's, Guile's, Ken's, and Akuma's themes quite possibly being the most awesome and prolific music of all. When Final Fight characters showed up in Street Fighter Alpha, they got remixed versions of stage music from the original Final Fight as theme tunes.
  - Guile's theme goes with everything.
- SNK has done this as well. Geese Howard's theme names always involve something "for Geese", but all of them are rearrangements of his Fatal Fury 1 theme, which was titled "A Kiss for Geese". Afterwards came "A Kiss For Geese -Cyber Dub Edit-" (Art of Fighting 2), "Soy Sauce for Geese" (Fatal Fury Special), "One More Kiss for Geese" (Real Bout Fatal Fury), "A Stiff Neck for Geese" (The King of Fighters '96), "Soy Sauce for Geese -End of The First Nightmare-" (Fatal Fury Wild Ambition), and finally concluding with..."Mustard for Geese" (The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match). The only exception to the name rule thus far is "Kiss Geese Once More", from The King of Fighters Maximum Impact. Most games after '96 in which Geese is present have used remixes of "Soy Sauce For Geese", the most recognizable thanks to its flute.
  - Subverted with Iori Yagami, who had a new theme every game up 'till The King of Fighters 2000, but they all had a kickass saxophone solo.
- Melty Blood has used the same character themes since its debut. The most prolific ones are "The End of 1000 Years", used for Red Arcueid, and "For Crimson Air", used for Wallachia.
- Guilty Gear easily trumps everything else though. Some characters have had the same theme, only differently arranged, from the first game, and every character has had the same theme since 'X', and every [3] of 'XX' uses the rearrangements from the original 'XX'.
  - Characters with special relationships often get VS. theme music, as mentioned previously. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core even gave new VS. music to Order Sol and Ky, "Keep The Flag Flying". The King of Fighters '98 gave two different VS. themes to the same fight: "Cool Jam" plays if the player character is Kyo Kusanagi vs. Iori Yagami, and "Esaka Forever" plays if it's Iori vs. Kyo.
  - The above two traditions continue in the Spiritual Successor to Guilty Gear, BlazBlue: each character has their own unique theme, in addition to "relationship" themes, such as "Under Heaven Destruction" for Ragna vs. Jin and "Imperial Code" for Noel vs. Jin(which doubles as the theme of the organization they both work for). Should come as no surprise: Daisuke Ishiwatari is responsible for the music in both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.
- Bloody Roar 1 and 2 on PlayStation. You could choose whether the games played stage-specific songs from the arcade versions, or new character themes created for the console ports.
The Sonic Adventure games used leitmotif liberally, having a theme for every playable character or character important to the plot. SA 2's themes for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles used the same lyrics as their themes from SA 1, but used different melodies.
- And on occasion, their leitmotifs are changed to a completely different theme. Shadow's has changed several times in particular. At first, he had "Throw it All Away", then he had "This Machine", followed by Sonic Team's attempt to give him six in one game depending on the path you took. Most agree the song "I Am All of Me" was the theme of that game, but the next game he's in decides to say it was the song from the good story of that game, "All Hail Shadow."
- Sonic has had to deal with the theme from the original series, then two versions of "It Doesn't Matter", and finally a hojillion (seven) versions of "His World."'
  - "It Doesn't Matter" has resurfaced triumphantly in Sonic and the Black Knight with two different renditions. Less so, Tails' theme from Sonic Adventures 1 and 2, "Believe in Myself" has been arranged as the theme of the Blacksmith(Who is 'played' by Tails.)
- In the original Sonic, in addition to the several versions of Sonic's theme (title screen, game over, continue, ending), Robotnik had two versions of his theme, one during the regular boss battles, the other, more intense version was played during the cutscene at the end of Scrap Brain Act 2, as well as the final battle.
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles's mid-boss and main boss themes were variations on a common riff. In addition, there were two different versions of each stage theme for each act, sometimes, as in the case of Lava Reef Zone, sounding almost totally different. And the first half of the main boss theme was The Jimmy Hart Version of Robotnik's original theme(the games had a different composer than the first two).
  - This was topped by Sonic Advance 3, where each stage theme had no fewer than four variations - one for its map screen plus one for each of the three acts. Somehow it never seemed repetitive, either - the map's theme was more low-key and served to introduce the melodic material, and then each act was a progressively more intense version of the same theme. One of these themes, in fact, was the Green Hill Zone music from the original Sonic; all too appropriate for a stage (Sunset Hill) which was itself a sort of re-imagined and remixed version of that place.
- Sonic Unleashed reuses Eggman's instrumental leitmotif from Sonic 2006 and manages to build a new boss music out of it. Speaking of 2006, each villain had his own leitmotif, each with several arrangements for cutscenes and boss battles.
"StarCraft" has a leitmotif in the form of the Ominous Latin Chanting heard during the first cutscene in it's expansion Brood Wars, which foreshadows the UED abandoning a colony under attack by the zerg. This theme can be heard playing in the background of several scenes in the sequel, notably in the "betrayal" cutscene, which is a flashback to Mensk leaving Kerrigan to the zerg on Tarsonis
- The Zerg get their own little theme in Starcraft II that is made up of two parts; in the Overture, the two play at the same time with the female solo voice doing one part and the low brass doing the second.
The Fire Emblem series actually had a soundtrack release made up of character themes.
- Absurd use, in Fire Emblem 9 (Path of Radiance) there's a trio of pirates with their own Leitmotif. Despite them being completely unimportant, to the point that they have less then half a dozen lines among them.
- Several important characters in FE10 have their own leitmotif that will play when they appear in conversations, including Oliver's Fall, Queen Elincia, Empress Sanaki, and Mind of Izuka. The powerful Laguz Royals and Oliver have their own battle themes as well.
Lampshaded in Metal Gear Solid, when Snake actually hears Psycho Mantis's leitmotif play. It's a manifestation of his mind control abilities.
- Played straight however with Big Boss's leitmotif. It first plays when he's descending into Russia for Operation Snake Eater. It also plays for his reappearance in MGS4.
- In Metal Gear Solid 4, the characters's leitmotifs change in order to reflect their changing personalities. Therefore, it's really alarming when we first see Snake (leitmotif "Old Snake") in his "young" mask, and the music that plays is "Opening Infiltration", his leitmotif from Metal Gear Solid 2 When Raiden reminisces about Rose, his theme tune changes from "White Blood" to "Who Am I Really?", his theme from Metal Gear Solid 2. Naomi borrows her theme from Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on her first encounter with Old Snake, and later she is accompanied by "Enclosure", Sniper Wolf's theme, when she is in a situation very similar to Wolf's.
- In Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake's Theme from Metal Gear Solid 1 plays when the S3 tells Raiden about how putting him through Shadow Moses has turned him into a soldier with all of Snake's gifts. Footage on the screen from the trailers, where Snake was placed into Raiden's shoes during key boss fights, play on the screen.
Ridley in Metroid has had his own fight music ever since Super Metroid. Though it was not exclusively his music in Super Metroid, it has since become identified with his character, much in the same way that the Star Wars Imperial March theme was not intended for Darth Vader himself, yet became his de-facto music nevertheless.
- Although not quite so heavily linked to character, the area preceding a boss, (Particularly Kraid) have very memorable themes. This is a given, considering they made the same game twice. (Metroid and Zero Mission).
- Samus also got her own theme tune in Super. Notable occurrences have included Prime 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  - Except that what Brawl called "Theme of Samus Aran, Space Warrior" was just Super's Ending Credits tune. In Super, the "Theme of Samus Aran, Galactic Warrior" is completely different.
- A truer example would be the little riff that plays whenever Samus emerges from her spaceship/a save station when you start up the game in the Prime series.
  - That bit is called Appearance, and it's been the customary "loading save/new game start" song since the very first Metroid game.
The Myst games are very fond of doing this, usually having themes for each villain (and for each age, in the later games). Also, Sirrus and Achenar, the evil brothers from the first game, have their themes return in Myst IV: Revelation, if only briefly.
- There's the oft-interwoven Saavedro's Theme from the third Myst game and the use of the oboe to represent Gehn in Riven.
In the Star Fox series, the titular heroes and Star Wolf both get their own leitmotifs. Star Wolf's gets a little...over the top in later entries in the series, what with the vaguely flamenco beat and the blaring brass section.
- Secondary characters Bill Grey and Katt Monroe both get their own leitmotifs whenever they show up in a level.
- In the original, a common leitmotif is used in several of the planet musics, particularly Meteor, Titania, and Fortuna. Several themes are used for different types of boss battles, for example Corneria/Meteor, Outer Space, Venom, and the Atomic Cores(which is a rehash of the opening sequence music), as well as unique BGMs used by the planet bosses.
- Hey, come on. The Assault version is really quite epic. Panther joined the group at that point, so maybe they had to Spanish it up a bit?
- In Star Fox Command, each character has his/her own background music.
- During Star Fox Adventures, Krystal and Fox had their own theme whenever they were on screen together. Given the nature of the two characters, it could be interpreted as a 'love theme'. A longer and more 'tribal' variation of the same theme was used in the Cape Claw location of the game.
Every party member in Tales Of Symphonia has their own theme music, and some have more than one. Zelos, for example, has an upbeat, samba-style tune that shows up when you first meet him, but if you take a certain plot path you'll hear an extremely sombre version of that exact same tune at one point. The Big Bad's theme music is also used for The Reveal at one point.
Quite a number of music in Tales Of Eternia that runs different version of the same motif for Van Eltia and Shileska. Add in all the FMVs one can probably find 20+ of them.
Castlevania tends to use "Vampire Killer" to represent Simon Belmont (from the very first game), although in Super Castlevania 4 he got his own theme music, called "Theme of Simon". Dracula had to wait until Rondo of Blood to get his theme music, "Dance of Illusions". When you fight the original Castlevania bosses before Shaft in Rondo of Blood, the boss music from the first game, "Poison Mind", plays.
- And Bloodlines, which first appeared as the music for the first level of Dracula X, seems these days to be affiliated specifically with Richter Belmont's frequent appearances in the games.
- Judgment was praised for its music, if not other things, and it took advantage of its fighting game setup to associate its characters with various themes from the series. It may not last, especially as each game introduces new heroes, but there's little reason not to think of "Iron Blue Intention" as Eric Lecarde's theme. Or give "Mad Forest" to Sypha Belnades.
Approach a trainer (or have them see you) in the Pokémon games and their Leitmotif will play, indicating what kind of trainer they are. In normal gameplay, they only go on for a couple of seconds, but if you pause the dialog to listen to the music you'll be surprised how long they go on for (and how they're arguably better composed than the BGM).
- Another prime example specifically from Pokemon RBY is the rival's theme, which plays whenever he comes on-screen and talks, usually challenging you to a match.
  - Actually, every rival gets one, but Blue's is the most notable.
- In addition to the rivals, many other characters get reoccurring themes, such as some of the professors, and important NPCs like Eusine and Look er.
The Legend of Zelda series has leitmotifs for most major characters, most notably Zelda's Theme (a.k.a. Zelda's Lullaby) and Ganon's Theme (which Ganondorf himself plays on an Ominous Pipe Organ in Ocarina of Time). In Twilight Princess, Zelda's and Ganondorf's themes are combined when Ganondorf possesses Zelda for a boss battle.
- The Main Theme of the series (which appeared in the first Zelda) eventually became Link's theme too. Remixed versions of it play when the Links of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess awaken to their destinies as heroes.
- There's also Midna's haunting theme from Twilight Princess, which she is aware of, because she's just that awesome. (Midna's Theme can be heard in at least five tracks from the game, mostly when you're running around areas cloaked in Twilight.)
  - Saria also plays her own theme song, Saria's Song, and sometimes when she stops playing her Ocarina to speak with Link, the Lost Woods goes completely silent.
- And Majora's theme, variations of which are used in each of the four provinces of Termina. And remixes of it are used for each of Majora's boss forms.
- Also, Ilia (Link's BFF in TP) and Aryll (Link's lil' sis in WW) have their own melodies, as well as Tetra and her Pirates (though it's replaced as her theme by Zelda's Lullaby once her destiny is revealed.)
- The Master Sword has one that plays in some form or another when it is climactically drawn from its pedestal in each game it appears in. You know the one: "Dadadada dadadada dadadada dadadada daaaaah DAAAAAH DAAAAAH DAAAAAH!"
  - Funnily enough, that's the same Item Get jingle that plays after every Inexplicable Treasure Chest and Plot Coupon, only drawn out and made more awesome. As befits the most awesome item in the game, of course.
- Sheik also gets one in OoT, as well as Kaepora Gaebora.
- Linebeck of Phantom Hourglass has his own rather awesome theme, as do Oshus and Bellum.
- In Skyward Sword, Zelda's Theme is not initially present, but Zelda has a new leitmotif that subtly evokes it. Ghirahim also has an ominous yet whimsical theme that mixes in a pipe organ. Fi also has a beatiful one... that many people consider to be the only good thing about the character.
In the Super Smash Bros.. series (specifically Brawl) each series has victory fanfare, however Meta Knight has his own unique fanfare (which is a metalish remix of the standard Kirby fanfare). Due to the music numbering it appeared that pretty much every character would have their own fanfare, but most of them were cut before release.
Every character in the Advance Wars series has his or her own theme music which plays during their turn. There's also (in Dual Strike) no less than six different power-up themes; which one plays depends on the power level (Normal, Super, or Tag) and which faction is using it (Allied Nations or Black Hole). If you use a Tag Power with an Allied CO and a Black Hole CO in Vs. or War Room mode, the theme will even change when they switch places.
- Andy doesn't have a Theme. Andy has an ANTHEM.
In the video game Def Jam: Icon one of your character's weapons is the power to change the soundtrack to his own theme music which alters the world around you.
Romancing Sa Ga 1 and 3, Saga Frontier and Unlimited Sa Ga did this; each character having their own theme.
Super Paper Mario has theme music for certain villains (Mr L, Count Bleck and Dimentio).
- Super Paper Mario also features a remix of pretty much every song in it. Most notably, the music for the fight against the Big Bad is remixed during the fight against the TRUE final boss. Bonus points also go to Count Bleck's leitmotif for being a Musical Spoiler: It is a remix of the "Memory" theme.
- In Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, Ms Mowz has her own theme music.
  - So does Luigi.
- Numerous characters in Paper Mario have themes, including Peach, Bowser, Twink, Jr Troopa, and the Star Spirits.
- It should be noted that every boss in the entire Paper Mario series has their own theme.
Super Mario 64 has Bowser's theme, which receives an Ominous Pipe Organ remix for the final battle.
- To a lesser extent, "Inside the Castle Walls" can be considered Peach's theme, as it plays during her appearance in the beginning and ending cutscenes. Toad also has a unique little melody that plays whenever you talk to him.
Characters have their own themes in the Mario & Luigi series, such as Popple's unique boss music in the original, Bowser's Theme in some of the games, Fawful and Midbus' theme in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and probably quite a few more.
- Cackletta has her own as well.
Most major Super Mario Bros. characters have their own theme as of Mario Strikers Charged. A few of the characters had their own themes before that, such as Bowser, Peach, and Luigi. Interestingly enough, Mario only had two before that game, and they were both from games where Bowser, Luigi, and Peach were all playable. Luigi even has two completely different tunes in one of them... one of which was remixed three separate times in that same game.
Princess Peach's theme. Dadada-da-da-da-da! Da-dada-da-da-da-da-dada!
Several characters in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney have their own leitmotifs; for example, Godot's "Fragrance of Dark Coffee", which was used quite cleverly later on...
- Godot also earns extra points by having his own theme music as his personal cellphone ringtone.
- Klavier's theme music, "Guilty Love", is actually heard by other characters, although it's justified: it's the no. 1 hit of his band, the Gavinners.
  - It's largely hinted in-game that he actually plays a CD recording of "Guilty Love" in the goddamned courtroom.
- Also, Pearl's theme is simply a more upbeat remix of Maya's theme.
- The "Objection!" theme of each game is considered the leitmotif of the main character; in Ace Attorney Investigations, Edgeworth's "Objection!" theme is a remix of his theme song, "Great Revival".
- In the early games, only important characters have their own theme, but in later ones, almost every witness has one.
  - One example in particular "Congratulations everyone" Pops up in two consecutive games for one character in particular. (she's the only character to have the same theme introduce her) Who is that character? Lotta Hart.
- Dahlia has the calm theme Distant Traces of Beauty, and in the end it gets used for Iris as well.
Every boss in La-Mulana has their own boss battle music.
Several characters in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune:
- Akio Asakura: "Blue Blazes" (WMMT 1 and 2), "Phantom of Blue" (WMMT 3)
- Tatsuya Shima: "Destination Blackout" (1 and 2), "Black Pressure" (3)
- Reina Akikawa: "Nothing Can Live Forever" (1 and 2), "Feel the Moment" (3)
- R200 Club: "Decoration for the Dement" (1 and 2), "Evil Association" (3). The latter has the distinction of being played in only one stage of Story Mode.
And in the original Wangan Midnight game, more characters have their own theme music.
RPG Baten Kaitos features Leitmotifs for many characters. The Cosmic Horror Malpercio has the impressive Ruler Of The Nine Skies. Recurring boss Giacomo uses the very catchy theme Chaotic Dance, which has electric and acoustic versions. In the prequel, a young Giacomo has the remixed Chaotic Dance 2.
- Spiriters (or maybe it is the Guardian Spirit itself?) also get their own theme, as implied by Baten Kaitos Origins: The True Mirror, aka the fancy battle theme music from Baten Kaitos.
Dawn of War features Leitmotif for each of the factions, ranging from heavy drumbeating for the Orks, militaristic marching music for The Imperial Guard to the Asian orchestral of the Tau Empire.
In Time Crisis, we have Wild Dog's theme music and its arrangements in subsequent installments. It itself is a pastiche of the main series theme.
- Time Crisis 2 also has General Diaz's theme, which appears in the musics for stage 2-1 and 3-3, the Final Boss battle, and the ending.
- Time Crisis 3 has a different theme tune than the other games, but it still uses elements from the original theme, ala The Jimmy Hart Version.
In Left 4 Dead, the three Special Infected (zombies with special abilities) have unique themes that play when they are attacking the players, but the Boss Infected, the Tank and the Witch, have motifs that play constantly whenever they are in the field of play.
- There are also quick little riffs that play when one of the three spawn. This builds subconscious associations among casual players and gives hardcore players (the ones who will poke around the games sound files to find these) something to listen for.
Unusually for a western RPG, Planescape: Torment gave leitmotivs to all the principal characters, including The Nameless One, all NPCs and all of the principal villains; all being variants on the same underlying theme used for every piece of music on the soundtrack.
Chrono Trigger has a few of these, namely Frog's Theme, Magus's Theme, and Robo's Theme, which sounds strangely similar to a certain song by Rick Astley.
Wing Commander II has a number of prominent leitmotifs, most notably the grim, minor-key brass fanfare accompanying Prince Thrakhath, the syncopated piano motif for Jazz, and the theme that plays during the love scenes between Blair and Angel.
Nearly every character of the large cast of the Touhou Project has their own leitmotif. In fact, many have more than one. This large influx of awesome music fuels not so much the fandom than it displaces it.
Persona 3 and Persona 4 both used this incredibly strategically. No specific character leitmotifs, however...
- Persona 3 specifically used about seven different versions of the Tartarus background music, representing the different blocks of the tower. The 'ground floor' rendition ends up more as the main soundtrack to the Dark Hour itself though. More notable, however, is the credits track, Memories of You, wherein musical segments from Your Memories (one of the saddest-sounding songs in the game) and Joy (playing during some of the happiest scenes in the game) are both used.
  - The game also used instrumental keys from the first verse of "Burn My Dread," and of "Memories Of You," for pivotal background themes. "Living With Determination" is the most noticeable example.
- Persona 4 is a little lighter on this. Two different versions of the regular battle theme are used depending on the strength of the enemy. I'll Fight Myself has two versions - one used during major boss fights, and one used for the scenes afterwards.
- Both used the 'Poem for the Soul' for the Velvet Room, however 3 is notable for turning it into an insanely rocking boss theme.
  - Actually, since Revelations: Persona, all games use the Poem of Everybody's Souls as the theme of Velvet Room
Every party member in Mana Khemia and its sequel have a distinctive theme. That way you have an idea of what kind of crazy stuff's about to go down.
Alma gets her own leitmotif in the second FEAR game, which also serves as the game's main theme.
Wild AR Ms games naturally jump on the bandwagon. There's the series main theme, Into the Wilderness, which plays once or twice at key moments in each game, usually the ending or introduction. In Wild AR Ms 1, Boomerang has his own theme, which is slowed down for a "funeral dirge" late in the game. In Wild AR Ms 3, Virginia has "Ready! Lady Gunner!" while the Schroedingers have "There's Only One Family Named Schrodinger". There are special boss themes for Janus and the Prophets.
- This is brought to a head for the remake of Wild ARMs 1, where each major antagonist has their own theme, and they're all awesome. (Though Zed's new theme is a bit less awesome then his old one)
MMORPG Video Game/Mabinogi has thematic music for each city, most dungeons, and nearly every NPC, as well as the main game theme; variations of which are used in certain cutscenes from the mainstream storyline quests. The soundtrack recordings include about 120 different pieces of music.
In Clive Barker's Jericho, the same haunting piece of music (a lone choirboy, backed by a deeper-voiced choir) plays whenever the mysterious child (who later turns out to be the Firstborn) appears during gameplay (with the exception of the boss fight against it).
Resident Evil 2 had William Birkin's theme, which had a variation for each of his mutations.
- Hunk's theme from the 4th Survivor scenario, which becomes more frantic the further you progress.
- Sherry, Ada, and Tyrant also had their own musical themes.
- * In RE3: Nemesis, the titular monster has many pieces of theme music, but the two most memorable ones are "Feel the Tense...", which plays whenever he is skulking around in the immediate area and is just made to make the player feel incredibly nervous, and "Nemesis' Theme", a much louder and more dramatic piece of music that plays whenever he enters the same room as Jill.
  - "Never Give Up The Escape", the spooky "empty room" music.
  - Alexia's theme in Code Veronica, which also had different variations for her One-Winged Angel forms.
- RE5 gives Wesker a leitmotif, which is heard whenever he appears on screen, and is combined with Jill's battle theme for the song Two versus Two. Interestingly, Wesker loses his theme music when he transforms into his final form.
- The first game had the mansion motif, which had different variations for the first and second floors, and further variations when you return to the mansion from the guest house, the haunting "bathroom theme", and also Tyrant's theme near the end of the game.
LucasArts games in general deserve a special mention for developing a special sound engine just to allow the use of Leitmotifs dynamically.
- Several exist in the Monkey Island series. Particularly prominent are the themes for LeChuck, the Voodoo Lady, Stan, and Largo LaGrande.
- In the Nintendo version of Maniac Mansion, each of the playable characters carried a CD player that basically played that character's theme. Razor's seems particularly popular with fans.
- While X-Wing was not the first to use true Leitmotifs in a space simulator (with Wing Commander probably taking that honor), the iMuse system enabled using the various portions of the already huge Star Wars trilogy soundtrack and fitting them almost seamlessly into one another. For that reason, virtually any event that could occur during a mission had its own Leitmotif - to the point where it is possible to figure out roughly how a mission played out just by listening to a recording of its soundtrack.
In the Backyard Sports series, every playable character has their own theme song.
Universe at War: Earth Assault has a different soundtrack for each of the three factions, each with its own theme: the Hierarchy have heavy rock tracks, Novus have a techno/electronica vibe, and Masari have an orchestral soundtrack with plenty of Ominous Latin Chanting. It's worth noting that all the music here was composed by Frank Klepacki.
If a piece of music in .hack has to do with the Phases, whether in the original or GU games, it will feature at least a few measures of a distinct and slightly creepy melody of bells at some point. You can hear it quite clearly about ten seconds into Gorre's original theme: here. The eighth Phase, Corbenik, has his own piano melody across the games, and snippets of Cubia's final music from the first games can be heard in his battle themes from GU.
- Piros the 3rd, the Author Avatar of the game's creator, has a themesong involving upbeat tuba music that * ALWAYS* plays over the normal stage music whenever you invite him into your party. Only a few exceptions prevent this: When you're in a Root Town or fighting a Phase boss. No other party character in the game has theme music.
- Azure Kite gets "Everything In These Hands" as his theme song. It is both fast-paced and dark, encompassing his mysteriousness and brutally efficient fighting methods, but also contains a calmer section reminiscient of Mac Anu's music, hinting at his true nature.
- Several romantic scenes in G.U. have "Shino-Honeysuckle" playing in the background.
- Also, every time you see Ovan, "The Epitaph is Told" plays.
- Most funny scenes (excluding those with Piros) have the song "Troublesome Girl", which may or may not be originally intended more-or-less for Atoli, hence the "girl" part of the title.
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain has Logan's theme; a variation of the main Theme Tune, the Agency theme, Aramov's theme, Theme of Zeus, and Theme of Metaglobal, and each terrorist group has a characteristic battle theme.
The melody of the main theme from The Witcher can be heard in several other tracks, both event specific and general background music.
In Cave Story, Quirky Miniboss Squad-member Balrog and Big Bad The Doctor each have their own theme that plays during their cutscenes: "Balrog's Theme" and "Tyrant" respectively. There's also "Jenka" which first pops up in Jenka's house, then serves as the music for the Labyrinth—this is the first clue the player is given that Jenka figures big in the island's backstory.
The soundtrack to Mother 3 is very heavily built on leitmotifs that recur in numerous variations over the game, including His Highness' Theme for scenes about the Pigmask Army, the saxophone line in Magypsy's Home, Sweetie-Pie for the Magypsies (which actually serves as a Musical Spoiler later on in the game if you're paying attention), and, of course, the Love Theme, which will break your heart with its every appearance in the context of the game.
- It could be argued that each enemy has a Leitmotif, however some enemies share the same theme. That said, with there being 250 soundtracks, most enemies (and bosses) have their own themes.
- EarthBound's Dragon Pokey has a theme that follows him everywhere as do The Runaway Five, and the Sound Stone melody also acts as one for Ness and the journey as a whole after you've found all of its pieces. Paula also has a Leitmotif, but it's not heard as often.
  - And let's not forget Mother's Eight Melodies.
In Mass Effect, the Normandy and Commander Shepard seem to share one, in both the first and the second game, suitably heroic sounding for both of them. Saren's leitmotif also doubles as the "Critical Mission Failure" music.*
Which means the developers have been conditioning you to hate him for the entire game!
- "Vigil" from Mass Effect. In the first game it plays during the startup menu and when Vigil himself appears to tell you the fate of the Protheans, Sovereign's plan, and how Shepard can stop the Reapers from returning. In Mass Effect 2 it plays when Shepard briefly reunites with members of his squad from the first Normandy: a reminder of the sense of wonder the first game held, in direct contrast to the second game's much darker feel.
- In Mass Effect 2 the Collector ship that destroys the Normandy and kills Shepard has a distinct percussive, syncopated leitmotif that appears in every single track that features the Collectors.
  - Likewise it's been twisted and deepened but if you listen carefully you can hear Vigil's theme almost buried in the background of the collector's theme.
- Songs that happen during the suicide mission share, in parts, a distinctive, dramatic, awesome melody. This is most obvious in "Suicide Mission" and "The End Run".
- Every character has their own theme song, which form the primary background music during their recruitment and loyalty missions.
The soundtrack to the King's Quest II Fan Remake uses these to powerful effect. The soundtrack remixes and gives full MIDI treatment to not only music from the original game, but weaves in musical references to other games in the series at the Air Gem tests. It uses a couple internal ones, like an instrumental version of the Award Bait Song for Valanice and integrating Grandma and Possum's themes when Graham is confronting the vampire.
Fallout: New Vegas lacks a defining lemotif track, but actually has 2 different entire soundtracks depending on your karma. If you do evil stuff, you get a dark brooding soundtrack, if you do good actions, you get an upbeat heroic sounding soundtrack.
Bioshock has a somewhat unusual example. The main theme in the first game later went on to become Elanor's Lullaby in 2 which is the theme for your Little Sister in the game, Elanor, and is the closing music for the game. Also of note is the track Cohen's Masterpiece, the theme for a Mad Artist which plays when he finishes his masterpiece (with your help)
- Don't forget the one cello note for the radio "communications" coming from the Rapture leader.
The Ys series has several, eg "Theme of Adol" and its remixes, "Feena", "Lilia", "Theme of Chester", "Karna", "Leeza", "Eldeel", "Niena", "Theme of Lovers"(Stoker's theme), "Theme of Kefin", "Olha", "Successor of Almarion"(Ernst's theme), "The Depth Napishtim", etc.
Basically, every Rare videogame has its own recurring main theme.
- Banjo-Kazooie series has two main motives, along other recurring themes, Banjo-Kazooie Main Theme, which appears in tracks such as Overture of the three main games, first game's Final Battle, Cloud Cukooland; and Gruntilda's lair, featured during the final battles and in tracks like in Grunty Industries or LOGBOX 720. Both also appeared in many games' cutscenes.
- ConkersBadFurDay has some recurring themes, the most famous is "Windy", played in the hubworld and in musical tracks such as "Barn Boys", "Give us our money back, honey" and "The Ugga Bugga's". Ze professor Von Kriplespac's theme is played during the battle with The Little Girl, when Conker is in the Windy's harbor and during the second assault in the remake.
  - Live & Reloaded, remake of Bad Fur Day, also features a recurring theme, that plays during the game intro, and briefly as game over in the Chapter X, as well as in "Doon I" and in "The Ditch".
The Lufia series has a few recurring themes through its games. Most notably "The Last Duel," for the Sinistrals' stronghold. "For The Savior" also gets a fair bit of use through some of the games when the Dual Blade comes into play.
The Space Channel 5 series has quite a few themes for certain characters, mainly Ulala, President Peace, Pine and Purge.
Dead Rising 2 used a guitar riff associated with Chuck Greene, and in the final-final boss battle an extended version of the riff is played for the fight theme. Both the riff and the fight theme can be classified as Crowning Music of Awesome.
In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, every playable character has his/her own theme song.
- Many of the Marvel themes are Bootstrapped Themes, with Spider-Man, Hulk, Doctor Doom, Shuma-Gorath, Iron Man*
  Iron Man is a weird case. It was first used as stage theme, then as a straight letimotif for War Machine, then the latter was made Iron Man's letimotif in MvC3.
  and Captain America having their themes first used in Marvel Super Heroes as stage themes (Sentinel's theme was also used for his X Men Children Of The Atom stage). Played straight with Magneto, Storm and Wolverine who use their character themes from X-Men Vs Street Fighter and Marvel Vs Capcom Clash Of The Superheroes.
- Wolverine is an interesting example of this, as up until Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he had five different themes; a new one for each game he appeared in between MSH, X-Men: CotA, XvSF, Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter and MvC1. 3 was the first game to actually remix a theme of his. Some of the other X-men characters got different themes for each game they appeared in, as well.
In Amnesia The Dark Descent, there's a musical cue that sounds when an enemy is near.
Each main character (and some villains too) from Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams has his own theme. Soki's and Jubei's themes in particular are easly Crowning Music of Awesome.
Nearly everyone has one in Getter Love!! To quote the review:
A wide array of musical styles are present in Getter Love, and the songs match the personalities of the girls and the feel of the game to a tee. The popular cute girls [Ayumi and Natsuki] have peppy cheerful J-Pop tunes (luckily without the vocals). The classy girl [Makoto] has a smooth, jazzy piece, and Shizuku, whose name means “drop of water”, has a song that is serene like a trickling stream in the woods. My favorite song, belonging to my favorite girl Kiiro, has an almost Hindi feel to it complete with chanting melodic vocals. For those fond of Asian music, Meifa is stereotypically given a traditional Chinese song, gongs and all.
All of the characters in Team Fortress 2 have at least one, with the exception of Pyro (who will presumably get one when s/he gets his/her "Meet The" short). They are as follows:
- Heavy: The main theme (simply titled "Team Fortress 2"), as he's almost the main character of the game.
- Soldier: "Rocket Jump Waltz", "The Art Of War"
- Engineer: "More Gun" (based on Wilco's "Someone Else's Song")
- Demoman: "Drunken Pipe Bomb"
- Scout: "Faster Than A Speeding Bullet"
- Sniper: Not in the game for copyright reasons, but his is The Jimmy Hart Version of the Magnum Force theme.
- Spy: "Right Behind You", "Petite Chou-Fleur"
- Medic: "A Little Heart To Heart", "MEDIC!"
Medal of Honor series:
- Patterson's theme from the first game, which was reworked in Frontline
- The Axis theme throughout the series.
- "Taking Out The Railgun"
- "Panzer Attack" (also heard in "Panzer Blockade" and the third part of "The Rowhouses", et al.)
- "The U-Boat" (returns in "U-4902" and "Shipyards of Lorient" in Frontline)
- "Attack on Fort Schmerzen"
- "Nordhausen" (also used in the "Schmerzen" rework from Allied Assault)
- Sturmgeist's theme from Frontline (in "Manor House Rally", "Sturmgeist's Armored Train", and "Escaping Gotha")
- "Clipping Their Wings" (the Gotha facility theme in Frontline, also appears in "After the Drop" and near the end of "Kleveburg")
The Golden Sun series, being chock full of Crowning Music of Awesome, has a few Leitmotifs in use.
- "A Little Friendship" is Ivan's theme. It's also used for cutscenes focusing on Hama, which foreshadows the reveal that she's his sister.
- Isaac, Felix, and Jenna all eventually have their own battle themes. Isaac's is used in the first game, and if he's active in the first four after the parties join up. Felix's is used for a large portion of the second game, and if he's active in the first four after the parties join up. Jenna's is used in the prologue of The Lost Age when she's the only player character, and once the parties join up, if she's in the first four and niether Isaac nor Felix are.
- Saturos & Menardi share their theme (simply named for them), along with a Boss Remix. Saturos, being Saturos, also has his own boss theme when encountered alone, and it's hands-down one of the fandom's favorite pieces— it even came back as Bonus Boss battle music in Dark Dawn!
  - Agatio & Karst also share a theme (simply named for them) and a rocking Boss Remix.
- "There Goes Briggs!" inexplicably only plays in one of Briggs's cutscenes in The Lost Age, and is otherwise a wasted song.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had a particularly striking one used throughout the game (composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, which was sadly ignored by later composers for the series.
- Too be fair, Modern Warfare 2 also had multiple striking Leitmotifs, such as the Opening Titles, Contingency (TF 141's theme), Extraction Point (Ranger theme), and the distinctive climax heard during Guerilla Tactics (Militia theme). Safeguard is also used for two notable chase sequences, the Snowmobile escape and the Jeep escape.
In perhaps one of the first video game leitmotifs, Baron Von Blubba in Bubble Bobble is always accompanied by a short, ominous riff whenever he appears on screen.
Donald Duck gets his own in the Super Famicom game Donald Duck no Mahou Boushi.
In Star Control, at the end of each battle, the game would play a short "ditty" specifically belonging to the winning ship's species. This went much further in Star Control 2 where each (of over 20) species got its own theme music, accompanying any interaction with members of that species.
In Sengoku Basara, all the characters have a unique theme that plays whenever they're fought. There's also an item that replaces the stage BGM with the controlled character's theme when equipped. The themes range from heroic/ (Masamune, Yukimura, Ieyasu), villainous (Mitsunari, Tenkai, Nobunaga) or sometimes just plain silly (Yoshiaki or Hideaki).
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon has its own main theme song, "Gotta Stay Fly", which has a variety of brief and major appearances throughout the game, either in the rock portion or the orchestral theme. It is most notably used during Bishop's nightmare, then a different version when he actually is over Miami reliving his nightmare for real and facing it anyway, and finally the full song over the end credits.
- Markov has a bit of his own leitmotif, a sad song that plays when he is first introduced and in full during your last dogfight with him. Its title is "Mrs. Krista Yoslav", who is kind of important. She was Markov's wife, who was killed by a botched NATO bombing run, leaving him a Broken Ace who just wants revenge. She is his leitmotif.
In the Soul Series, Maxi's theme appears to be Sail Over the Storm. It's used in both the first and third games, and the first 10 or so seconds appear again in the fifth game.
Dark Souls doesn't have background music much, but it does have boss themes. Examples include...
- Chaos Witch Quelaag, ominous creepyness mixed with Many Woman Wail and Ominous Chanting.
- Taurus Demon, suitably fast paced with shrieking violins and ominous chanting to match the player's surprise following the boss's Dynamic Entry. Also used for the Asylum Demon.
- The Moonlight Butterfly, slow paced and would almost be describable as beautiful if not for your horrible memories of actually fighting the boss itself.
  - And some actual background themes:
  - Daughter Of Chaos.
  - Firelink Shrine.

Visual Novel

General example. Virtually every Dating Sim game has leitmotifs for each character.
All of CLANNAD's main female characters had their own themes. The ending song of the anime, Dango Daikazoku, even goes on to have the same tune as Nagisa's eponymous theme music.
- Worth noting that virtually all of the main female characters in Key Visual Arts' visual novels feature their own themes, and there's even one for a male character. (Natsume Kyousuke from Little Busters)
- Non-animate things have leitmotifs, too. For an example, a song called Snowfield plays when it's snowing.
- On the same topic, a few themes are used for any event filling a certain theme, such as Shining in the sky and The Place Where Wishes Come True being used for many of the Crowning moment of awesome instances, A couple of idiots and Meaningful ways to pass the time for many of the comedic plot development scenes, Sping Wind and To the same heights for plot development in general and Distant Years along with Town, Flow of Time, People for flashbacks
Umineko no Naku Koro ni has a few of these, most of which are brain-meltingly awesome. Most notably, Battler has "Dread of the Grave", Beato has "Organ Opusculum in C Minor", Lambdadelta has "Miragecoordinator", and Eva-Beatrice has the Soundtrack Dissonance-tastic "Happiness of Marionette".
- As said in the anime section, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has a few too.
- According to fans, Kinzo's theme is la divina tragedia. OH DESIRE!!!
Fate/stay night has several, including Die Lorelei for Ilya (which is also a pre-existing song), ''The Golden King'' for Gilgamesh, and All Evils of the World for the Shadow.
- You also have ''Emiya'' for Shirou and Archer, and for Saber you have Kodoku na Junrei for the Heartwarming and Tear Jerker scenes, and The Sword Of Promised Victory whenever she decides to unveil her Noble Phantasm and do something Badass, and for villains, you have Kotomine's Church On The Hill. And if you want, you can look into Fate/zero for The Berserker and The Lancer.
The Tokimeki Memorial series makes extensive use of this trope : each character in the series has its own iconic tune, which plays each time they show up, and even starts to play a fraction of seconds before the character appears on screen (so the first cue of who shows up is actually musical). Played with in Tokimeki Memorial 2 with Kaori Yae, who has a more cheerful variation of her Leitmoif, which plays when she finally overcomes her painful past and turns back to her former Genki Girl self, and fully falls in love with the protagonist who patiently and affectionately helped her along the way.
- Mitsumete Knight, Tokimeki Memorial 's Spiritual Successor, made the same use of this trope. And also played with the trope with Raizze Haimer, who has two variations of her Leitmotif, the somber "Cold Lips" : the first, "Salishuan the Spy", an epic, battle-engaging tune which plays when Raizze reveals to you her identity as Salishuan the Spy of the Eight Generals of Valpha-Valaharian, and challenges you to a duel in order to avenge her father, the leader of the Eight General Wolfgario the Ravager, slayed by you in a duel a week earlier ; the second, which follows just after the first variation if she's deeply in love with you, named "Sorrowful Blade", is a heartwrenching tune playing as Raizze is conflicted between her love for her father and thus her duty to avenge him, and the love she feels for you. And you'll need to hear this second variation if you don't want her to meet a sad fate.

Web Animation

Episodes of Salad Fingers use the odd little tune "Beware the Friendly Stranger" by Boards Of Canada at least once per episode. In one episode, it is played backwards, for no other reason besides the fact that they could.

Web Original

In Echo Chamber, Shannon's entrances are marked by Psycho Strings.
It's Gendo!
Whenever Sting showed up in Dune wearing a speedo, The Nostalgia Chick would play "Don't Stand So Close To Me".
Any appearance by Tex in RedvsBlue is usually accompanied by the opening bars of her theme.
- With the exception of Season 8, though her new theme, Agent Tex contains a nod to her original leitmotif.
In YuGiOh Abridged, the opening for Sexy Back loops whenever Duke Devlin speaks. Also, the "Double Fine" riff of Judas Priest's Hellion plays at the beginning of any of Dartz's scenes.
The Yogscast has "I'm a dwarf and I'm digging a hole! DIGGY DIGGY HOLE!" and variations of such. It comes from Shadow of Israphel, when Simon is digging for K. Peculier's mining post.
In Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the eponymous character has his own theme which plays during the act openings and as part of two songs. In one song, when he switches from philosophizing to Evil Gloating halfway through, the background music also changes to his theme repeating until the song's end. In another song, a slowed-down version with heavy downbeats plays during a Suit Up of Destiny sequence.
In Everyman HYBRID, HABIT has "Who Could Win a Rabbit" by Animal Collective. And it's just as scary as he is.
The Hitchhiker/Malachite from Suburban Knights has a menacing, drum-based one that plays whenever he appears.
Whenever 90's Kid appears in Atop the Fourth Wall, "Smells Like Nirvana" would play.
- The entity Missingno. has "evil" or alternatively "satanic" from the Ren and Stimpy soundtrack (though that bit was unintentional.)
The utterly deranged version of Fluttershy depicted in Friendship Is Witchcraft seems to be associated with "Hellfire".

Webcomics

The MS Paint Adventures series Homestuck regularly uses music for important events, and most of the main characters have their own themes.
- John's is "Showtime"
- Rose's is "Aggrieve"
- Dave's is "Beatdown"
- Jade's is "The Beginning of Something Really Excellent"
- The different areas of the Incipisphere now each have themes ("Doctor", "Endless Climb", "Atomyk Ebonpyre", and Frost for LOWAS, LOLAR, LOHAC, and LOFAF, respectively). Jack Noir's theme is "Black". Most of the Trolls were given their own character themes in the "Alternia" and AlterniaBound albums, but not all of them have been used in the comic itself.
  - "Phaze and Blood" was made to represent LOPAH.
- Terezi Pyrope's theme, "The Lemonsnout Turnabout" is a dual example: not only it's her theme, but it uses its instruments - according to the composer's commentary - to tell a story where the oboe is the accused Senator Lemonsnout and the harpsichord is the prosecutor Terezi. Therefore, it also uses a leitmotif in its more traditional sense.
- "Sburban Jungle" acts as a leitmotif for Sburb (and is apparently the music that plays on Sburb's loading screen). Other tracks associated with the game as a whole include Homestuck Anthem and Homestuck for the Kids, with "Theme" *
  a bonus track on the Alternia album
  and Alternia for the Trolls.
- Rex Dueodecim Angelus is the music for the Trolls' Boss Battle against the Black King. In addition to the Black King's theme, the themes for the Trolls are played as they join the battle. The commentary in the PDF expands upon this idea further, laying out the scene as the music progresses.
  - Then Descend combines them all together into one big ball.
- More subtly, The Carnival is associated with clowns and harlequins. It makes its first (8-bit) appearance with John's kernelsprite, though the full version isn't unveiled until the showdown with Gamzee.
- Black Rose/Green Sun seems to be the Leitmotif for the Green Sun Plan.
- Many of the characters have associated instruments as well. The kids all have one, as do Terezi (harpsichord), and Vriska (electric guitar). The most extreme is probably Gamzee and his horns- in fact, his section of "Rex Duodecim Angelus" is not actually his leitmotif, it's the Black King's theme played on horns, mocking him.
According to The Rant for one Gunnerkrigg Court comic, Zimmy's theme is "Stress" by Justice.

Western Animation

Carl Stalling's piece "What's Up, Doc?", which opened most of Bugs Bunny's shorts from the late '40s onward. The cartoon of the same title even gives it a set of lyrics.
- Whenever Bugs made a cameo appearance in another WB cartoon, the Merrie Melodies theme would cue up. He made an appearance in the George Pal Paramount Puppetoon "Jasper Goes Hunting," and the accompanying music was an ersatz variation of the Merrie Melodies theme.
- Stalling was addicted to the used of Leitmotif, to the point that Warners animators joked, "Now, don't draw anything with a red pencil, or Stalling will give us 'The Lady in Red'!"
In the Peanuts specials, almost every character has their own theme (with Linus and Lucy sharing one that went on to represent the entire "Peanuts" universe).
In Batman: The Animated Series, nearly every character, and every villain, had a leitmotif that was associated with them. Nearly every leitmotif, with the exception of the Joker's, originated in the title card for their premiere episode, and thus was featured strongly in the soundtracks of the episodes they appear in.
- Batman's theme himself is quite possibly one of the most memorable ever conceived for the character, arguably moreso than Danny Elfman's from the 1989 movie (which Shirley Walker's enterpretation has many themes in common with).
- Two-Face, for example, had a short but haunting two/three tone melody motif that would play every time he was onscreen (whereas most had their motifs simply played in larger scenes), even if the episode had nothing to do with him (IE, if a character was passing by his cell in Arkham).
- The Joker, whose theme never played in a title card, had a whimsical but subtly creepy theme (plays at the end) that had a different version of it played (ofttimes with completely different instruments) for every episode he appeared in.
  - THIS video even has a subtle almost fourth-wall breaking nod to the theme of the animated Joker at the end.
- This idea was used expertly in "Perchance to Dream". As Wayne races to the top of a church belltower the Mad Hatter's theme is being played by heavy brass (as opposed to light, cheerful flutes as per norm) despite the fact he's doesn't appear to be involved in Bruce Wayne's current plight. Discerning viewers get to notice this, figure out the twist, and feel happy.
- In the origin story for Harley Quinn, the Joker is whistling his theme the first time they meet.
- Batman Beyond mostly had its own music, but would occasionally do a callback to leitmotifs for the previous series, and in the episode "Out of the Past," when Bruce Wayne is temporarily restored to youth and vigor, he and Terry take out the trash to a rock-anthem treatment of the BTAS main theme.
  - Another notable - and very effective - callback to the original BtAS score occurs in the episode "Disappearing Inque," when the aged Bruce Wayne appears in a suit of Batman Powered Armor to come to Terry's rescue.
  - Yet another one; in the episode "The Call", a brainwashed Superman ends up fighting Terry, and then follows him when he gets on the Batplane and goes to Mach 3. As this goes on, his theme plays in the background, but there is something wrong about it, somehow...
  - It gets slowed and "darkened" to show that Supes is Not Himself.
- In Superman: The Animated Series, the first line of the theme music serves as Superman's Leitmotif. Used to creepy effect in "Identity Crisis" with The Reveal of Bizarro, whose leitmotif has the first three notes in reverse order, and adds instruments to "darken" it.
In SpongeBob Squarepants, various locations have leitmotifs, most notably Mrs. Puff's boating school, the Barg'n'Mart, and the Krusty Krab. A smaller number of characters, most notably Mermaidman and Barnacle Boy, have their own themes as well.
- This theme tends to get associated specifically with Squidward.
In Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow all have their own musical motifs (Batman and Superman retain their melody motifs from their respective solo shows). Green Arrow even hums his own theme while swinging forth into battle at one point (and it was AWESOME and hilarious at the same time).
In Teen Titans, Mad Mod gets a noticeable musical motif.
In Inspector Gadget, every main character had his or her own theme. Gadget's was the main theme of the show, which played in almost every scene as a recurring part of the soundtrack. He also whistled it sometimes. Penny also had a fairly thorough theme playing in each of her scenes. Brain, Quimby and Dr. Claw each had a short motif that played when their scenes began, while Claw had a longer theme that played in the background afterwards.
Kim Possible has a few pieces of music used in specific situations, including Rufus's theme, which was put to lyrics as the "Naked Mole Rap" in a third season episode. All the major characters also had their own individual Leit Motifs which would occasionally pop up. The most frequently was Kim's theme, a high-energy guitar variation on the show's theme tune. Ron had his own (somewhat sillier) up-tempo guitar theme, although it shows up less often. Dr. Drakken is accompanied by looming strings, although it's often replaced with a flute when he's being silly. Shego receives a techno beat. Killigan is aided by the bagpipes, while Monkeyfist often appears accompanied with a monk-like male bass chant.
X-Men: Evolution has these for several characters, from full-on Anime-like image songs (Toad) to sinister little villain tunes (Magneto). Magneto's piece is even based on the music playing at Auschwitz at the beginning of the first live-action film. Angel, the only character in the show to operate as a traditional superhero, gets very heroic music.
- Scott and Rogue (as a duo) get one too. It's weird, seeing as they aren't the Official Couple, but nonetheless beautiful music.
The Boondocks has Uncle Ruckus whose presence is always preceded by a trombone tune, reminiscent of Jabba the Hutt's theme. Although not heard until Season 2, it is quickly noticeable.
Every engine in Thomas the Tank Engine had their own theme in the early years of the show.
Momo of Avatar The Last Airbender has a distinct upbeat theme that goes with how his presence is used as an indicator of things being less serious.
- For the reverse, Azula has a "meticulously malevolent" bell-like twinge that can be heard almost every time she's onscreen. Usually a sure sign that something bad's about to go down.
  - Played for Laughs during the volleyball scene in "The Beach".
  - And when she's in the middle of her Villainous Breakdown, we're treated to a disjointed amount of strings.
- Any time we see the Blue Spirit, we hear a "Tsungi Horn", a fictional instrument in the show made by altering the sound of a duduk. When he is engaging in stealthy moves, this changes to a vaguely bell-like sound, crescendoing and decrescendoing in time to the understated action. (This theme was even played briefly when the still-unpurchased/unstolen Blue Spirit mask went past Zuko and Iroh on a cart, before the character of the Blue Spirit emerged. You ALWAYS know when the Blue Spirit is about!)
- Apparently, every major character has a theme, as well as each nation, and even one for the Official Couple as a pair which gets a particularly swelling version in the last scene of the series. Iroh apparently had several, and Zuko's changed over time with his Character Development.
  - There's a cool moment in "The Boiling Rock" where Zuko and Sokka's leitmotifs are played together, signifying that they have become BFFS.
- Zuko and Azula share a Leitmotif because they're brother and sister. They just arrange it differently and use slightly different instruments so his sounds determined and serious, and hers sounds girlish, yet creepy.
- Sokka and Yue also have one, though it may or may not count as a leitmotif since it is essencially an instrumental version of the song Iroh sang in the episode Yue was introduced.
- Ozai's leitmotif once he's introduced as a character in the third season sounds scary and menacing, but in a cold, calculating way. When he announces his plan to burn down the Earth Kingdom, some insane-sounding violins are added to it.
ThunderCats uses leitmotifs extensively. Each major heroic character has one (Panthro sharing his with the Thundertank), as well as having leitmotifs for danger, warnings, certain locations, and battle.
Phineas and Ferb has leitmotifs for various characters, including Candace (a variation on the "universal taunt" melody), Perry (a James Bond-inspired jazz theme), and Dr. Doofenshmirtz ("Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.!").
- Doobie doo ba doo wah doobie doo ba doo wah PEEEEERRRRRRRRY!
- These are used more often than you might think. For locations and catch phrases, for example. There's the "I know what we're gonna do today" pling, "What cha'doin?" cute music, spy music when Perry gets his mission, Bavarian-like music whenever Doofenshmirtz appears, and overly sad music when Doof has a flashback. There are lots more.
Sideshow Bob is one of the only characters on The Simpsons to get a leitmotif.
- Appropriately enough, given the episode it was first used in, his theme is essentially The Jimmy Hart Version of the title music for Cape Fear.
  - This actually happened by accident; the composer used the Cape Fear music to drive home the parody and add to the cheesiness of the suspense. It wasn't meant to represent Bob, but since he was the bad guy, it naturally played only when he was onscreen. The producers ran with it and now it's quite explicitly his theme, always playing when he first appears in an episode (just in time for Bart and Lisa to shout in unison: "AAAAAAH! SIDESHOW BOB!")
- What about Duffman?
- Whenever villain Charles Montgomery Burns is in his mansion or is planning another evil scheme, you can bet you will hear that sinister music reminiscent of Citizen Kane's opening sequence. Release the sounds!
South Park has been known to do this with some one-shot characters, one notable example being Blanket from the episode "The Jeffersons".
The Spectacular Spider Man Animated Series has leitmotifs for Spidey from previous animated series starring said wallcrawler. The 1960s one and the 1990s one that appeared on Fox are both audible in the soundtrack music for the show.
Megatron of Transformers Animated has a hard, militaristic drumline. The Decepticons as a whole also seem to have a theme, consisting of severe, drawn-out strings.
- Meanwhile, Lockdown has an utterly metal guitar chord.
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee features an interesting theme for June which is a mix of Ominous Latin Chanting and a series of wind instruments.
The 1970s British pre-school cartoon Bod had a prominent theme tune for each of its characters, all of which were short, simple and catchy so that kids would memorize them quickly.
Several characters and situations in Ben 10 have these.
- Don't forget the hoverboard music.
In The Venture Bros.. an absurdly dramatic theme song always accompanies Dr. Byron Orpheus's theatrical outbursts, which comprise a majority of his dialogue. The Monarch has similar dramatic music that plays whenever he's being particularly commanding or villainous: "MINIONS!"
- A particularly ludicrous example of the use of Orpheus' leitmotif can be seen/heard when he's complaining about his junk mail.
- Hank and Dean have a quick musical sting (the last five notes of the show's theme song)that plays whenever they get excited about something, or when they do the "Go Team Venture!" salute.
- Tiny Attorney has a laconic, slightly off-key banjo-picking motif that plays whenever he goes into his 'simple country lawyer' routine in a thick Cajun patois - which draws no attention from his being a baby-size adult conjoined to the torso of an inbred simpleton.
In Doug, several characters, including Doug's sister Judy, bully Roger Klotz and twins Al and Moo have their own leitmotif.
- There were several situation/emotion leitmotifs, e.g. love, sadness, anxiety, etc.
Freakazoid's leitmotif plays virtually whenever the camera cuts to him.
- Pretty much every distinct character or situation gets it's own leitmotif. Notably, The Huntsman.
In Animaniacs, whenever the characters of one segment made a cameo appearance in another they would be accompanied by a few bars of their own segment's theme (the Animaniacs theme served as the motif for the Warner siblings, specially when they appeared in Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid!).
The Twins in Superjail!! have a eurodance-esque beat whenever they appear or are about to appear on-screen.
Several characters of Static Shock have their own leitmotif.
Digeri Dingo has his own background music that usually when he's plotting something or saying a funny line in Taz-Mania.
Every time Cho-Cho from Histeria! spoke, she'd be accompanied by the "Chopsticks" music.
Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda gets his own theme, natch. What is interesting is that while it plays the first time we see him (complete with Vachir's solemnly intoned "Behold Tai Lung"), and at several points throughout his incredible escape sequence, with all the gravitas, power, and chilling effectiveness you'd expect, it also appears in a subdued, pensive, even sorrowful tone when he stands before his former master just before their climactic battle, and again in a darkly tragic and heartbreaking iteration (complete with choral rendering!) as Tai Lung is attacking his father with his fists on fire. (As if we needed any more reminders of his Freudian Excuse and "Well Done, Son" Guy status—this is during his "All I ever did, I did to make you proud!" speech.) And a heartwarming, sweetly playful version is heard during the flashback to his Start of Darkness, when we see him as an adorable cub with Shifu and learning kung fu.
- The first time we hear Tai Lung's theme is when we meet Shifu, playing on his flute at the temple. Looks like Shifu's adopted son is still very much on his mind, even after 20 years in prison.
- There is also a theme just for Oogway, as well as another that seems to be for kung fu. And, of course, one just for Po. If one listens to the music during Po's fight with Tai Lung, each of the two themes will flourish as its character shines. And as Po starts to kick Tai Lung's butt legitimately, the "Hero" theme from the dream sequence at the beginning of the film comes back.
The Prince of Egypt makes some use of leitmotif. One of the more notable uses is a snippet of the melody of "All I Ever Wanted" (the part of the song where the lyrics are "This is my home") that plays when Moses is living in Midian with Tzipporah, signifying that he has found a place where he is truly happy, but he's still hiding from the task at hand. A Cherubic Choir also appears several times to signify a miracle occurring. The choral part becomes a lushly orchestrated theme right after Moses encounters the burning bush.
As befits her modus operandi, Ember McLain of Danny Phantom was the only villain with her own theme, which subsequently became her leitmotif; savvy viewers later on could tell that she was back from the fact that the new radio broadcasts were playing a New Age version of it.
There are several instances of unique character music throughout Courage the Cowardly Dog, but none quite as distinctive as the smooth, sinister beat of Katz.
- But we might as well mention the slow ragtime music for Muriel, the jumpy fiddle that usually goes with Eustice, the weird beat that plays whenever Courage springs into action and of course...Freaky Fred's theme, which has even gotten some remixes.
- Why don'tcha also mention the oriental sounding background music that usually follows Di Lun, ya fool?
In Codename: Kids Next Door, the spy-esque opening theme with variations becomes the music for the greater KND organization as a whole. In addition, The Delightful Children from Down the Lane have an eerie theme of their own, and the "Rainbow Monkey jingle" pops up whenever said mascots are involved.
Megas XLR uses its musical themes to great effect. The utterly metal "Blood Shot" plays during some heavy brawls, the ominous-sounding "Intrepid" plays whenever the cast is in danger and "Short Hair", Coop's battle theme usually play when he's kicking alot of ass! Several characters, both recurring and non-recurring, have themes of their own.
- Let us not forget or friends the Glorft who's appearance is usually accompanied by their menacing militaristic theme "Collision Course"
How to Train Your Dragon takes an interesting approach, using at least three recognizable "melody" leitmotifs as well as assigning particular instruments to particular characters. The Vikings are represented by thundering warpipes, the dragons by noisy brass instruments, a violin comes into play when Astrid is on the scene, and our stalwart hero, Hiccup, is represented by...a piping tinwhistle and/or flute. These instruments weave in and out of major themes such as:
- The flying theme, a bright and swelling melody which plays softly over the opening DreamWorks logo as the first music heard in the movie, resurges whenever Hiccup and Toothless are at their most Badass, is repeated when the pair are rescued by Stoick from drowning and the pair take flight together to face down the Red Death, and triumphantly finishes off the film with the rousing addition of a parade-ground drumbeat.
- The dragons theme, an almost swashbuckling/piratical melody which blasts into play the minute Hiccup says "Dragons!" and comes back in nearly every major scene involving them, including most of Hiccup and Toothless' flying scenes and several of the training sessions.
- The romantic theme, a gently swirling violin-heavy melody which makes a brief cameo during Astrid's epic walk away from the fireball at the beginning, reaches full bloom during her flight through the sunset clouds with Hiccup and Toothless and briefly reappears when she kisses Hiccup at the end.
- The Green/Red Death's theme, an earblasting melody which first appears in the dragons' den and again during the final battle, involving horror-movie-style frantic strings over booming brass and a deep, steady drumbeat reminiscent of heavy footsteps.
Lampshaded by Family Guy. Peter Griffin is awarded wishes by a genie. His first wish is for his own theme song. It doesn't work until he starts marching around the house.
- Also parodied when Stewie follows Peter around playing a tuba whenever he walks anywhere.
Ravess from Storm Hawks has a short string leitmotif whenever she and her squadron attacks.Since their weapons are violins, the're also the ones playing it.
Duckman had a recurring theme for villain King Chicken.
Garfield TV specials and shows would mark the entrance of Odie with a brief motif based on a hunting charge.
In The Mask cartoon, Stanley's dog Milo would mark his appearance with a little 5-note tune.
Parodied in an episode of King of the Hill, where Dale buys a keyboard and makes up leitmotifs for the guys. During a later scene, we hear Dale playing Boomhauer's theme, which Hank uses as an excuse to leave an awkward conversation with Peggy.
Some, if not all, of the main characters from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic have their own. Applejack's is a bluegrass country theme, Rarity's is a classical-sounding piece featuring a harpsichord, and Rainbow Dash's is a rock riff. Discord has a distinct tune that usually plays whenever he warps reality.
- The characters have also been noted to be seen idly humming the main theme.
Some characters in Recess have one, such as Butch, who usually has a creepy tune playing when he's around. The kindergarteners always have tribal music playing when they're around, and then there's the music that plays whenever T.J. has a plan.
- The Ashleys, the Diggers, and Hustler Kid all have their own themes as well. King Bob has one too, but it doesn't show up very often.
Invader ZIM has "Tak's Theme", which includes a special section for Tak's robot sidekick, Mi Mi. Of course, Tak was only in one episode, but since she was planned as a recurring villain, who knows how long the theme would have appeared?
In Batman The Brave And The Bold, Wonder Woman's leitmotif is the Lynda Carter series theme! Complete with a chorus singing "Wonder Woman!"
Transformers Prime has both the title theme and "We Have Returned" for the Autobots, while the Decepticons have their own self-titled theme that recurs throughout several other tracks.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Wilt, Coco, Mr. Herriman, Duchess, Goo, Cheese, and Terrence all had their own leitmotifs.
The bullies in Stickin' Around are always accompanied by a short electric guitar riff whenever they appear on screen or say anything.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 gives the Shredder an ominous letimotif with evil Ethereal Choirs. It's even used when the Demon Shredder appears, and it fits him nicely.

Real Life

Believe it or not, but this was a common occurrence for actual people during the American Civil War. Composers from both sides of the war wrote and published many songs honoring individual politicians, generals, and victorious campaigns, including—
- Birdseye and Alfred Lee's "U.S. Grant is the Man◊" (for Union General Ulysses S. Grant)
- Hermann L. Schreiner's "Gen. Lee's Grand March" (for Confederate General Robert E. Lee)
- Charles Young's "Stonewall Jackson's Grand March" (for Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson)
Every new U.S. President gets treated to Hail To The Chief.
- Every U.S. Military General also gets a the same, relatively simple flourish. Its length is tied to the number of stars the general has.
Close your eyes and imagine a wedding. See the bride walking down the aisle? Now, what do you hear?
- Bridal Chorus (Here Comes The Bride): Richard Wagner's Bridal Chorus from the opera Lohengrin (Here comes the bride...) or Jeremiah Clarke The Prince of Denmark's March
- Recessional: Felix Mendelssohn Wedding March from Op.61 suite of incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
- The sound of a divorce lawyer's car pulling up outside the church to hand out business cards?
Now that you're done with that, imagine a circus. There's a good chance that you might think of Entry of The Gladiators by Julius Fucik.
Who's the warm, gracious and funny person that comes to mind when you hear this?