A character is
Monster Munch if they're only there to be killed — and often eaten, hence the trope name — by whatever it is that's lurking in the shadows. Their death usually comes
within a scene or two of their introduction, and it's literally the first thing of importance that they contribute to.
Often, springing out at them is actually how the monster is discovered by the protagonists or revealed to the audience. Or else it's how we find out that the
Killer Rabbit is not your average fluffy bunny, or just to demonstrate exactly what horrible way it kills you.
Whatever the circumstances, the only point of their death, and therefore of their existence, is to show off the monster.
This trope differs from
Sacrificial Lamb in that the death isn't to provoke an emotional response (although it may do) from characters or the audience, but for more practical purposes.
Simply dying to tell us about the monster doesn't fulfill this trope: a character is only
Monster Munch if they have no other role than as a snack.
This character is often a
Red Shirt (or sometimes a
Mook, because monsters don't always remember whose side they're on). The distinction is that in this trope the character is killed by a monster or animal for 'animal' reasons, typically for food. They needn't be literally eaten to fulfill this trope, though: the creature in question might, for instance, drink their blood, or lay eggs in them (although this is unlikely to qualify unless it's a very short gestation).
Examples
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Film
- When the T-rex gets loose in Los Angeles in Jurassic Park II: The Lost World, there's a brief shot of a random civilian being eaten. He was never seen before, and presumably not since.
- Played with in Galaxy Quest. In the original TV show, Guy Fleegman played a One-Scene Wonder Red Shirt who "got eaten by a lava monster before the first commercial." Because of this, he spends most of the movie freaking out that this is precisely what's going to happen to him (especially given that no one seems to know his last name). By the end, though, he's willing to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save the ship and the Thermians, and Fred points out that maybe he was really the Plucky Comic Relief all along. In the end, not only does he survive, but when the show is uncancelled, he's recast as the Security Chief.
- As alluded to in our page description, Sirs Bors, Gawain, and Ector in Monty Python and the Holy Grail exist entirely to be killed by the Killer Rabbit.
- During the arena execution scene in Attack Of The Clones, one of the Geonosian picadors pokes the nexu with electro-pike. The nexu gets pissed off, pounces, and eats him.
Literature
- The prologue of A Game of Thrones features three characters, two of whom immediately die at the hands of the Others, proving that they do exist after all. Somewhat subverted in that they both come back as wights, so this isn't, strictly speaking, their only role.
- Ensign Davis in the prologue of Redshirts exists purely to be eaten by a Borgovian Land Worm. Another unnamed ensign got eaten by an ice shark off-screen. Since the book's premise is turning the titular trope inside-out, the presence of Monster Munch shouldn't be surprising.
Live Action TV
- A young Carmine Giovinazzo in the very first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who pretty much is only there to be killed by the vampire and is credited only as "Boy".
- Supernatural's Cold Opening usually involves a random civilian being killed in spectacular fashion (and often eaten) by the Monster of the Week.
- Star Trek: The Original Series. While Red Shirts died in great numbers on this show, they were sometimes killed by the Monster of the Week, often in the first scene.
- "Obsession". A couple of red shirt security personnel are drained of blood and killed by the vampire cloud in the opening scene.
- "The Devil in the Dark". Two miners and an Enterprise Security man are destroyed by the Horta's acid secretions, one in the first scene.
- ''Wolf in the Fold". Several women are slaughtered by the "Jack the Ripper" entity during the episode. One of them died before the opening credits.
- Various small mammals in Dinosaurs existed only to be the dinosaurs' food, even though they were sentient and sometimes had dialogue.
- LOST. The Pilot gets killed by The Monster right after he is seen. The only other thing he does that's important is always wear a ring, and that only briefly comes up in Season 4.
Tabletop Games
- In Traveller Double Adventure 5: The Chamax Plague, one of the NPCs who accompanies the PCs on their mission is Cal Yotisk. The referee is encouraged to use him as the first victim of the alien Chamax to show the PCs what they're up against.
- Basic Dungeons & Dragons supplement GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, adventure "Toys of the Madman". The PCs and a few NPCs are kidnapped and placed in a dungeon. Some of the NPCs are there to be killed and eaten by monsters to show the PCs what they're up against.
- In Warhammer 40000, the necrons were introduced by having them wipe out an entire convent of Sisters of Battle. Fits here because in that edition the necrons existed purely to kill any living thing they came across.
Video Games
- Lester and Sarge in StarCraft. They're a pair of luckless Confederate troops who appear in a single cutscene that ends with them being killed offscreen by a pack of zerglings and hydralisks.
- In the second level of Half-Life 2 the Combine start headcrab-shelling the outskirts of City 17 to try and kill Gordon. At one point you get to watch as a headcrab latches on to a civilian's head and turns it into a zombie (or Mercy Kill him before he gets assimilated, whichever floats your boat).
- Cooper, the radio man in the first Dino Crisis, doesn't even make it through the opening cinematic before a T-Rex snarfs him down like a bon-bon.
