Basic Trope: Birds of prey are portrayed as menacing and villainous.
- Straight: Aquila the Eagle is a fearsome predator who tears innocent prey animals to shreds.
- Exaggerated: Aquila is a giant, terrifying eagle who tears apart other animals just for fun.
- Downplayed: Aquila, like other carnivores, is merely eating prey animals to survive and isn’t excessively cruel, but her keen senses and sharp talons still make her a terrifying threat to the mouse protagonist.
- Justified:
- In nature, carnivorous animals can be somewhat brutal in the way they tear into prey, and some birds of prey are known to attack each other.
- The protagonist is a mouse, and therefore, a bird of prey could and would kill him in an instant.
- Inverted: Aquila is a very kind eagle who tirelessly cares for her chicks, and even feels a bit of empathy and respect for the prey animals she’s forced to kill for sustenance.
- Subverted: Aquila is said to be a vicious predator, but she’s actually quite timid.
- Double Subverted: Aquila is timid around humans, but when introduced to another eagle, they immediately spring into a bloody brawl.
- Parodied:
- Kassie the kestrel is treated by humans as a terrifying predator, despite being one of the smallest falcon species.
- At the zoo, Bob tells his friends how terrifyingly vicious eagles are…while an actual eagle waddles around, twittering weakly.
- Zig-Zagged: Aquila is depicted as brutal when she’s hunting prey, but most other non-avian predators are depicted similarly, and she still acts like a normal eagle otherwise.
- Averted: The brutality of birds of prey is not emphasized.
- Enforced: The author chose a natural predator of his mouse protagonist to serve as the main antagonist.
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