Basic Trope: In an adaptation, a character assumed to be an original character turns out to be a canon character.
- Straight: The Film of the Book Troperia at first appears not to contain Big Bad Emperor Evulz. However, it turns out that Charlie, thought to be a Canon Foreigner, is actually Evulz.
- Exaggerated: Many characters turn out to be canon characters.
- Downplayed:
- The identity of "Charlie" is new, but it was known that Evulz was going to be in Troperia.
- Both Charlie and Emperor Evulz exist in the book, but in the film, they turn out to be the same person.
- Justified: Emperor Evulz was already known as a master of disguise.
- Inverted:
- Emperor Evulz turns out to be an original character, an In Name Only version of the book's character.
- Emperor Evulz as a title exists in both the source material and film, but Charlie is an original bearer of the title over one of the existing users.
- Subverted:
- When Charlie reveals he is evil, he says, "I am ... Emperor Everson!"
- Charlie is heavily linked to Evulz ... but then he dies.
- Double Subverted:
- He eventually takes on "Emperor Evulz" instead.
- Emperor Everson is still the film's version of Emperor Evulz under a different name.
- He comes Back from the Dead as "Emperor Evulz".
- After the heroes seemingly defeat Emperor Evulz, Charlie turns up alive and revels himself to be the real Emperor Evulz.
- Parodied: Charlie declares that he is now Princess Violet at the end of the film. Not only has she been introduced, she is standing next to him looking thoroughly confused.
- Zig-Zagged: Charlie first appeared in the adaptation, then gets included in later book series — as a completely separate character. However it turns out that Charlie was actually his past self who so despises him that he is willing to risk temporal paradox to kill him when he finds out what he will do disgusts even a hardened spy. However that is an alternate timeline version of him who would never become Evulz — hence why he didn't commit suicide.
- Averted: All original characters are actually original.
- Enforced:
- The author is trying to avoid It Was His Sled by introducing a new twist with Evulz.
- It would be impossible to depict Evulz in his original form convincingly, so they instead had him pre-ascension.
- The writers needed to add filler that would include Evulz in the first act (as ordered by the executives) without affecting the plot, so they made him Emperor Charles "Charlie" Evulz to slightly mask his identity.
- Lampshaded: "Of course — I should have recognized you from the start."
- Invoked: "Did you really think that I was just an ordinary man that nobody's ever heard of?"
- Exploited: This turns out to be Production Foreshadowing for the next book, which reveals that Emperor Evulz had always been Charlie.
- Defied: Alice and Bob, the protagonists, have Evulz tracked after their battle.
- Discussed: "I knew they wouldn't leave Emperor Evulz out of the movie. He had to be in it somehow."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Charlie appears inexplicably powerful and trounces beloved characters Alice and Bob easily; while it makes sense that Big Bad Emperor Evulz is that powerful, Charlie looks like a Creator's Pet until the twist.
- "Emperor Evulz" means nothing to the characters, as they don't know about the original book. When Charlie says he is Evulz, Alice and Bob are just confused.
- Reconstructed:
- Charlie is a vital part of the plot, but never steals the spotlight from the other characters.
- Even though Evulz doesn't mean anything to them, the fact Charlie has been hiding his identity is shocking enough for them to react the same way as the readers.
- Played for Laughs: The shocking twist is that Charlie is Dave, the Spear Carrier in the fifth chapter who fetches a book for Alice.
- Implied: It's never actually said that Charlie is Evulz, but there's many a Mythology Gag that connects the two characters.
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