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openSignificant differences between different versions of the work Literature
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, near the end of the book, Malfoy says he has to kill Dumbledore because otherwise Voldemort will kill him. Dumbledore's answer in the American version:
Dumbledore's answer in the British version:
openThe inconspicuous Literature
Hi
What's a good trope for a character who is retiring, shy, doesn't leave much of an impression on people around her, just gets on with things in the background, doesn't stand out in a crowd or indeed at all, and once she's out of the scene, other people struggle to remember her face and general appearance? The Faceless doesn't really seem to fit, and I'm looking for something that conveys an ides of "The Anonymous" or "The Inconspicuous". Thanks!
openWhat is this trope again? Literature
Character A is an orphan, adopted into a very wealthy family. Character A has a hard time adjusting to his new life, but character A's sisters, with various professions, starts teaching character A. When he gets tested in an exam from each of them, character A, for some reason, passes it with flying colors by accident, as he just does them half-assedly, to the point he accidentally invented something new for humanity.
openDangling reference in narration Literature
When a narrator (or similar) purposefully refers to a part of the story that doesn't exist, for comedic purposes. Not restricted to literature.
Examples:
- [[Literature/Molesworth Molesworth]] would often have full-page illustrations saying "For story, see" plus a page number which didn't exist
- A book whose blurb contains dialogue between two actual characters, but the dialogue doesn't exist in the story
- Look Around You having every On the Next refer to a fictional episode
openPretend the murder went right Literature
Someone intended to kill one person, but instead killed an Identical Stranger. Is there a trope covering the intended victim pretemding to be the actual victim, thereby causing the killer to think he got the right person?
openMy Favorite Color Is Me Literature
A character's favorite color is their own natural body color. Example: In Wings of Fire, there's a dragon named Carnelian who has red scales and also says her favorite color is red.
openvillian or "villian" who gathers heroes to face a larger evil Literature
A villian (or a hero who is pretending to be a villian) who instigates events to either gather heroes or prepare the world for a coming greater evil, very specifically by presenting themselves to the world as a threat that needs to be faced/answered. Perhaps going so far as to put out a contract out on themselves.
openLow-key PragmaticVillainy? Literature
For the novel Firefly: Carnival.
The crew needs to make some money quick, so River, Jayne, and Wash head to a casino, where River uses her Psychic Powers to read a futuristic roulette wheel and maintain a winning streak, starting with one platinum, doubling it every win, and soon equalling that casino's record take. She chose the casino well, though, and because others keep betting with her and losing, the house isn't actually losing money. So the casino owner slides up, tells then to stay at this table, spreads around champagne, and when River hits the record, takes them up to his office, pays them, gives them more champagne, summons a car to take them back to Serenity, and politely asks them to leave and never come back.
The guy isn't a villain, he's actually one of the more decent characters in the book, but Downplayed Pragmatic Villainy seems the best fit for this to me. Is there a better one?
Edited by ErikModiopenHide at the scene Literature
A person has just committed a murder. In stead of escaping the scene of the crime, hoping no one will see them, the culprit hides at the scene, waits for others to show up, and then leaves the hiding place and pretends they came with everyone else.
openI'm finally ready for a relationship with you! Oh, you've moved on...damn Literature
Y'know when there's a will-they won't-they with two characters, maybe the love interest (LI) doesn't want to be with the Main Character (MC) because they're both the same sex, or of a lower social class, or they just don't think they're worthy of the MC. Regardless, they spend a lot of time pining and vacillating on whether a relationship is right yada yada yada.
Is there a trope for when the MC just straight up moves on? They get tired of the indecision and just straight up leave, finally dating one of the other people that have also been vying for their heart.
Maybe the LI finally confesses but the MC is already happily dating someone else, or has finally accepted that promotion 5000km away, or if the LI takes long enough, maybe the MC is already happily married and expecting a child.
I'm just tired of reading fanfic where this scenario is one of the only sources of tension.
openThe Company Officer Literature
Predator: If It Bleeds, short story "Devil Dogs." A guy from something called Section Seven is accompanying a Marine crew. Section Seven is made up of ex-military people, but answering to the Company board, and he's there to ensure Company assets are looked after, ostensibly having the last word in command decisions. Does this fit under The Political Officer, or a different trope?
openLove triangle but for pain? Literature
So, it's like this.
Alice loves Bob, and they used to date. Bob used to date Alice, but after Alice broke his heart, he fell in love with Carol. Bob still loves Alice, but like a little sister instead of a lover. Carol is best friends with Alice, and doesn't want to hurt Alice by dating Bob, even though she is also in love with him.
Alice says that if Bob and Carol get together, she'll support it, but will secretly be hurt. Bob is getting pushed back and forth between Carol saying "Alice loves you, be with her" and Alice saying "You love Carol, go be with her."
Meanwhile, Bob is hurt because the woman he loves and his best friend / little sister figure are both rejecting him.
Are there any tropes like that?
openLove triangle but for pain? Literature
So, it's like this.
Alice loves Bob, and they used to date. Bob used to date Alice, but after Alice broke his heart, he fell in love with Carol. Bob still loves Alice, but like a little sister instead of a lover. Carol is best friends with Alice, and doesn't want to hurt Alice by dating Bob, even though she is also in love with him.
Alice says that if Bob and Carol get together, she'll support it, but will secretly be hurt. Bob is getting pushed back and forth between Carol saying "Alice loves you, be with her" and Alice saying "You love Carol, go be with her."
Meanwhile, Bob is hurt because the woman he loves and his best friend / little sister figure are both rejecting him.
Are there any tropes like that?
openCover art style shift Literature
So, the situation. On original release, whoever designed the book series' covers, thought it's a good idea to make character appear "cool" and "punky" (possibly thinking it would appeal to the target audience, the teenagers), which doesn't even fit their personalities, or series' morale... as well as draw a visible breast to female lead (which only gets more noticeable due to outfit choices), despite it being made pretty clear that by the start of the series, she's thirteen (if convert into human years; she's celestial); she only starts ageing up at normal speed later, as she starts turning into human.
When the series got republished, covers were redesigned to both give characters more chaste outfits, and make them actually look their age.
I'm looking for something to reflect that design has changed significantly between first and second editions.
openCharacter who's story is in the background, but foundational to the series or multiple series Literature
So, this is largely coming from one particular author, Micheal J Sullivan, and the Riyria revelations, legends of the first empire, and the rise and fall series. Each one focuses one their own self-contained and closely related stories (other than the obvious impact of the the past on the present, these are all set in the same world, but spaced out over the course of 3000 years).
The character in question is an immortal being who can see the future, had previously done evil, but is now doing his best to guide the world towards good to redeem himself, and not through direct obvious actions himself, or as a ruler or god or anything, but quiet, relatively subtle actions. There's some obvious tropes in there itself, but I'm more trying to figure out exactly his role, both within the narrative, and as the larger framing of the multiple series. Greater scope paragon was the closest I found for his actions, but subtle.
The real trope I'm trying to find is his role, his story, being the background and foundation for the scenarios of all three series. Each story is telling its own story, but is also telling his, slowly, and that second, slower narrative is the actual focus of all the works. Various minor things that are meaningless without context, but with context tell their own background story which is the frame on which all the other series rest. This seemingly secondary or background narrative which is actually the hidden primary one.
openChanging the rules of a contest mid-stream Literature
I'm trying to come up with a trope for a situation where the format of a contest is changed mid-stream by the organizers due to unforeseen circumstances. The ones I'm aware of that might fit are Moving the Goalposts, Sudden Gameplay Change, and Obvious Rule Patch.
The example is from volume 9 of Reign of the Seven Spellblades. School-organized tournaments are usually round-robin and scored on points, but because two of the four finalist teams semi-voluntarily drop out after the first two matches, the faculty change the third match between the two remaining teams to winner-take-all and set up a bonus round for the runners-up.
Edited by StarSword
Is there a trope for when a work satirizing a genre becomes more famous than the thing its satirizing, to the point where many people’s only knowledge of the genre comes from the satirical work? (Sometimes to the point where the satire is no longer noticed.) Examples are usually historic works.
Examples: - Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey was satirizing melodramatic Gothic novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho, but Austen is far more famous now than any of those novels.
- Don Quixote was satirizing a genre of chivalric romance, but nothing from the genre it was satirizing is remotely as well-known as it.
- Romeo and Juliet was apparently satirizing a genre of romance plays but has displaced them in fame so greatly that it’s far from obvious these days that it even was a satire.
Edited by Galadriel