Markup View

Author: 69BookWorM69

Sep 24th 2012 at 10:56:49 AM

@ bananasloth You're welcome. Glad to be of service.

Once upon a time some tropes had subcategories (Type 1, Type2, ...). You could do a soft split in the examples. At the very least, you have 1) the softening lie that is told to protect someone from the AwfulTruth (told by those in the know) and 2) the "good faith" investigation that is incomplete in some fashion, yet is accepted until other info comes to light. Depending on how many examples can be found, and on trends in media, these may be or become distinct subtropes.

As far as FakingTheDead goes, that could be a subtrope of this, though this one is more about a plot or subplot involving a deceived character being undeceived (by someone else or by their own efforts)--the [=POV=] is the other way round ("...this trope focuses on a significant character to whom the death is important, not the character who is believed to be dead. "). This one being a revelation, it can serve as a sequel to FakingTheDead, unless the initial deception is in the backstory. Of coourse, FakingTheDead could simply be for a general audience and no bereaved loved one searches for the truth (in other words, it can stand alone). If I had to call it. I'd plump for Sister Trope or "may overlap".

RipVanWinkle can only be tenuously related, if at all. Sure, if you're gone long enough, you might be considered dead, and someone ''might'' tell the kids such a tale, but there doesn't seem to be any necessity for the deception inherent in that trope. It isn't covering for a messy gunshot suicide or a murder with embarrassing or gruesome details.

ReleasedToElsewhere seems to be related; the revelation of this trope could be that one (in other words, that is one possible answer). This trope is more generally about explaining a death as less distressing and more commonplace and "unlucky", with the more sinister or distasteful truth coming out a a later date. This one may be a supertrope to ReleasedToElsewhere.

As far as SubTrope SuperTrope relations, that applies if all examples of the one are examples of the other as well--one trope is a specific subset of the other. HeroBall and VillainBall are both types of IdiotBall. A SisterTrope is when a similar thing in done in different ways or to different characters (HeroBall and VillainBall are siblings).

@ [=TBeholder=] This may turn out to be a SuperTrope. Perhaps bananasloth has found a MissingSupertrope.