Markup View

Author: LordGro

May 31st 2013 at 12:37:29 AM

[=@StarSword, Antigone3, Sackett, TheTitan99=]: I didn't really know for sure how narrow or literal this trope should be when I wrote up the description. So we'll have to decide that here.

But CrossingTheRubicon (as well as BurningTheBridges) are established figures of speech which can be used in a wide range of senses and contexts. "Destroying the (literal) invasion fleet" certainly is a subtrope, but much more specific.

I can imagine other means of transport/retreat (space ships, dimensional gateways, wormholes ...) the destruction of which is still "the same" trope rather than a different one. But crossing a river (like the Rubicon), for example, doesn't imply the same degree of irreversibility for *everyone* involved. Caesar himself (to stay in the picture) can't go back and avoid the conflict, but mutineers and deserters may still have a chance to bail out. If it's physically possible to ford a river in one way, then it's also possible the other way (or they might straightaway defect to Pompey). So while CrossingTheRubicon is a supertrope, it's so broad as to become a different trope in my eyes.

For the same reason, I feel that declaring your rebellion in a letter is not quite on the same level as literal ship-burning, as it doesn't make retreat *physically* impossible. I suppose the staff officers in the example could still stage a mutiny against Ramius and then blame him for everything that happened, including the letter. When the ships are burned, there isn't even that option.

[Note for readers: The trope definition has been widened since this post.]

@Antigone3: Can you give examples of fleet-burning outside of a military context? I thought about this, but I couldn't think of any non-military examples.

[=@Titan99=]: Does Batman lock up other people in the room with him, or is it just he and the Joker?

[=@JohnnyCache=]: Thanks, I had the feeling "pittoresque" wasn't quite right. But I think we should rather change the names of unclear Shipping tropes before we try to avoid the word "ships" in tropes that are about actual ships. This problem is bound to come up again, and 'FiringTheFleet' sounds really artificial.

[=@StarSword=]: Thanks for correcting the ''Warcraft'' example!