Violence Tropes

What they're about to do most certainly won't be peaceful or pretty!

This is a list of tropes about any form of violent conflict or acts of physical harm that are (deliberately) inflicted by one living being against another.

This is the inverse of Peace Tropes. Also see Injury Tropes, Bloody Tropes, Breaking and Destruction Tropes. This index is often (though not always) related to Death Tropes, which has quite a bit of overlap.

---

Tropes:

Sub-categories and trope indexes

• Abuse Tropes: Tropes about the infliction of (usually non-lethal) mental and/or physical trauma against other people, making them suffer.
  • Child Abuse Tropes: Tropes about children getting abused by their parents or other adults.
  • Sadism Index: Tropes about violence committed primarily for the perpetrator's enjoyment at the expense of their victim.
  • Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes: Tropes about acts of sexual violence that are forced on people out of ruthless lust.
  • A Tortured Index: Tropes about painfully harming people as a method of interrogation, punishment, or just plain sadism.
• Big Trope Hunting: Tropes about hunters/predators methodically chasing down, then violently capturing or killing, their quarry/prey.
• Choosing Death: Tropes about suicide, which is an extreme form of violent self-harm.
• Civil Unrest Tropes: Tropes about rioting and other forms of violent rebellion against authority or society in general.
• Combat Tropes: Tropes about fighting between two or more combatants.
  • Dueling Tropes: One-on-one fights between just two combatants only.
  • Military and Warfare Tropes: Tropes about wars, which are the largest and deadliest form of mass violence between people.
• This Index Slaps: Tropes about slapping or spanking someone.
• Murder Tropes: Tropes about homicide, which is when people (intentionally) kill other people.
  • Execution Tropes: Tropes about killing captive people (especially, but not limited to, capital punishment for condemned criminals in prison).
  • Genocide Tropes: Tropes about the systematic, targeted mass murder of large groups of people.
  • Murder in the Family: Tropes about the act of killing one's own kin.
• Terrorism Tropes: Tropes about violent actions that are committed in an effort to promote an extremist political ideology.
• Threatening Tropes: Tropes about intimidating people with threats of violent harm to coerce them into doing your bidding.
  • I Have Your Index: Tropes about kidnapping people and holding hostages captive, threatening them for personal gain.
  • Index at Gunpoint: Tropes about threatening people at (literal) gunpoint.

General/miscellaneous violence tropes

• Bystander Action-Horror Dissonance: An action sequence shifts to a much darker tone when we see how it's affecting those who aren't part of the fight.
• Corporate Warfare: When regular nonviolent competition between rival mega-corporations aren't enough, they decide to take up arms and go to literal war with each other.
• Deadly Game: A violent competition in which contestants are required to survive life-threatening dangers in order to win.
  • Beastly Bloodsports: A contest in which animals are forced to fight with each other to the death.
  • Blood Sport: A modified version of a sport with added violence.
  • Gladiator Games: A contest in which humans must fight with each other in mortal combat.
• Domestic Abuse: Violence between family members.
• First Rule of the Yard
• Homophobic Hate Crime: Anti-LGBT violence.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence
• Mob War: A violent conflict between rival criminal organizations, usually fought over control of territory or retaliation for previous violence.
• Prison Riot: Mass violence in a prison, usually involving a fight between rival gangs, or the inmates rebelling against the guards.
• Mohs Scale of Violence Hardness
• Red Is Violent: Due to red being the color of anger, blood, and fire.
• Slapstick: Cartoonishly comedic violence that's Played for Laughs.
  • Big Ball of Violence: Two or more people get into a fight and end up appearing as a ball of smoke with fists and feet constantly poking out.
• Violence Detector
• Violence Is Disturbing
• Violence is the Only Option
• Violence Really Is the Answer: Someone rejects pacifism or following a more peaceful resolution to a conflict.

Physical violence tropes

• Acid Attack: Using a highly corrosive chemical substance as a weapon to give people painfully disfiguring injuries.
• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: Hitting someone to gesture that they should stop talking.
• Bitch Slap: Striking someone across their face with a bare hand.
• Boom, Headshot!: Shooting someone in the head.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The adaptation has more violence than the work it is derived from.
• Bludgeoned to Death: Striking someone on their head until they die.
• Bully Brutality: The Bully inflicts extreme injuries on their victims.
• Chunky Salsa Rule: A video game goes for realism by having certain violent actions be as lethal as they would be in real life.
• Corporal Punishment: Inflicting painful injuries as a punishment for one's misbehavior.
• Dope Slap: Hitting someone for saying or doing something stupid.
• Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: If a kid attacks a grownup, it's not considered to be as big a problem as the reverse.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: When children's media shows someone suffering unexpectedly gruesome injuries. Often combined with Family-Unfriendly Death.
• Food Slap: Assaulting someone with a piece of food.
• Gasoline Dousing: Gasoline being poured onto a person or object and then being lit.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!
• Glove Slap
• Gorn: Graphic depictions of extremely bloody, gory violence for shock factor.
  • Bloody Hilarious: Extremely bloody, gory violence that's played for Black Comedy.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Extremely bloody, gory violence as commonly used in video games.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Painfully torturing someone to force them to reveal information.
• Kill on Sight
• Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: Men are more likely to fight while women try to talk things out first.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Someone receives a very severe, one-sided beating.
• Painless Death for a Price: Someone on death's doorstep is offered a Mercy Kill in exchange for something valuable.
• Police Brutality: When cops use unnecessary physical force against criminal suspects or innocent people.
• Pre-Violence Laughter
• Rugby Is Slaughter
• Shoe Slap: Assaulting someone with footwear.
• Tail Slap: A creature uses their tail to smack someone.
• Takes Ten to Hold
• Within Arm's Reach: During a fight scene, a character finds something in arm's reach that allows them to fight back.
• Would Harm a Senior: A younger person has no qualms with attacking elderly people.
• Would Hit a Girl: A male has no problem with harming females.
• Would Hurt a Child: An adult is perfectly fine with hitting children.
• Zen Slap: A Zen master hitting their disciple for the purpose of enlightening them.

Psychological violence tropes

• Dead Guy on Display: Publicly showing someone's corpse to instill fear.
• Finger in the Mail: Mailing the dismembered pieces of someone you've kidnapped/killed to your victim's loved ones.
• Forced to Watch: Someone is forced to watch a violent act.
• Insane Equals Violent: Being crazy automatically means you have no reservations towards harming or killing people.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure
• Make an Example of Them
• Scare 'Em Straight: Scaring people out of misbehavior by convincing them that horrible things will happen to them if they stray from the straight and narrow.
• Severed Head Sports: After decapitating somebody, throw and kick their head around to add further insult to injury.
• Snuff Film: A recorded film of someone being murdered.
  • murder.com: A video of someone getting killed is uploaded on the Internet.

Violent characters

• Ax-Crazy: A violently insane person who eagerly attacks people with little or no provocation.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Sadists who really enjoy inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering on helpless animals, just for their own sick amusement.
• Blood Knight: An enthusiastic combatant who really enjoys fighting with other people.
  • Colonel Kilgore: A military officer or soldier who really enjoys being deployed for battle.
  • Proud Warrior Race: A militaristic society of people who enjoy physical combat and proving their martial prowess.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Someone who enjoys both inflicting harm on (and also receiving harm from) other people.
• Cute and Psycho: They look sweet and charming, but are much more violently unstable than they appear to be.
• Dark Action Girl: An evil Action Girl ready to harm others just for personal gain.
• Egomaniac Hunter: An amoral sport hunter who really enjoys the thrill of pursuing and subduing their quarry a little too much. They don't really have much respect for the welfare of wild animals, and the most bloodthirsty examples view human beings as just another type of game.
  • Evil Poacher: A hunter who has no qualms with illegally killing endangered/protected wildlife for meat or trophies, or capturing live specimens to sell them off to another client.
• The Executioner: Someone whose job is to execute a death sentence, killing convicts for Capital Punishment.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Someone who is ridiculously easy to get angry, often to the point of violent aggression.
• Hostile Hitchhiker: Drivers may pick up this suspicious stranger off the road at their own risk.
• Killer Rabbit: A cute creature that is still very violent and dangerous.
• Mad Bomber: Someone who plants and detonates explosives to blow up as much shit as they can.
• Monster Clown: An evil clown who is often homicidal.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The villain wants to wipe out all life in the world (or universe).
• Professional Killer: Someone who regularly commits murder as a paid job.
• Psycho Electro: A violently crazy person with electrical superpowers.
• Psycho for Hire: A hired thug who really enjoys getting paid to hurt other people.
• Psychopathic Manchild: A violently insane villain with disturbingly childlike or immature tendencies. These types often treat hurting other people as some sort of game.
• Pyromaniac: Someone who loves to set things on fire or blow them up. May include a deadly desire to incinerate other people as well.
• Sadist: A person who really enjoys hurting people.
• Serial Killer: A murderer who gradually kills a series of victims.
• Serial Rapist: Someone who regularly engages in sexual violence as a sick hobby.
• Sociopathic Soldier: A ruthless war criminal who has zero qualms over committing violent atrocities against enemy prisoners or innocent civilians.
  • General Ripper: A bloodthirsty, warmongering military commander who has very little respect for their own troops' lives, and even less mercy for enemy forces or unlucky civilians who get in their way.
    • Insane Admiral: The naval counterpart of the above.
• Spree Killer: A mass murderer who kills many people during a quick rampage.
• Torture Technician: Someone who is an expert user of tools that can inflict intense pain on people.
• Undying Warrior: An immortal fighter devoted to a martial lifestyle.
  • Immortal Assassin: An undying killer who is pursuing a specific target.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Mess with her significant other, and you're dead (or at least you'll wish you were).
• Warhawk: A warmongering politician or activist who's eager to see their (real or imagined) national enemies getting bombed to oblivion. If they're unwilling to enlist in the military and experience combat on the front lines themselves, then they are also chickenhawks.
• Yandere: A person that is extremely obsessive and clingy over the person they admire, and will do anything to make their love true.

---