Basic Trope: Using knives in combat is an underhanded tactic and people wielding them are unscrupulous.
- Straight:
- Bob the spy is the team's Unscrupulous Hero and The Sneaky Guy, and he specializes in fighting with daggers.
- The Mooks are rogues and they are armed with knives.
- Exaggerated: Bob is a Consummate Liar, a Manipulative Bastard, The Mole and a shapeshifter, and he commits all his kills with an hidden poisoned dagger.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a Guile Hero and his favorite weapon is a parrying dagger.
- Bob is the ranger: he's a Combat Pragmatist because "fair play" isn't a concept in the wilderness; he carries a knife that can be used for cooking, woodworking, and fighting.
- Justified:
- Spies like Bob are trained to not draw attention, so they do not carry heavy equipment, instead they go for easy-to-conceal weapons like daggers.
- Bob grew up in the Wretched Hive; he uses a dagger because he couldn't afford a bigger, costlier weapon, and he's a Combat Pragmatist because he Had to Be Sharp.
- Inverted:
- Bob puts Honor Before Reason and uses a knife.
- Spies use very huge swords when assassinating someone.
- Bob's teammate Clay is The Big Guy and wields a BFS, being much more aggressive and direct with his fighting style, while still being much more idealistic and hopeful.
- Subverted: The team tries to reach for a spy named "Bob", known as the "stabbing fiend" expecting him to be an underhanded stealth expert... but when they actually meet him, he's a big, friendly Boisterous Bruiser.
- Double Subverted: ...And then Bob shows the team why he's called the "stabbing fiend", lowering the guard of an unsuspecting enemy with his appearance.
- Parodied:
- People do not trust Bob anymore just because he used a knife to cut food instead of eating with his hands.
- The smaller the weapon, the sneakier the wielder. To the point that toothpick wielders are Stealth Experts.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is an unscrupulous dagger-wielder, but becomes more idealistic and switches to a short sword... before relapsing in his old personality, while keeping the short sword. Then he turns nice again, but returns to using knives...
- Averted:
- Spies use a variety of weapons, but daggers aren't one of those.
- Combat knives are used by many characters regardless of how honest they are.
- Nobody in this setting acts underhanded.
- Nobody in this setting fights with daggers.
- Enforced: Bob is the Critical Hit Class in a game, and he's restricted to using knives instead of stronger weapons because of Competitive Balance.
- Lampshaded: Just after Bob stabs an enemy In the Back, he comments: "Never trust a man carrying a dagger".
- Invoked: Since he doesn't care about honor, Bob chooses to train to be an assassin and using daggers as a living.
- Exploited: Big Bad Emperor Evulz is aware that he's a juicy target for assassins, so he wears 24-Hour Armor to defend himself from stabs.
- Defied: While Bob is a thief and wields daggers, he strives to be a Gentleman Thief and believes in Honor Among Thieves.
- Discussed: "Why aren't you worried of Bob turning on us? Look, he's got a dagger!".
- Conversed: "Why do all rogues in RPGs carry knives?".
- Implied: Bob is a very infamous assassin Shrouded in Myth; we never see him on screen, but he's portrayed with a dagger hanging from his belt.
- Deconstructed: Out of fear of double agents, all daggers are confiscated and production of them is prohibited.
- Reconstructed: ...But spies like Bob are trained to hide their daggers away, and didn't care about laws in the first place, so this isn't even an inconvenience for them.
- Played For Laughs: Bob and Clay are snarky, knife-wielding Bantering Baddie Buddies.
- Played For Drama: Bob was always assumed to be Carl's closest friend, but he reveals himself to be The Mole by betraying Carl and stabbing him In the Back.
- Played For Horror: Bob can impersonate anybody's loved ones before delivering an Instant Death Stab, which makes him a source or Paranoia Fuel in-universe.
Go back to the main page, and watch out for those knives.
