Basic Trope: Someone from a family that used to be rich, but is now struggling financially.
- Straight: Iwan comes from the once-prestigious Tumuchs family. Now he's selling off family property to stay afloat.
- Exaggerated: Once, the Tumuchs house served as the trusted advisors of the king, and were set to marry into the royal family. But then their liege was slain by the dreaded Emperor Evulz, and the Tumuchs fell upon hard times. They are now flat broke, owing all their former fortune to All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks.
- Downplayed: The Tumuchs can afford a comfortable lifestyle, but are eclipsed by and envy their non-noble burgher neighbors.
- Justified:
- Iwan's an Upper-Class Twit who has thoughtlessly frittered away the family fortune.
- The Tumuchs' home country went through a war (either a Civil War or an attack by another outside nation) and the resulting chaos caused them to lose their fortune.
- Inverted: Iwan came from a poor family but is now rich, without any known integration into the upper class.
- Subverted: Iwan believes that the family has fallen on hard times, unaware that he's just been cut off for being an embarrassment to their name.
- Double Subverted: ...Only they actually are struggling, and he's responsible for their hardship, which is why' they cut him off in the first place.
- Parodied: The Tumuchs family can now only afford a house made out of solid silver instead of solid gold - everyone acts like they're in the gutter now.
- Zig Zagged: Iwan believes the family is struggling, but he's been cut off...but the reason he was cut off was because he was responsible for their hardship. Only that turns out to be a lie - his father cut him off so he'd actually go experience the outside world, and fabricated the poverty story to ensure that he wouldn't try to come back.
- Averted:
- The family wasn't rich to begin with.
- The family is, and has always been, rich and respected, even though some other upper-crust families have fallen on hard times.
- Enforced: Iwan is a playable character in Legends of Troperia; to prevent any Fridge Logic about him not using his family fortune to his advantage, the writers decide to make his family formerly rich.
- Lampshaded: "Didn't you guys used to have a Mercedes? What happened to that?"
- Invoked: Iwan was rich, but decided he wanted to lead a more ascetic life and donated his riches to charity.
- Exploited: Iwan's father cuts him off from the family fortune because Misery Builds Character.
- Defied:
- Iwan decides not to take the risky business deal.
- Iwan knows there's not much left, so he earns his own fortune.
- Discussed: "I know this sounds like an early 20th century novel, but yes, my grandpa really did own half of Upper Tropehattan, and yes, I am reduced to writing cheap drivel to survive."
- Conversed: "It's a shame that the Tumuchs lost their lovely mansion home. Where are they living at now?" "That horrible motel, Losealot."
- Played For Laughs: Iwan is a tremendous bore who puts on airs to disguise his financial woes, despite how everyone can see it.
- Played For Drama:
- Iwan grew up with everything he could ever want, but now is forced to adjust to having practically nothing to his name, despite not having the skills required to properly support himself or his family.
- The Tumuchs have helped keep local schools and orphanages afloat; now that they're struggling, those institutions are threatened as well.
- Implied: Iwan is poor, but he references "the family estate" from time to time.
- Deconstructed: Iwan Tumuch XIII lament how much they have lost and how they don't deserve what happened to them. The story goes through generations demonstrating their actions compared to other examples from other social classes. The Tumuchs enjoyed every advantage yet consistently squandered countless opportunities as 'beneath their dignity' and were shown to greatly prefer theft and violence over any sort of remotely honest work - even with ample assets that could have provided an easy life to productively manage with their educations. Even after their 'fall from grace' they are still far better off than any member of the middle class and could have turned it around at any time if they weren't so stubbornly hung up on the idea of being an aristocrat.
We used to have a a back button here, but we couldn't afford it anymore.
