Basic Trope: A patch of mud either slows a character down or traps them on the spot.
- Straight:
- Bob is forced to wade through a swamp and encounters deep mud that slows him to a crawl.
- Bob gets stuck after trying to go through a large mud pit.
- Exaggerated:
- Many characters get stuck in mud.
- The mud Bob encounters acts like quicksand, quickly sucking him down after he gets mired.
- Downplayed:
- The mud Bob encounter doesn't trap or even slow him down that much, but wading through it is nonetheless a miserable experience.
- Only Bob's foot makes contact with the mud and it takes him a second to get it out.
- Justified: The mud is really thick and/or really deep.
- Inverted: Bob gets Covered in Mud.
- Subverted: Bob appears to be stumbling into a mud pit, but he walks around it at the last second.
- Double Subverted: While doing so, Bob accidentally walks into another mud pit.
- Parodied: The ground beneath Bob turns into mud, with absolutely zero reason or explanation.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob encounters multiple mud pits, but frees himself everytime.
- Averted: No one encounters mud.
- Enforced: "We need to show that the swamp is dangerous somehow."
- Lampshaded:
- "Why is this stuff so sticky?!"
- "I told you to stay away from this swamp!"
- "Help! Get me outta here!"
- "I should've avoided this swamp..."
- Invoked:
- Alice intentionally got Bob stuck in he mud so he'd be easier to kill.
- Bob has a power or device that lets him turn the ground into mud as he wishes.
- Exploited: Alice finds Bob trapped in a mud pit and offers to pull him out for a hefty price.
- Defied:
- Bob refuses to go anywhere near the swamp, not wanting to risk getting trapped in its muck.
- Alternatively Bob does go through the swamp, but stays far away from any muddy areas he sees.
- Bob uses a power like Flight or Teleportation to avoid the mud.
- Discussed: "That swamp's ground isn't much of a threat. It's the animals there you have to worry about."
- Conversed: "Did you see that part in the documentary where the elephant got stuck in mud?"
- Implied: Alice warns Bob to avoid the muddy areas of the swamp he's planning to cross.
- Deconstructed: Bob manages to escape or is freed from the muddy trap, but he's traumatized over his near death experience.
- Reconstructed: Bob is able to get over his past experience, and opts to avoid large mud pits from now on so it doesn't happen again.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is more annoyed than anything about his situation.
- Played for Drama:
- Bob dies after getting mired, either from drowning or from exhausting himself trying to get free.
- Bob's friends get stuck as they try to pull him out.
- An herbivore dies after getting stuck in a mud trap and its carcass attracts multiple predators to the same fate.
Back to Mucking in the Mud
