Basic Trope: Mysterious young female who is pivotal to the plot.
- Straight: Alice is an ethereal, fascinating young woman who meets The Hero, Bob. She is being pursued by The Empire and the Big Bad, Emperor Evulz, so Bob agrees to protect her and her lucky amulet in exchange for the use of her healing powers.
- Exaggerated: Aerith is a completely cryptic and inscrutable young woman who is Really 700 Years Old, has vast magical powers, is self sacrificing almost to the point of being a doormat, and holds a locket with the key to a utopia.
- Downplayed: Alice isn't that cryptic, and she looks like the Girl Next Door aside from her unusually dark eyes, but she can't give a satisfying explanation of where her amulet came from.
- Justified: Having to hide from Emperor Evulz, or just from a misunderstanding society at large, because of her gifts, leads to a certain sense of 'distance' from everyone else.
- Inverted:
- Subverted: Bob comes across Alice, who initially is a bit distant and ethereal seeming, but she was just distracted when he showed up. Her necklace turns out to simply be a gift from a girlfriend and isn't particularly plot relevant.
- Double Subverted:
- However, that is just a ruse- she has even greater secrets than initially imagined.
- Alice had been distracted because she hadn't been out in a city before and was captivated by a toy demonstration in the window. Talking with Alice reveals that the necklace she got from her girlfriend Carol is itself holding some kind of key. All Carol told Alice was that it was extremely important to unlock something, but never elaborated to Alice what “something” is, even when Alice asked.
- Parodied: Ordinary High-School Student Bob, wanting to be a great hero, goes to find any sort of mysterious girl, convinced that it'll set him on the path to defeating the Big Bad, who is simply his jerkass history teacher who happens to have white hair.
- Zig Zagged: Alice has a very special, ornate necklace... which is simply a gift from her best girlfriend... which said girlfriend stole from her uncle's collection of ancient artifacts... but the ancients make useless bric-a-brac too... however, after wearing it, Alice's healing powers surface...
- Averted: There are no mysterious waifs anywhere in the setting.
- Enforced: "As per the executive mandate, all of our games must feature a mysterious woman with magical powers sought after by the Big Bad, because it is the perfect way to make the Hero jump at the call."
- Lampshaded:
- "Are you the mysterious girl everyone is talking about? Could you please heal my wound?"
- "Alice, was it? Why do you look just like those female JRPG mascots who kick off the plot by simply being mysterious and vulnerable?"
- Invoked: Alice learns healing magic and attains a powerful magical charm greatly sought after by Evulz, knowing that a hero will come to her aid.
- Exploited: Evulz sends Alice as The Mole for him, knowing that her mysteriousness and inability to answer where she came from will entice Bob and make him an easy target.
- Defied: Alice makes a special effort to be as crystal clear and normal as she can, perhaps even rejecting powers and items if she feels it would draw attention from Evulz.
- Discussed: "This mysterious girl needs our help to save the world from Evulz."
- Conversed: "Hmm, magical powers, hiding a magical crystal, air of mystery... the Emperor will probably be after this character."
- Deconstructed:
- The mysterious waif's tendency towards self-sacrifice is easily exploited by Evulz, thus making quick work of her, and the party ends up grieving.
- Alice herself turns out to be the Big Bad, while The Empire pursuing her was trying to stop her Evil Plan. Nice going, Bob. This is why you shouldn’t trust mysterious people who are being pursued by authorities.
- Reconstructed:
- However, her magical powers allow her to return to life, or at least a guaranteed ascension to a higher plane.
- Alice became the Big Bad because of a Freudian Excuse of a Dark and Troubled Past that turned her into a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. The plan still needs to be stopped whether Alice renounces her plan and really falls for Bob or not; the story doesn't happen without her either way.
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