Basic Trope: A unhinged or psychotic character for whom knives are the weapons, possibly implying elements of their personality.
- Straight: Bob shows a preference for knives, and is less stable than his peers.
- Exaggerated: Bob practically foams at the mouth as he describes, in ridiculous detail, the finer points of every single kind of knife in his possession and how he might use them.
- Downplayed: Bob will attempt to use a knife only if there isn't a much more suitable weapon for a given situation and is only marginally more dysfunctional than the layman.
- Justified:
- Knives are fairly easy to acquire and conceal compared to other weapons.
- Bob lives in a time/place where knives often serve as a multi-purpose tool and an Emergency Weapon.
- The paramilitary that trained Bob specifically selected him as a close quarter specialist due to his unhinged personality, for the psychological effect that fighting a knife-wielding psychopath has on the enemy.
- Inverted:
- Bob is firmly non-violent and more firmly against using knives, even for preparing food.
- Bob wields knives, yet he's the Only Sane Man.
- Bob is a Cold Sniper who scoffs at the idea of getting anywhere near the people he kills.
- Subverted:
- Bob wields knives and is unhinged, but switches to a handgun he secretly keeps in his jacket when in a bind.
- Bob is a chef who is only enthusiastic about knives as kitchen tools, and balks at the idea of using them as weapons.
- Double Subverted:
- When out of ammo for above handgun, he scoffs at the gun and switches to another knife.
- When the chips are down, Bob uses his precious kitchen tools to fight while laughing maniacally.
- Parodied: Bob inserts the names of his favourite knives into the closing credits, starring as themselves.
- Zig Zagged: Bob starts a fight with a knife, but gets disarmed so he switches to a handgun. Handgun runs out of ammo, so he switches to a smaller knife in his boot. When he's disarmed again, he steals a rifle from an enemy. When that runs out of ammo, he removes the bayonet from the rifle and uses that as a makeshift knife.
- Averted: Bob prefers knives, but is perfectly mentally stable. Alternatively, Charlie, who prefers sniper rifles, is the crazy one.
- Enforced: The author believes that Insane Equals Violent, so an unhinged person would automatically become obsessed with collecting knives.
- Lampshaded: "Bob Report, knife aficionado and moderately violent psychopath, at your service."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: An enemy of Bob's challenges him to a knife fight, knowing that Bob's ego wouldn't let him pass up the challenge. Once the fight starts, his opponent shoots him.
- Defied: Bob's knives are confiscated.
- Discussed: "What is with knives and bringing out the worst in people?"
- Conversed: "Bob is really attached to his knife. I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a serial killer or something."
- Deconstructed:
- Because of his mental problems as well as his inability to control it, he stabs himself.
- Knives are too small to be used in a direct fight. Anybody with a sword or larger weapon has Bob at a disadvantage.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob is a Combat Sadomasochist who doesn't mind hurting himself.
- Bob doesn't fight fairly; he uses stealth and ambush tactics to ensure his enemies never get a chance to retaliate.
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