Alice is the main character of the party. Bob is her sidekick. Charlotte is the titular Temporary Party Member. Devon is the minor character in the party. Ethan is Charlotte's superior or the setting's Big Bad. Oh, and if you're wondering, Alice, Bob and Devon are the classic Fighter, Mage, Thief trio.
Typical forms
- Played straight: Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. She turns out to be a villain, and the party eventually fights her.
- Justified:
- Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. They all suspect of Charlotte's intentions during their time together, and Charlotte feels unwelcome. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. Embittered by their mistreatment, Charlotte joins forces with Ethan, and the party eventually fights her.
- Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. They get along well, but unbeknownst to them, Charlotte is actually an agent of Ethan, sent to infiltrate A/B/C's ranks. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where they discover the truth and leave her. She fights the heroes immediately afterwards.
- Inverted:
- Charlotte is joined by Alice, Bob and Devon. Charlotte is the hero who discovers the true intentions of Alice, Bob and Devon, who are secretly under Ethan's payroll.
- Ethan is actually Good All Along and suspected of Charlotte's true intentions from the beginning, so he secretly hired Alice, Bob and Devon to keep an eye on her.
- Subverted:
- Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. She turns out to be a villain, but the party never fights her.
- Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. She turns out to be a villain, but has a last-minute change of heart and rejoins the heroes for the final battle.
- Double Subverted: Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. She turns out to be a villain, but the party never fights her... until they face her again and take her down.
- Parodied: Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte... in a session of Dungeons & Dragons! And Ethan is participating too! Alice is the GM and Charlotte is the Munchkin. Halfway through the plot, Alice declares Charlotte out of the party, and changes her allegiance. The rest of the party has to fight Charlotte in-universe. Charlotte Rage Quits.
- Deconstructed: Charlotte just doesn't fit the party. She has to keep her Dark Secret out of Alice, Bob and Devon's knowledge, affecting their dynamic and relationship. Eventually tensions boil to a point where Charlotte calls it quits, and the rest of the party has to agree that it's the best. Near the end, they learn she's a Psycho for Hire working for Ethan, and fight her over the betrayal, which stings more than her working for Ethan.
- Reconstructed:
- Zigzagged: Alice, Bob and Devon are joined by Charlotte. Charlotte stays with the party until a certain point in the story where she leaves them. She turns out to be a villain, but the party never fights her... until they face her again and take her down... at which moment they hesitate to attack her.
- Averted:
- Alice, Bob and Devon are never joined by Charlotte.
- Charlotte never turns out to be a bad guy.
- Enforced: There's a request from the higher-ups to have a story about betrayal intertwined with the main plot.
- Implied:
- Charlotte keeps showing signs that she will leave the party and turn on them.
- The fight takes place completely offscreen, and we only see the aftermath.
- Logical Extreme:
Tone and Style
- Exaggerated:
- Charlotte suffers from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and not only betrays the party, but also her boss Ethan, getting the Artifact of Power for herself and declaring herself the one true ruler. Ethan and the party are forced into an Enemy Mine situation.
- Every character that joins the party through the adventure becomes evil.
- Downplayed: Charlotte despises Ethan, leading to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork. She only joins the party on his orders because if she refuses, the collar with explosives will detonate and behead her.
- Played for Laughs: Charlotte leaves the party after a celebration night gone wrong where she went under a Trauma Conga Line. The party wants to apologize, but it's too late.
- Played for Drama:
- The whole process of Charlotte leaving the party is shown in detail.
- The party finds Charlotte's diary when she's away, detailing her plan, and the conflicts between duty and her relationship with the party.
- Played for Horror: Charlotte intends to get close to the party in order to murder them, one by one. She ends up liking murder so much, she also murders her boss.
Specific characters
- Lampshaded: While having a conversation, the party and Charlotte talk about the odds of a betrayal within the party taking place, and other parties with traitors in them.
- Invoked: While having a conversation, the party asks Charlotte why she joined them.
- Defied: The party is aware of Charlotte's true intentions, and plays their part without Charlotte knowing any better.
- Exploited:
- Discussed: The party and Charlotte discuss other cases where betrayal of a party went wrong and talk about the reasons someone has to turn on a party.
- Conversed: The party and Charlotte discuss other cases where betrayal of a party went wrong and talk about why they think those betrayals happened.
