Madrugada
Since: Jan, 2001
#2: May 15th 2011 at 4:24:56 PM
I think you're on to something here. If I'm understanding you and the existing trope correctly, Threshold Guardians is defined as a being that prevents The Hero from doing something until he's fulfilled a certain set of requirements necessary for The Quest. A Crossing Guard interferes with anyone who wants to pass a certain point, no matter who they are or what they're doing. Right?
edited 15th May '11 4:25:10 PM by Madrugada
Madrugada
Since: Jan, 2001
#4: May 15th 2011 at 5:29:07 PM
That's specifically Gaming-related — A Crossing Guard in place to prevent Sequence Breaking
Total posts: 4

I'm bringing this up here because it's not quite a YKTTW and not quite a proposal for page action, though it could end up being either.
I had the idea recently to propose a trope about portal guardians; that is, the way that fords, bridges, passes, gateways, and crossing-places of all varieties tend to have a sort of Genius Loci protector (for the sake of this discussion I'll call this trope Crossing Guards). We do have Threshold Guardians - however, that trope is quite specifically about a particular narrative role in The Hero's Journey, which is often played by someone guarding a gateway of some sort, but not necessarily. It's more to do with them metaphorically blocking the way between one part of The Quest and another.
I think these are distinct tropes; the wyvern, sphinx and griffon guarding The Sandman's gate are Crossing Guards who aren't Threshold Guardians, and the Three Trials in Indiana Jones are Threshold Guardians which aren't embodied by Crossing Guards.
So I suppose the question is, do we need a separate trope about literal portal guardians, and if so, how do we go about keeping them distinct from each other? And I'm quite willing to be persuaded that the answer to question one is "no".
edited 15th May '11 10:54:43 AM by johnnye