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openMastering a trade or skill generally considered inferior Literature
A character, through training and effort, becomes so good at a skill that is generally considered inferior that they can best even those who have mastered the more "superior" versions. Examples: Merlin (1998) [TV]: There are three "tiers" of magic: incantation, gesture, and thought (in that order). Merlin masters gesture magic to such an extent he can overpower thought magic users. Iron Council (2004) [Lit.]: Judah Low masters golemancy, considered a trade fit only for entertaining children or manual labour, to such an extent that he makes a golem out of fucking *time*. The Way of Kings (2010) [Lit.]: Kaladin is so skilled with a spear he can defeat even a well armed, armoured, and trained shardbearer.
Edited by turtleshelfopen"Look at me, WHO AM I?" Literature
What is the trope when a disguised character, after talking to another character, takes off of their disguise saying this?
openReal person briefly appears in a modern-time work Literature
So there is a story set in very recent times, say 2016, in a real place, say an American university. It has fictional characters doing their fictional stuff. Then at some point they drop by to hear an "edgy" speaker, and that's Milo Yiannopoulos. They perhaps chat to an unnamed protester, and then move on - Milo is not involved in the plot as such.
Is there a trope for Milo's appearance? "Historical domain character" sounds wrong, both because this is too recent and because it's just a cameo. But "Real person cameo" is a different thing entirely.
resolved Sickly sweet Literature
There's a character who has chocolate (sickly, vomit-inducing sweet chocolate) as his motif. This isn't used to make him cute; on the contrary, it's used to portrait him as disgustingly sweet, both in- and out-of-universe.
Character has tendency to distort most words he uses to sound "cute" (including his name, which now sounds just ridiculous), but achieves opposite effect. He tries to act "kind", but only makes people trust him less due to this "sweetness" hiding quite sticky personality. Even his body is literally made out of chocolate (long story), which characters in-universe find to be just disgusting.
And yes, he is a villain, though of a very low grade. Backstabbing, snitching and generally annoying.
While he is certainly Faux Affably Evil, what I seek for is something about his "so cute, it's disgusting" vibe, because it's really important part of his characterisation, and characters react to it with disgust in-universe even before he had a chance to betray anyone specifically because he is sickly sweet.
resolved Distopyan Flag Spam Literature
Is there a trope for when someone (often a Fish out of Temporal Water) travels to a place and sees creepy flags everywhere, which are a visual aid to the fact that the setting is a political dystopia? The flags can be replaced with the leader's portrait, too.
openSolution provided by an innocent comment Literature
I could swear we had a trope named after either Sherlock Holmes or House M.D. for the trope of a key insight being provided by an innocent, unrelated commentary by either the genius character themselves or someone else. I've perused the Index of Solutions, but couldn't find it.
openThe Chosen One has trouble passing his tests Literature
Our hero is The Chosen One, the greatest wizard of his generation or perhaps even all time, and he's currently going to wizarding school.
Despite the fact that he's infinitely more talented than any other student, somehow he still struggles to pass his exams - maybe his professors have it in for him, other students are sabotaging him, or maybe he's just fast-tracked to the point that he's taking a final exam intended for twenty year olds when he's only ten. Regardless, our hero barely scrapes by despite his insane level of talent.
A good concrete example of this trope is The Wonder Trio (Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve) from The Wheel of Time. They're acknowledged in-universe as being the most powerful channelers in at least a thousand years, and yet all three come extremely close to failing the final test to become Aes Sedai.
openFirst-person third-person narration Literature
What's the trope for when the narration seems to be omniscient at first but then turns out to be from a certain character's point of view?
openbeatdown makes Girl love boy Literature
Super-ability girl only notices that the normal guy in love with her is worthy of her notice and affection after he takes a serious amount of damage, often by losing a fight, in order to protect or help her in some way. It's not "distressed dude", as he doesn't need rescuing, it can precede "violently protective girlfriend", but not necessarily. What is the trope in which an ordinary guy proves his worthiness to an extraordinary girl by taking extraordinary physical risks, and often losing in a fight? It's not "loser gets the girl" because that requires both guys to fight over her, and defeat makes her realize that the winner never really interested her. This is more like the girl does not really know she reciprocates his love, until she sees the amount of physical pain and damage he is willing to absorb in their shared cause. It may be the prelude to the "violently protective girlfriend" but not always. Is there something like the "Steve Trevor Effect" from the Wonder Woman (2016) movie? Except in that, they hook up before he blows himself up, but that causes her to (posthumously) forgive him for their fight. Any ideas? It's not "weakness turns her on" because we are not talking about a character who is congenitally weak in body or personality, but usually he is in some way inferior to her - less educated, less intelligent, less trained, whatever. Often, the guy takes a beating in an attempt to serve her in some way, protection, rescue attempt, something. This usually leads to the moment when the girl realizes that the guy who she has been somehow looking upon as insufficient is suddenly recognized as worthy. It's also not the "after-action patch up" ,nor the "After-action hook-up". It's not the "Florence Nightingale effect"because there is not necessarily any medical personnel involved. It's more like a "relationship upgrade due to almost losing him" Several books do this, including Patrick Ness' "The Knife of Never Letting Go" and Brittany Cavallaro's "Charlotte Holmes" series. Both have superior and aloof female leads ignoring inferior but loyal male leads' growing dedication until some sort of damage threshold is passed.Once the damage threshold is passed, though, the female leads suddenly realizes the boy's importance to her, and there is an instant relationship upgrade. Any ideas?
openNo Title Literature
When a character is given a chance to be better, change, or have their views altered.
openFemale Rivalry Literature
Women pitted against each other/in competition with each other, typically for a man's attention but also for anything else, like looking better or being more successful. Instead of working together for the same cause (positive female friendship) they fight each other every step of the way even though they may have the same goal. Toxic feminine representation/internalised mysogyny. Not like 'the feud episode' but kind of on the same track as 'Betty and Veronica' or 'false friend'. Literature example: Tally and Shay in 'Uglies' by Scott Westerfeld Any of the girls in 'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill Real life example: In magazines the 'who wore it better'
openPain induction powers Literature
In the Villains series , the Villain Protagonist has the ability to induce pain in his opponents. Effectively torturing or disabling them. Do we have this ?
openSorting Ceremony Literature
The Harry Potter sorting hat is the best example of this. The trope I'm looking for is the means by which teens are "Grouped for Your Convenience". https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GroupedForYourConvenience
Divergent also has a ceremony for this.
I think that this must be a trope, but is there a page for it?
openLovebirds having a hard time keeping their hands off each other Literature
I'm trying to find a trope where two characters just got together in a relationship and now are having a hard time with keeping each others hands off each other while ignoring everyone else around them. Not always in a sexual way but just noticeable to show their in a relationship.
openWhen an adaptation starts earlier Literature
Do we have a trope more specific than Adaptation Expansion for when an adaptation starts off in a time that was referenced in flashbacks in the original? Not adding significant new events to the canon, but fleshing out what happened. Agatha H. and the Airship City lists this under Early-Bird Cameo, but that doesn't seem right.
openA is for Apple... Literature
The "A is for this, B is for that" thing - "A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for chair" and so forth in children's primers. Like the book Tarzan found in his parents' old cabin.
I'm looking for something that would fit this type of situation: In Emma, a character is mentioned as being from Bristol, England, which was a slave port before it was outlawed. This was an implication to contemporary readers that her fortune was basically dirty money but people from modern times gloss over the name Bristol (unless they know the history already).
It's not exactly Values Dissonance; my next best guess Unintentional Period Piece seems to be limited to more recent things that makes people go "that is so very 80's" as opposed to "this reference flies over everyone's head because it no longer applies." I used Small Reference Pools but that doesn't feel right.