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The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.

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Scorpion451 (Edited uphill both ways)
2020-07-20 07:26:26

You've sort of got the group of tropes already here, though I'll also throw in:

  • Heroic Safe Mode - they just mentally check out and operate in survival mode for a while
  • Rage Breaking Point - the last floodgate holding back a character's rage breaks
  • Run or Die - the flight portion of fight or flight can be just as desperate
  • Dying Moment of Awesome when it's their own hope of survival that they've lost
  • The Unfettered - what you get when everything that would hold a character back has been removed.

I think maybe there could be a supertrope, or at least an index, in Nothing Left To Lose, but it's one that might be hard to pin down.

Miss_Desperado Since: Sep, 2016
2020-07-21 17:58:57

  • Heroic Safe Mode doesn't count, that's explicitly pulled out WHILE things are still at stake, not AFTER the stakes have already been lost.
  • Rage Breaking Point doesn't count, it exists independently of anything at stake, e.g. a character can erupt over something as minor as a teammate popping gum or one too many questions of "Are We There Yet?" as they march towards their next climactic battle with the forces of Emperor Evulz.
  • Run or Die: I'm not sure this counts, it doesn't even mention the possibility of being able to run faster when running is the only option left.

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Scorpion451 (Edited uphill both ways)
2020-07-22 12:19:01

Your second example is a good example of a situation that can lead to both Heroic Safe Mode and Rage Breaking Point- the final hostage being the one that causes them to snap and go into survival mode, and/or the moment that removes any reason to hold back.

For Run or Die, it's exactly like Cornered Rattlesnake. It's not that the situation gives you an advantage per-say: it's that having your options reduced to "fight, run, or die" means you have nothing to lose putting everything you've got into one or both of first two.

Edited by Scorpion451
Miss_Desperado Since: Sep, 2016
2020-08-15 12:12:20

Bump: added more examples to the list

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
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