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openBrainy Beautless Literature
Do we have this trope? A character who's very intelligent is also very unattractive.
There's a Chicken And The Egg situation there, where maybe he's so smart because he buried himself in books and laboratories since everyone shunned him from other experiences on account of his looks... or, he's so focused on cerebral pursuits, he has no time or interest in cultivating a good look, ends up looking raggedy, unfit, tired and unhygienic.
There's also the deformed, creepy scientist who works for the bad guy who tests his experiments on himself (or gets punished that way), or who survived one too many lab explosions that left him horribly scarred.
resolved George killing Lenny Literature
For some reason, a character (who's usually a good guy) has to kill a friend who's incredibly naïve and pure of heart, so he takes the friend somewhere isolated, talks about some happy stuff and kills the friend without warning, with tears in his eyes.
Usually it's because the victim would suffer a Fate Worse than Death if he was alive (like if he's been bitten by a Zombie, would face torture, long painful illness).
resolved Rambling Wall of Clues, or something Literature
When a character, especially an elderly one, rambles on so much that the other characters (and the readers) gloss over the rambling, but it turns out if you do pay attention is has important clues to the mystery.
Two examples I can think of off hand are Miss Bates from Emma, and one of the older monks the The Name of the Rose.
Wall of Text and Rambling Old Man Monologue are often part of this, and it results in clues that are Hidden in Plain Sight, but I am not aware of a trope where the rambling is the method of obscuring the clues.
Edited by aerojockey
Resident Bollywood Nerd
openOmerta Literature
Do we have a trope for "A person commits a crime, but because the community thinks it is justified/acceptable, nobody will testify against them"? This can be both positive (protagonist murders evil character, victim is so hated by community that nobody testifies) or negative (evil character murders innocent, society is so bigoted that nobody testifies". It's something described in the book "Omerta" by the concept of the same name, but it is seen in several media.
There is overlap with Asshole Victim for sure, but it's not exactly that, I think.
Edited by arcanephoenixopenAntagonists plot armor Literature
Plot armor not for the hero/mc, and it doesn't stop the character from suffering as they often lose confrontations, however, it does prevent them from ever fully taking accountability for their actions, or suffering the consequences for them.
This is usually a poor ploy by the writer to keep a antagonist in the story for later scenes/plot, but doing so breaks immersion in the story because of the ridiculousness things the hero and world will allow them to get away with.
Some prime examples are antagonists in fan-fiction which tend to have exaggerated tropes due to underdeveloped writing ability. 1. Albus dumbledore. No matter what he is accused of, he can lose all positions except the headmaster position at Hogwarts to continue being Harrys' foil in the Evil dumbledore trop. 2. Severus snape. He is able to do anything including openly attack students and the protagonist will only have him punished lightly, usually the loss of his house points taking privileges. However, This will still be the case when in stories with dark harrys whom destroy/kill people for far less grievances. Stories where snape goes to prison do exist, but they are exceedingly rare despite he actions in the majority of stories justifying it. 3. danzo shimura. Despite the village being run by the Hokage, whom has ultimate say on matters in the village Danzo is able to continuously be a main threat throughout most stories while continually doing actions that equate to treason. Maintaining a seperate fighting organization that he was explicitly told to disband by the Hokage for example.
openMoss with homeopathic properties Literature
A particular type of moss is so powerful hat burning it at onee end of a town put the entire town to sleep. Same moss can be used to make a cure for Narcolepsy, a condition which causes its sufferers to fall asleep uncontrollably.
resolved The narrator gets a bit cheeky Literature
"Aerith was facing against 100 of the kingdom's best troops, armed to the teeth with the best armor and horses available." "Truly, those soldiers stood no chance."
"Bob thought he could jump off a 50-storey building and survive with a few bruises. As the poor crowd below found out a couple seconds later, he was dead wrong."
I guess sarcastic narration is related to this somehow?
Edited by tuatramxo5openHappen to choose September 11 for minor disaster Literature
In a book published in 1997, September 11 is the date when a sinkhole opens under a row of temporary buildings. Everyone is rescued alive and only minor injuries reported, but the connection with the date 4 years later is an intersting coincidence.
openSatire Displaces Genre Literature
Is there a trope for when a work satirizing a genre becomes more famous than the thing its satirizing, to the point where many people’s only knowledge of the genre comes from the satirical work? (Sometimes to the point where the satire is no longer noticed.) Examples are usually historic works.
Examples: - Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey was satirizing melodramatic Gothic novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho, but Austen is far more famous now than any of those novels.
- Don Quixote was satirizing a genre of chivalric romance, but nothing from the genre it was satirizing is remotely as well-known as it.
- Romeo and Juliet was apparently satirizing a genre of romance plays but has displaced them in fame so greatly that it’s far from obvious these days that it even was a satire.
Edited by GaladrielopenSignificant differences between different versions of the work Literature
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, near the end of the book, Malfoy says he has to kill Dumbledore because otherwise Voldemort will kill him. Dumbledore's answer in the American version:
Dumbledore's answer in the British version:
resolved The inconspicuous Literature
Hi
What's a good trope for a character who is retiring, shy, doesn't leave much of an impression on people around her, just gets on with things in the background, doesn't stand out in a crowd or indeed at all, and once she's out of the scene, other people struggle to remember her face and general appearance? The Faceless doesn't really seem to fit, and I'm looking for something that conveys an ides of "The Anonymous" or "The Inconspicuous". Thanks!
openWhat is this trope again? Literature
Character A is an orphan, adopted into a very wealthy family. Character A has a hard time adjusting to his new life, but character A's sisters, with various professions, starts teaching character A. When he gets tested in an exam from each of them, character A, for some reason, passes it with flying colors by accident, as he just does them half-assedly, to the point he accidentally invented something new for humanity.
openDangling reference in narration Literature
When a narrator (or similar) purposefully refers to a part of the story that doesn't exist, for comedic purposes. Not restricted to literature.
Examples:
- [[Literature/Molesworth Molesworth]] would often have full-page illustrations saying "For story, see" plus a page number which didn't exist
- A book whose blurb contains dialogue between two actual characters, but the dialogue doesn't exist in the story
- Look Around You having every On the Next refer to a fictional episode
resolved Misleading book covers? Literature
Is there a trope where a book cover disguises the content of the work (on purpose), but doesn't fall under the precise definitions of Clandestine Cover, Book and Switch, or Covers Always Lie?
I'm trying to figure out where Transformers writer James Roberts' fan novel "Eugenesis" would go, with its classic lit parody cover: [1]
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openPretend the murder went right Literature
Someone intended to kill one person, but instead killed an Identical Stranger. Is there a trope covering the intended victim pretemding to be the actual victim, thereby causing the killer to think he got the right person?

In a book written primarily in one language with characters that speak another language, the author translates some of the dialog while leaving other phrases untranslated. In-universe, the character isn't shifting languages, but it appears so in the way the dialog is written. Typically done intentionally for flavor.
Example: "'Ay, dios mios!', Carla said. 'Let's get going', she said in Spanish. "
Is this Gratuitous Foreign Language or something more specific?