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openMarry from a group which prevents religious complications Literature
A never-married Jewish woman had a relationship from which a baby was born. It's critical that this fact stay hidden from her community; however, once she marries (this is absolutely expected of her) and starts having children (also expected), there would be religious complications if the "first born" is a son due to the requirement of Pidyon HaBen (religious redemption the first born son). She marries a Levi (a man whose family tradition is that he is a patrilinial descent of Jacob's third son, Levi) because a Levi's son is exempt from Pidyon HaBen, thereby getting around the religious complication.
Edited by Someone1981openRelatives recognize each other at first meeting Literature
Mother and baby are separated at birth. The baby, now an adult, and the mother end up in the same room at the same time, completely by Contrived Coincidence, and recognize each other.
openTo abandon a family member at the hospital Literature
Parental Abandonment says the inverse is The Runaway, but I'm not sure that (or Abandon the Disabled) applies for this.
I'm making a work page for a book of medical anecdotes (to be launched at Another One Case).
One story has the adult children of an elderly man sign the consent form for amputating his injured leg, his second one after 10 years. It isn’t revealed until the end, but before his first leg got amputated, he retaliated against being sent to the hospital and kicked his wife, who then died from internal bleeding. The old man realises that his children aren’t coming back for him, and indeed they don’t. They went through the effort of changing their address and numbers to be untraceable, and the old man dies alone.
Edited by FaithfulMacabreresolved Multi-question to save on tickets Literature
Bunch of stuff from the same work (sandbox if it helps anyone, but the notes are all over the place, so I doubt it will actually help):
- 1. Student feels inadequately trained by their master, but when push comes to shove, the student performs adamantly and doesn't even have time to think about the crippling self-doubt, too preoccupied fighting danger to wonder if they were properly trained or if their skill are sufficient. No, I'm not looking for Wax On, Wax Off, this is a genuine training and it's the student perception to be untrained, rather than the training being faulty (or secretive). SOLVED
- 2. When the master ends up removed from the action (temporary), the student has to step up and play the role of the master - and since all the student knows is own training, the student recreates every single behaviour of the master as sort of a routine to fall-back into to. Effectively, master's traits rubbing off on the student. Already sieved through Clone Wars, found it described there over half a dozen of different tropes in a classic "let's crowbar this somewhere", but no direct entry. SOLVED
- 3. Sink or swim scenario - the self-doubtful student face a choice: either survive the gauntlet, using all they know, or perish trying, with no other choices. Yes, I know there is a Sink-or-Swim Mentor, but I need a trope for when situation forces such scenario. SOLVED
- 4. Crime Fighting Will Ruin Your Social Life. I already checked Batman Beyond where I was sure to find it or whatever it is properly called, but found nothing. Need it anyway, given it's fitting for the book series anyway. SOLVED
openAdopt a sibling for an unborn child Literature
A pregnant woman and her husband adopt a child, in order that the child be a big sibling for their unborn child.
resolved Does this piece of media fall under Fantasy or Urban Fantasy? Literature
Hey. I'm really sorry if this doesn't fit the questions asked here, but I couldn't find a question area for "Help identifying what index this work should go in" so I figured this was the closest to what I was searching for.
Anyway, I'm building a tropes page for the obscure/underrated book series called Merman's Kiss and I'm having trouble figuring what category it falls under. Urban Fantasy or just Fantasy.
On the one hand, the book DOES take place in a contemporary setting and deals with magic, merpeople, etc. On the other hand, the bulk of the action tends to take place in a magical underwater kingdom separated from the modern day. Not that there isn't action on the land of course but the majority of the magic and action scenes comes from/takes place in the hidden underwater kingdom. Although there is plenty of personal character drama scenes that take place on both land and in the ocean.
So I'm stuck. What does it fall under? I'm leaning toward Urban Fantasy myself but I wanted to make sure I made the right choice.
resolved ambiguous salvation Literature
It's not like Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!, where the protagonist unambiguously makes things worse, but rather, it's more unclear whether they are actually saving someone or dooming them to an even more terrible fate.
resolved Characters unable to let go of some past experiences Literature
I'm looking for a trope similar in spirit, but different in context to a Jaded Wash Out. Effectively its positive counterpart - when characters can't move from their past experiences, but they genuinely had great experiences and circumstances forced them to do something else.
Context: I'm troping Jo Walton's Relentlessly Mundane, and it's about a trio of kids that once saved not!Narnia... 15 years ago. And they struggle greatly as adults because of it, since whatever fantastic (and horrifying) adventures they had are a thing of the past, with them having borderline PTSD they can't even get proper treated due to the fantastic reason of their mental state (which would sent them to a loony bin). They try to move on, but just can't and each of them has different coping mechanism as a result. But rather than being jaded about it, they try to make the best out of it, while rather than insisting they had great prospects ahead of them, they genuinely have a claim to greatness.
Yes, I know there is So What Do We Do Now? (which is the whole point of the story), but that doesn't describe their mental lock-out.
openCross-Referenced Books Literature
When 1 book from one series references another book/book series; but they’re written by the same author.
openDiacritics/alternate letters/zalgo text to signify SanitySlippage Literature
The diary/notebook/letter you're reading starts using abnormal letters to show you the character's mental state is going downhill/Cthulhu is in the room
resolved Stock, customary phases Literature
Do we have any particular trope, where characters in-universe exchange specific, stock (or at least stock in-universe) phases that, rather than have their surface meaning, are just a customary thing to do?
Tropping an anthology of short stories and one of them is about a witch hired by a local baron. They don't so much "speak" with each other, but constantly trade customary exchanges, particularly when it comes to her payment - he isn't really nor literally saying "Say, what you want, before I agree", but this is the sort of thing that one should say to a witch before sealing the deal with her. Likewise, the witch saying back "What's yours is yours. What's mine is mine" doesn't mean it either, it's just a customary thing to say - even if she picks her payment as she sees fit while on the job. And each time they meet and strike a new deal, it ends with the same customary exchange.
Do we have anything for stuff like this? It's a borderline ritual, but I was unable to find anything suitable
resolved Similar to Breakaway Pop Hit Literature
This trope is when a song used in a film becomes a much bigger hit than the source of it.
What's the trope when you have a short story anthology and one of the stories becomes so popular, it spawns its own book and then a whole cycle, while all the anthology is remembered for is that it started said cycle?
openThe moment when one expert recognizes another (often indirectly through their works) Literature
Either upon closer inspection of an artifact, when one character with a keen eye realizes that "masterful hands have created/written/woven this" or, likewise "this has the mark of <character xyz>".
Or, if in each other's presence, with one of them having (sometimes accidentally) "revealed their hand" (say, in the presence of novices), but this only being recognized by the other hidden master, leading to a knowing, respectful nod or smile to each other, or professional (but often hidden) counter-move that may be equally unexpected by the opponent.
openIsekai where an ostracized student with skills is betrayed Literature
As I was perusing the works page for Failure Frame, I stumbled upon this:
Do we have a trope/equivalent that best encapsulates these works?
openBigots are attracted to their victim Literature
A character describes men shouting homophobic slurs at her while simultaneously creeping on her with their eyes. As in, they were checking her out while calling her every slur in the book.
openA person's name matches an artifact Literature
In one book, an artifact called the Ruby King is an important part of the plot. In the same book, a woman is introduced whose first name is Ruby and who married Mr. King.
openAuthor's religion keeps certain events from occuring in work(s) Literature
A particular series was written by a Jew; in this series, there is no mention of non-Kosher food (Kosher meaning that it's religiously permissable to eat) and no events happen on Shabbat (from Friday shortly before dark until Saturday after dark, when many normal activities such as travel and use of electricity are religiously forbidden).

This trope describes someone who isn't interested in simple, conventional or binary beliefs/ideas that conform to societal norms/expectations. They believe that conformity is often seen as a form of control and can limit freedom of authentic expression and unique perspectives. They often have different beliefs that challenge ideas about topics like identity, religion and gender believing that there is more to conventional ideas for these topics than meets the eye.