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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.
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.
openHappen 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:
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
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?
openMy Favorite Color Is Me Literature
A character's favorite color is their own natural body color. Example: In Wings of Fire, there's a dragon named Carnelian who has red scales and also says her favorite color is red.
openvillian or "villian" who gathers heroes to face a larger evil Literature
A villian (or a hero who is pretending to be a villian) who instigates events to either gather heroes or prepare the world for a coming greater evil, very specifically by presenting themselves to the world as a threat that needs to be faced/answered. Perhaps going so far as to put out a contract out on themselves.
openLow-key PragmaticVillainy? Literature
For the novel Firefly: Carnival.
The crew needs to make some money quick, so River, Jayne, and Wash head to a casino, where River uses her Psychic Powers to read a futuristic roulette wheel and maintain a winning streak, starting with one platinum, doubling it every win, and soon equalling that casino's record take. She chose the casino well, though, and because others keep betting with her and losing, the house isn't actually losing money. So the casino owner slides up, tells then to stay at this table, spreads around champagne, and when River hits the record, takes them up to his office, pays them, gives them more champagne, summons a car to take them back to Serenity, and politely asks them to leave and never come back.
The guy isn't a villain, he's actually one of the more decent characters in the book, but Downplayed Pragmatic Villainy seems the best fit for this to me. Is there a better one?
Edited by ErikModiopenHide at the scene Literature
A person has just committed a murder. In stead of escaping the scene of the crime, hoping no one will see them, the culprit hides at the scene, waits for others to show up, and then leaves the hiding place and pretends they came with everyone else.
openI'm finally ready for a relationship with you! Oh, you've moved on...damn Literature
Y'know when there's a will-they won't-they with two characters, maybe the love interest (LI) doesn't want to be with the Main Character (MC) because they're both the same sex, or of a lower social class, or they just don't think they're worthy of the MC. Regardless, they spend a lot of time pining and vacillating on whether a relationship is right yada yada yada.
Is there a trope for when the MC just straight up moves on? They get tired of the indecision and just straight up leave, finally dating one of the other people that have also been vying for their heart.
Maybe the LI finally confesses but the MC is already happily dating someone else, or has finally accepted that promotion 5000km away, or if the LI takes long enough, maybe the MC is already happily married and expecting a child.
I'm just tired of reading fanfic where this scenario is one of the only sources of tension.
openThe Company Officer Literature
Predator: If It Bleeds, short story "Devil Dogs." A guy from something called Section Seven is accompanying a Marine crew. Section Seven is made up of ex-military people, but answering to the Company board, and he's there to ensure Company assets are looked after, ostensibly having the last word in command decisions. Does this fit under The Political Officer, or a different trope?

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?