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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 aerojockeyresolved 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 tuatramxo5resolved 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!
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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resolved No Title Literature
Character that Blends in physically but is bold and speaks their mind
resolved Fascinated by the Villain's Cruelty Literature
Is there a trope for this type of behavior - An Anti-Hero, or an ambiguous ally to the hero, is fascinated by how evil and inhumane the villain is. Often because this character is more interested in other aspects of the conflict with the villain than "being good".
For instance, a glory hog on the side of the heroes might be happy to find out the villain slaughter a bunch of innocent people because once the villain is defeated, his fame'll be even greater. Or, he's a psychiatrist who sees the villain's crimes as something worth studying, so the more there is to analyse, the better. Or even, the hero's a bored Smug Super who's excited an actually dangerous villain shows up for him to fight.
resolved shocked by bad language Literature
Do we have a trope for a character being shocked by another character's bad or uncouth language? I mean irrespective of whether they're a Sir Swears-a-Lot, this would be a reaction trope.
resolved Self-damaging attack Literature
Trying to find a trope for attacks that also slightly injure the attacker, a la Take Down in Pokémon. I looked at Self-Damaging Attack Backfire but that's not it.
ETA: The specific example I'm thinking of is new information about Lesedi Ingwe from Reign of the Seven Spellblades: she's a Kung-Fu Wizard Kick Chick who, it turns out, normally wears armor on her legs because otherwise she'd injure herself from the force of her kicks (apparently she lacks Required Secondary Powers). She takes them off in her fight scene in volume 10 to lose the Power Limiter, which ends with the flesh on her legs in tatters. I currently have the information listed as an inversion of Armed Legs.
Edited by StarSwordresolved Freudian marriage Literature
To quote a female character:
resolved A sequel to a previous episode in the same franchise Literature
A new administrator takes over a hospital, and clearly has a vendetta against the protagonist: he fires several of this docrot's friends and eventually this doctor himself. At the end, it turns out that this is personal revenge against the protagonist: the protagonist had previously discovered that the administrator's girlfriend had murdered a Serial Rapist, making it look like he died in a traffic accident. The accident, and the murder of the Serial Rapist, are covered by an episode in the same franchise.
resolved "Story Breadcrumbs", but for literature. Literature
I only got examples about videogames, but books are my favorite hobby, so I need a trope which applies to them. The trope is this:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StoryBreadcrumbs
resolved Rhinestone Switch Literature
A woman is given or lent a diamond, and cleverly replaces it with a rhinestone replica - when she has to return the diamond (like if she breaks up with the man who gave it), she keeps the real one and returns the replica.
resolved Is there a trope related to ghosting? Literature
I was looking for a trope related to ghosting, i.e. the practice of ending all contact with a person without former announcement, and the strict decline of any attempt to re-establish contact.
A more generic one, where a partner did not officially renounce the relationship, but is still nowhere to be found (and it's implied that they left on their own terms) would suffice too I suppose.
The closest resemblances I found were Runaway Bride and Disappeared Dad, but they only work in rather niche settings (just before marriage; as soon as the couple have already conceived children).
Examples I can think of from the top of my head:
- Bennett from the American TV Show "Orange is the New Black", who runs away from his pregnant girlfriend in S2 without any notice and is never seen again —> Disappeared Dad, from the perspective of a not-yet-born child (not really a great fit)
- Bolin from the Western Animation series "The Legend of Korra", who ends the relationship to his girlfriend Eska by running away and refusing contact afterwards —> Runaway Fiancé (but what if there had not been a marriage proposal before?)
- Hugo Weinschenk from Thomas Mann's novel "Buddenbrooks", who informs his wife that he'll come back soon, but is then never seen again despite multiple contact attempts via letter —> none of the above tropes fit
Thank you all in anticipation!
resolved Jealous of affection shown to a pet Literature
I've looked at Envy and Jealousy Tropes, but I'm not sure what's the best match for seeing your crush stroke a pet that's on their lap, and feeling jealous of the pet.
resolved City-wide War Literature
Is there a trope for a "war" that takes place entirely in just one city? Like from Fantasy of Post-Apocalyptic stories where two or more factions are struggling for control of one city, saying stuff like "They have taken over the lower east side, but we still have a few buildings manned" and whatnot? The idea being that there's different logistics than a regular war, with smaller armies, more worry about food, faster cavalry, et cetera...
I'm thinking in particular of that one episode of South Park where Cartman and Stan fight for control of the town in a post-apocalyptic scenario.
resolved "Oh, it's you." murder victim Literature
A mystery novel trope where the last moments of a murder victim interacting with the murderer (almost always with the words "Oh, it's you" to show that the murderer is someone they know and don't suspect) are seen by the audience, but without revealing who the murderer is. Only really works in novels where the voice won't be identified.
resolved Fix-up the Hypothenuse Literature
Is there a trope for a relationship dynamic where a character approves of or engineers a relationship between two other characters, so as to leave a fourth character single (and willing to settle)?
For instance, if both Bob and Charles have feelings for Alice, and Eve's in love with Charles. Eve might set up Alice and Bob, or help Bob out, so Alice is off the picture and she can have Bob for himself.

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).