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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 Immediately Proven Right (SOLVED) Literature
A common gag in humor fiction is a character or the narrator saying one thing, and then another character proving them right, using the exact same phrasing. I've seen it a bunch of times. For instance:
- Narrator/character: Alice looked so hungry she could eat a horse!
- cut to Alice.
- Alice: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!
resolved Public Domain Villain Upgrade Literature
A character whose stories are in the public domain ends up being villainized by authors, because they need someone to be the bad guy in a story, and don't want to make up a new character.
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 An injury to the dream version reflects in the real world/physical body Literature
Do we have a trope about when a character has a dream where they suffer an injury in the dream world, and their body shows that injury in the waking life?
resolved Bumbling protagonist seen as horrifying monster by others Literature
I've seen this a few times. Most clearly in Practical Guide to Evil; see the Duchess' internal monologue in Interlude: Commanders where she assumes Catherine to be a decades-long plot by Black and the Laurean orphan story to be a "smokescreen" for the truth — even though we know the story is completely true, and she's just kept failing up. Similarly, there are some scenes in Worm where we see how terrifying Taylor has become, through others' eyes. And there are some hints of it as well in the first couple seasons of The Expanse, though I can't place anything so precisely.
Do we have anything for this sort of device? I quite like it, and would like to find more examples of it.
resolved The Relationship between Magic and Destiny? Literature
Magic as a force of Destiny. I'm particularly interested in tropes that describe the universe as deeply connected.
resolved Storyline-exclusive villain. Literature
In Give Yourself Goosebumps, there’s usually two different storylines you could follow, depending on an early choice you make. Is the main villain considered a Big Bad if they only show up in one of the storylines? Or is it a slightly different trope?
resolved Animal Symbolism Literature
I'm trying to figure out what would be the trope name for characters loosely based off of or inspired by animals (not necessarily mythical), whether it be via their designs, personalities, or actions.
Edited by mystiqu3resolved A Day in the Limelight Literature
More of clarification than direct trope search: is there any better fit than A Day in the Limelight / Ascended Extra for the following scenario (and which of those two fits better):
Alice and Bob are the main characters of a Amateur Sleuth book series. Other than being mentioned, Bob's mom Mary is in exactly one scene in the first book. Second book doesn't change that much - Mary is in three scenes, but far less present in the dialogues of other people (and it's more about the agro-tourism business she runs than her directly). But in the third book, Mary is suddenly one of the more important characters of the story, playing rather big role in the plot, having plentiful interactions with various characters and is instrumental to solving of the case they are dealing with... and by the 4th book she virtually cease to exist, being mentioned grand total of once and never present in person. Meanwhile, through the series, Alice and Bob are firmly the definitive main characters, so it's not that their role or presence is diminished in any way.
Thus: is Mary an Ascended Extra (but for just one book) or is that specific book where she's in the tight circle of 5 most important characters her A Day in the Limelight
Edited by Tropiarzresolved Retitled in Home Country due to Censorship reasons Literature
The localized title of a certain Chinese danmei Web Serial Novel, Thrice Married to a Salted Fish, is a direct translation of the novel's title as a Web Novel. While the novel also received domestic publishing deals, China has a rather heteronormative policy on officially "published" material (i.e. published books and professionally created live-action shows and animation), and because of this the title is changed to the equivalent of Thrice Met a "Salted Fish" in print. Is this a Clean Dub Name? A Market-Based Title? A Publisher-Chosen Title? Or something else? (I have not read the insides, so I can't say if the gay sex scenes were also cut, so I'd hold off on the Bowdlerisation claims for now)
Edited by SamCurtresolved Time flow trope Literature
I neeed a fit somewhere between Real Time and Extremely Short Timespan:
A crime story book is written in a chronological order, tracking a whole week (starting on Wednesday morning, wrapping up by next Tuesday's evening), which is just a bit too long for Extremely Short Timespan. It also isn't exactly in real time, because some days are slightly compressed and others are extended (it goes roughly chapter-per-day, most of Thursday is skipped, but Monday and Tuesday have 4 chapters each). On top of that, it keeps switching POV between characters (six of them), so we only know what happened during that time for the POV character, but not rest of the characters or, for that matter, plot events at large.
Do we have any time flow tropes that could cover for this? It's an important plot devide and also a gimmick used to both create and then market the story, so it's not there just because.
resolved 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
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.
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?

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 StarSword