Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

Earlier-introduced minor character is actually very important. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Coming-of-Age Story Author Appeal Dissonant Serenity Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Chekhov's Gunman The Stinger Adult Fear Gilligan Cut World of Ham Reckless Gun Usage Insistent Terminology Superhero Failed a Spot Check The Ace Shown Their Work Russian Films Drowning My Sorrows Hidden Depths Double Entendre The X of Y Henpecked Husband Guile Hero Not So Above It All Celebrity Paradox Meet Cute Conspicuous CG Canadian Movies Evil Counterpart Bald of Evil Those Two Guys It's All About Me Accidental Misnaming Better to Die than Be Killed Disney Villain Death My God, What Have I Done? Only Known by Their Nickname Made of Iron Sadistic Choice Bad "Bad Acting" Put on a Bus Stalker with a Crush Fate Worse than Death Red Herring As Himself Naked People Are Funny Badass Boast Black Dude Dies First Implacable Man Determinator Fake Shemp Blatant Lies Beta Couple Anyone Can Die Dirty Coward Closed Circle Cool Shades Mistaken for Gay Death Glare Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Early-Bird Cameo Costume Porn Trailers Always Spoil Demoted to Extra Brutal Honesty Plot Hole A Date with Rosie Palms Retcon Distracted by the Sexy Take That! Cat Fight Dramatic Gun Cock Mighty Whitey Central Theme Shirtless Scene Word of God Male Gaze Facial Horror Antagonist Title Defiant to the End Tempting Fate Pay Evil unto Evil No Name Given Sexy Discretion Shot Belligerent Sexual Tension Creator Cameo Nice Guy Logo Joke Improbable Weapon User Paper-Thin Disguise Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Time Skip Film Series Authority Equals Asskicking The Cavalry Names to Run Away from Really Fast Hollywood Law Super Strength Biopic Five-Man Band The Load Groin Attack Black Comedy Bloodless Carnage Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Evil Cannot Comprehend Good She's Got Legs Film Noir Lock and Load Montage Genre Savvy In the Back Older Than They Look Manipulative Bastard Your Head A-Splode The Power of Love No Ending Red Oni, Blue Oni Last-Name Basis Actually Pretty Funny Would Hurt a Child Overprotective Dad Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Everyone Has Standards Dogged Nice Guy It Can Think "Awesome McCool" Name Those Two Bad Guys Eldritch Abomination Anti-Hero Loads and Loads of Characters Rule of Funny Line-of-Sight Name Taking the Bullet Greater-Scope Villain One-Man Army Dutch Angle Fish out of Water Corpsing Department of Redundancy Department Deliberate Values Dissonance Up to Eleven The Stoic Didn't Think This Through A.I. Is a Crapshoot Soundtrack Dissonance The Big Guy Hero Antagonist Bare Your Midriff Vomit Discretion Shot Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Ass Shove The Atoner The Smurfette Principle Book-Ends Agony of the Feet This Is Gonna Suck Straight Gay B-Movie Only One Name Spanner in the Works Never Found the Body Frame-Up Funny Foreigner Punny Name Unresolved Sexual Tension Genre Shift Sole Survivor Call-Forward Novelization Dull Surprise Enemy Mine Arc Words Meaningful Name Annoying Younger Sibling One-Word Title The Remake Hypocritical Humor Comically Missing the Point Taking You with Me Video Credits I Did What I Had to Do Downer Ending Random Events Plot Big Bad Duumvirate Ominous Latin Chanting The Voiceless Hero of Another Story Refuge in Audacity It's Personal The Vamp Damsel in Distress Villain Protagonist Peek-a-Boo Corpse Parental Neglect Never My Fault Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Karmic Death Death by Sex Evil Brit Framing Device For the Evulz Rasputinian Death Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Oh, Crap! Brick Joke Does This Remind You of Anything? Light Is Not Good Rule of Three Breaking the Fourth Wall Undying Loyalty Once More, with Clarity! Gratuitous English Easily Forgiven Death by Irony Broken Bird The Bully Spiritual Successor Unreliable Narrator Babies Ever After Gold Digger Deliberately Monochrome Heroes Want Redheads Did Not Get the Girl Bait-and-Switch Knight Templar Big Fancy House Suspiciously Similar Substitute Artistic License – Gun Safety Military and Warfare Films Bunny-Ears Lawyer Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Calling the Old Man Out Off with His Head! Race Against the Clock Vitriolic Best Buds Hollywood Darkness Shipper on Deck Adapted Out Dropped a Bridge on Him Age Lift The Cameo Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Bond Villain Stupidity Adults Are Useless Neck Snap Too Dumb to Live Villainous Breakdown Hong Kong Films Hooker with a Heart of Gold Interrupted Suicide Stealth Hi/Bye Vampire Fiction Adaptation Dye-Job The Smart Guy Leave the Camera Running Ascended Extra Kubrick Stare Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Our Vampires Are Different Freudian Excuse Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Anachronism Stew German Films Body Horror Friend to All Children You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Intrepid Reporter Foreshadowing Horror Comedy My Beloved Smother Awesome, but Impractical Back from the Dead Catch-Phrase Face Death with Dignity Villain Ball Beware the Nice Ones The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Adaptation Expansion Ms. Fanservice Documentary Adaptational Attractiveness Jerk with a Heart of Gold Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Arch-Enemy The Ditz Heterosexual Life-Partners Posthumous Character Self-Deprecation Man on Fire For Want of a Nail Bullying a Dragon Sir Swears-a-Lot An Arm and a Leg Gainax Ending Laser-Guided Karma Every Car Is a Pinto Break the Cutie Covers Always Lie Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Historical Hero Upgrade Deal with the Devil Sanity Slippage Expy Scenery Porn The Hero Foregone Conclusion Early Installment Weirdness Fat Bastard Four-Temperament Ensemble Took a Level in Badass Precision F-Strike Thriller Extremely Short Timespan Cloudcuckoolander Here We Go Again! Historical In-Joke Heroic BSoD Faux Affably Evil Bloody Hilarious Leaning on the Fourth Wall Very Loosely Based on a True Story Zombie Stories Action Survivor Funny Background Event Fainting Dark Action Girl Crazy-Prepared Idiot Ball Combat Pragmatist Gorn Dies Wide Open An Axe to Grind The Chessmaster Rule of Cool Villain Song Reasonable Authority Figure No Antagonist Bury Your Gays Gone Horribly Right Protagonist Title Ghost Fiction Took a Level in Jerkass Ship Tease Unspoken Plan Guarantee Meaningful Background Event There Is No Kill Like Overkill You Have Failed Me Storming the Castle Pre-Mortem One-Liner The Lost Lenore Film Noir Index All Men Are Perverts Tap on the Head Air-Vent Passageway Our Zombies Are Different Only Sane Man Vomit Indiscretion Shot Small Name, Big Ego More Dakka Married to the Job And Starring Asshole Victim Villain Opening Scene Auto Erotica Dumb Blonde Tranquil Fury Happily Married Armor-Piercing Question Artistic License – Physics Badass Longcoat Black Comedy Rape Evil Is Petty Villain with Good Publicity Retired Badass Men Are the Expendable Gender Cowboy Cop Becoming the Mask Call-Back Darkest Hour Obfuscating Stupidity Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? The Sociopath Scenery Gorn Eyepatch of Power Amusing Injuries Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Twist Ending Morality Pet Card-Carrying Villain Match Cut Cluster F-Bomb Dramedy Casting Gag All There in the Script Eye Scream Dark Is Not Evil Fantasy Films "Shaggy Dog" Story Continuity Nod Woman in White Manly Tears Wicked Cultured Destination Defenestration All Just a Dream Dark and Troubled Past Instant Death Bullet Market-Based Title The Casanova Psychological Thriller In Name Only True Companions Bloodier and Gorier Final Girl No Celebrities Were Harmed Contrived Coincidence Roaring Rampage of Revenge MacGuffin Psycho for Hire Maybe Ever After Badass Bookworm Unusually Uninteresting Sight Dying Moment of Awesome As You Know Not Using the "Z" Word Not Quite Dead No OSHA Compliance Anti-Villain Only in It for the Money Sequel Escalation The Stoner Non-Indicative Name Parental Abandonment The Lancer Captain Ersatz Artistic License – Law Big "NO!" Wounded Gazelle Gambit The Oner Naïve Newcomer Artistic License – Geography Toplessness from the Back Bad Boss Cruel and Unusual Death "Well Done, Son!" Guy Japanese Films Horror Films Catapult Nightmare Historical-Domain Character Fire-Forged Friends Running Gag Sealed Evil in a Can folderlabel Children Are Innocent An Aesop Drives Like Crazy Mood Whiplash Kill 'em All Love Triangle All Girls Want Bad Boys Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome '80s Hair Genre Throwback Anachronic Order The Dog Bites Back Action Prologue Amoral Attorney Humiliation Conga Bound and Gagged Stuff Blowing Up Artistic License – Military Canon Foreigner The Dreaded Jerkass Has a Point Ripped from the Headlines Improbable Aiming Skills Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Moment Killer Wham Shot Intergenerational Friendship You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Offscreen Moment of Awesome Homage Rule of Symbolism Due to the Dead Unwitting Instigator of Doom I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism British Films Spared by the Adaptation It Will Never Catch On Animal Motifs Abusive Parents Obviously Evil The Place Death by Adaptation Fantastic Racism Silent Movie Throwing Your Sword Always Works Diabolus ex Machina Humans Are Bastards Sequel Hook Left the Background Music On "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Artistic License – Biology Exactly What It Says on the Tin Large Ham Your Cheating Heart Batman Gambit Slap-Slap-Kiss Guns Akimbo Real Life Science Fiction Films Suddenly SHOUTING! Big Brother Instinct Cold-Blooded Torture The Mafia Re-Cut Fun with Acronyms Slasher Movie Australian Movies Anguished Declaration of Love Same Language Dub Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Sports Stories What Happened to the Mouse? Bittersweet Ending Victoria's Secret Compartment Roger Ebert: Great Movies List A Father to His Men Badass Grandpa Really Gets Around Pretty Little Headshots Freeze-Frame Bonus Heel–Face Turn Sacrificial Lion Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Fiery Redhead Apocalypse How The Musical Alliterative Name The Reveal The Un-Reveal Cat Scare Product Placement Mad Scientist Black Best Friend Stealth Pun Skewed Priorities In Medias Res The '70s The Starscream Fingore One Steve Limit Action Genre Even Evil Has Loved Ones Badass in a Nice Suit Empathic Environment Irony Cain and Abel Offscreen Teleportation Chekhov's Skill Butt-Monkey A Minor Kidroduction Wrong Genre Savvy Hypocrite Mr. Exposition And I Must Scream Mind Screw Disappeared Dad I'm a Humanitarian From Nobody to Nightmare Monumental Damage Male Frontal Nudity Decoy Protagonist Informed Ability He Who Fights Monsters Developing Doomed Characters Crazy Jealous Guy Shut Up, Hannibal! Almost Kiss Foil Camera Abuse Rousing Speech Grievous Bottley Harm Captain Obvious The Quiet One Insult Backfire Green-Eyed Monster How We Got Here Redshirt Army Missing Mom Ironic Echo Bar Brawl Chekhov's Gun Big Eater Hate Sink Accidental Murder No-Holds-Barred Beatdown O.O.C. Is Serious Business Dressing as the Enemy Not What It Looks Like Daylight Horror Parental Incest Drugs Are Bad Mooks Depraved Bisexual Leitmotif Woman Scorned Domestic Abuse Totally Radical timeperiod Madness Mantra Crucified Hero Shot Romantic Comedy The Hero Dies Mugging the Monster A God Am I Rewatch Bonus Bland-Name Product Daddy's Girl War Is Hell Imagine Spot Broken Pedestal Outrun the Fireball Vacation Films Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Gender Flip Author Avatar Alpha Bitch Pyrrhic Victory Fanservice Extra Adaptational Badass Setting Update Exact Words Karma Houdini Visual Pun Suspiciously Specific Denial Lampshade Hanging Fatal Family Photo Femme Fatale Cassandra Truth Ungrateful Bastard Made of Explodium Dark Reprise The '90s Historical Villain Upgrade Despair Event Horizon Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Demonic Possession Face–Heel Turn Corrupt Corporate Executive Cool Guns Well-Intentioned Extremist Star-Crossed Lovers Pet the Dog The Alcoholic Killed Mid-Sentence Major Injury Underreaction Yandere Fourth Date Marriage Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Affably Evil Overly Long Gag Plucky Comic Relief Shout-Out Arranged Marriage Car Fu Honor Before Reason Off-into-the-Distance Ending Serial Killer Serious Business 20 Minutes into the Future Shell-Shocked Veteran Heel Realization Bavarian Fire Drill Grey and Gray Morality Silence Is Golden Abhorrent Admirer Beard of Evil Index of Film Westerns Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Double-Meaning Title Adaptation Name Change BFG You Killed My Father Country Matters Mama Bear Alas, Poor Villain Unusual Euphemism No Good Deed Goes Unpunished NO INDOOR VOICE Fanservice Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Insane Troll Logic Good Is Not Nice Chewing the Scenery Creative Closing Credits Noodle Incident Parental Substitute The End... Or Is It? Meaningful Echo The Dragon Determinator aka: The Determinator Deus ex Machina Playing Gertrude Jump Scare Ax-Crazy Establishing Character Moment Action Girl Kick the Dog Papa Wolf Bi the Way Would Hit a Girl Room Full of Crazy Aluminum Christmas Trees Revenge Pretty in Mink Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer The Great Depression Real Life Writes the Plot Whole Plot Reference All for Nothing Brainless Beauty Red Shirt The Brute Ambiguous Disorder Properly Paranoid Danny Peary Cult Movies List Evil-Detecting Dog Ambiguously Gay Getting Crap Past the Radar As Long as It Sounds Foreign Narrator Based on a True Story Black and Gray Morality Immune to Bullets Not Even Bothering with the Accent Translation Convention As the Good Book Says... Manic Pixie Dream Girl Loophole Abuse Have a Gay Old Time Ambiguous Ending Worthy Opponent From Bad to Worse Eagleland Boom, Headshot! Smug Snake Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Those Wacky Nazis Needs Wiki Magic Love Bottomless Magazines Handicapped Badass Rich Bitch Retirony Stepford Smiler Kids Are Cruel Tagline Expository Hairstyle Change The Film of the Book Adaptation Distillation Say My Name Lighter and Softer Training Montage Even Evil Has Standards Creepy Child After the End Punch-Clock Villain Psychopathic Manchild Evil Is Hammy Advertised Extra Neck Lift The Mole Malevolent Masked Men Redemption Equals Death My Greatest Failure Blood Knight Dwindling Party Cool Old Guy Slasher Smile He Knows Too Much Show Within a Show Affectionate Parody Credits Gag Big Damn Heroes Mr. Fanservice Animal Title Index Actor Allusion Composite Character Does Not Like Shoes Chase Scene Defrosting Ice Queen The '80s Blood from the Mouth Eiffel Tower Effect Epic Fail Camp Gay "The Reason You Suck" Speech Spell My Name with an "S" Half the Man He Used to Be Sinister Minister Slashed Throat Eureka Moment Adaptational Heroism Police Brutality Get Out! Jerkass Curb-Stomp Battle Berserk Button Character Development Chiaroscuro The '60s Hope Spot Works Set in World War II The Bad Guy Wins Title Drop Token Minority I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Beauty Is Never Tarnished Blackmail Mythology Gag Scary Black Man Important Haircut Recycled IN SPACE! The Ghost Adorkable Together in Death Improvised Weapon Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Aside Glance Smoking Is Cool The Alleged Car Epic Movie Jerk Jock Evil Plan Kick the Son of a Bitch Pragmatic Villainy La Résistance Music Stories Darker and Edgier Fatal Flaw Driven to Suicide Television Movie Index Make It Look Like an Accident Earn Your Happy Ending Manchild Brother–Sister Incest Shower Scene Let's Get Dangerous! Never Trust a Trailer Dramatic Irony What the Hell, Hero? Flipping the Bird May–December Romance Deconstruction Cool Car Take a Third Option Betty and Veronica Kill It with Fire The Faceless Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Flashback What You Are in the Dark Shoot the Shaggy Dog Mystery and Detective Films Mercy Kill Break the Haughty All There in the Manual The '50s Crapsack World Badass Normal Famous Last Words Nothing Is Scarier No-Sell Truth in Television Sassy Black Woman Poor Communication Kills Love at First Sight Only a Flesh Wound Curse Cut Short Knife Nut Pimped-Out Dress Dirty Old Man Jitter Cam Death of a Child Bring My Brown Pants Fan Disservice Italian Films And the Adventure Continues Award-Bait Song Stock Footage Be Careful What You Wish For Sci-Fi Horror Broken Aesop Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Heroic Sacrifice Public Domain Feature Films Obstructive Bureaucrat Scare Chord Attempted Rape Mexican Standoff Not So Different Evil Sounds Deep Red Right Hand Faking the Dead Adaptational Villainy Nice Hat Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Gory Discretion Shot Red Eyes, Take Warning N-Word Privileges Wham Line Big-Bad Ensemble Romantic False Lead Disguised in Drag Motor Mouth I Need a Freaking Drink Not So Stoic She Cleans Up Nicely Bilingual Bonus Extreme Doormat Bolivian Army Ending I Have Your Wife Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Politically Incorrect Villain French Films Laughing Mad Stylistic Suck Deadpan Snarker Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Christmas Movies Index Rape as Drama Dirty Cop Spiteful Spit Cool Old Lady Evil Laugh Hell Is That Noise Dual Wielding Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Hair-Trigger Temper Reality Has No Subtitles Hoist by His Own Petard Martial Arts Movie Soft Glass Animated Credits Opening Race Lift Disney Death Mundane Made Awesome Reality Is Unrealistic Wretched Hive The Chick Evil vs. Evil Reality Ensues Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Bond One-Liner Rated M for Manly Big Bad Riddle for the Ages Big Applesauce Artistic License – History Bowdlerise Disproportionate Retribution Death Seeker Police are Useless Drill Sergeant Nasty Pragmatic Adaptation