Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

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

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