Tropescilloscope: Dark and Troubled Past

Tragic Back Story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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