Tropescilloscope: Dark and Troubled Past

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

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