Tropescilloscope: Diabolus ex Machina

Suddenly, unanticipated tragedy strikes. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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