Tropescilloscope: Faking the Dead

A character fakes their own death for specific reasons. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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