Tropescilloscope: From Nobody to Nightmare

A character evolves from humble beginnings to terrifying fame. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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