Tropescilloscope: Guile Hero

A smart hero who uses wits to gain victory. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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