Tropescilloscope: Guile Hero

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

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