Tropescilloscope: Informed Ability

A character reputedly has a certain ability or attribute, but the audience never sees it. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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