Tropescilloscope: Red Herring

A misleading and distracting "clue". (read more at tvtropes.org)

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