Tropescilloscope: Rule of Three

3 is a magic number. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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