Tropescilloscope: Sacrificial Lion

Significant character is killed to show that death really is a threat. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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