Tropescilloscope: Sacrificial Lion

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

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