Tropescilloscope: Sacrificial Lion

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

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