Tropescilloscope: Sacrificial Lion

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

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