Tropescilloscope: The Dragon

The Big Bad's Number Two; often the penultimate challenge that The Hero must face before confronting the Big Bad. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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