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