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