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