Tropescilloscope: The Hero Dies

A protagonist's ultimate sacrifice. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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