Tropescilloscope: The Hero Dies

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

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