Tropescilloscope: The Hero Dies

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

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