Tropescilloscope: The Hero Dies

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

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