Tropescilloscope: The Hero Dies

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

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