Tropescilloscope: Decoy Protagonist

The story begins with someone who's not the actual protagonist, who will appear later. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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