Tropescilloscope: Sacrificial Lion

Significant character is killed to show that death really is a threat. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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