Tropescilloscope: Dark and Troubled Past

Tragic Back Story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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