Narrativ eleme Flashcards
Anyone Can Die
The main characters are not safe.
Most of the time when you finally grasp who the main characters of the story are, you can expect that these characters will survive through the end of the story (or at least until the last episode). Well, This Is Not That Trope.
This is very common in Darker and Edgier works. When the writers want to impress you with their ruthlessness, they may trumpet that Tonight Someone Dies, then kill off a random second-stringer that nobody much cares about. They might even kill off a major character because his actor was leaving anyway, or because they needed a good cliffhanger to convince people to watch the next season. That is also not this trope (although it’s pretending to be).
Anyone Can Die is where no one is exempt from being killed, including pets, children, the elderly, even the main characters (maybe even the hero)! The Sacrificial Lamb is often used to establish the writer’s willingness to kill off important characters early on. To really be the Anyone Can Die trope, the work must include multiple deaths of named characters, happening at different points in the story. Bonus points if the death is unnecessary and devoid of Heroic Sacrifice.
This trope is very helpful in keeping Genre Savvy fans from being Spoiled by the Format. In a kid’s show, of course Alice and Bob are going to survive the raging rapids. In a work of this type however, the danger actually becomes dangerous.
War shows like Mobile Suit Gundam benefit from having a larger cast since there are so many people to kill off. The frequent deaths within a wide cast make the storyline unpredictable, forcing you to wonder who’ll be left standing once the dust settles.
Still, even if all characters are allegedly up for the possibility of a dance with the reaper, the general laws of storytelling (and, more importantly, how actors are contracted) tells us that you can expect the chances of main-character death to increase as you approach the climax of an arc, the final episodes of a season, the final chapters of a book, or the final instalment of a series, even if the work averts Death Is Dramatic. A creator needs to be quite committed to the concept to kill off an important character in a completely plot-irrelevant way.
Note that the character needs to be Killed Off for Real or Character Death for the trope to have the desired effect; it does not work if the writers cheat and bring back the guy later (see Not Quite Dead, Disney Death, and Climactic Battle Resurrection). As such Super Hero Comic Books as a medium have gained a reputation of “Anyone Can Die… until someone wants to use the character in a later story.”
A good way to check if this trope applies is to see if who survives is an important plot point, rather than only how they survive.
Contrast with Tonight Someone Dies, Sorting Algorithm of Mortality and Contractual Immortality. Compare Second Law of Metafictional Thermodynamics. Compare Characters Dropping Like Flies, which is just about lots of people dying, and can overlap with this trope.
See also Kill ‘em All, when everyone will die. Opposite of Nobody Can Die and Plot Armor, where not even situations that should kill people manage to. See also Dwindling Party, where the deaths are evenly spaced rather than near the end. Easier to do in works with Loads and Loads of Characters.
This is Truth in Television because immortality does not exist. According to The Onion, world death rate has been holding steady at 100% every single year for the last five billion years.
Red Shirt is (usually) when the deaths are reserved for nameless extras. This trope tries to upgrade them to Mauve Shirt first.
MacGuffihttp://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/McguffinCollage.jpgn
An object nobody actually uses, and whose nature and identity are basically irrelevant.
MacGuffin (a.k.a. McGuffin or maguffin) is a term for a motivating element in a story that is used to drive the plot. It serves no further purpose. It won’t pop up again later, it won’t explain the ending, it won’t do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. In some cases, it won’t even be shown. It is usually a mysterious package/artifact/superweapon that everyone in the story is chasing.
To determine if a thing is a MacGuffin:
check to see if it is interchangeable. For example, in a caper story the MacGuffin could be either the Mona Lisa or the Hope diamond, it makes no difference which. The rest of the story (i.e. it being stolen) would be exactly the same. It doesn't matter which it is, it is only necessary for the characters to want it. Does it do anything, and if it does, is it ever actually used in story? If the answer to both is yes, it's a Plot Device, not a MacGuffin. For Plot Devices that get the same attention as a MacGuffin, compare Magnetic Plot Device.
If it passes both of these criteria, congratulations: its a MacGuffin!
A common MacGuffin story setup can be summarized as “Quickly! We must find X before they do!”.
The term was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, who credited one of his screenwriters, Angus McPhail, with the creation of this concept and the name for it, citing a particular school-boy joke:
A man is riding on a train when a second gentleman gets on and sits down across from him. The first man notices the second is holding an oddly shaped package. "What is that?" the first man asks. "A MacGuffin, a tool used to hunt lions in the Scottish highlands." "But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands," says the first man. "Well then," says the other, "That's no MacGuffin".
Hitchcock and Angus McPhail were not the first to formulate this concept. Silent-film actress Pearl White starred in cliffhanger serials (most famously “The Perils of Pauline”) in which the characters spent most of their screen time chasing each other for possession of a roll of film, or some other doodad. This device occurred so often in Pearl White’s serial films that she routinely referred to the coveted object as a “weenie”, using the term precisely as Hitchcock would later use “MacGuffin”.
In academic circles this is sometimes called the Golden Fleece, after the artifact from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The Fleece was first mentioned by the Greek poet Simonides, which makes this trope Older Than Feudalism.
Contrast Mock Guffin, for when an object that isn’t really a MacGuffin is mistaken for one.
If you want to start arguing that your favourite series’ most awesome magical thing isn’t a MacGuffin, remember that Tropes Are Tools. Having a MacGuffin is not necessarily bad writing, depending on how it’s handled — concretely defining or giving a central role to the object of a chase can detract from a work, if the point is to focus on the characters.
Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin
The heroes have finally found the MacGuffin. After so much effort and Your Princess Is in Another Castle, they’re going to return it, use it, or whatever they were supposed to do with it.
Then somebody breaks it, making the whole endeavour pointless.
A particularly frustrating form of a Diabolus Ex Machina. The other characters’ reactions usually range from shock to an anger burst. Double points if the MacGuffin can NEVER be replaced. In a story where The Good Guys Always Win, if the villain gets their hands on the MacGuffin, it’s either taken from them or this happens.
This usually happens during the middle of the series, not during a Grand Finale which would change the course of who wins. Often used in a Shaggy Dog Story.
Contrast Dismantled MacGuffin, where the MacGuffin is not broken, but is meant to be put back together. Often leads to No MacGuffin, No Winner. This only refers to objects, so The President’s Daughter (obviously) does not count.
Artifact of Attractionhttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheLordOfTheRings
Everyone wants this, regardless of what it is.
The Artifact of Attraction is an object that goes beyond being merely desirable for its own sake and is supernaturally super desirable. It can cause a group of friends to become paranoid and distrustful, making them stop working together or even come to blows over ownership. Unsurprisingly for an object that can bring about a veritable Hate Plague on those who set eyes on it (or even just know of its existence), the Artifact Of Attraction tends to be a powerful Cursed item, though a few uncursed ones can get this kind of reputation.
Any object can serve as an Artifact of Attraction, but they tend to have a certain je ne sais quoi. They may be a luxury item like a fashionable pair of red shoes and ring, or a perfectly mundane red stapler and warm blanket.
Knowing the Artifact of Attraction is capable of this doesn’t stop the effects it causes, but may give the heroes enough warning to resist the effects long enough to destroy it or give it to the bad guys. Of course, because of its nature no one wants to destroy it, making this kind of curse ideal for preserving an Artifact of Doom and Amulet of Dependency from being destroyed.
Though plenty lethal on its own, the Artifact Of Attraction may be triple enchanted to serve as an Artifact of Death (to up the kill count) and as an Artifact of Doom (to corrupt the hapless holder) and serve as a trifecta of desire, death and corruption.
To neutralize such problems, the heroes can always follow the example of the Hope Diamond and donate it to a museum. That kind of unselfish act often means that the curse is broken while the item is kept in a safe place for everyone to enjoy… and get stolen by villains too dumb to realize Evil Is Not a Toy.
Not to be confused with Apple of Discord, which is not about the object, but a group of friends bickering to the point of coming to blows after a seemingly trivial comment or question (who is fairest, strongest, etc), or with Gold Fever, which is about the mentality that makes normally good people so greedy and paranoid they want to kill their friends and fellow prospectors to possess gold or some other valuable.
Compare Hypno Trinket and Glamour.
Clingy MacGuffin http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TheMummy
There’s just no getting rid of this!
Applied Phlebotinum with one specific quirk: you cannot get rid of it. It cannot be removed, lost, given away, buried, thrown in the ocean, blown up, or separated from the owner in any way. It’s usually not intelligent or sentient, but is nonetheless bound to you, for better or worse, till death do you part, or otherwise.
This can be found in Fairy Tales, particularly those where Self-Fulfilling Prophecies are not to be thwarted by a condition such as “You have to get this ring back to marry my daughter.”
The most benign form is an Empathic Weapon that’s a little too empathic. It’s not necessarily something you would want to get rid of, but it can sure make maintaining the Masquerade much harder if your Glowy Sword of Doom simply will not let you leave it at home. Also, if a villain is after it, you can’t easily comply with a demand to hand it over to save a friend. In this case, the only chance they have of getting it is killing you.
The evil version is more like an implacable stalker. From the moment it crosses your path, no matter what you do to get rid of it, it will always be there. If you’re lucky, it will just make you a Weirdness Magnet. If you’re unlucky, it’ll be an Artifact of Doom that will make your life a living hell until you fulfill The Quest to destroy it or seal it away for the next hapless victim.
If a Clingy MacGuffin appears in an ongoing series, expect several episodes about the character’s attempts to get rid of it so that he can lead a normal life. He might even succeed a couple of times but circumstances will always manage to bring the two of them back together because otherwise, there wouldn’t be a show. The character might also come to accept or even enjoy their new life and actively seek to regain the Clingy MacGuffin.
Technically, any comedy in which a hapless person gets something — a paintbrush, a Post-It note, etc — physically glued to their body and can’t dislodge it could qualify as a (non-magical) descendent of this trope. If the attached object is relevant to the plot (e.g. the accidental lipstick stain that can’t be wiped off, sabotaging the protagonist’s romantic chances with his girlfriend), it actually is this trope.
If the MacGuffin is a piece of clothing, it’s a Clingy Costume. If it’s a living thing, it falls into The Cat Came Back. Compare Loyal Phlebotinum, which can be physically separated from the owner but still only works for its Chosen One.
Dismantled MacGuffin http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure
Broken pieces of a broken plot device must be found- and put together again.
A common way to produce Plot Coupons of the ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ variety is for the Precursors to split a powerful Ancient Artifact that was used to defeat the bad guy into three or more parts and, yes, distribute them across the world on a vague premise of it being “too dangerous to ever use again”. Then, when the bad guy raises its head Exty Years Later (and it always does), the heroes must set out to reassemble said artifact.
More generally, someone has split an important object into pieces, and stored those pieces in different locations. Anyone who wants to possess the object must recover and recombine all the pieces.
If the said artifact was disassembled because it possesses an evil will of its own, this overlaps with Sealed Evil in a Can. If it was disassembled because there was a good chance that evil would get their hands on it in the present, this overlaps with Fling a Light into the Future. If the assembled artifact has far stronger (and useful!) properties, it’s due to the Set Bonus. If the pieces end up in the hands of different characters as they search for it, it can lead to a case of Two Halves Make A Plot.
Despite the trope name, the dismantled object might or might not be a MacGuffin. If the object does something after being reassembled, it’s not a MacGuffin. If the plot is about reassembling the artifact but not about using its powers, then it can be a MacGuffin.
Egg MacGuffin http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Leviathan
Sometimes, an episode of a series may involve a character discovering an egg of some sort which later hatches. Occasionally, the protagonists may save the egg from a terrible fate: either from being smashed or from being something or someone’s lunch. The egg eventually hatches and the character gains a Pet Baby, Wild Animal.
Usually the baby is a Small Annoying Creature (though it may actually be a gargantuan creature with the mind of a small annoying one) that thinks the first person (usually the discoverer) it sees is its “mama”. Usually the baby may be far too much for the character to handle and they have to somehow find its real parents. A common variant has the egg hatching into something evil.
The trope can get even more unusual when the resulting offspring ends up taking on the characteristics of the hatcher, rather than who actually contributed to the genetics.
If the plot revolves around the unknown origin or result of a different kind of egg, it may be Who’s Your Daddy?. Technically speaking, this is basically what happens in any mammalian or internally fertilised species, where legions of sperm race each other to get to the ovum.
A frequent cartoon scenario has a Talking Animal, or more often a Speech-Impaired Animal, is trying to keep an egg warm without being interrupted or losing the egg in a offbeat chase scene. When the egg hatches, this often results in the (usually male) babysitter being referred to as Mommy.
Compare Egg Sitting, where the egg is just a stand-in for a baby.
Despite the trope name, the egg might or might not be a MacGuffin. The trope’s name is a silly pun on Egg McMuffin, the breakfast sandwich.
Free Sample Plot Coupon
The first Plot Coupon is gotten much more easily than the others.
omething bad happens. Or the main character wants to achieve something, or reach somewhere. Either way, there may be an objective to fulfill in the near future. This objective may be the motivation to start an adventure. Not too long afterward, the character is told about how the objective can be achieved, and it may have to do with the collection of important objects, or the search for characters. This would be the start of a very long and difficult quest, enough to make the quest for the first object or character very difficult on its own.
Fortunately, the first MacGuffin or Plot Coupon appears as soon as the quest starts.
This first encounter is the Free Sample Plot Coupon. It serves as a good motivation to look forward to the remaining objects or characters, which (or who) are genuinely more difficult to find. Now, how the first MacGuffin appears may depend on the plot or the place:
It may be found right next to the main character. Not too shabby. The Quest Giver already has it, and gives it to the hero. If it's an object, whoever holds it will appear instantly. If it's a character, he or she may appear instantly. Or, by some fortunate coincidence, the character may already have had it all along. Or he is the MacGuffin.
Naturally, if the item or character takes a lot of effort to find (if not more than the others), then it doesn’t fit the trope. Not to be confused with This Is Your Premise on Drugs.
Going to See the Elephant
They weren’t trying to start the plot, they were just going on a meaningless trip.
Somewhere, not too far from the hero’s hometown, there is something new and exotic to go see or do. The hero is fascinated with the idea of checking out this new thing, and he and his friends set out on a journey to do just that. Their journey drives the rest of the plot. This differs from characters on a quest, because there’s no overarching need for them to take the trip, other than “let’s go take the trip”. They’re tourists, not heroes out to destroy The One Ring. In addition, the actual object at the end of the journey is utterly unimportant, other than as a prod for the character to take the journey in the first place.
The name of the trope is from a 19th-century expression that meant “to take a trip to see or do something exotic.” In The American Civil War era, it was sometimes used to refer to going to war. Sometimes used as a MacGuffin, making the character go in order to drive the plot, but not always, as it lacks the interchangeability of a true MacGuffin. Often, It’s the Journey That Counts.
No relation at all to the Elephant in the Living Room, which everybody is pointedly trying to ignore. Also has nothing to do with going to see a man about a horse… Also see Road Trip Plot, where the story is about the journey itself.
Hostage for MacGuffin
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/ModernDayTreasureSeekers
Give me the Phlebtonium or Ricky gets it!
A variation on the Hostage Situation and Put Down Your Gun and Step Away.
The villains have captured… someone. Anyone. Usually a family member or loved one, but it really could just be the guy down the street, because the main character loves everyone.
The Villains are willing to propose a trade. Give them the superpowered item that will let them conquer the Earth and kill far more people than just their one hostage, or they will kill their hostage.
The good guys not only go through with it, it’s apparent that they would in fact completely honor their side of the deal.
But all hope is not lost, because the villain, halfway through the deal and before completely securing the super-doohickey will doublecross the heroes, usually resulting in their defeat. They could have just taken the Crystal Of Ridiculous Levels Of Power but no, they just had to sneer at the heroes and attempt to kill someone completely irrelevant to their goal. It just goes to show that man’s worst enemy is often himself.
Played straight, this trope often turns into a nasty Straw Vulcan where handing the MacGuffin over is obviously the wrong choice, succeeding only by sheer dumb luck. If it succeeds at all. In Super Sentai, for instance, the villain is likely to blow up a few buildings afterwards, but who cares? The hostage with a human face is saved.
Fortunately, not all heroes are that stupid. If there’s a decoy MacGuffin kicking around, they might be able to pass that off as the real one. If you have a particularly Genre Savvy protagonist or an Anti-Hero, most often time’s they’ll subvert this trope by throwing the item in the air or threatening to destroy it anyway, causing the villain to panic and make a mistake. They can even avert this trope altogether by just shooting the villain or destroying said item on the spot.
Common in videogames; the villains usually let the heroes collect the seven whatevers and then step in with a trade. The games will even tease you with the choice of not doing it, But Thou Must.
See also Friend or Idol Decision. This can be the beginning of an Unhand Them, Villain!.
I’m Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin
You’re given an object by a dying man. It’s a Plot Device!
A minor character has an important MacGuffin or Plot Device, but has been fatally wounded, or is otherwise about to die. This character then hands the object over to the main character(s) before dying. The main character(s) continue the dead person’s mission to get the thing to wherever it’s supposed to get to before the bad guys get it.
A good way to keep the true story a mystery (and to keep the audience interested) is to have the main character be an Unlikely Hero that has NO idea what’s going on or who to trust.
The old bearer may double as a Sacrificial Lamb, and is quite often a Pursued Protagonist. Despite the trope name, the object handed over might or might not be a MacGuffin.
Compare with It May Help You on Your Quest, Plot Coupon, and MacGuffin Escort Mission. See also Almost Dead Guy, who passes on information instead of plot coupons, and Bequeathed Power, when the thing being passed on is some kind of superpower rather than an item. For when the transaction involves human beings, see Take Care of the Kids.
May be a Harbinger of Impending Doom. Contrast Come with Me If You Want to Live.
Sub-Trope of Take Up My Sword, itself a Sub-Trope of Herald. Compare The Chooser of The One.
Living MacGuffin http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Troy
They say Helen of Troy had a face that could launch a thousand ships: well, the Living MacGuffin has a similar ability to launch a thousand quests in search of them. She may be a heart wrenchingly beautiful princess whose hand can only be won with miraculous feats, a long lost (or left) parent, sibling, close friend or Love Interest, some variation of The Chosen One who is needed for some greater purpose, or any number of typical MacGuffin functions.
In terms of traits, they are usually “desirable” or “questable” for any of a hundred reasons. Common ones include: great beauty, great goodness, kindness and loving or being loved by the hero, being royalty, knowing the answer to an urgent problem, etc. (Thus, they can easily cross over into Mary Sue territory.) Alternately, they may carry the negative trait of having kicked the hero’s dog at one point, and so they want to find them (or a way close to them) for revenge.
See also Damsel in Distress (and Distressed Dude). If the character is kidnapped and held for ransom, see The President’s Daughter. If a character must be moved from point A to B, it’s a Live-Action Escort Mission. For cases where the MacGuffin started out as nonliving and later became a person somehow, you want MacGuffin Girl. Characters who are unimportant when introduced but become important later in the story fall under Chekhov’s Gunman.
A MacGuffin Full of Money
The MacGuffin’s only important because it’s expensive.
A popular subtrope of the MacGuffin concept. Rather than make the MacGuffin be a piece of obscure technology, or the Chosen One brought back to life, it is quite simply a giant pile of cash. Because money has intrinsic and universal value, the viewer can instantly understand why it is that the characters are so determined to retrieve it.
The problem with this trope is that it can’t be generally used to power stories that involve things like the villain seeking world domination. As such, it tends to show up most often in mundane fiction, although a MacGuffin full of money can make characters who would otherwise be normal act kind of insane — compare Gold Fever.
MacGuffin Delivery Service
One group lets another acquire a Macguffin so they can steal it.
The Adventurer Archaeologist has gone through all manner of Death Course hazards and exhausted himself narrowly escaping from certain death, but he has succeeded in retrieving the idol! ….except that he emerges to find his arch-nemesis aiming a gun point blank at him, casually ordering him to hand it over.
The Hero has collected a ragtag band of fellow survivors and enemies of the Evil Overlord, and even ventured deep into the very underbelly of the earth, fighting his way past killer trapped doors and all manner of random encounter beasts to get hold of an artifact of legendary power before the Big Bad gets to it, and thereby safeguard it from his Evil Plan…. but when the team comes struggling up out of the dungeon to return to the surface, half dead and gasping, there’s the Big Bad, confronting them with overwhelming power, fresh as a daisy. He seizes the artifact, and leaves them Only Mostly Dead, and his Evil Plan moves forward.
Sometimes you just have to wonder why the good guys never say to each other, “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we hide out near the entrance of the dungeon, get a good night’s sleep, and wait for him to go in and fetch the MacGuffin for us, this time?!” Ah, the magic of Genre Blindness.
This is a subtrope of Unwitting Pawn, where the villain’s goal is unknown to the heroes. In a MacGuffin Delivery Service, the heroes know the villain wants the MacGuffin, and preventing the villain from getting it is, ironically, the reason for the whole quest. Maybe not the only reason, but a major reason throughout the story arc.
Polar opposite of Keep Away. Compare You Can’t Thwart Stage One. Subtrope of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. A Treacherous Advisor will often ‘hold onto’ the heroes plot coupons for him. Not to be confused with MacGuffin Escort Mission, where the good guys give the heroes a mission to deliver the item somewhere.
MacGuffin Escort Mission
While many important-item stories are about finding or recovering it, this trope is about when it’s in The Protagonists’ hands either from the beginning or by the end of the first act. The rest of the story involves getting it from one place to another.
Compare Live-Action Escort Mission, only that involves people and could just be a few scenes, while this trope could include anything that is one of the main points of the story. Despite the trope name, the item might or might not be a MacGuffin.
Not to be confused with Macguffin Delivery Service, where the villain uses the hero to obtain the item. Contrast Keep Away.
