Characterization Tropes

Basic Information

Characterization tropes are narrative tropes that flesh out characters in a story beyond their intended function for the plot. Contrast with Characters As Device.

List of Characterization Tropes

• A House Divided
• Addiction Displacement
• Admiring the Abomination
• Age Appropriate Angst
• Air Hugging
• All Of The Other Reindeer
• Always Camp
• Angst Dissonance
• Animal Jingoism
• Backstory
• Baddie Flattery
• Beautiful All Along
• Being Personal Isn't Professional
• Belated Backstory
• Betty And Veronica
• Beware The Honest Ones
• Beware The Nice Ones
• Black Knight
• Blood Brothers
• Blood Splattered Innocents
• Born In The Wrong Century
• Born Winner
• Break The Cutie
• Break The Haughty
• Brilliant But Lazy
• The Bumblebee
• The Butcher
• Call to Agriculture
• Catch Phrase
• Cats Are Mean
• The Chains Of Commanding
• Character Alignment
• Character Calculus
• Character Derailment
• Character Development
• Character Tics
• Chekhovs Skill
• Children Are Innocent
• Choleric Personality
• Chronic Villainy
• Cincinnatus
• Civillain
• The Clark Kent Effect
• Closer To Earth
• The Cobblers Children Have No Shoes
• Combat Pragmatist
• Common Sense
• Commuting On A Bus
• Cool Loser
• Cracking Up
• Crazy Cat Lady
• Crouching Support Hidden Batshit
• Daddy's Girl
• Dark Is Not Evil
  • Light Is Not Good
• Depending On The Writer
• Disco Dan
• Donor
• Donut Mess With A Cop
• Drink Order
• Driven To Suicide
• Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend
• Dynamic Entry
• Early Adopter
• Epiphany Therapy
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
• Everybody Smokes
• Evil Laugh
• Expy
• Eye Take
• Face Heel Turn
• Failson
• Famous Ancestor
• Fatal Flaw
  • Afraid Of Needles
  • Thundraphobia
  • Why Did It Have To Be Snakes
• Fat Monica
• Flanderization
• Flaw Exploitation
• Former Teen Rebel
• Four-Temperment Ensemble
• The Freddy
• Freudian Excuse
• French Jerk
• Friend To All Living Things
• Frog Prince
• The Glorious War Of Sisterly Rivalry
• Go Karting With Bowser
• Good Is Impotent
• Good Is Not Nice
• Greed
• Grudging Thank You
• The Gump
• Gut Feeling
• Has Two Mommies
• Headphones Equal Isolation
• Heart Trauma
• Heel Face Turn
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• Heroic Bastard
• Heterosexual Life Partners
• Historical Hero Upgrade
• Historical Villain Upgrade
• Hollywood Dress Code
  • Fur And Loathing
  • Meganekko
  • Nerd Glasses
  • Scary Shiny Glasses
• Honor Before Reason
• Horrible Judge Of Character
• Hot Blooded
• Hulk Speak
• Hyper Awareness
• I Coulda Been A Contender
• I Have Brothers
• I Have You Now My Pretty
• I Kiss Your Hand
• Immortal Immaturity
• Improbable Age
• Innocence Virgin On Stupidity
• Insists On Paying
• Intergenerational Friendship
• Invisible Celebrity Guest
• I Want You To Meet An Old Friend Of Mine
• I Want To Be A Real Man
• Jerkass
• Jerkass Facade
• Kick Them While They Are Down
• Kids Are Cruel
• Large And In Charge
• Lawful Stupid Chaotic Stupid
• Leaning On The Furniture
• Licking The Blade
• Loners Are Freaks
• Madness Mantra
• Melancholic Personality
• The Minnesota Fats
• Messiah Creep
• Mook Face Turn
• More Than Meets The Eye
• Motive Decay
• Muscles Are Meaningless
• Naked On Arrival
• The Napoleon
• Neat Freak
• Never Got To Say Goodbye
• No Sympathy
• Not Helping Your Case
• Not That Kind Of Doctor
• Number One Dime
• Older Than They Look
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old
• Orcus On His Throne
• Opposites Attract
  • Different As Night And Day
  • Odd Couple
  • Odd Friendship
  • Salt And Pepper
• Oral Fixation Fixation
• Over And Under The Top
• Pastimes Prove Personality
• People in Rubber Suits
• Perpetual Expression
• Personality Powers
• Pet The Dog
  • Bait The Dog
  • Kick The Dog
  • Resuscitate The Dog
• Phlegmatic Personality
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
• Popular Is Dumb
• Possession Sue
• Post Historical Trauma
• Put On A Bus
  • Bus Crash
  • Commuting On A Bus
  • Died On A Bus
  • Long Bus Trip
  • Put On A Bus To Hell
• Real Men Wear Pink
• Red Oni Blue Oni
• Redemption In The Rain
• Reformed But Rejected
• Relationship Writing Fumble
• Repeat What You Just Said
• Rescued From The Scrappy Heap
• Rival Science Teams
• Rhymes On A Dime
• Sanguine Personality
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud
• Scarily Competent Tracker
• Scooby Snacks
• Screamer Victim
• Screaming Warrior
• Scully Syndrome
• Selective Slaughter
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
• She Is All Grown Up
• Sherlock Scan
• Shoot The Dog
• Shorter Means Smarter
• Simple Staff
• Single Issue Psychology
• Slouch Of Villainy
• Slytherin House
• Smoking Is Cool
• Sorry I Fell On Your Fist
• Spikeification
• Stay In The Kitchen
• Stock Yuck
• Strange Salute
• Such A Lovely Noun
• Suck My Rose
• Surname First Name Surname
• Survival Mantra
• Sweet Tooth
• Swiss Army Appendage
• Sympathetic Murderer
• Talkative Loons
• That Man Is Dead
• There Are No Good Executives
• They Call Me Mister Tibbs
• Token Development
• Took A Level In Badass
• Trademark Favorite Food
• Trope Mobile
• True Neutral
• Twitchy Eye
• Unintentionally Sympathetic
• Uninvited Guest
• The Universal Genre Savvy Guide
• Unwanted Spouse
• Urban Legend Love Life
• Villain Corner
• Villain Decay
• Villainous Breakdown
• Vitriolic Best Buds
• Weapon Of Choice
• What Is This Feeling
• What The Hell Hero
• What You Are In The Dark
• Where I Was Born And Razed
• While Rome Burns
• Whip It Good
• Who's Laughing Now
• Who Wants To Live Forever
• Why Couldn't You Be Different
• WildCard
• With Friends Like These
• The Woman Wearing The Queenly Mask
• The Worf Effect
• World Of Cardboard Speech
• Wrong Genre Savvy
• Write Who You Know
• Younger Than They Look
• Your Days Are Numbered

See Also

• Accent Tropes
• Character Derailment
• Foils
• Gender And Sexuality Tropes
  • Always Female
  • Always Male
  • Stereotype Gay
• Happiness Tropes
• Improbable Behavior Tropes
• Madness Tropes
• Mary Sue Tropes
• More Than Meets The Eye
• Naming Conventions
• Personal Appearance Tropes
  • Costume Tropes
    • Stripperiffic
  • Eye Tropes
  • Hair Tropes
  • Race Tropes
  • Smile Tropes
• Sadness Tropes

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes wiki entry

Game and Story Use

• Pick out a few of those to make your characters - both PCs and NPCs - more real, or at least more interesting.