This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
I wouldn't say the Death Star actually qualifies as an example of the trope. The Death Star's destruction had a clearly defined cause (the rebel fighters torpedoed its reactor) which was independent of the emperor's death. The trope refers to the bases which collapse for no architecturally sound reason as soon as the boss is killed. In Star Wars, it was really more a case of coincidental timing.
Zeke: Wouldn't it make more sense just to put this stuff in Load-Bearing Boss? We generalize video game tropes all the time.
Lale: A New Hope being the only one of those movies I saw, yes, it's not the same. But does this trope really never appear at all in the Star Wars saga? Finally, a trope writers can use without everyone seeing a Star Wars reference in it!
Etherjammer: I removed the reference to A New Hope, since it's not at all relevant (unless "The Reactor Vent" has somehow appeared in the credits), and altered the Return of the Jedi entry to indicate that the Emperor dying and the Death Star exploding aren't causally linked.
Nerdorama: Cutting my own stupidly duplicated entry:
- The Tower of Barad-Dur collapses when the Ring is destroyed at the end of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Fortunately, no heroes were anywhere near there. Sam and Frodo still have to be DeusExMachina'd away from a volatile volcano, though.
- Isn't this already mentioned above? Merge?
And actually, if this only applies to lairs that collapse for no good reason, maybe I should take out the two I made above it.
- Is Gene Hackman's lair destruction in Enemy of the State an inversion (he is a hero)?
