History Main / ThePlotReaper

DeathOfTheHypotenuse is when this is used as a way of CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds. For a nonlethal version, see DeusExitMachina. DiabolusExMachina is when someone dies at the end just for the sake of a tragic ending. See also TooCoolToLive. StupidSacrifice occurs when the writers can't be bothered to think of a better way to kill someone off, but don't want to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drop]] a [[DroppedABridgeOnHer bridge on them]]. This trope often takes the form of SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome and often slaughters the TemporaryLoveInterest, because being tied down to them would keep the show from being fun. Overlaps with TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled if the character had the best chance of saving the day. A ConvenientMiscarriage happens when a character does not want to be pregnant, but GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion.

A character is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter more skilled than the hero]], more [[TooCoolToLive awesome]] than the hero, [[TheMentor has the job that the hero should have]], or [[RomanticFalseLead has the love interest the hero should have]] (or else ''is'' a love interest the hero [[CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds shouldn't have]]). They might be the ObstructiveBureaucrat who's keeping the hero from going to the places he or she needs to go to save the world. Maybe they're the symbol of [[DeathByNewberyMedal childhood innocence]] and the main character [[GrowingUpSucks has to grow up now.]] They could be the HelicopterParents of a KidHero who aren't keen on their child being thrown into danger (for [[GoodParents good]] or for [[AbusiveParents ill]]), and the hero [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan needs to lose that tether]]. Or maybe they're simply too GenreSavvy and are keeping the hero from doing something that might advance the plot, but would also be bad for the hero in the long run.

The DoomedHometown provides both ParentalAbandonment and the desire for revenge. [[MentorOccupationalHazard Getting killed off]] is practically part of [[TheMentor The Mentor's]] job description, because it wouldn't do for him to defeat the villain. Also, if there's corruption among the human hero's good guy organization, it's... messy to have a civil war or rebellion, especially if the corruption isn't composed entirely of obvious {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. It's much cleaner to have the [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork "real" villains kill them off or convert them fully]], and then have the heroes take care of said less-nebulous villains.

* Kate Chopin, an otherwise respected author whose work is often used as UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia, had a terrible habit of killing off characters she couldn't write a proper ending for. Typically, the character thus slain was someone who'd violated the social order and who was about to get metaphorically reamed by the hatred of their community, but at least once she used a convenient flood for CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds.

* ''ComicBook/JLAActOfGod'' has [[SeriesContinuityError most]] of the mystical heroes who could explain what's going on simply disappear in the depowering event and are never seen again.
* While writing ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Creator/AlanMoore intended for [[spoiler:Rorschach]] to live. After working on the character for a while, though, he realized that letting [[spoiler:him]] live would create a whole other set of issues, or would require everything after the climax to be one big OutOfCharacterMoment. Thus, the character had to die.
* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** This is ridiculously common in comic books, but the most egregious is probably the ''New X-Men''. At the end of ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', when 90% of Earth's mutants lost their powers, the depowered students at Xavier's were PutOnABus home for their safety (even though many of the kids had nowhere else to go). And then the bus was blown up by Reverend Stryker. One could argue that the death of all those students at once, coupled with the book's already-high mortality rate, was simply because the writers didn't know what to do with all those students. Because, you know, [[PutOnABus putting them on a bus]] to go home and lead uneventful (or eventful but not eventful enough to be in comics) lives and maybe come back later repowered or seeking revenge or as supporting characters or not coming back ever, well that sort of thing just wouldn't [[{{Wangst}} do for an X-Book]].
** Also, this sums up how [[ThePhoenix Jean Grey]] inexplicably dies at the end of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/XMen'' run. An editorial proclamation was made [[Creator/JoeQuesada from on high]] to get rid of her in order to make Cyclops "more interesting" by having him date Emma Frost.