Narrative Devices move the story forward or organize a scene or sequence.
The following lists of narrative devices are not categorized elsewhere.
Indexes
- An Aesop
- Beginning Tropes: Tropes pertaining to how the story begins.
- Characters as Device
- Chase Scene
- Climactic Tropes
- Competition Index
- Continuity Tropes
- Contrived Stupidity Tropes
- Cut to the Index
- Death Trap
- Distraction Tropes
- Dream Tropes
- Ending Tropes: Tropes pertaining to how the story ends.
- Episodes: The kinds of plots episodes of a television series tend to have.
- Escape Tropes
- Family Twists Index
- Fight Scene
- Flashbacks and Chronology
- Gambit Index
- Humility Tropes
- Index All Along
- Index First
- Ironic Index
- Juxtaposition Tropes
- MacGuffin
- Montages
- Movie Twist List
- Plot Twist
- Prideful Tropes
- Room Shuffle
- A Safe Index to Hide
- Scenes
- Sewer Tropes
- Shapeshifting: The ability to alter one's physical appearance.
- Short Story Long
- Shout-Outs Index
- Sleep and Wakefulness Tropes
- Slippery Tropes
- Steal This Index
- Stock Puzzle
- Stock Superpowers Index
- Television Tropes
- This Index Will Be Important Later
- This Might Be an Index
- Twist Ending
- That Which Must Not Be Indexed
- Vandalism Tropes
- Victory and Defeat: Tropes about when characters win or lose.
- You Hate What You Are
Tropes:
- Abilene Paradox
- Accidental Bid
- Always Need What You Gave Up: Character tries to give up their powers or weapon, then ends up in a situation that they could've dealt with easily had they kept their powers or weapon by then.
- Bags of Letters
- Barn Raising
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti
- Big Blackout
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths
- Blunder-Correcting Impulse
- Body Bridge
- Bothering by the Book
- Box-and-Stick Trap
- Broken Glass Penalty
- Bump into Confrontation
- Burning the Flag
- Butt-Dialing Mordor
- Canary in a Coal Mine
- Catch-22 Dilemma
- Caught on Tape
- Caught Up in a Robbery
- Chance Activation
- Chariot Race
- Cheating with the Milkman: A wife cheats on her husband with the milkman or some other man in a profession that requires visiting houses.
- Chicken-and-Egg Paradox: Element A causes Element B, and Element B causes Element A. Which came first?
- Cold Snap
- Conveniently Seated
- Convenient Photograph
- Crack Defeat
- Crowd Panic
- Cryptic Background Reference
- Crystal-Ball Scheduling
- Cutting the Electronic Leash
- Dark Horse Victory
- Daydream Surprise: A brief scene quickly turns out to be a daydream one of the characters is having.
- Dead End Job
- Decoy Getaway
- Defusing the Tyke-Bomb
- Destroy the Villain's Weapon
- Dismantled MacGuffin
- Diving Save
- Documentary Episode
- Do Not Adjust Your Set
- Do Not Go Gentle
- Don't Ask, Just Run
- Don't Celebrate Just Yet
- Don't Split Us Up
- Doomed Hometown
- Door Jam
- Doorstop Baby: A baby gets left on someone's doorstep and ends up adopted by whoever lives in the house.
- Double Date
- Drama Bomb
- Dramatic Curtain Toss
- Dramatic Dislocation
- Dramatic Irony: The audience knows something that the characters don't.
- Dream Land
- Dream Within a Dream: Someone wakes up from a dream only to find that they're still dreaming.
- Dream Sequence
- Driving Question
- Driving Test Smashers
- Dungeon Bypass
- Drunk on the Dark Side
- Dueling Hackers
- Dysfunction Junction
- Earth All Along: It turns out the alien planet was actually Earth.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: A planet blows up.
- Easily Forgiven: In spite of what this character has done, the people they have wronged are all too eager to let bygones be bygones.
- Eat the Evidence: Someone tries to avoid getting in trouble by eating the evidence of what they've done.
- Egg MacGuffin
- Either/Or Prophecy
- Electrified Bathtub: Killing someone by dropping active electronics into the bathtub while they are bathing.
- Elves Versus Dwarves
- Emergency Food Supply Animal
- Emergency Presidential Address
- Empathic Weapon
- Empty Cop Threat
- Endangered Soufflé
- End-of-Episode Silliness
- Enforced Cold War
- Engagement Challenge
- Engineered Public Confession: A villain beloved by the public gets exposed when the heroes trick him into openly confessing that he's really a rotten scumbag manipulating everyone.
- Epic Fail: Someone fails so badly that they manage to achieve a failure that isn't physically possible.
- Epiphanic Prison
- Estranged Soap Family
- Et Tu, Brute?
- Even the Dog Is Ashamed: The character has screwed up so badly that not even their loyal companion is willing to stick by them anymore.
- Everybody Knew Already
- Everybody's Dead, Dave
- Everyone Knows Morse
- Everyone's in the Loop
- The Evils of Free Will: Someone believes that utopia can only be achieved by eliminating free will.
- Evil Phone
- Evil Plan: The villain's scheme to do something bad.
- Exact Eavesdropping
- Exact Words: It turns out that the character meant exactly what they said and weren't using a figure of speech or anything like that.
- Expansion Pack World
- Expendable Clone: Clones are considered okay to sacrifice because we can always make more.
- Explaining the Soap
- Explosive Leash: Someone has a collar forced onto them that will kill or torture them if they try to defy the one enslaving them.
- Explosion Propulsion
- Exposition of Immortality
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story occurs in a very short amount of time.
- Eye Remember
- Failed a Spot Check: Character doesn't notice something missing or someone or something that shouldn't be there until it is too late.
- Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what the character tries, they'll never succeed in achieving their goal.
- Fainting Seer
- Fake Defector: A hero pretends to switch sides in order to bring down the enemy from within.
- Fake Static: Character pretends that there's a problem with their communications equpment in order to avoid conversation.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job
- Fall of the House of Cards
- Fancy Dinner
- Fascists' Bed Time: A curfew is enforced where everyone has to be home and in bed by an unreasonably early time.
- Faustian Rebellion: Overthrowing Satan.
- Faux Death
- Fauxlosophic Narration
- Fauxshadow
- Feet of Clay
- Fence Painting
- Fiction Isn't Fair
- Field Promotion
- Fisher King
- Final Exam Finale
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Alluding to events that will happen or be revealed shortly.
- Flatline
- Fling a Light into the Future
- Flying Dutchman
- Food Chains
- Follow the White Rabbit
- A Fool for a Client: Someone tries to defend themselves in court.
- Forbidden Fruit
- Forced Prize Fight
- Foreigner for a Day
- Foreshadowing: Alluding to events that will happen or be revealed later in the story.
- The Four Loves
- Framed Clue
- Frameup
- Framing the Guilty Party
- Framed for Heroism
- Frantic Object Concealment
- Freak Out
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Two or more characters switch minds and have to figure out how to get each other's brains back in their proper bodies.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision
- Friends All Along
- Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow
- Frothy Mugs of Water
- Fur Against Fang: Conflict between werewolves and vampires.
- Future Badass: Someone becomes cooler and more impressive in the future.
- Gambit Pileup
- Gambit Roulette
- Genocide Dilemma
- Geodesic Cast
- George Jetson Job Security: Someone gets fired or a trivial reason or no reason at all.
- George Washington Slept Here
- Generic Graffiti
- "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: The heroes cut the bad guy some slack and ler him go free.
- Getting Hot in Here
- Give Me a Sign
- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!
- Go Among Mad People
- Go Back to the Source
- A God Am I: Someone believes themselves to be a god.
- Godzilla Threshold: Resorting to extremely risky and dangerous strategies out of desperation.
- Going in Circles
- Going to See the Elephant
- Going Postal: Postal workers going crazy.
- Golden Snitch
- Gossip Evolution
- Got Volunteered
- Grail in the Garbage
- Green Rooming
- Guess Who I'm Marrying?
- Hannibal Lecture
- Happier Home Movie
- Harmful to Minors
- Haunted Headquarters
- Heat Wave
- Heart Trauma
- Heel Realization: Someone realizes that they've been the bad guy.
- Hell on Earth
- Here We Go Again!: The story ends with the conflict repeating or the characters going through a new conflict similar to the one that was already resolved.
- Heroic Heelization Speech
- Heroic Vow
- Hidden in Plain Sight
- High Turnover Rate
- High-Voltage Death: Someone gets electrocuted to death.
- The Hilarious Table
- Hired on the Spot
- His Story Repeats Itself
- History Repeats
- Holding Out for a Hero: People don't bother saving themselves in hopes that a hero will come and save them.
- Holding the Floor
- Homage
- Hope Springs Eternal
- Horror Hates a Rulebreaker
- Hostage for MacGuffin
- Hostage Situation
- Hostile Weather
- Hourglass Plot
- How Did We Get Back Home?: Transporting the main characters back to their home without giving an explanation.
- How Much Did You Hear?
- Human Ladder
- Human Popsicle: Someone gets frozen solid non-lethally.
- Human Resources
- Human Shield: Using a living person to protect yourself from danger.
- Humble Pie
- Humiliation Conga: The bad guy's defeat has him suffer a string of embarrassing misfortunes.
- I Am One of Those, Too
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: A character spends the story claiming they hate something, then finds that they actually like it when they finally give it a chance.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad
- I Have Your Wife: The villain manipulates someone into doing as they say by capturing the person's loved ones.
- I Just Want to Be Badass
- I Just Want to Be Normal: A superhero or extraordinary person wishes that they had a normal life.
- I Just Want to Be Special
- "I Know What We Can Do" Cut
- I Never
- I Owe You My Life
- I See Them, Too
- I Was Having Such a Nice Dream
- I Will Find You
- Ignored Vital News Reports
- Invisible Subtle Difference
- Identical Grandson: A character has an ancestor or descendant who looks just like them.
- If I Can Only Move
- If You Won't, I Will
- Impersonating the Evil Twin: The hero pretends to be their evil twin.
- Impossible Task
- I'm a Humanitarian: A character who kills and consumes members of their own kind.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue
- Inevitable Mutual Betrayal
- Info Drop
- Info Dump
- Innocent Inaccurate: A child or naive person has a clueless interpretation of adult stuff.
- Innocent Innuendo: A scene that deliberately looks or sounds naughty, but is actually more wholesome than it seems.
- Instant Expert
- Insulted Awake
- Internal Homage
- Internalized Categorism
- Intercontinuity Crossover
- Interrogation by Vandalism
- Interrogating the Dead
- Interrupted Suicide
- Intimidating Revenue Service: The IRS will take away all of your belongings if you don't pay your taxes.
- Intrepid Fictioneer
- Invented Invalid: Someone lies about having to tend to a sick relative so they don't have to come.
- Invisible to Adults: A supernatural being that only children can see.
- Invisible to Normals: Only weirdos can see the supernatural.
- Irrevocable Message: Someone ends up sending a rude message and now regrets sending it.
- Is This Thing Still On?
- It Must Be Mine!
- It's All Junk
- It's the Journey That Counts
- It's Probably Nothing
- It Was a Gift
- It Was with You All Along
- Jacob Marley Warning
- Jail Bake: Helping someone escape jail by sending them baked goods that have materials they can use to escape prison hidden inside.
- Jeopardy! Intelligence Test
- Joker Jury
- Juggling Dangerously
- Jury of the Damned
- Kilroy Was Here
- Keep the Reward
- Kent Brockman News
- The Key Is Behind the Lock
- Kicked Upstairs: Promoting an incompetent employee to an ostensibly important position so that they can't directly cause too much damage.
- Kidnapped by an Ally
- Kishōtenketsu
- Knife-Throwing Act
- Knights and Knaves
- Lamaze Class
- Laser-Guided Broadcast
- Last Stand
- The Laws of Magic
- Leaf Boat
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A character makes a statement that makes sense in-universe, but can also be interpreted as the character acknowledging that they are in a work of fiction.
- Least Is First: A lowest-status character steps forward first, shaming the higher-status ones into supporting a course of action.
- Leave Him to Me!
- Leave the Camera Running
- Leonine Contract
- Leno Device
- "Lesson of the Day" Speech
- Lethally Expensive
- A Light in the Distance
- Limited Destination Time
- List of Transgressions
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday
- Living a Double Life
- Living on Borrowed Time
- Living with the Villain
- Locked in a Freezer
- Locked in a Room
- Locked Out of the Fight
- Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard
- Look Ma, No Plane!
- Loser Gets the Girl
- Loser Has Your Back
- Loves Me Not
- Luke, I Am Your Father: A character reveals that they are another character's father.
- Luke, You Are My Father: A character reveals that they are another character's child.
- Lured into a Trap
- MacGuffin: A powerful or mysterious object that the plot hinges on.
- MacGuffin Delivery Service
- MacGuffin Location
- Made of Temptation
- Magic Hat
- Magical Girl Queenliness Test
- Magical Guide
- Magnetic Plot Device
- The Main Characters Do Everything
- Major Injury Underreaction: Someone suffers a severe injury but acts as if it's just a minor scratch.
- Make a Wish: A character wishes for something.
- Making the Choice for You
- Manufacturing Victims
- Mating Dance
- Matryoshka Object
- Meaningful Echo
- Medal of Dishonor
- Meet the In-Laws
- Melodramatic Pause
- Memento MacGuffin
- Mercy Lead
- Message in a Bottle
- Miming the Cues
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: A mind-reader gets repulsed from reading the thoughts of an unpleasant person.
- Mind Rape
- Mind Screwdriver
- Mind Screw the Audience
- Mineral MacGuffin
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: A character dumps their love interest over something petty.
- Miracle Food
- Miracle Rally
- Miranda Rights
- Misfit Mobilization Moment
- Mistaken for Badass
- Mistaken Identity
- "Mister Sandman" Sequence
- Mistimed Revival
- Model Scam
- Monster Threat Expiration
- Mood Whiplash
- Morning Routine
- Morton's Fork: A character has to pick one of two choices and both choices have bad consequences.
- Moses in the Bulrushes
- Most Definitely Not Accompanying Us
- Mundane Solution: The problem gets solved in an easy manner.
- Mushroom Samba
- Must Have Nicotine
- Must Not Die a Virgin
- Mutilation Interrogation
- The Mutiny
- My Fist Forgives You
- My Greatest Failure
- My Greatest Second Chance
- Mysterious Employer
- Mysterious Note
- Mythology Gag: The current adaptation references one or more of the previous continuities.
- Narrator All Along: A character within the story turns out to be the one narrating.
- Naughty Birdwatching: Using birdwatching as an excuse for voyeurism.
- Near-Death Clairvoyance
- Near-Death Experience
- Necessary Fail
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: It's acknowledged that an individual would be likely hard to find because of their traits not being all that unique.
- Never Split the Party
- Newspaper Dating
- Niche Network
- No Fourth Wall: The fourth wall is broken so frequently that it might as well not even exist.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner (aka Detente Comrade, Eaten The MacGuffin)
- No Party Like a Donner Party: People resort to cannibalism to avoid starving to death.
- Non Sequitur: A weird statement spoken out of nowhere that has nothing to do with the current discussion.
- Noodle Incident: Characters talk about an unseen past event, but the details are too unclear for the audience to verify exactly what happened or why.
- Notable Non Sequitur
- Not a Date
- Not Afraid of You Anymore
- Not as You Know Them
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught
- Not Helping Your Case: A character tries to prove they are not what they're accused of being, but their attempts only add fuel to suspicions that the accusations are true.
- Not in Front of the Parrot!: A character screws up by revealing secret or embarrassing information in front of a parrot.
- Not in My Contract
- Not My Driver
- Not My Lucky Day
- Not What It Looks Like
- Not What I Signed on For
- Obfuscating Stupidity: A character pretends to be an idiot.
- Oblivious Adoption: A character doesn't know that they were adopted.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging
- Off to Boarding School
- Offered the Crown
- Offhand Backhand: Punching out someone sneaking up on you without looking at them.
- Offing the Offspring: Someone kills their own children.
- Oh, Cisco!
- Ominous Message from the Future
- Ominous Multiple Screens
- Ominous Television
- One Degree of Separation
- One Judge to Rule Them All
- One Crazy Night
- One Side of the Story
- One-Way Trip
- Only Good People May Pass
- Only the Knowledgable May Pass
- Only Smart People May Pass
- Only the Worthy May Pass
- Or Was It a Dream?: A character appears to have dreamed everything, but it is then hinted that what they appeared to dream about actually happened.
- Orphan's Ordeal
- Orphan's Plot Trinket
- Out Giving Birth, Back in Two Minutes
- Outliving One's Offspring: A parent ends up outliving their children.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: A character is naked during an out-of-body experience.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping
- Overcome Their Differences
- Overly Long Gag
- Padding: Content that the audience feels was added just to keep the story going.
- Parental Favoritism: The parents have one child they like more than the rest of their children.
- Party Scheduling Gambit
- Passed-Over Promotion
- Passive Rescue
- Pater Familicide: Someone kills their relatives and then kills themselves.
- Pelvic Thrust
- Penultimate Outburst: After several disturbances, the judge threatens to kick the offender out of the courtroom.
- People Jars
- Permission to Speak Freely
- Perpetual Poverty
- Perspective Magic
- Perspective Reversal
- Perverted Sniffing
- Phlebotinum Battery
- Photo Memento
- Playing Both Sides
- Playing Nice for Now
- Playing Sick
- Plot Coupon
- Plot Detour
- Plot-Demanded Manual Mode
- Plot Device
- Plot-Driven Breakdown
- Plot Parallel
- Plot-Sensitive Latch
- Plot Technology
- Plummet Perspective
- Poison and Cure Gambit: Manipulating people by poisoning them and refusing to give the antidote until they do what you tell them to.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo
- Police Are Useless: Police are shown to be too incompetent to do anything without the heroes' help.
- Poor Communication Kills: A failure to communicate properly ends in disaster.
- Porn Stash: Someone has a collection of pornography hidden away.
- Portal Pool
- Possessive Paradise
- Posthumous Character: A character who has already died by the time the audience learns of their existence.
- Powder Keg Crowd
- Power Fantasy
- Practical Voice-Over
- Pre-Battle Banter: Fighters exchange banter before an imminent battle.
- The Precarious Ledge
- Premature Eulogy: Giving a eulogy to someone who hasn't actually died.
- Press-Ganged
- Pressure Point
- Priceless Paperweight
- Princess for a Day
- Promoted to Scapegoat
- Protector Behind Bars
- Protocol Peril
- Pseudo-Crisis
- Psychological Horror
- Psychosexual Horror
- Puberty Superpower: A teenager gains super powers upon hitting puberty.
- The Public Domain Channel
- Public Execution
- Punk in the Trunk: Locking someone up in the back of a car.
- The Purge
- Quarantine with Extreme Prejudice
- Put Down Your Gun and Step Away
- Put Me In, Coach!
- Rage Against the Author: The characters try to defy what the creator wants to do with the work.
- Rage Against the Mentor
- Rash Equilibrium
- Read the Freaking Manual
- Reality Bleed
- "Rear Window" Witness
- Recorded Spliced Conversation
- Red Herring Twist
- Regular Caller
- Reincarnation: A character dies and is subsequently reborn in a new life.
- Reincarnation-Identifying Trait
- Reincarnation Romance
- Relationship Chart
- Relationship Reboot
- Relationship-Salvaging Disaster
- Religious Russian Roulette
- Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?
- Remote Vitals Monitoring
- Rescue Romance
- Rescued from the Underworld
- Resurrected Romance: A couple continue their relationship after one of them dies and is brought back to life.
- Retcon: Making retroactive changes to the continuity.
- Restrained Revenge
- The Reveal Prompts Romance
- Revision
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: If you betray someone, you'll end up punished for it severely.
- Rewatch Bonus: Parts of the story that become more noticeable when viewing a second time.
- Rewrite
- Rhetorical Request Blunder
- Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
- Ridiculously Difficult Route
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand
- Right on the Tick
- Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Reason
- Ripped from the Headlines: The story is influenced by recent news reports.
- Ripped from the Phone Book
- Road Trip Plot
- Rock Bottom
- Romantic Resolutions
- Room Disservice
- Rules of Orphan Economics
- Sadistic Choice: The villain forces the hero to choose between saving one loved one and letting the other die.
- Sarcasm Failure: A character tries to make a dry remark, but can't.
- Scheherezade Gambit
- Schmuck Banquet
- Science Is Bad
- Science Is Good
- Science Is Wrong
- School Play
- Screaming Birth
- Screw Destiny
- Scully Syndrome
- Scylla and Charybdis
- Sealed Evil in a Duel: A good being and an evil being spend eternity trapped somewhere while fighting each other.
- Second-Hand Storytelling
- Second Place Is for Winners: Not placing first in a competition ends up producing a better outcome.
- Second Prize: A character was expecting a different outcome in a competition.
- Secret Identity
- Secret Legacy
- Secret Path
- Secret Test of Character
- Seeking Sanctuary
- Send Me Back
- Separated by the Wall
- Sequel Reset
- Serious Business: Something insignificant is treated as if it's a big deal.
- Sentimental Sacrifice
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook
- Shamed by a Mob
- Shameful Strip: Someone gets undressed as punishment.
- Shaming the Mob
- Sharing a Body
- Shell Game
- Shock Collar
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Taking the shortcut takes longer than going the regular route.
- Short-Distance Phone Call
- Show Within a Show
- Shower of Angst
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: The villain mocks the hero for being idealistic and the hero gives a rebuttal.
- Sidelong Glance Biopic
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!
- Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!
- Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters
- Slippery Soap
- Slobs Versus Snobs: Conflict between neat freaks and people who like being messy.
- Slow Clap
- Slumber Party
- Slumber Party Ploy
- Small Town Rivalry
- Smart Ball
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter
- Sneaky Departure
- Snowball Lie
- Snowed-In
- So Much for Stealth
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb
- Something Only They Would Say
- Sorkin Relationship Moment
- Sorry to Interrupt
- Sound Stone
- Speak Friend and Enter
- Speak of the Devil
- Speed Dating
- Stable Time Loop: Events happened because someone went back in time and vice versa.
- Staring Contest
- Status Quo Game Show
- Stay on the Path
- Staying with Friends
- Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee
- Stolen Good, Returned Better: An item gets stolen and then returned to its owner after being improved.
- Stolen MacGuffin Reveal
- Stopped Clock
- Storyboard Body
- Story Breadcrumbs
- Stuff Blowing Up
- Stuffed into a Locker
- Stuffed into a Trashcan
- Sub-Genre
- Suckiness Is Painful: A work is of such bad quality that being forced to view or listen to it is considered torture.
- Sudden Videogame Moment
- Sugary Malice
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum
- Summoning Ritual
- Super-Detailed Fight Narration
- Supernatural Aid
- Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious
- Survivalist Stash
- Survived the Beginning: A cast massacre opens the story, those who survive get some Plot Armor.
- Suspiciously Specific Sermon
- Sweet Polly Oliver: A woman disguises herself as a man.
- Switched at Birth
- Sympathetic P.O.V.
- Talking in Bed
- Take a Third Option: When a character has to make a choice, they opt for a new decision that wasn't among the options already given to them.
- Take Back Your Gift
- Take Over the World: The villain plans to conquer the world.
- Tap on the Head
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Someone talks to a recorded message from someone and the person in the video or recording is able to accurately respond to the statements even though they're not really around to hear what the other person is saying.
- Team Rocket Wins: Ineffectual villains achieve a minor victory.
- Team Spirit
- Televised Torture
- Temporal Paradox
- Temporary Blindness: A story where a character temporarily gains a disability.
- Tempting Fate
- Ten Minutes in the Closet
- Test and Trial Tropes
- There Is No Try
- These Questions Three...
- Theseus' Ship Paradox: The question of whether something is still the original if every part has been replaced.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: A guest overstays their welcome, much to the dismay of their host.
- They Would Cut You Up
- Things Get Real
- Think Happy Thoughts
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel
- This Is My Story
- This Is as Far as I Go
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself
- This Is Your Brain on Evil
- This Means War!
- Thought They Knew Already
- Three-Act Structure
- Thrown Down a Well
- Thwarted Escape
- Tied-Together-Shoelace Trip
- Time Travel: Traveling to the future or past.
- To Be Continued... Right Now: The story continues immediately after a fake-out of saying that the story will continue in the next installment.
- Token Good Cop
- Tomato Surprise
- Tongue-Tied
- Total Eclipse of the Plot
- To the Pain
- Tragic Mistake
- Transformation Ray
- Trap Door
- Trap-Door Fail
- Trap Is the Only Option
- The Treachery of Images
- Treasure Map
- Trial-Period Dating
- Troll Bridge
- Trope Trigger
- Trust Password
- Twisted Echo Cut
- Two Girls and a Guy
- Two Guys and a Girl
- Two Halves Make a Plot
- 2 + Torture = 5
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue
- Two-Timer Date
- Unbalanced By Rival's Kid
- Un-Confession
- Unexpected Inheritance
- Unexpected Positive
- Unfolding Plan Montage
- Unhand Them, Villain!
- Un-person: A person for whatever reason (commonly because they've become disgraced) has all evidence and records of their existence removed or revised to make it seem as if they never existed in the first place.
- Unsafe Haven: A sanctuary that is easy to break into.
- Unseen Audience
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee
- Unusually Uninteresting Name
- Using You All Along: The hero finds out that their ally was really the villain manipulating them.
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: A character wins, but ends up losing their memory of the incident.
- Video Wills
- Villain Ball: The villain's downfall comes from the inability to resist the urge to continue doing bad things in situations where doing so would be impractical.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The villain ends up escaping after their plan is thwarted.
- Visible to Believers
- Vision Quest
- Visions of Another Self
- Volleying Insults
- Vortex Barrier: The weather itself is used as a means to block the hero from entering an important location.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: A secondary conflict added to keep the story from ending too soon.
- Waking Up at the Morgue
- Walking Out on the Show
- Washington D.C. Invasion
- Watching Troy Burn
- We ARE Struggling Together
- We Are "Team Cannon Fodder"
- We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill
- We Need to Get Proof
- We Really Do Care
- We Should Get Another Tape
- Welcome to the Big City
- What Year Is This?
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The story ends with an epilogue explaining what happened to the characters after the events of the story.
- Where It All Began
- White Flag
- Who Needs Enemies?
- Who Will Bell the Cat?
- Why Isn't It Attacking?
- Wild Teen Party
- With a Friend and a Stranger
- With Due Respect
- Witless Protection Program
- Witness Protection
- The World Is Always Doomed
- World of Silence
- The Worst Seat in the House
- Wrecked Weapon
- Write Back to the Future
- Writer's Block
- Writing Lines
- Written-In Absence: When an actor is unavailable for the current episode, the writers given an in-universe explanation for their character's absence.
- Xanatos Gambit
- Yellow Sash of Power
- You ALL Share My Story
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are
- You Are Grounded!
- You Are in Command Now
- You Are the New Trend
- You Can Keep Her!
- You Can't Fight Fate
- You Can't Go Home Again
- You Can't Thwart Stage One
- You Don't Want to Catch This
- You Killed My Father: Hero confronts the villain for killing a loved one.
- You Know Who Said That?
- You Were Trying Too Hard
- You Will Be Beethoven
