Prepare for skele-puns by the skele-ton.
Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut
Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut
"The skull is nature's sculpture."
— David Bailey
Tropes about human and animal skeletons, and the bones that make them up. Subtrope of Dead Body Index.
Compare and contrast the Muscular Index. See also Artistic License – Biology, Death Tropes, Horror Tropes, and Undead Index.
Tropes:
- Bad with the Bone: Bones are used as a weapon.
- Ballistic Bone: Bones are used as a projectile weapon.
- Beware the Skull Base: Villain lairs shaped like skulls.
- Bones Do Not Belong There: Bones in soft organs, or animals that don't have them in real life.
- Calacas: Skeletons representing the dead in Mexican culture. Usually highly decorated with designs painted on their skulls.
- Creepy Cemetery: An unusually scary cemetery with skeletons, and maybe other monsters, abound.
- Crystal Skull: A supernatural skull made out of a gem or valuable metal.
- Dem Bones: Skeletons that move on their own.
- Desert Skull: The stock "animal skull in the desert", typically a bovine.
- Dracolich: A skeletal dragon.
- Dinosaur Doggie Bone: Dogs love fossilized dinosaur bones as much as regular bones.
- Elephant Graveyard: A place that large animals (not necessarily elephants) naturally go to when they die, often containing their skeletons.
- Expressive Skull: Skulls that can perform facial movements as if they had flesh and muscle. Typical in Halloween productions.
- Flaming Skulls: Skulls on fire.
- Friendly Skeleton: Sometimes instead of scary and mean, a skeleton will be depicted as kind and even comical.
- Gashadokuro: Giant skeleton youkai, made from the bones of a mass of people who never had proper burials.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Animate skeletons with glowing eyes.
- Nothing but Skin and Bones: A character's so thin that you can actually see their bones under their flesh. Typically used for zombies or starvation victims.
- Nothing but Skulls: Skulls are the only bone present.
- Ribcage Ridge: The skeleton of a gigantic creature is shown to distance the work's location/time from familiarity.
- Ribcage Stomach: The ribcage is visible in the stomach, similar to Nothing but Skin and Bones.
- Scary Skeleton: Malicious skeletons and skeleton-like creatures that are Played for Horror.
- Sinister Deer Skull: Deer skulls are creepy and usually signs of malevolence.
- SkeleBot 9000: Robots that resemble skeletons.
- Skeletal Appendage: A living, otherwise non-skeletal character has part of their skeleton visible.
- Skeletal Musician: An animated skeleton who's also a musician.
- Skeleton Crew: The crew of a craft is made up of skeletons.
- Skeleton Motif: Skeletons/skulls resemble death, danger, etc.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Bones used as clothing or armor.
- Skull Cups: Skulls used as drinking cups.
- Skull for a Head: A creature that isn't a skeleton has a skull for a head.
- Stock Femur Bone: When non-skull bones are automatically femur bones. Typically used in cartoons.
- Stripped to the Bone: Only the skeleton is left behind.
- This Way to Certain Death: The, usually skeletal, remains of those who traveled the route beforehand tell of danger.
- Undead Fossils: Remains of prehistoric animals that move on their own.
- Unbreakable Bones: A character's bones can't be destroyed. Common with superheroes or monsters.
- Waiting Skeleton: A character waits so long that they've been reduced to a skeleton. Sometimes used for comedic effect.
- Walking Ossuary: An undead being created from parts of multiple mix-and-matched skeletons.
- X-Ray Sparks: Getting electrocuted makes your skeleton visible.
- Xylophones for Walking Bones: Xylophones being involved with skeletons.
