Sir Simon Milligan: Hecubus, have you seen the movie Presumed Innocent?
Manservant Hecubus: Yes, I have, Master, and his wife killed her!
Sir Simon Milligan: But Hecubus, I haven't seen the movie yet! [turns to the audience and points at Hecubus] Evil!
Manservant Hecubus: Yes, I have, Master, and his wife killed her!
Sir Simon Milligan: But Hecubus, I haven't seen the movie yet! [turns to the audience and points at Hecubus] Evil!
Some tropes are immediate Spoilers where they appear. It's either because they specifically deal with spoilers in fiction or because they give away twists (or even the ends) of their works, so even naming these tropes along with a work is a spoiler in itself. This means that all examples on these trope pages are spoilers for their works, without exceptions.
These tropes fall into four possible categories:
- A) Tropes and other pages with "spoiler" in the title, or specifically about spoilers in fiction.
- B) Tropes which are immediate spoilers for a work when added to its page
- C) The same as type B but only on character pages
- D) Any combination of A, B and C.
For a trope to be eligible for type B, C or D of this list it must fulfill all four of these requirements:
- It must give away important plot points about the resolution of the main premise of the work, which disqualifies minor plot points and story arcs
- It cannot happen in the exposition of a work or the introduction of a character (this often is the reason why death tropes fail to make this list) note and may not be an Omnipresent Trope, in order to effectively surprise the audience.
- It must immediately tell you the outcome of the work, change its tone or give other information which makes it impossible to read the work in the same light - if you can imagine a list of description-less examples where not all of them are spoilers, it doesn't fit.
- There is no more explanation necessary - just the appearance of the trope on the work's list is a spoiler in itself. To test this, take a random work and imagine you know that absolute basic synopsis, after which you find that this trope shows up as a Zero-Content Example in the Main or characters section. If the show is immediately spoiled now (without example text necessary), the trope belongs here - if not, it doesn't belong.
Note: This list had huge issues and needed some massive rework. Don't just add tropes that could be spoilers or even that often are spoilers or any random death, ending, plot twist or even adaption trope (there are other lists for that). Only list tropes that fulfill all four requirements. Also, check the discussion page before adding or removing anything.
Either way, be wary of reading examples in these tropes, as these are the most spoilery tropes you'll ever get. You've been warned all along.
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Tropes or Administrivia pages about spoilers
Main topic:
Site policies:
Sub-categories:
- All There in the Stinger: The Stinger has information you need to understand the plot of a work or its sequels.
- Captain Obvious Reveal: A major reveal is super obvious to the audience.
- Do Not Spoil This Ending: The creators and promotion material don't want people to give away the ending of the work.
- Equipment Spoiler: If you get a piece of equipment that you can't use, chances are a character who can will join your party later.
- Fake-Out Twist: A twist that's immediately redefined by another twist.
- First-Episode Twist: A twist which happens immediately.
- Foiler Footage: Alternate footage created to avoid spoiling the work's real plot or twist.
- Foregone Conclusion: The audience already knows how the story is going to end even if they've just seen the work for the first time and haven't heard any spoilers prior to watching it.
- The Good Guys Always Win: The heroic characters win. (Not allowed as B or D because it's omnipresent.)
- Hair Color Spoiler: If two characters have a similar hair color, it likely means they're related.
- Happy Ending: The story ends without anything awful happening. (Not B or D because it's omnipresent.)
- Interface Spoiler: Examining the interface gives spoilers.
- It Was His Sled: A twist in a work is so well-known that even people who haven't seen the work are familiar with it.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you don't start watching a series from the time it debuts, you'll get spoilers on what is revealed in the earlier episodes.
- Mandatory Twist Ending: Twists are used so often they're basically mandatory in the work.
- Musical Spoiler: The soundtrack is an indication that something will change.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: The perpetrator is never the person who was the most obvious in the beginning.
- Oh, and X Dies: The author or narrator tells us that someone will die. (not type D because it could be a Lying Creator)
- Spiteful Spoiler: A character deliberately spoils a work to upset others.
- Spoil at Your Own Risk: Spoiling a work is a bad idea, probably drawing legal retribution.
- Spoiled by the Cast List: An actor's presence in the cast list spoils what would be a surprise.
- Spoiled by the Format: The nature of the medium gives away that a character will survive or that the climax hasn't happened yet.
- Spoiled by the Manual: The game's manual reveals something which would've been a surprise in the game.
- Spoiled by the Merchandise: The work's merchandise gives away spoilers.
- Spoiler Cover: The cover spoils something about the work.
- Spoiler Hound: People who actively seek spoilers.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening credits spoil the work.
- Spoiling Shout-Out: A work is shouted out by being spoiled.
- Spoiler Title: The title spoils the work.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Trailers for the film give spoilers.
- Trope Telegraphing: You can already put together what happens next because the components are there.
- The Un-Reveal: A reveal is teased, but it doesn't happen.
Tropes that immediately tell you the outcome of the story with no more explanation necessary
- Amnesiac Protagonist Catalyst: An Amnesiac Hero turns out to be the cause of the current problem/crisis at hand.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The story ends with the villain being victorious.
- Bittersweet Ending: The story has the heroes victorious but at a great cost.
- Cosmic Horror Reveal: The setting is a mere pebble at the mercy of an Eldritch Abomination.
- Cruel Twist Ending: The story abruptly ends with the protagonist suffering just to be cruel.
- The Dead Guy Did It: The culprit is someone who is now dead.
- Detective Mole: Whoever was in charge of solving the mystery, either alone or within a team, turns out as the perpetrator.
- Downer Ending: The story ends on a tragic note.
- Dump Them All: The love triangle results in the character rejecting all of their suitors.
- Earth All Along: The ending reveals that the alien world was actually Earth.
- The Ending Changes Everything: The ending changes the nature of the story.
- Everybody Did It: Every possible suspect was responsible for the crime.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The story ends with everyone killed off.
- Everyone Is a Tomato: A supposedly rare characteristic actually applies to everyone.
- The Hero Dies: The hero of the story dies.
- Karmic Twist Ending: The twist supports the current aesop.
- The Killer in Me: The protagonist is the killer.
- Narrative Backpedaling: A shocking twist didn't actually happen.
- Nested Story Reveal: Seemingly real events were just part of a larger story.
- Only the Leads Get a Downer Ending: The main characters have a Downer Ending, but the other characters and overall setting don't.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: The main characters have a Happy Ending, but the other characters don't.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The story ends with the hope of a happier ending in the sequel.
- Reset Button Ending: The ending undoes everything so far.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The story ends with the protagonist dying and their efforts turning out to be pointless.
- The Story That Never Was: The ending says that the story so far was erased.
- Sudden Downer Ending: The story abruptly ends on a tragic note.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: The ending is happier than expected.
- Two Dun It: Two people did the crime.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The treasure at the end is more worthless than expected.
Character fate tropes
- Actually a Doombot: That wasn't the real villain, it was just a robot or clone.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: The narrator is one of the characters in the story and witnessed important events.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: A character turns into the thing they've been fighting.
- Backstory Invader: A character inserts themself into the team's backstory.
- Big Bad Slippage: A character who wasn't a Big Bad becomes one.
- Bus Crash: A character who was phased out of the series gets killed off before they have a chance to return.
- Canon Character All Along: A character initially appearing to be created for the adaptation is revealed to actually be the adaptation's interpretation of an already established character.
- Complete Monster: Examples listed under this trope will often tend to list every single horrible thing the villain does onscreen, amongst other spoiler-heavy plot details (especially if the aforementioned villain's identity was revealed by way of plot twist).
- Dead All Along: The ending reveals that a character was deceased the whole time.
- Death by Adaptation: The adaptation kills off a character who remained alive in the original work.
- Decoy Backstory: The backstory we were initially given for a character turns out to be untrue.
- Died in Ignorance: Important information a dead character did not know about is revealed towards the end of a story, which could have changed their situation to a great extent.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: A seemingly minor or unlikely character turns out to be behind the major events of the story.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: A major character gets killed off in a contrived manner.
- Dying Reconciliation: A character known for making enemies tries to make amends before passing out.
- Evil All Along: A character thought to be good turns out to be evil.
- Final Girl: A female character who survives the events of the story while everyone else dies.
- First-Person Dying Perspective: A character dies. The last moments are seen from their POV.
- Good All Along: A character thought to be a villain turns out to actually be a good guy.
- Ghostly Death Reveal: A character's offscreen death is revealed by their appearance as a ghost later in the story.
- Heel–Face Return: A villain gets redeemed in the story.
- Karma Houdini: A character does something bad and never gets punished for what they did.
- Karmic Shunning: A character is isolated by others because of their horrible actions.
- Killed Off for Real: A character is permanently killed off in a setting where resurrections are possible.
- Magnificent Bastard: Examples listed under this trope will often tend to list every single brilliant gambit and scheme that the character executes onscreen, which of course may have a very spoiler-heavy impact on the overall plot.
- Obvious Villain, Secret Villain: The Obviously Evil character is not the only villain - there's another one which is The Reveal
- Previously Overlooked Paramour: Someone who was previously dismissed as a romantic prospect turns out to be the true Love Interest.
- Secret Squatter: Someone else is living in the house!
- Sent Into Hiding: A character whose very existence is kept secret in-universe.
- Spared by the Adaptation: A character who died in the original work remains alive in the adaptation.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: A character who survived the first movie gets killed off in the sequel.
- Temporary Party Member to Villain: A Guest-Star Party Member that betrays the party and later fights it.
- Tomato in the Mirror: A character unaware of their true nature ends up surprised when they learn their secret.
- True Final Boss: A hidden Final Boss that shows up instead of the usual one if some conditions have been met.
- Villain Reveals the Secret: A villain reveals someone's secret.
Combinations of the above types
- Meta Twist: A twist isn't surprising because of its content, but because of the genre, author or role the work has.
- Not His Sled: An adaptation of a well-known story changes the ending so that people expecting it to be exactly like the original story will be surprised.
- Spoiler Title: The title spoils the story.
- Walking Spoiler: A character who is difficult to talk about without giving away spoilers.
