An index of tropes relating to character exits.
Index Making an Entrance is for entrances.
See also Death Tropes, Door Tropes, Escape Tropes, Index of Goodbyes, and Tropes on a Bus.
Tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: A character temporarily abandons their line of work.
- Achilles in His Tent: Character leaves before returning right when their allies need him.
- Benched Hero: The hero steps out mid-story, leaving the others to carry on (or not) without him.
- Big Damn Fire Exit: All dangerous situations have a designated exit, no matter how improbable it might be for the situation (i.e. a collapsing Aztec temple just happens to have a fire escape).
- Destination Defenestration: Ejected via being thrown from a window.
- Deus Exit Machina: The most powerful or useful character is removed from a story in order to make things more difficult for the other characters.
- Door Focus: A character leaves a room, and the focus remains on the door long enough for the character to return.
- Dream Emergency Exit: A character is taught how to exit dreams at will.
- Emergency Temporal Shift: A character evades danger via time travel.
- Escape Route Surprise: A false route of escape, usually with a door leading to danger instead of an exit.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: The story ends with the villain being chased away by a creature that will most likely harm them.
- Extradimensional Emergency Exit: A character avoids a crisis by escaping into another dimension.
- Failed Dramatic Exit: Someone leaves out of anger, but the mood is ruined because they get hurt on the way out or end up returning briefly for a reason unrelated to their departure.
- The Exit Is That Way: A character attempts a dramatic exit, only to find they're going the wrong way.
- House Amnesia: An angry character forgets they're not in their own house and orders the owner to leave.
- Hero on Hiatus: The hero is temporarily taken out of action, and the focus swaps to getting him back.
- High-Dive Escape: An unexpected escape or exit via jumping from a great height.
- Honking Arriving Car: The car horn is often used as a sound cue, signifying that a character has to catch a ride to another scene/location.
- Impact Silhouette: Someone runs through a wall and leaves behind a hole shaped exactly like them.
- Let's Get Out of Here: The adventure's over; now it's time to leave.
- Montage Out: Story ends with a montage of previous events.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Character elects to leave rather than get involved with the present situation.
- Self-Imposed Exile: Character exiles themselves.
- Smoke Out: Character disappears under cover of smoke.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Someone is able to appear in front of someone and then go away without the other person seeing them move.
- Super Window Jump: Escape by leaping through a closed glass window.
- There Was a Door: Someone breaks through a wall even though they could've just used the door.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The villain gets away after their scheme is thwarted.
- Walking Out on the Show: Patrons walk out of a show in progress to express how bad it is.
- Was Just Leaving: An intense or embarrassing situation causes a character to excuse themself or be dismissed by another
- Win to Exit: The only way to escape the game/battle is by winning it.
