Basic Trope: Something that's deliberately put in to mislead viewers.
- Straight: Somebody murdered Alice. Bob has a knife and doesn't seem to care that Alice is dead, but he's not the murderer; Charles is.
- Exaggerated: Bob has a knife and doesn't care about Alice being dead, Charles wanted Alice's money, Darren had a vendetta against Alice, Emily is the only one without an alibi, and Fred has killed people before. The real murderer was Gary.
- Downplayed: Charles is the real murderer, but Bob, Darrin, Emily, and Fred all come off as equally suspicious, at least until the clues pointing to Charles are discovered.
- Justified: Bob was deliberately trying to make himself look like the killer because he wanted Charles, who's his friend, to get away.
- Inverted: The entire plot turns out to be irrelevant later when the Halfway Plot Switch occurs, and Bob’s appearance is the only hint that this will occur.
- Subverted: Bob has a knife and he doesn't care that Alice is dead... then it turns out Charles was the killer... except the police made a mistake and it was Bob.
- Double Subverted: ...That was another mistake. The real killer was Darren.
- Parodied: One of the suspects is a literal red herring.
- Zigzagged: ???
- Averted: Bob is the only suspect, and he does turn out to be the killer.
- Enforced: "If we have Bob be the killer, it'd be a Captain Obvious Reveal. Better shake things up a bit."
- Lampshaded: "So Bob was a red herring all along!"
- Invoked: Charles frames Bob.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Charles comes clean.
- Bob tries not to act suspicious.
- Discussed: "So, did Bob do it or is the real killer hiding behind our noses?"
- Conversed: "Who do you think the murderer was? Bob's being a bit suspicious, but that could be a red herring."
- Implied: ???
- Deconstructed: ???
- Reconstructed: ???
- Played for Laughs: The mystery was who ate a cake that was meant to be for later, and somehow the culprit is the only one without cake on their face.
- Played for Drama: ???
- Played for Horror: Bob didn't kill Alice... a demon did!
Back to Red Herring.
