Basic Trope: When a badass stares hard enough into the abyss, the abyss blinks first.
- Straight: In Tales of Troperia: The Ballad of Claidheamh, the titular Barbarian Hero isn't afraid to stare down Big Bad Emperor Evulz in his One-Winged Angel form. Evulz, however, chokes first, backing off in fear.
- Exaggerated: Claidheamh is ballsy enough to stare down T'Veah Tir'opius hard enough that the latter runs off like a Dirty Coward, and even begs for mercy!
- Downplayed: Claidheamh manages to stare down Emperor Evulz while the latter is still in his human form, and Evulz simply smiles, possibly out of Villain Respect.
- Justified:
- Claidheamh is just that badass.
- Claidheamh is a Defiant to the End Determinator, and if he has his sights set on you, then it's Better to Die than Be Killed by a bloodthirsty lunatic who'd make sure that you suffer and wallow in agony as he slowly picks you apart. Even if you've never known about him, you'd know instantly that if he gets his hands on you, your end will not be quick and painless.
- Evulz feeds off fear, so simply not being afraid of him is an effective way to counter his powers.
- Inverted:
- Claidheamh hates being looked at, and will usually look away from those who are looking at him.
- Claidheamh instead manages to stare down Big Good Goddess Troperia herself, hard enough that the latter runs off like a Dirty Coward and even begs for mercy!
- Evulz gets more powerful when he is observed. Claidheamh's steadfast insistence on not looking at Evulz, no matter how hard he's tempted to do so, forces the villain to back down.
- Subverted:
- Claidheamh breaks eye contact first.
- Evulz seemingly gets a bit nervous from Claidmeamh's intense stare. But then he fires off a magical attack.
- Double Subverted:
- That is, because he's found something else that's even more worth staring down than his previous target.
- Claidheamh is completely unaffected by the attack and just keeps staring.
- Parodied: Claidheamh and Evulz get into a Staring Contest, and when Evulz blinks, Claidheamh goes into Unsportsmanlike Gloating about how Evulz is such a loser.
- Zig-Zagged: Whoever's winning the staredown rapidly shifts between Claidheamh and his enemy.
- Averted: Claidheamh doesn't stare his enemy down, or his enemy isn't scared at all.
- Enforced:
- Rule of Cool.
- This trope is used to pull The Worf Effect by showing that the previously-established terrifying villain can't win a staring contest with Claidheamh.
- Lampshaded: "Look, he's staring down the biggest, baddest monster around! What a badass!"
- Invoked: Claidheamh is told that the only way Evulz would back down is if Claidheamh stared him down.
- Exploited: Claidheamh is so focused on Evulz that some hapless mook gets Claidheamh In the Back.
- Defied: Claidheamh simply just refuses to stare at Evulz for whatever reason.
- Discussed: "Have you ever stared at something so hard that it chokes and gets uncomfortable? Claidheamh has."
- Conversed: "Talk about a Crowning Moment of Awesome! He just stared down the Big Bad!"
- Played for Laughs: Claidheamh's stare makes Evulz feel awkward, rather than intimidated (bonus points if Claidheamh is a 16 year old teenager staring at a much older Evulz with the look of a random ass Staring Kid), but he backs down anyway.Claidheamh: (Eyes comedically shrink)
Staring Down Cthulhu is a task fit for only the baddest of the bunch.
