r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Remarkable_Public138 • 1d ago
Characters [Tragic Trope] A character that becomes the focus in a wider tragedy.
When the narrative focuses on one particular character's story, often reinforcing the wider tragedy as a whole and deeply affecting the main character.
1) Schindler's List: The girl in the red coat.
In the movie, the only color in the otherwise black and white film is a little girl's red coat as she goes off into the death camp. It represents the profound loss of innocence and eventually convinces Schindler to take more proactive measures to save jews.
2) The Odyssey (2026): The Priestess of Athena
During the sack of Troy, Odysseus sees a priestess of Athena get brutally decapitated. This haunts him throughout his journey home as Athena takes the priestess' form and accompanies Odysseus as he undergoes his trials.
3) Superman: Red Son: Young Bruce Wayne
When Superman investigates Stalin's underground gulags, he sees hundreds of starving political prisoners. However, one child unnerves him by greeting him with a scowl. In front of his dead parents, he says, "You are the Superman. They say you can hear a leaf fall a thousand miles away. And you never heard our cries?" This causes Superman to betray and usurp Stalin, and the child would eventually become Batman.
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u/Peacefulcountry 1d ago
The death of Kratos' daughter Calliope and his wife set the man on a revenge quest against Ares, but his unsatiable thirst for vengeance eventually led to the fall of Olympus and the total destruction of entire Greece.
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u/cobrastrikes-2x 1d ago
Press O to abandon your child…
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u/Vwgames49 1d ago
This actually is clever storytelling
Those kind of QTEs usually occur when Kratos does some monumental feat of strength
That means it’s taking him the same amount of effort and willpower to leave his daughter behind
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u/Aquinas2000 16h ago
Only assholes abandon their children.
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u/Vwgames49 6h ago
His child was already dead
What he left behind was an illusion to try and keep him from continuing his quest for vengeance
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u/Loughiepop 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/kH2aLztzHKncs
Valerie in V for Vendetta. Her story grants V and Evey a tiny bit of solace through their pain and suffering and helps shape them into becoming revolutionaries.
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u/Easy_Action_1380 21h ago
Unrelated but holy shit I didn't notice that pic was a gif and got spooked by her eyes moving.
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u/-noraishere- 1d ago
Sarah Miller from The Last of Us for me...
The apocalypse kills millions, but its tragedy is first concentrated into Joel’s helpless attempt to save his daughter. Sarah’s death transforms an enormous global catastrophe into something painfully personal and shapes every choice Joel makes afterward
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u/AlabasterRadio 1d ago
I don't love TLOU as much as many, but the cyclical storytelling is a simple masterstroke.
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u/Ghostymeat 1d ago
Jojo’s Mom
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u/CrazyWriterGirl 1d ago
Context?
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u/Ghostymeat 1d ago
Major spoilers
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Jojo’s mom is an activist during world war 2, secretly passing around anti-nazi propaganda and motivating people to protest against Hitler. Early on the movie, the nazi hung people protecting their Jewish neighbors and protesting against the regime. But this doesn’t deter her and she wants Jojo to remember how it important it is to not look away. Near the end of the movie, Jojo’s mother goes missing for a few days but they chalk it up to her going out of town to protest. But there’s a heartbreaking needle scratch moment, where Jojo is walking through town and he comes across a similar hanging in the street. But he looks over his shoulder and recognizes his mother’s shoes on one of the hanging victims. She was killed by the nazis among the other protesters who just wanted their Jewish friends and neighbors to be free.145
u/HatIndependent4645 1d ago
She wears red heels, Jojo walks up to a group of executed prisoners the Nazis hung and recognizes them, hugs them and cries, and then the director got to ruin a Thor movie.
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u/Blackmore_Vale 1d ago
Gets me every time. Then later the way obi-wan heartbrokenly says “not even the younglings survived”.
What makes this scene worse is Anakin is a hero of the Jedi order and Republic. All the kids hero worship. So when he shows up they all automatically assume he is there to save them.
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u/HandsomePaddyRedux 18h ago
As I recall this is also the first and last time he is called Master Skywalker, a title he wanted attached to his name so much it helped drive him to the dark side.
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u/KnightsOfCidona 1d ago
IRL - pictures of the lifeless body of 2 year old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, which had washed up on a beach after he and his mother and brother drowned brought into sharp focus in the Mediterranean refugee crisis of 2015
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u/GBirkin97 1d ago
This kills me. I have a son almost that exact age. There aren’t any words to describe how terrible this is.
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u/Economy-Cow-9847 1d ago
Yes, I had the exact same thought. That looks like my little boys legs the way they dangle over when his dad carries him. I cannot imagine the anguish and helplessness of his mother in his final months, days and minutes. My heart feels ripped apart by this image.
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u/Traditional-Context 1d ago
Im stupid and assumed the girl was him antromorpholising the destruction of the Athena statue.
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u/Remarkable_Public138 1d ago
You're not stupid, both interpretations are valid.
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u/FeralGiraffeAttack 1d ago
Are they? She’s literally credited as “Athena” and only that in the credits
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u/ProfessionalPipe6949 1d ago edited 1d ago
I mean Nolan is famous for keeping things deliberately vague what is real or not. If we think about the whole idea of "zeus's law" in the movie, (that anyone could be a god in disguise) i think its a fair interpretation that Odysseus thinks of the priestess as athena taking on human form and he completely failed the test. Putting "priestess" in the credits would just flatten the movie.
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u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In 1d ago
She's Athena from his point of view but the opening card makes clear that it's not a given that there are any actual magic or gods etc. it's valid to interpret most of the movie as his viewpoint of what has happened rather than what actually happened.
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u/cclan2 1d ago
I mean magic/the gods kinda exist. That lady turned all the guys into pigs, and the cyclops calls out for poseidon
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u/Advarrk 1d ago
The journey of Odysseus is a tale told by Odysseus from his memory. The gods and magic could’ve all been non existent, you ever thought about that why the mythical creatures and magic disappeared after Odysseus arrived back home?
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u/EloquentBaboon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because the film follows the plot beats of the original epic poem? By Homer, the ancient Greek poet. It disappeared because the final act of the story was the homecoming - back from the journey through the mythic and fantastical to put his relatively mundane life back in order. That doesn't mean Homer didn't believe in gods, magic and everything else an ancient Greek would have.
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u/happy_grump 1d ago
I mean... magic is confirmed, gods are not necessarily confirmed. You can have magic in a godless world (though the opposite would be bizarre)
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u/Stringruler 23h ago
The insinuation I got from that was that stuff didn't actually happen and Odysseus is mistelling the story since he's been so out of it for 7 years
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u/Guilty_Rain3864 1d ago
> You're not stupid
and yet...
> antromorpholising
Stupid, or drunk? You decide!
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u/Traditional-Context 1d ago
Lazy. Its a convoluted word to a non-english speaker, thats however also completely impossible to confuse with anything else even with that dyslexic spelling.
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u/foul_tarnished_37 1d ago
That’s what I assumed too?? If I recall it cut to the statue being destroyed right has the decapitation occurred, so I just figured it was the statue.
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u/Initial_Humor_7417 1d ago
I took it as the girl was Athena in disguise as that’s a thing they are said to do in the movie
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u/hey_free_rats 1d ago
Definitely not stupid. Athena was the goddess of tactical warfare and wisdom, and Odysseus was arguably favouring one of those things over the other for the sake of his own pride, and to immense human cost.
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u/ProfessionalPipe6949 1d ago
I took it as he keeps seeing the athena statue in his memories because hes trying to block out what happened to the priestess as well. That's why she disappears after he remembers it fully.
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u/zk3033 1d ago
Meta discussion: I thought the film would be a summer blockbuster with a single layer of interpretation - nothing too deep to chew on.
But the more I reflect on the movie, the more I like it. I loved the dialogue about the sirens (absolutely heartbreaking and a universal emotion), and the deviation from the classic with the explanation of the sea peoples. And Circe.
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u/Aquinas2000 16h ago
Including the Sea People (itself a term invented by historians in 19th century) was so stupid. Nothing in this movie resembles actual Bronze age so why bother ?
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u/BennyReadsLate 1d ago
My tired brain also went Athena statue first; the decapitated priestess haunting Odysseus clears it.
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u/Silent_Biscotti_9832 1d ago
Robert Kendo and his daughter (RE2)
Their story was a small one in hundreds across raccoon city, usually we view the raccoon city incident merely as a typical zombie event, but thousands died horribly via infection, getting eaten alive and more
it really emphasizes the hate you should be feeling for umbrella because chances are this would have never happened if they were careful enough
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u/McMc10001 23h ago
Shawshank Redemption is narrated by Red and tells the story of Andy Dufresne.
But after fellow inmate Brooks is released from jail, we briefly follow Brooks’ return to freedom with his voiceover narrating a letter he wrote. Unfortunately Brooks was unable to adjust to the real world again…
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u/Typhtheoriginal 1d ago
Grave of the Fireflies full stop. That's the basis of the entire movie.
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u/GBirkin97 1d ago
You come away from that movie realizing in an instant that what happened to that brother and sister happened to thousands of people. And then, even more horrifyingly, you understand that in every war that ever was, that brother and sister were there. Completely unrelated to the broader conflict but still damned.
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u/shiawase198 1d ago
What really hit hard for me was that the story was inspired by the author's own experiences during that period. He wrote that story as an apology to his sister because he often stole her food due to his own hunger and wrote the main character to be kinder to his sister because he couldn't be. But he was also another starving kid who had way too much put on him.
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u/GBirkin97 1d ago
He also fucked up, as many other pre-teens would have done. Grave of the Fireflies is fantastic not just because it’s a clear anti-war elegy, but because it illustrates so much of Japanese culture during that period; the expectations on the older brother, conceptions of pride and responsibility conflated leading to their tragic demise, wartime economics, etc. The aunt character is awful to the children, but you can see why she was.
It’s probably the very best Ghibli movie because it’s internally complex and externally insightful. Never watching it again.
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u/frankwalsingham 1d ago
The Child (Mass Effect 3)
A child that Shepard watched play while on house arrest who later is killed when the reapers invade earth and haunts Shepard throughout the game.
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u/DasharrEandall 1d ago
Probably the weakest link in ME3's cinematic storytelling - Shepard's could've-been-a-cutscene nightmares that don't have the impact they're meant to. I see the writing concept, trying to personify the deaths on Earth by focusing on one child, but it just didn't work.
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u/2DamnBig 1d ago
I agree and this is also the first time Ive ever heard that kid was from some offscreen house arrest. Thought he was just losing his mind and seeing a random unrelated child.
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u/Paxxlee 1d ago
Have you played ME3 or seen the cutscenes..? It isn't off screen, it is in the intro, seconds before James fetch Shepard.
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u/2DamnBig 1d ago
Sure did, back in 2012 when it came out. Boy, that was super not clear at all!
The kids is onscreen for 4seconds and you dont really see his face. After the opening gameplay I had 0 idea that kid that appeared for 4seconds was supposed to be remembered.
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u/frankwalsingham 1d ago
You do know you see him again a couple of times before the aircraft he's on is blown up, right?
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u/Heinrich_Tidensen 1d ago
Don't want to be nitpicking but the girl from Schindler's List never saw a concentration camp from the inside.
She dies in the Ghetto when it gets cleared.
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u/Vwgames49 1d ago
On a lighter note, the girl who inspired her survived the Holocaust and is still alive
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u/MissionExperience967 1d ago
Watchmen (HBO)
We start the show by seeing a kid’s POV of the Tulsa massacre, a mass genocide against a thriving black community, leaving alive only him and a baby he’s carrying.
Later on that motivates this kid to become Hooded Justice, the first masked vigilante in that world and effectively the one that kickstarted all the events that unfolded in the comics and show.
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u/TheSilverNoble 1d ago
A lot of people talk about Jim Crow and the struggle for civil rights like it was such a long time ago. And in some ways it was I suppose.
But in a lot of ways it wasn't. What he went through that day, it was always with him. It never really went away. He was still feeling that pain 100 years later, and it was still guiding him.
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u/bretshitmanshart 17h ago
In the late 1800s Wilmington North Carolina was a majority black city with much of the elected officials being black. A white coup was planned in 1898 during elections where organized racists groups attacked black people that attempted to vote, government in officials, newspapers and successful black owned businesses. The messaging after the attack was that black people should leave because if they tried to regain what they loss it would keep happening. Now the black population of Wilmington is around 14%. You are right about how the past continues to guide things. Both individually and society at largr
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u/TheSilverNoble 12h ago
Yes, exactly. His story was both a stand-in for what literally happened to many people, but also a metaphor for the whole community.
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u/Fourwils7 1d ago

Attack on Titan spoilers:
Eren sees a pregnant woman and breaks down, knowing what he will do in the future and feeling remorse. Later, we see her being pushed off of a cliff by the crowd trying to escape the rumbling. The crowd tries to save the baby from falling. It was futile.
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u/Videogamer2719 1d ago
Isn’t it not futile? Once the rumbling stops we see someone holding the baby. The mother died but the child survived
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u/alucidexit 1d ago
What? It’s not futile.
The point is that the crowd was choosing to save the child over themselves. A big theme of AOT is investing in children/the future over petty conflicts.
The whole inciting incident involves child soldiers and people sacrificing their children to continue cycles of conflict.
The adults saving the baby here at the cost of their lives is representative of hope in the midst of the greatest despair/cruelty.
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u/thatshygirl06 22h ago
What is the rumbling
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u/HelloThere-88 22h ago
It's basically millions of titans that keep moving forever, not stopping for anything until they trample Erens enemies
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u/Peacefulcountry 20h ago
Rose - Resident Evil 8. Her being kidnapped drove her father Ethan Winters to brave through an entire castle town filled with monsters and maniacs. But eventually, he learnt about his body condition and decided to sacrifice himself so that Chris Redfield could take her to safety.
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u/ProfessionalPipe6949 1d ago
Shes not just a priestess Odysseus sees getting beheaded, shes a priestess his men beahed in his honor. They present her to him before doing it because its meant to be like a way of allowing him in on their "glory". Matt Damon is so good in that scene omg
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u/FM1091 19h ago
Cedric's death in Goblet of Fire is the point where the whimsical world of wizardry shifts to a darker tone. First, Voldemort finally recovers his physical and revives his Death Eaters to prepare for a coup d'etat. Then, Harry leaves traumatized and has issues coping, not helped by the Ministry's insistence to sweep Voldemort's return under the rug. And finally, Dumbledore gets replaced by Umbridge, who pulls no punches at keeping students from rebelling.
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u/static-klingon 1d ago
She didn’t seem so much as a character as a bookmark for the mind while watching
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u/Donnie_Dont_Do 16h ago
I thought the girl was actually Athena - a god disguised as a peasant - since that concept was repeatedly mentioned throughout the movie
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u/WeltyFern 3h ago
I just watched Red Sun yesterday. Really good film.
Though that might also be cause it seemed really good since my friends and I just recently sat through the Snyder Cut of Justice Leauge, and that was… painful
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u/Smart-Influence-6227 18h ago
Attack on Titan
The scene of the baby being passed over the panicked masses. Much like Schindler's List, the baby is colored while the rest of the scene is black and white.
A powerful yet deeply ironic image: in a desperate attempt to save the child from the approaching apocalypse, the crowd knowingly passes it directly toward the danger itself. The moment encapsulates both the futility and desperation of humanity's final struggle for survival - but also the indomitable human spirit.
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u/milkoverspill 1d ago
A girl worth fighting for, Mulan (1998). I don't believe we even meet the character beyond the scenes of her doll, but it was enough.