Conflict Killer: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
You ever watch a show with a [[Conflict]] that suddenly gets derailed by a relatively minor or previously unseen character who suddenly becomes the [[Big Bad]] and derails the conflict you were previously enjoying? That new villain is the '''Conflict Killer'''. They come in and replace the existing plot with a completely new conflict, often by [[Enemy Mine|causing the hero and previous villain to put aside their differences and face the new threat]], earning a new respect for each other and frequently [[Halfway Plot Switch|never getting back to the conflict we were watching in the first place]]. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|This isn't necessarily negative]], however, as sometimes a conflict killer is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who takes the work to another level.
Distinct from [[The Man Behind the Man]] because this villain was either heretofore a minor player or had no previous role in the story.
Occasionally overlaps with [[The Worf Effect]] when the new villain shows off their might and the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] when the Conflict Killer is clearly more powerful than the previous villain. Sometimes the new villain is conveniently [[Shades of Conflict|Black in terms of evil, as opposed to merely Gray]] like the previous villain, and [[Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work|kills the previous villain off.]]
Compare [[Plot Tumor]] and [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot]]. If this happens in a video game it may result in a [[Bait and Switch Boss]], but only if said boss is driving the plot. Contrast the [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] that appears with no explanation. If the mystery surrounding him and/or the existing players' ignorance of him are plot points, this is [[Outside Context Villain]] instead. This is a '''spoiler heavy''' trope, so read on at your own risk.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The entire premise of ''[[Strike Witches]]'' for [[World War II]]. Instead of [[World War II]] being fought against each other, it's against the Neuroi [[Alien Invasion]].
* Kyoji Mujo from ''[[
* Same with the Overdevil from ''[[Overman King Gainer]]''. The final scene of the series is practically a [[Lampshade Hanging]]: "er, guys, weren't we supposed to be headed to Yapan instead of dealing with [[Eldritch Abomination
* Piccolo and Son Goku's rivalry in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' effectively ends when the arrival of Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta force Piccolo into a [[Heel Face Turn]].
** Also, Cell, who was introduced shortly after the androids were introduced, ends up becoming the big bad of the current arc.
** Vegeta later teams up with the heroes to take on Frezia and the Ginyu Force.
* The Water Seven storyline of ''[[
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', this is how Tertium treats the {{spoiler|other Fates, tell them that upstarts who show up out of nowhere to [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|steal his prey]] is grating on his nerves}}. An unusual villainous example since to the heroes, this doesn't make a lick of difference, they're still fighting for their lives against impossible odds.
* In ''[[Alive:
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 2]]'', it seems like the coming of the Swarm (hinted by visions Optimus Prime had) will end the conflict between the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance and the Cybertronian Empire, but the trope is averted when Optimus tries to reason with Jhiaxus to work together against the Swarm, since Jhiaxus responds trying to kill Optimus. Besides, after Jhiaxus dies and the menace of the Swarm is over, the Cybertronian Empire still exists at the far reaches of the universe, led by [[Man Behind the Man|The Liege Maximo]].▼
==
* {{spoiler|Post-reveal Wilhelm Kriegsen}} from ''[[Deva Series
▲* In [[Transformers Generation 2]], it seems like the coming of the Swarm (hinted by visions Optimus Prime had) will end the conflict between the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance and the Cybertronian Empire, but the trope is averted when Optimus tries to reason with Jhiaxus to work together against the Swarm, since Jhiaxus responds trying to kill Optimus. Besides, after Jhiaxus dies and the menace of the Swarm is over, the Cybertronian Empire still exists at the far reaches of the universe, led by [[Man Behind the Man|The Liege Maximo]].
▲* {{spoiler|Post-reveal Wilhelm Kriegsen}} from ''[[Deva Series (Fanfic)|(On the) Path of Vengeance]]'', possibly reprising this role in ''Endless Waltz''.
== Film ==
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* In ''[[Hancock]]'', after Hancock gets rehabilitated and stops a bank robbery, he starts to get uncomfortably affectionate with Mary, the wife of [[The Everyman]] who helped him put his life together. It is about to turn unspeakably ugly - how can you stop or arrest a superpowered rapist? - when {{spoiler|Mary breaks her [[Masquerade]] and punches him through a wall, changing the plot entirely. This was not in the original screenplay at all}}. See [[Hancock]] for more on the original script, which was regarded as unfilmable for this reason, among others.
* ''[[Cowboys Versus Aliens]]'' begins with a fairly standard Western conflict between a cattle baron and the local law, but gets derailed by the sudden appearance of aliens. The two sides join forces to attack the aliens and renconcile their differences.
== Literature ==
* [[The Culture]] novel ''Matter'': {{spoiler|Oh, yes, replace the interesting inheritance conflict between [[The White Prince]] and the [[Evil Chancellor]] by having them both being nuked by some [[Sealed Evil in
** One of the main themes in ''Matter'' was inter-galactic politics and interactions between different tech-level species. The inheritance conflict was very important to the people living in the empire, but insignificant to the rest of the galaxy. The whole thing was set-up as a [[Wham! Episode]] to show how none of it really Mattered in the end.
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'' series has the Second Foundation attempting to shorten the length of time the Empire collapses to a thousand years when "The Mule" arises, derailing the Plan-scheduled civil war by having the Traders and Foundation proper join up against the threat of the Mule.<ref>And lose</ref>
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In the fourth season of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', {{spoiler|[[Knight Templar]] and [[Manipulative Bastard]] Maggie Walsh was replaced as the [[Big Bad]] by Frankenstein's Monster Wannabe Adam in the second half of the season, turning an interesting "do the ends justify the means" conflict into an excuse for the heroes to turn into some spirit magic version of [[Voltron]].}}
** [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]] Season 2 did this twice. Season 1 ended with the Anointed One, a sort of Vampire Messiah in a child's body set up as the new [[Big Bad]]. That was awesomely undone when Spike showed up and started his plans to reassemble The Judge. Spike vs. The Slayer was later taken over when Angelus appeared in the middle of the season.
** Also happens when {{spoiler|Willow goes [[Psycho Lesbian]] and kills Warren}} in Season 6. Buffy is fond of this trope.
** Happens yet again in season three, with Mr. Trick, a clever vampire crimelord who gave Buffy a great deal of trouble early on in the year, getting abruptly staked by Faith, just in time for her and The Mayor to step in as the real villains of the season.
*** By then Mr. Trick had already become
* In the third season of ''[[Deadwood]]'', Hearst enters town and forces an uneasy alliance between Bullock and Swearengen.
* Happens in ''[[Stargate SG
* Occurs in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' when the Replicators start to attack the Wraith by attacking humans. Atlantis teams up with Todd and his Wraith to destroy the Replicators, but, as with the
* Arguably an inversion: In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', the introduction of the Dominion rapidly took over the entire series, spanning the entire rest of the show's run at the expense of most episodic plots.
* Played straight in the final episode of the second season of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]''. The Xindi take over the story for the next full season.
== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Warhammer 40
** This said, it has to be taken as a growth from being Warhammer INSPACE! to being it's own work. The game is a far cry from being [[Rogue Trader]]. (The original game, not the RPG)
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'' {{spoiler|The apparent villain is your father, thus giving the characters a great, morally conflicted enemy. Then it turns out your father was being possessed and controlled by the [[Sealed Evil in
** {{spoiler|Double duty. That sealed evil, upon revealing himself, hijacks the body of the Virage Embryo in Shana's place, saving Dart and Rose from having to mercy kill her themselves.}}
* Subverted and Lamp shaded in [[Command
* Martinez in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]: Vice City Stories'' is an annoying example, where he interrupts the plot near the end, thinking that the player is the same nobody he pushed around in the beginning, despite the player at this point having taken out Martinez' boss' boss' bosses, and can buy and sell his entire racket millions of times over.
* Arkham from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'', even though the [[Rivals Team Up|brothers teaming up]] was one of the series' (many) [[
{{quote|
* ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]''. Fayt is stranded on a backwater fantasy planet with no way off, and the main conflict is a fairly standard fantasy world war between religious matriarchy Aquaria and hostile, warlike Airyglyph, until {{spoiler|the plot from the beginning catches up to him, and the space fleet that attacked the planet he was previously on comes to the backwater fantasy planet to attack it. The two countries realize they have to join forces, and Airyglyph as a country is revealed to be not that bad.}}
** You could say there was a second
* Jie Revorse in ''[[
* In [[Jak and Daxter|Jak 2 Renegade]] the main villain at the start is set up as baron Praxis, who Jak has sworn to get revenge on. They fight twice, but the Baron is never really defeated. Near the end, he is killed by the real [[Big Bad]], the metal head lord.
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' spends the first half of the game focusing on the conflict between [[The Empire]] and [[La Résistance|the Returners]], before Kefka, formerly [[The Dragon]], reveals that he has his own apocalyptic ambitions. The Emperor belatedly tries to stop him, but Kefka proceeds to settle the the conflict by destroying both sides, along with most of the world, and setting the stage for a final showdown with him instead.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' would go on to use much the same plot structure. The first part of the game seems to be a struggle between [[La Résistance]] and an evil [[Mega Corp]]. Once Sephiroth shows up and goes on a killing spree through Shinra's headquarters, though, the story quickly switches tracks and he becomes the new [[Big Bad]]. The [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] even went on to pull a [[Heel Face Turn]] in the spinoff games, due to Sephiroth being so much more evil [[Even Evil Has Standards|in comparision]].
** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' seems like a straightforward pilgrimage to gather all the Aeons and defeat the [[Big Bad]] Sin. At least until Maester Seymour goes right off the rails midway through the game and you find out that he's been an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] all along who wants to take over Sin and use it to destroy Spira. Getting back to the matter at hand and finishing Sin off seems almost like an afterthought once Seymour's finally out of the way.
* ''[[
** Maybe. Though it should be noted that a major theme of the game is that peoples choices have consequences; someone has to deal with them, even if you don't. It could be argued that the last third of the game is dealing with the consequences that others did not face.
* ''[[Fate/stay
* In [[Fire Emblem]] 10 (Radiant Dawn), Part 3 is a war embroiling most of the known world, stopped short by the awakening of a god. It had been foreshadowed since the previous game that such a war would cause this to happen, and comes right in time since the player controls both sides of the old conflict.
* The beginning of ''[[
** All three ''[[Mario
* Early in ''[[Clash
* The first ''[[
* A common phenomenon in many strategy games (particularly of the Four X type) which involve multiple competing sides and a Tech Tree. What happens is that while the more active players expand and compete with each other militarily, a less aggressive faction is able to sit back in their corner of the map and climb the Tech Tree undisturbed. This eventually gives them an unstoppable advantage over the apparently superior competitors when they do join in the fray. Occurs less often in multiplayer games, as humans know to team up and gank the techer early on.
== Web Comics ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130726043312/http://www.drunkduck.com/STICKFODDER/ Morgan] takes over Troy's role as the [[Big Bad]] when the characters' masks start to come off. Because he is hideously disfigured (chemical splash at college), he refuses to allow people to be different and forces people to wear masks like he does.
* ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Chaotic]]''{{'}}s second season has a fifth tribe, M'arrilians, appear and change the plot from the previous search for the Cothica and fights between the tribes to the tribes working together to fight the new threat.
* The main conflict of the first season of ''[[
* ''[[
*
== Real Life ==
* The British to the Muslims and Hindus in India.
▲** Err, no. It was the Khawarezmi Turks that did it. They were wondering across the region after having been displaced from their original territory by the Mongols when the Egyptian Sultan decided to hire them to secure the region, and they sacked the then christian-held city on the way. The Mongols did later venture into the area, but whether their raid ever penetrated the city was arguable and even if they did the effect was insignificant.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:The Plot Demanded This Index]]
[[Category:Villains]]
▲[[Category:Conflict Killer]]
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