Devour the Dragon: Difference between revisions

So the [[Big Bad]] gives his life force a little boost by draining his companion to death.

 

This is a sister trope to [[Villain Override]]. See also [[Just Desserts]].

 

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]] Brotherhood'', {{spoiler|Gluttony}} is devoured for this purpose. {{spoiler|Zolf J. Kimbley}} later succumbs to the same fate. However, the second victim ends up [[Hoist by His Own Petard|biting the devourer in the ass]] later on. {{spoiler|Pride}} assumed that nobody could retain their sanity after being absorbed into him, but overlooked the fact that {{spoiler|Kimbley}} was [[Insanity Immunity|already insane]] and [[Crazy Awesome|loving it]].

* ''[[Digimon]]''

* ''[[Naruto]]''

** Orochimaru intended to do this with Sasuke. {{spoiler|It ended up going the other way around.}}

* Inverted in the ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' manga. When the good guys finally get the current villains on the ropes, [[Big Bad]] LaserMan decides it's best to make a strategic retreat and regroup. MegaMan DarkSoul decides he'd rather "regroup" his superior's power with his own, deals a finishing blow, and proceeds [http://www.mangahere.com/manga/megaman_nt_warrior/v09/c003/3.html to take the "devour" portion of this trope quite literally.]

{{quote|'''MegaMan DarkSoul:''' A bit bland... but ''filling!''}}

* [[Big Bad|Mag Mel]] from ''[[Bakugan]]'' {{spoiler|kills and absorbs Mistress Sellon after she had [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived her usefulness]], using her energy to power himself as he prepares to carry out his ultimate plan. The very next episode, he does the exact same thing to Anubias.}}

* In ''[[Suite Pretty Cure]]'' {{spoiler|Noise absorbs Falsetto to power up and cross the [[Bishonen Line]].}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''The [[Immortal Iron Fist]]'', Orson Randall does the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] variant by giving up his chi to power up Danny Rand.

* In ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]]/[[The Avengers|Avengers]]'', The Vision fires his solar beam (emptying his solar cells) at Superman to re-energize him when he is being attacked by several villains using Red-solar energy, and ''Kryptonite''.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

* Rare heroic example: In ''[[Highlander Endgame]]'', Connor MacLeod asks his younger cousin Duncan MacLeod to take his head and absorb his power, and thus have enough power to defeat the [[Big Bad]]. Duncan attempts to refuse multiple times, but finally Connor gets him to accept. Sort of a [[Passing the Torch]] moment as well, as it's the hero from the original movie sacrificing himself for the good of the hero from the spinoff TV series.

 

== Literature ==

* In the climax of ''[[Elemental Masters|Phoenix and Ashes]]'' by [[Mercedes Lackey]], {{spoiler|the wicked stepmother drains her lawyer/sidekick/future son-in-law completely of life, and drains her two daughters until they are [[Liquid Assets|aged, withered, senile husks of their former selves.]]}}

* ''[[Discworld]]''

 

 

** In the adventure OA5 "Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw", this is a special ability of Dragon Claw martial artists: the most senior one present can drain [[Hit Points]] from his fellow Dragon Claws, allowing him to fight longer. If the heroes fail, the Dragon Claw statue will do this to all Dragon Claw fighters in Kara Tur.

** The ''Death Knell'' spell from Third Edition allows an evil cleric to do this to a dying comrade.

** A number of powers of the Dark Pact, a warlock pact from Fourth Edition, have the warlock draining Hit Points from his allies to power his magic. Being as the Dark Pact was originally created by the Drow, who are natural backstabbers who hold absolutely no faith in friendship or fellowship... yeah.

** During the Time of Troubles in the [[Forgotten Realms]], Bhaal absorbed the souls of every assassin in the world in order to upgrade his avatar. To gain the strength to battle Bhaal's avatar, Torm likewise absorbed the souls of his own followers, but on a voluntary basis. This was done to justify the lack of an assassin class in 2nd Edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'' in-universe.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** In ''[[Warcraft]] 3'', the Death Knight hero can use the ability 'Death Pact' to sacrifice any non-Hero undead to restore health. The Lich can do the same thing for mana.

** The ability also appears in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.

* ''[[Castlevania]]''

** In ''[[Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin]]'', Dracula {{spoiler|reaches his [[One-Winged Angel]] form by consensually taking Death's soul.}}

** In ''[[Castlevania: Circle of the Moon]]'', beating one Zombie Dragon boss will cause the other to chew at (and gain HP from) the one you just killed, making this a literal case of devouring dragon.

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', Shao Kahn absorbs Shang Tsung and gives some of his power to Sindel.

* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'', Smiling Hawk takes a bit of a beating from the player before his most devoted disciple arrives. Smiling Hawk decides that the disciple's life would be more useful than his help.

* A variation in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] II''; Visas Marr, having originally been [[The Dragon]] to [[The Heartless|Darth Nihilus]] and possessing a Force Bond to him, could be made during the fight against him (having [[Heel Face Turn|joined the Exile]]) to commit suicide in order to weaken Nihilus. Visas just has to be either wearing her default outfit, or in her underwear, and can only be armed with a basic lightsaber. Her [[Relationship Values]] must also be at maximum.

** That's what the ranger's summoned pet is for. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Well, that and disarming traps...]]

* Inverted at the end of ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'': Claudia devours the embryonic God to enable its birth, which of course destroys her.

* In ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', Thuris drains Kanan, the leader of his cult for a power boost before his boss battle after the rest of his cult wasn't enough.

* In ''[[Soul Calibur]] 4'', Tira ''wants'' Nightmare/Soul Edge to do this to her because she has a bad case of [[Mad Love]] for it. In her ending, {{spoiler|the opposite happens. Nightmare's body can no longer withstand its own power and dies while Tira begs him to stay with her. Tira gets her wish when Soul Edge's power merges with her.}}

* In the [[Dual Boss]] battle against Ornstein and Smough in ''[[Dark Souls]]'', defeating one of them will cause the other to regenerate his health and absorb his fallen comrade's power. Smough gets Ornstein's lightning, while Ornstein becomes gigantic.

* ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic|Star Wars the Old Republic]]'': The Sith Inquisitor has the "Sacrifice" ability, which [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|sacrifices]] your companion in order to restore health to yourself. Depending on how you play your character, your companion might indeed be [[The Dragon]] to your [[Big Bad]]. The Inquisitor also consumes {{spoiler|force ghosts}} during the story to gain the power to confront his/her nemesis.

** All classes get this ability, if they get to level cap and full dark-side.

 

* Rare ''heroic'' variant: In [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Akai Ito]]'', Tsudura {{spoiler|eat Obana's corpse}} because she doesn't want to [[Friendless Background|lose her only friend]] (in a battle versus [[Big Bad|Nushi]]'s [[The Dragon|dragons]], at that). [[Squick]] doesn't even begin to describe the scene. The result is that Tsudura turns into an uberpowered [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|werefox-mage-exorcist]], or something.

 

== Web Original ==

* Implied to have happened in ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'', when {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Kirby]] is revealed to still be alive, there are no signs of either of his Dragons, and he's wearing the cap of one of them. Now, remember that [[Kirby]]'s powers involve copying the powers of other characters by literally eating said characters, and he usually dons a hat reflecting said powers...}}

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]