Fatal Family Photo/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Anybody who shows off a photo of their family or loved ones bites the dust very soon after.

  • Straight: Before entering The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, Bob shows Alice a photo of his family. He then heroically sacrifices his life to defeat the Big Bad.
  • Exaggerated:
    • The moment the photo is visible to Alice, a super powerful death ray instantly incinerates Bob.
    • The photo locket is booby-trapped, and explodes when opened.
  • Justified: During the part of the fight that required the most intense concentration, the family photo distracted Bob, enabling the Big Bad to strike Bob with one last attack.
  • Inverted:
    • Bob dies as a result of NOT showing the family photo.
    • Bob showing his photo is to demonstrate that he has been promoted to the main cast as a Mauve Shirt.
    • Bob lives, but comes home to find his family dead.
    • Bob pulls out the family photo a second before his death and says goodbye.
  • Subverted:
  • Double Subverted: Then a burning piece of debris falls in him, simultaneously crushing and incinerating him.
  • Parodied: A locket with a family photo can be equipped as an "accessory". Doing so imposes a massive penalty to your luck stat.
  • Deconstructed: Alice concludes that family is a distraction, and becomes unwilling to emotionally connect with others, superstituously believing it caused Bob's death.
  • Reconstructed: But once the world is saved, Alice opens up again; Bob's photo of his family becomes a reminder of what she was fighting for.
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted:
    • No one ever mentions or shows a family photo.
    • Alternatively, Bob shows his family photo, but he survives and doesn't come close to dying.
  • Enforced: We need the audience to feel sorry for that guy and his family. Let's make him show a family photo, then have him die.
  • Lampshaded: Game over prompt: Perhaps showing Alice that family photo wasn't such a good idea after all. Restore, Restart, Quit?
  • Invoked:
    • Bob shows the family photo in order for the enemy soldiers to keep aiming at him, allowing his comrades to kill those enemies with ease.
    • Genre Savvy mole Alice talks Bob into showing her a picture of his family, sealing his fate. He dies shortly afterwards.
  • Defied: As Bob reaches into his pocket for the photo, Alice scolds him, loudly reminding him that showing a family photo during a major crisis is extremely bad luck, especially if the crisis is nearing resolution.
  • Discussed: "You know, if you had shown your family photo back when we were in the war, I bet you'd be dead by now."
  • Conversed: ???

Back to Fatal Family Photo, and isn't my little girl the cutest-

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