Fed to the Beast/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: A person is fed to an animal or a supernatural being
  • Played Straight: Alice is thrown to the lions.
  • Exaggerated: Alice is fed to an Eldritch Abomination or dragon.
  • Downplayed: Alice is thrown into a pit brimming with leeches, and she's retrieved just before dying from blood loss.
  • Inverted: A powerful animal or supernatural being is fed to Alice.
  • Justified:
    • Alice is a criminal (whether her crime was something truly horrible, or merely being a Christian in Ancient Rome), and this is how she is being punished.
    • Alice is a gladiator; she's expected to try and defeat the beast(s) in question for the amusement of the Colosseum; if she gets eaten, who cares? It's just as entertaining!
    • Alice is a Human Sacrifice of some variety to a god, a demon, a monster, etc.
  • Subverted:
    • Alice is thrown to the lions, but they don't go after her.
    • Alternatively, she's fed to a supernatural being that devours her soul, but leaves her body.
    • Alice is rescued before she can be eaten.
  • Double Subverted: Until someone pours bacon grease all over Alice.
  • Deconstructed: The beast becomes ill and dies from an irregular feeding schedule.
  • Reconstructed: The beast's master makes sure to keep it well-fed with other supplements when there is nobody to sacrifice, so it stays healthy.
  • Parodied:
    • The beast Alice is fed to is in turn devoured by something much larger and scarier.
    • Alternatively, the beast Alice is fed to is small and cute-looking.
  • Lampshaded: "You can't tell anyone you're a Christian, otherwise they'll throw you to the lions!"
  • Averted:
    • Alice is not fed to an animal or supernatural being of any kind.
    • Or she is, but it does not touch her.
  • Enforced: "We need to create some action."
  • Invoked: Alice refuses to bow down to Emperor Gluteus Maximus III (because she answers only to God). Since the Emperor views that as treason, she is sentenced to be punished as a traitor by being fed to the lions.
  • Exploited: Alice, who turns to be a Beast Master, uses her ability to turn the beast(s) against her captors and makes a quick escape.
  • Defied: Emperor Gluteus Maximus III feels that's too cruel a punishment (or maybe not cruel enough) and doesn't feed Alice to the lions.
  • Discussed: "Man, Alice is toast..."
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: Alice is thrown to, not lions, but a chihuahua.
  • Played For Drama: Alice, a practicing Christian in Ancient Rome, needs to protect herself and her friends from this fate but still remain true to herself and her beliefs.

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