Devour the Dragon: Difference between revisions

Usually, the two villains get on very well and trust each other before this moment, just for that little extra [[Kick the Dog]] punch. A heroic variant involves a lancer or similar trusted person giving their energy to the hero in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Being heroes, it's the devoured that makes the choice in such cases and the devourer is usually reluctant.

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

{{examples}}

 

* 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]]''

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

* The Heroic version of this trope occurs twice in ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''. The first is with Jonathan Joestar and his mentor Zepelli, who gives Jonathan all of his Hamon power shortly before his death. A similar scene occurs with their grandsons Joseph and Cesar in Part 2.

 

== Card Games ==

* One of the block mechanics is ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' was called "Devour" and worked via your creatures coming into play and "eating" other creatures you had in play for various benefits.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': This is actually part of the overall mechanic. Monsters over Level 4 require you to [[Never Say "Die"|Tribute]] one or more of your other monsters to summon them. And unless your entire deck is dedicated to the [[Weak but Skilled]], [[You Bastard|you]] ''[[You Bastard|will]]'' [[You Bastard|do this]].

 

== 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 ==

* In ''[[Day of the Barney Trilogy|Day of the Barney]]'', {{spoiler|Barney kills Baby Bop in this manner}}.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* 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 ==

** ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' has Lilith draining all ambient magic from the ballroom in order to throw an attack at the Baron. The Duc (who's actually a frog given human form, as Lilith [[Theory of Narrative Causality|has a thing for making things work based on stories]]) reverts to his true form instantly.

** Although non-magical, {{spoiler|Mr. Pin's killing of Mr. Tulip}} in ''[[Discworld/The Truth|The Truth]]'' is a similar case of a villain sacrificing his most trusted ally in order to shield himself.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** 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.

* In the climax of the "Enemy Within" ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' campaign, the Big Bad drains lifeforce from the official he has been mind-controlling, allowing him to take his true form.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[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.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* 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 ==