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Dropped a Bridge on Him: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:wonderella_in_heaven_6175.png|link=The Non Adventures of Wonderella (Webcomic)|
{{quote|"''[[Pun|Bridge]] [[In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You|on the]] [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|captain!]]''"|'''[[William Shatner]]''', after filming {{spoiler|his death scene}} in ''[[Star Trek Generations (Film)|Star Trek Generations]]''}}
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When done off-screen (like the Sorenson example), it's known as a [[Bus Crash]]. See also [[McLeaned]], [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]], [[Distracted From Death]] and [[Not So Invincible After All]]. Not to be confused with [[Unsettling Gender Reveal]], which was once called "Dropped a Bridget on Him". If this is done to a character repeatedly with the aid of [[Negative Continuity]], see [[They Killed Kenny]].
'''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]''' We’re in a universe where [[Anyone Can Die]].
'''As a [[Death Trope]], all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''
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** To say nothing of the ''Empire Trilogy''. Ayaki, right at the ''beginning'' of the third book, anyone?
** Not to mention Miranda in ''Rides a Dread Legion'', whose throat was ripped out by a random demon that jumped on her back after the big bad was dealt with.
* In ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)|The Dresden Files]]'', Harry Dresden has many epic moments in ''Changes'', leading to an intensely awesome climactic final battle, with [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning Moments of Awesome]] for multiple characters, which ends with him ''destroying the entire freaking red court of vampires''. How does he die, though? After the battle, while he is relaxing on [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|his brother's]] ship, he gets shot by a sniper and dies before he can react at all. [[Back From the Dead|He got better]]. Also, when we learn the context for the shooting in the next book, it changes from this to a [[Thanatos Gambit]] - he orchestrates a [[Mercy Kill]] with [[Improbable Aiming Skills|Jared Kincaid]] to prevent himself from becoming [[God Save Us From the Queen|Mab's]] servant. [[Out
* The death of Annalina Aldurren in the last book of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series seems particularly mean spirited. After trying (in vain) to convince another character to do something that ''everyone else in the book'' had just finished deciding was a bad idea, she gets a hole blasted through her chest, and the killers go so far as to destroy her body so nobody would know what happened. Later on, the man who had in previous books admitted he loved her, after briefly mourning, is seen with a couple of young women in his arms.
* In the final book of ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, several main characters die suddenly and anticlimactically, but the one that angered fans the most was actually a villain: The Man in Black (aka Randall Flagg, who has appeared several of King's novels). After being built up as a character of incredible intelligence, cunning and mysterious power for seven books straight (not to mention being Roland's nemesis), he makes a random appearance in the last book and is killed off quickly and suddenly by Mordred.
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** Though it's of note that Tasha's death was an attempt by the writers to actually ''subvert'' a trope... the one that says that it's always the nameless redshirts that are killed as an example of the evil alien's power. Unfortunately, Tasha's death came off as far ''too'' senseless (not to mention stuck in a really bad episode) and the fan outcry was such that it had to be revisited.
** And later, we learn that Tasha's "do-over" death didn't take; instead she was captured by the Romulans and used as a sex slave for years before finally dying another quite ignominous death. And bizarrely, this was actually the idea of her own actress, who wanted to come back on the show and invented a way that she could play Tasha's [[Identical Grandson|Identical Daughter]].
* Near miss: ''[[
** For the exact details, here's a quote from the factfile books. "Hitting his head on the TARDIS console". To be fair, he was being shot by The Rani.
** The character of Romana underwent a surprise regeneration in ''Destiny of the Daleks'', as actress Mary Tamm quit the series at the end of the previous season, and was replaced by Lalla Ward. Tamm had offered to return for ''Destiny of the Daleks'' in order to film a regeneration; she wasn't invited back and so Ward was introduced in a wacky sequence that remains a thorn in the side of some fans 30 years later.
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* NBC's ''[[Las Vegas]]'' had a tendency to kill off the Montecito's owners at a rate of about one per season, but none quite so bizarrely as when Monica Mancuso was carried off of the roof of the casino by a strong gust of wind.
* A literal bridge dropping happens to Shane in ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' - while a bridge fell on Kirk, Shane falls off of it while tripping on LSD. Shane survives but is brain-damaged, his parents pull him from the school, and the kid who gave him the drugs (and watched him fall off the bridge, doing nothing) [[Karma Houdini|suffers no consequences]]. Shane is basically ignored and forgotten by the rest of the cast, and the show implies that this is poetic justice for how he (mostly) ignored and forgot a girl who he got pregnant. In ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', his daughter tracks him down, and it turns out that he spent the rest of his life in a wretched [[Bedlam House|sanitarium for the mentally retarded]], abandoned by his family, and weeping over the girlfriend and child he never did enough for and never got to see.
* ''[[Blake's Seven
* The death of [[McLeaned|Lt. Colonel Henry Blake]] in ''[[MASH|M* A* S* H]]'' After getting to go home, the last line of the episode announces that his plane has been shot down, with no survivors.
** However, this is a total subversion of the trope: even though it was a senseless death, it was perfectly in line with everything that the show was meant for, i.e., war is hell, and people die indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are important people or not. So his death, though anti-climactic in theory, was not inappropriate or unsatisfying, but very appropriate, well-done, and respected by viewers. Of course, it wasn't respected by viewers in the '70s when it actually ''happened'', but that was because it is the [[Ur Example]] of this trope in TV comedies.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Every time there's an Edition change in ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', they take the pruning shears to the various established characters and the deities. Some get awesome deaths. Azuth the god of mages, an ascended mortal that got his position by [[You Kill It, You Bought It|kicking the ass]] of the previous god of mages, pretty much gets eaten by Asmodeus to fuel his ascension to godhood.
** For the 4th Edition, they literally drop a continent on several Realms to get rid of them.
** Rumour has it that Mystra, greater deity of magic and [[A God Am I]] [[Canon Sue]], got killed by getting hit on the back of the head, along with numerous other [[Canon Sue]] characters, though most of them departed in ways that imply they can be brought back *groan* .
** Also pulled on a vast array of characters. See also [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].
* The Squats of ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'' got a hive-fleet dropped on them. In hindsight, this <s> may have been</s> [[Old Shame|certainly was]] for the best...
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Dropped A Bridge On Him]]
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