The Cavalry/Playing With

Basic Trope: Allies arrive just in time to save the heroes.

Straight: The heroes are surrounded, facing certain death. Big Good comes and smashes the enemy with his troops.
Exaggerated: The hero, a defenseless Littlest Cancer Patient, is about to be nuked by the bad guys. Then, they are nuked by very high precision nuke thingies launched by the good guys.
Justified: The heroes set up a Last Stand in order to lure the enemy to battle in order to be defeated by The Cavalry.
Inverted: The heroes have the Big Bad surrounded, and then his army comes and defeats them.
Subverted: See Cavalry Betrayal
Double Subverted: The Cavalry show up and are quickly decimated, but the spectacle of the rescuers failing allows the heroes to find their second wind, after which both the remnants of the cavalry and the heroes win the battle.
- The Cavalry Betrayal results in their capture, and the cavalry hustle them off to safety.
Parodied: At the sight of a single horse, the bad guys wet themselves in terror and flee.
Deconstructed: Many of the heroes die before The Cavalry arrives. Some may have to go on a suicide mission to summon The Cavalry.
Reconstructed: The heroes knew they had little hopes for survival anyways, and make a Heroic Sacrifice...
Zig Zagged: But it turns out the dead heroes were Only Mostly Dead.
Averted: The Cavalry never comes.
Enforced: "We've written the protagonists into a corner. We need a way to get them out of danger."
Lampshaded: "We're surrounded and have no way out. This means that reinforcements should come soon."
Invoked: The heroes send a message to Big Good in order to send in The Cavalry.
Defied: "We can't spare any troops to rescue the heroes and risk more losses."
Discussed: "Only one way we can get out of this one. A bunch of allies arriving just in time to save us".
Conversed: "Only one way they can get out of this one. A bunch of allies arriving just in time to save them".

Back to The Cavalry