The Unfought: Difference between revisions
Content added Content deleted
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (italics on work name) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (added early title drop with boldface) |
||
Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
You're just outside the lair of the [[Big Bad]] who has tormented you throughout the game. He's [[Doomed Hometown|destroyed your home town]], sent wave after wave of enemies to try and destroy you, and may even have [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|called you a couple nasty names]]. This is the battle you've been waiting for. You enter the room and... he summons a giant three-headed dragon and runs away. Okay, no problem, you'll take it down, ''then'' deal with the [[Big Bad]]. You slay the dragon and... what? Why are the credits rolling? Why didn't you get an epic battle with your archnemesis? Unfortunately, that villain just isn't going to be fought. |
You're just outside the lair of the [[Big Bad]] who has tormented you throughout the game. He's [[Doomed Hometown|destroyed your home town]], sent wave after wave of enemies to try and destroy you, and may even have [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|called you a couple nasty names]]. This is the battle you've been waiting for. You enter the room and... he summons a giant three-headed dragon and runs away. Okay, no problem, you'll take it down, ''then'' deal with the [[Big Bad]]. You slay the dragon and... what? Why are the credits rolling? Why didn't you get an epic battle with your archnemesis? Unfortunately, that villain just isn't going to be fought. |
||
The exact cause of why a major antagonist is |
The exact cause of why a major antagonist is '''The Unfought''' varies. He could, like above, just run away when you confront him. Perhaps he was the victim of a [[Bait and Switch Boss]]. In video game examples, he may have been [[Cutscene Boss|fought in a cutscene]], but killed without being fought in gameplay. Whatever the reason may be, this type of situation is a common source of frustration to the audience, especially if the victim was the [[Big Bad]]. In the cases where The Unfought is [[The Chessmaster]] or [[Mad Scientist]], this can be [[Sequel Hook|somewhat justified]], as they [[Non-Action Big Bad|might not be capable of physical battle]], preferring to work behind the scenes. But, if the character had already been established as a capable—even exceptional—fighter, this trope occurring can feel like a bit of a rip-off. And even if he is a weakling, you still want to kill him for all the [[Level Grinding|Grinding]] he forced you through to get to him. |
||
Mostly a video game trope. Though this can happen in other media, it is much harder to tell what counts as a "battle" in books or movies, while video games have a clear distinction between gameplay and FMVs. Contrast with [[Climax Boss]], which these examples are hyped up to be. Not to be confused with [[Anticlimax Boss]] or [[Breather Boss]], where the villain in question ''is'' fought, but ends up being a wuss (deliberately or not, respectively). |
Mostly a video game trope. Though this can happen in other media, it is much harder to tell what counts as a "battle" in books or movies, while video games have a clear distinction between gameplay and FMVs. Contrast with [[Climax Boss]], which these examples are hyped up to be. Not to be confused with [[Anticlimax Boss]] or [[Breather Boss]], where the villain in question ''is'' fought, but ends up being a wuss (deliberately or not, respectively). |