This Is Not a Floor: Difference between revisions
Content added Content deleted
m (Mass update links) |
m (cleanup categories) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{trope}} |
{{trope}} |
||
...[[The Treachery of Images|It is the image of a floor.]] |
...[[The Treachery of Images|It is the image of a floor.]] |
||
When you have a [[Master of Illusion]] or a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], why bother bloodying your hands or risking the victim fighting back, when you can trick them into walking across empty air? A perfect plot (bar necromancy or mind-reading) when the only evidence that points toward you, or even murder at all, rests in the mind of the deceased. Often, another character will call attention to the character's actions and unknowingly break the illusion, or the illusionist will break the illusion himself at the last instant to [[Manipulative Bastard|play with the victim's mind]] [[Smug Snake|just to show]] how [[The Chessmaster|in control]] he is. |
When you have a [[Master of Illusion]] or a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], why bother bloodying your hands or risking the victim fighting back, when you can trick them into walking across empty air? A perfect plot (bar necromancy or mind-reading) when the only evidence that points toward you, or even murder at all, rests in the mind of the deceased. Often, another character will call attention to the character's actions and unknowingly break the illusion, or the illusionist will break the illusion himself at the last instant to [[Manipulative Bastard|play with the victim's mind]] [[Smug Snake|just to show]] how [[The Chessmaster|in control]] he is. |
||
Trope name references Magritte's ''[[The Treachery of Images|Ceci n'est pas une pipe]]''. See also [[Leap of Faith]] for a way to invert the trope. |
Trope name references Magritte's ''[[The Treachery of Images|Ceci n'est pas une pipe]]''. See also [[Leap of Faith]] for a way to invert the trope. |
||
---- |
---- |
||
{{examples|Examples: }} |
{{examples|Examples: }} |
||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
== [[Comic Books]] == |
== [[Comic Books]] == |
||
* This is part of Mysterio's M.O. in ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comics and cartoons. |
* This is part of Mysterio's M.O. in ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comics and cartoons. |
||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
== [[Literature]] == |
== [[Literature]] == |
||
* {{spoiler|Lasciel}} in the [[The Dresden Files|Dresden Files]] book ''Dead Beat'' pulls this on Harry, filling an apartment with illusionary [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|flame]] and putting an illusionary fire escape outside the window before breaking the illusion to show that it ''could'' easily kill Harry, but doesn't want to. |
* {{spoiler|Lasciel}} in the [[The Dresden Files|Dresden Files]] book ''Dead Beat'' pulls this on Harry, filling an apartment with illusionary [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|flame]] and putting an illusionary fire escape outside the window before breaking the illusion to show that it ''could'' easily kill Harry, but doesn't want to. |
||
* In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'': A Novel of [[Discworld]], this happens to unsatisfactory postmasters (and, very nearly, Moist.) |
* In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'': A Novel of [[Discworld]], this happens to unsatisfactory postmasters (and, very nearly, Moist.) |
||
* In ''Point Blank'', the second book in Anthony Horowitz' ''[[Alex Rider]]'' series, a murder is set up by putting a holographic elevator into an out-of-order elevator shaft. |
* In ''Point Blank'', the second book in Anthony Horowitz' ''[[Alex Rider]]'' series, a murder is set up by putting a holographic elevator into an out-of-order elevator shaft. |
||
* In ''[[Xanth]]'', Iris has the power of illusions, and this is one of the things she can do. |
* In ''[[Xanth]]'', Iris has the power of illusions, and this is one of the things she can do. |
||
* While Calesta, the [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'' is incapable of hurting people directly, his illusion powers make it easy for people to not notice a real danger, or a way to avoid said danger. At one point he makes an entire city fail to notice an incoming tidal wave. |
* While Calesta, the [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'' is incapable of hurting people directly, his illusion powers make it easy for people to not notice a real danger, or a way to avoid said danger. At one point he makes an entire city fail to notice an incoming tidal wave. |
||
== [[Live Action TV]] == |
== [[Live Action TV]] == |
||
* ''[[House MD]]'' uses this a lot, in the "patient of the week is hallucinating" form. |
* ''[[House MD]]'' uses this a lot, in the "patient of the week is hallucinating" form. |
||
** ''[[Royal Pains]]'' does a similar version, where a "haunted" client can't tell the difference between a floor three inches below or thirty feet below. |
** ''[[Royal Pains]]'' does a similar version, where a "haunted" client can't tell the difference between a floor three inches below or thirty feet below. |
||
* One case in the original [[CSI]] involved a woman who'd jumped off a high-rise apartment balcony in her bikini. She'd been hypnotized to think she was taking a dip at the beach. |
* One case in the original [[CSI]] involved a woman who'd jumped off a high-rise apartment balcony in her bikini. She'd been hypnotized to think she was taking a dip at the beach. |
||
| Line 40: | Line 40: | ||
== [[Video Games]] == |
== [[Video Games]] == |
||
* Used a couple of times in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series, and at least once in [[The Movie]]. |
* Used a couple of times in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series, and at least once in [[The Movie]]. |
||
* Used to great annoyance in some ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games, most egregiously the 3D ones, in dungeons that use the [[See-Thru Specs|Lens Of Truth]] or local equivalent. |
* Used to great annoyance in some ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games, most egregiously the 3D ones, in dungeons that use the [[See-Thru Specs|Lens Of Truth]] or local equivalent. |
||
* Old gamers of the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series may remember ''Simon's Quest'' and its annoying fake floors, which can only be detected if you fell through them or if you made obssessive use of Holy Water to figure out which floors aren't fake. |
* Old gamers of the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series may remember ''Simon's Quest'' and its annoying fake floors, which can only be detected if you fell through them or if you made obssessive use of Holy Water to figure out which floors aren't fake. |
||
* The ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games occasionally use this trick. Two examples that stand out are ''[[Mega Man 2]]'', where they can be detected by a weapon that follows the ground, the Bubble Lead, and '9'', where there are actual enemies that fly by to create holographic platforms over pits right by the real ones. |
* The ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games occasionally use this trick. Two examples that stand out are ''[[Mega Man 2]]'', where they can be detected by a weapon that follows the ground, the Bubble Lead, and '9'', where there are actual enemies that fly by to create holographic platforms over pits right by the real ones. |
||
| Line 54: | Line 54: | ||
{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
||
| ⚫ | |||
[[Category:This Is Not a Floor]] |
[[Category:This Is Not a Floor]] |
||
| ⚫ | |||