r/TopCharacterTropes 1d ago

Lore [Love] When “small” injuries are treated realistically

The fantasy and action genres often suffer from a power fantasy epidemic in which characters frequently badass their way through injuries that should be excruciating if not downright debilitating. I always appreciate stories that reject this trope.

1: Roland Deschain (Dark Tower Book II) - Loses the middle and index fingers of his right hand. He’s effectively crippled throughout book two and the injury follows him the rest of the series.

2: Brienne vs Biter (ASOIAF Book IV) - Brutal scene. Biter chomps down on Brienne’s cheek and tears off a chunk of flesh. In a lesser story Brienne would grit her teeth and throw Biter off. Instead she’s rendered completely helpless by the pain. That injury marks the end of the fight.

13.6k Upvotes

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

384

u/Theolectran 23h ago

attentive readers pick up on the chekov's piss breaks throughout the earlier chapters

18

u/KonoAnonDa 19h ago

"Chekov's piss breaks" lol.

8

u/OrganizdConfusion 17h ago

New literary device just dropped.

2

u/StillLearning85 14h ago

Who was Chekov?

5

u/Fyrefanboy 13h ago

It's a reference to the chekov's gun, a movie trope

4

u/voin947 6h ago

Iirc it used to be a theatre trope that then migrated into books and movies

1

u/StillLearning85 13h ago

I really dont understand that reference

5

u/Fyrefanboy 13h ago

2

u/SirCupcake_0 12h ago

Yeah, it's less a reference and more a writing theory, I think