Death trap

Disciplines > Storytelling > Story devices > Death trap

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

The villain of the piece devises a fiendish machine that will kill the hero slowly.

The villain may then leave the scene, giving the hero the opportunity to escape.

Example

The hero is strapped to a block of wood that is being slowly sawn in two by a giant saw.

The victim is tied to a mill-wheel that is slowly moving towards the water.

The hero is chained to the atomic bomb that is counting down to destroy the city.

Discussion

The villain does not just shoot the hero, because that would be boring and would end up with a dead hero. Instead they have masochistic tendencies that lead them to much moustache-twirling and evil laughing (ha-ha-ha-ha!!!) as they pull levers and press big red buttons.

This scenario is so comic that it often appears in comic book stories where melodrama is used as a substitute for subtle plot.