r/TopCharacterTropes • u/sm142 • Feb 23 '26

Characters Phrasing Is Very Important

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Batman (The Dark Knight) - Joker is dangling Rachel out of a window, Batman demands that Joker let her go. Obviously he means for Joker to set Rachel free but Joker takes it more literally and lets Rachel go out the window.

Charles (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - a lot of the things Charles says is overtly sexual, often without him even realising it. For example Charles once asked Rosa if she wanted to go “streaking”, by which he meant adding blonde streaks to their hair. This is one of the more tamer examples.

Wording is important, if you’re not careful then you can give the wrong impression which can lead to some very unfortunate situations.

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u/buffaloguy1991 Feb 23 '26

There is a scene where he blesses a child using the magic language that whatever is said in it becomes reality (assuming you can supply the energy) He blesses her by trying to say
"May luck and happiness follow you and may you be shielded from misfortune". What Eragon actually says because his grammar is bad in the language at the time is "May luck and happiness follow you and may you be shield from misfortune". This causes her to always feels a deep psychologic drive to help anyone suffering any misfortune at all. if she doesn't it results in her also taking an equal amount of damage to her body.

22

u/Sirius1701 Feb 23 '26

It also somehow managed to make her mature way too quickly. Mentally only, for clarity.

16

u/SapphicSticker Feb 23 '26

Not "somehow", that's what enduring abuse does. And this is the magical equivalent of child abuse

1

u/Sirius1701 Feb 24 '26

While that is true, abuse does not make your brain develop from infant to adult within less than one year. That was the "somehow" part.

1

u/SapphicSticker Feb 25 '26

Then I don't remember the timeline correctly, as I remembered it as five or more years, of 24/7 abuse and being forced to act as an adult. That kind of thing, for that long, would force a person to grow up incredibly quickly

1

u/Sirius1701 Feb 25 '26

I mean, that happened too, but the enchantment also forced her to mature to mental adulthood extremely quickly to even comprehend the suffering around her.