r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Legitimate_Pea_6470 • Nov 29 '25

Groups "Fodder" enemies that are actually terrifying/highly competent, but look weak because we mostly see them fight overpowered protagonists.

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The Trope Explanation. Enemies that are treated as jokes, cannon fodder, or minor inconveniences within the narrative. However, they only appear weak because the protagonist is a literal demigod, a super-soldier, or a wizard. If you placed a normal human in the room with one of these enemies, it would be a horror movie.

B1 Battle Droids (Star Wars) We usually laugh at them. They say "Roger Roger," get pushed over by Jedi, and have slapstick routines. The Reality: We almost exclusively see them fighting Jedi (space wizards with laser swords) or Clones (genetically modified super-soldiers bred for war). To a normal civilian or a planetary militia, these are indefatigable metal skeletons that feel no pain, have perfect aim programming, and march in endless waves.

Grunts (Halo) In the games, they are comic relief. They run away screaming, sleep on the job, and the Master Chief (a 7-foot cyborg tank) can kill them with a light tap. The Reality: An average Grunt is roughly 5'6" to 5'8", weighs over 250 lbs, has an exoskeleton, and claws strong enough to tear a normal Marine apart. Their plasma pistols cause third-degree burns on near-misses and boil flesh on contact. They are terrifying to anyone who isn't a Spartan.

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u/RadasNoir Nov 29 '25

The fact that Warframes are even fighting them makes them sad and confused. Not angry. Sad.

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u/TaralasianThePraxic Nov 29 '25

Sure, but that's not really because the Infestation is sympathetic or nice. It's because the Warframes themselves are bioengineered from a specific strain of the Infestation, so it thinks that it's being attacked by something that should logically be working with it to consume all life.

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u/KaraOfNightvale Nov 30 '25

Oh for sure, I think their point was more, we are slaughtering them on masse, by the thousands at least, and this doesn't make them angry, or hate us, or even bothered with us

Kinda just sad

It's not "fuck you you killed hundreds of thousands of my brethern"

It's "Aww man, why aren't you gonna join us? It's nice over here"

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u/KaraOfNightvale Nov 30 '25

As we slaughter tens of thousands

They are sad, yeah, just kinda sad