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The Window or the Stairs

122 statements
22 feature instances
17 referencing feature instances

The Window or the Stairs	type	FeatureClass
The Window or the Stairs	label	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs	page	TheWindowOrTheStairs
The Window or the Stairs	comment	This occurs when a character is given two choices; one of which sounds much easier/safer/more pleasant than the other option. When the "better" option is chosen, it is subsequently revealed that they've actually picked the worse option without realizing it until it's too late. Named after a Running Gag in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Damon Wayans and Kadeem Hardison play Evil Minions who are always being told by other characters that they can leave the building via "the window or the stairs". Each time, they choose the stairs and each time they get thrown painfully down a long flight of stairs. For people actually leaving via the window, see Destination Defenestration and Super Window Jump. See also The Easy Way or the Hard Way. Contrast Sadistic Choice. When someone is baited into this folly, it's usually Schmuck Bait; see also Original Position Fallacy, which tends to be how said bait is set up. If the two bad options turn out to be the same, that's Morton's Fork. In video games, this is related to Path of Most Resistance.
The Window or the Stairs	fetched	2024-02-26T09:16:05Z
The Window or the Stairs	parsed	2024-02-26T09:16:05Z
The Window or the Stairs	processingComment	Dropped link to AdventureGame: Not an Item - IGNORE
The Window or the Stairs	processingComment	Dropped link to ExactWords: Not an Item - FEATURE
The Window or the Stairs	processingComment	Dropped link to RunningGags: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
The Window or the Stairs	processingComment	Dropped link to TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment: Not an Item - FEATURE
The Window or the Stairs	processingUnknown	RunningGags
The Window or the Stairs	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Window or the Stairs / int_11359369	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_11359369	comment	Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis has a critical plot choice where Alphonse has to choose whether or not to go along with Cybil's plan of torturing a mermaid for information. However, if you admit to her that you have no other ideas, a third option of rescuing a mermaid from other hostile humans presents itself. If you refuse, this doesn't happen, and you end up fighting the mermaid instead.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_13652756	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_13652756	comment	In Finding Nemo, our heroes come across a chasm. Dory was told that they had to go through it, and she tries to tell Marlin, who ignores her and then tricks her into swimming over it, since it seems much safer. They end up in a huge swarm of jellyfish, and they both almost die because of the stings.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_15788203	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_15788203	comment	One episode of Viva PiÃ±ata has Fergie and Paulie try to guide a sleepwalking Ella through dangerous territory, at one point having to choose between "Certain Doom Avenue" or "Fluffy Pillow Cul-de-sac". It's only after they pick the latter does Paulie remember that a cul-de-sac is closed at one end, leading to them crashing through some Dead End signs and tumbling down a hill.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_295048d5	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_295048d5	comment	Bloodborne: The player has two options for where to send the various survivors they help throughout the game. The first is Iosefka's clinic, which is run by a friendly doctor who helps you early in the game. The second is Oedon Chapel, a desecrated old church who's sole remaining inhabitant is a creepy, deformed man who giggles and talks to himself, and seems all too eager for the player to send him some company. The twist is that shortly after you meet her, Iosefka is kidnapped and replaced by an imposter, who experiments on her -and any others who are sent to her clinic- turning them into horrible aberrations. The Chapel Dweller, on the other hand, turns out to be harmless, and depending on the player's choices, he and any other survivors at the Chapel actually have a chance of making it through the night.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_2ba3e3b9	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_2ba3e3b9	comment	In Mitra's palace in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, there are several areas where you have three hallways to choose from. On the floor in front of them, you find a message saying, "Take the long road". The shorter hallways either have a trapdoor that will drop you to the floor below or are lined with damaging floors.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_468bebb0	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_468bebb0	comment	Discworld: Played with in the novel Going Postal. Main character Moist von Lipwig is given a choice by Vetinari: He can take over the job of Postmaster General, or walk out a door in Vetinari's office, and Vetinari would never bother him again. Being a Genre Savvy sort of chap, Moist goes to the door, carefully peeks through it, and finds a deep pit where the floor should be. He drops a spoon into the pit, and it doesn't make a sound for a rather long time. He takes the job. At the end of the book, the Big Bad is offered the same choice with a job at the Mint. It isn't stated whether he walks straight out the door without pausing to look or purposefully did not consent to Vetinari's bargain, but it seems we will not be hearing from him again. Further played with in Making Money: Moist is given the same choice, and referred to the same door, on being offered a new job. Having ostentatiously repeated his previous actions, he discovers the room now has a perfectly normal floor. When he asks what happened to it, Vetinari claims to have no idea what he's talking about.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_4d1ba412	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_4d1ba412	comment	Dr. McNinja encounters a choice in the White House Negazone. It turns out the Negazone likes to play tricks.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_4da7528e	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_4da7528e	comment	One Berenstain Bears book had the kids go camping Ã la cub scouts. At one point their map tells them to take a long and winding mountain path around a deadly culvert, while their leader insists on taking the shortcut right over said culvert (ignoring the blank spot on the map). He takes the shortcut and promptly falls into the culvert because the bridge was out.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_4e5b6428	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_4e5b6428	comment	Further played with in Making Money: Moist is given the same choice, and referred to the same door, on being offered a new job. Having ostentatiously repeated his previous actions, he discovers the room now has a perfectly normal floor. When he asks what happened to it, Vetinari claims to have no idea what he's talking about.
The Window or the Stairs / int_4e5b6428	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Window or the Stairs / int_5c897f4a	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_5c897f4a	comment	Schlock Mercenary: Petey mentions that by all indications, the operation should be as easy as calling up some people performing a dangerous experiment and telling them to stop. Kevyn is less impressed, and when they do call it turns out that not only are they not believed, but the experiment is already well underway.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_5d30f322	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_5d30f322	comment	In Frequency, the main character's father died in a burning building because he found himself in this situation (one corridor in fire, another with just smoke) and picked the easy way. When the main character tells him he has to go the other way, the father goes through the fire, which leads to a faster way out of the building.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_72262aee	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_72262aee	comment	In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The King of Omashu", the eponymous King is putting Aang through a series of tests. For the last one, he tells Aang to choose one of two warriors to fight. Aang tries to Take a Third Option and choose the old, crazy King himself - but he was expecting this, informing Aang that he's an incredibly powerful earthbender and tougher opponent than both of the warriors presented. In fact, he's one of the two strongest earthbenders in the entire series, the other one being Toph Beifong.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_74365738	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_74365738	comment	Played with in the novel Going Postal. Main character Moist von Lipwig is given a choice by Vetinari: He can take over the job of Postmaster General, or walk out a door in Vetinari's office, and Vetinari would never bother him again. Being a Genre Savvy sort of chap, Moist goes to the door, carefully peeks through it, and finds a deep pit where the floor should be. He drops a spoon into the pit, and it doesn't make a sound for a rather long time. He takes the job. At the end of the book, the Big Bad is offered the same choice with a job at the Mint. It isn't stated whether he walks straight out the door without pausing to look or purposefully did not consent to Vetinari's bargain, but it seems we will not be hearing from him again.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_7e18b535	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_7e18b535	comment	In one episode of Planet Sheen, Sheen is challenged to a gladiatorial duel to the death. When given a choice of weapon, he's told that he can use either a trident or a "huggy bunny". He picks the trident, which turns out to be essentially a fork, while his opponent picked the huggy bunny, which is actually a five-headed fire-spitting staff.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_7fd403f8	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_7fd403f8	comment	Subverted and then completely lampshaded in Galaxy Quest. Captain Taggert sees the path between himself and the Berylium Sphere he needed for his ship is clear. Suspecting this trope is in play, he begins taking the 'window' by dodging from boulder to boulder and rolling behind cover. Meanwhile the other characters simply stroll unmolested up the path. Gwen DeMarco looks over at him as they do and comments, "Does the rolling help, actually?" Capt. Taggerty stands up and dusts himself off. Unwilling to admit defeat, he says, "Uh huh. It helps." Then she points out that during his somersaults he actually dropped his raygun.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_84ff882f	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_84ff882f	comment	I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, as described above. The trope is subverted at the end of the film when the protagonist says "There's two ways outta here..." at which point Wayans screams and jumps out the window. This prompts one of the heroes to say, "Didn't he know about the elevator?"
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The Window or the Stairs / int_891a219c	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_891a219c	comment	In The Land Before Time, Cera and the other dinosaurs refuse to follow Littlefoot's instructions on where to go to find the Great Valley, instead taking an easier path. Their "easier path" winds up trapping them all in a deadly lava flow and nearly gets them killed until Littlefoot saves them.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_8a339030	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_8a339030	comment	In the Indiana Jones comic miniseries The Sargasso Pirates, some Ruthless Modern Pirates take Indy prisoner and say they will only spare his life if he passes either "the wet challenge" or "the dry challenge." Indy assumes that the wet challenge is some ocean-themed life-or-death struggle and takes the dry challenge. The wet challenge turns out to be a drinking contest, while the dry challenge entails staying dry by not falling into a pit with a hungry kraken inside.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_a232812	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_a232812	comment	In Wish, Everyone in Rosa is led to believe Magnifico's method may be the easier way to grant their wish, even though no one has any idea whose wish Magnifico will grant or when, with Sabino waiting for decades. Meanwhile, the Star methods are harder as while Star does help you, you still have to put the work into it, but ultimately the wish does get granted.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_a5e0780a	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_a5e0780a	comment	''The Walking Dead: Season Two: Episode 3 ends with your group wandering through a horde of zombies, using the classic zombie disguise. However, some zombies see through it, and one woman in your group gets bitten on the hand. You then have two choices; kill the zombie with your hatchet, or chop the woman's arm off. Over 80% of players chopped it off, because they had recently found out that chopping off the infected area just after someone is bitten can stop the infection spreading. Unfortunately, doing so results in said woman letting out a scream that attracts several zombies which kill her immediately.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_b9f6335b	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_b9f6335b	comment	In Fate Revelation Online, "dead" players are given the choice of working as beta-testers for upcoming content or death. Kayaba is too stingy to actually kill anyone who chooses the latter option, instead using them as test subjects for direct soul modification. The one seen after such a procedure was catatonic.
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The Window or the Stairs / int_c43df4d8	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Window or the Stairs / int_c43df4d8	comment	In the Doctor Who episode "The Ribos Operation", the Doctor is given a mission by the White Guardian, and told that "nothing" would happen to him if he refused. The Doctor responds, "What? Nothing? You mean nothing will happen to me?", and the Guardian replies "Nothing at all. (pause) Ever."
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Window or the Stairs	processingCategory2	Comedy Tropes
Fate Revelation Online (Fanfic) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Hours 'Verse (Fanfic) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Going Postal / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Making Money / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Worst Witch / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Deus Ex (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Little Nightmares II (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Man of Medan (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Triangle Strategy (Video Game) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Finding Nemo / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
The Land Before Time / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs
Wish (2023) / int_eabeae5c	type	The Window or the Stairs

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