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During The War Sequence, well, there's a war going on. This means that a lot of people are eagerly going at it at once -- something that is extraordinarily difficult to film in any satisfactory manner. There's just so much going on at any given moment, and the reader or viewer or player can only see a small part of the action. There's also the fact that many stories with such a sequence are essentially heroic stories -- the dehumanization and intermittent back-and-forth of a battle doesn't really fit so well into the theme of such a tale. Examples of Pendulum War include:

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  • Pendulum War
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  • During The War Sequence, well, there's a war going on. This means that a lot of people are eagerly going at it at once -- something that is extraordinarily difficult to film in any satisfactory manner. There's just so much going on at any given moment, and the reader or viewer or player can only see a small part of the action. There's also the fact that many stories with such a sequence are essentially heroic stories -- the dehumanization and intermittent back-and-forth of a battle doesn't really fit so well into the theme of such a tale. Examples of Pendulum War include:
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dbkwik:all-the-tro...iPageUsesTemplate
dbkwik:allthetrope...iPageUsesTemplate
abstract
  • During The War Sequence, well, there's a war going on. This means that a lot of people are eagerly going at it at once -- something that is extraordinarily difficult to film in any satisfactory manner. There's just so much going on at any given moment, and the reader or viewer or player can only see a small part of the action. There's also the fact that many stories with such a sequence are essentially heroic stories -- the dehumanization and intermittent back-and-forth of a battle doesn't really fit so well into the theme of such a tale. Because of this, many battle sequences in works of fiction seem to go in one of two directions -- either the Redshirt Army is getting clobbered, or the Evil Minions are. It almost seems like armies in television, movies, or games can only be in one of these two extremes -- there are never intermittent stalemates or indecisive exchanges. The actions of the heroes, furthermore, are often disproportionate to their actual effect in the battle. No random extra achieves anything in the battle; only named characters can be militarily useful. Of course, given the power of many heroic or villainous characters, this is somewhat more believable -- especially if the series is Fantasy or Science Fiction, where a single individual may just have the power to destroy entire cities with a thought. In any case, this effect will swing this pendulum back and forth; usually, until The Cavalry arrives, scenes of carnage and tragedy will dominate, until they crest the hill and suddenly the Evil Minions who just moments ago were rampaging unchecked are now fleeing in disorder. This trope has some basis in fact -- many real-life battles are decided on morale and momentum -- but it still sometimes feels vaguely manipulative to base the fates of so many on the actions of so few, in such a literal sense. One-sided encounters are perfectly reasonable when those involved have radically disparate technology levels, resources, and/or training. See also: Redshirt Army, Evil Minions, Conservation of Ninjitsu, Only I Can Kill Him! Examples of Pendulum War include:
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