cowardice theme

Someone exhibits a marked lack of courage when the situation demands it.

Examples

Marplon lost his nerve in the lead up to Captain Kirk confronting Landru in the Hall of Audiences in tos1x22 "The Return of the Archons".

72 total · 4 choice · 21 major · 47 minor

StoryLevelMotivation
ahh3x06 choice The point of the story was, arguably, to contrast the yellow-bellied Emory with his courageous wife Stella. Emory exposed himself as a coward by pretending to sleep in his armchair as his wife was being assaulted by a deranged farm hand. Jesse also proved a coward as soon as he lost his knife.
ds95x04 choice Jake worried about his own cowardice and a cowardly soldier had shot himself, by contrast with Julian; ensign who shot himself in the foot to avoid going to battle
tftc1989e3x14 choice The story turns on the "yellow" Lieutenant Martin Kalthrob being condemned to death by his father, General Kalthrob, for cowardice on the battlefield.
tz1959e1x18 choice Decker described all the cowardly tactics he employed to avoid getting shot down by the Germans. He was moreover ashamed to face his fellow squadron member Mackaye because he has left Mackaye to face seven German planes on his own.
ahp3x19 major Eldon embarrassed Wayne by following him around and challenging him to a duel which Wayne refused. In the end Wayne proved himself exceptionally cowardly by shooting Eldon in the back.
ahp5x30 major Jack considered Charles to be a coward for leaving Linda behind to die in the house fire. In particular, Jack took a jab at Charles by sarcastically asking him whether he'd been awarded "any decorations for bravery" in the Second World War. Moreover, Charles himself might have felt like he was a coward for leaving his wife behind to die in the house fire, thus the survivor guilt.
ds94x23 major Jem'Hadar accused Federation of cowardice
ds95x21 major Worf accused Martok of cowardice and challenged him for control of Klingon vessel
movie: All Monsters Attack (1969) major Minira was chicken to fight Gabara and Ichiro was chicken to stand up to his bullies.
movie: Night of the Living Dead (1968) major Harry was remarkably spineless by contrast to Ben