Red's Trope Talk this week on OSP is on the deus ex machina trope.
I find the timing of this release fun and interesting.
They're usually not quite this literal these days.
"If it lives it can be killed.
If it is dead it can be eaten."
Ronkong Coma "the way of the bookhunter" III Catacombium
(Walter Moers "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher")