History Main / AlmostDeadGuy

* During the Roman rout at [[PunicWars the battle of Cannae]], one of the [[RomanRepublic Roman]] [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority consuls]], Lucius Aemilius Paullus, was gravely wounded. When offered a horse by one of the few surviving military tribunes, Cornelius, that he might escape the battle, Lucius simply told him to leave him to die, and to [[BringNewsBack warn the Roman Senate of what was coming]].

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' makes these far more believable. The targets only have enough time for one or two sentences before dying. One early one uses his sentence to mock the long confessions from the first game "What were you expecting, a confession?" *dead*

* [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 3]]: [[spoiler: Soap]] survives just long enough to tell Price that [[spoiler: Makarov knows Yuri]] before dying.

* [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3]: [[spoiler: Soap]] survives just long enough to tell Price that [[spoiler: Makarov knows Yuri]] before dying.

* The GameShow ''WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' sometimes posed a question by having "The Dying Informant" come in and gasp out clues as to where Carmen's henchman of the day had taken that episode's MacGuffin.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''[[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010302 Sluggy]]'' where Hereti-Corp issues a '''memo''' instructing employees to die in someone's arms just before revealing vital information.
** And parodied in another strip in an ''XFiles'' parody arc when a waitress is assassinated to prevent the Mulder Expy from learning what the daily special is.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}} [=ThunderCats (2011)=]]]'' after being stabbed InTheBack, and barely surviving a fall into a pool of water, King Claudus has enough time to tell his son Lion-O, "[[FamousLastWords No matter what happens]], you've made me [[SoProudOfYou proud]] today," before dying [[DiedInYourArmsTonight in his arms]].

[[folder:Real life examples]]

** The Tenth Doctor himself did this in "The End of Time" as he was dying of radiation poisoning -- he managed to survive just long enough to visit all of the surviving companions he'd known in that incarnation, [[GenreSavvy cleverly avoiding]] actual death by giving out no plot-relevant information besides supplying Jack with the name of the guy sitting next to him in a bar. Of course, once he started dying really ''badly'', he went ahead and hinted to past!Rose that later that year she'd be traveling with [[TheNthDoctor his previous incarnation]]. That seemed to have finished him off.

* In the first two titles of the [[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} STALKER series]], this is ''you'' at the beginning. Obviously you pull through, but in both cases it's noted that you not being dead is bizarre, even for the Zone.

* Many times in ''HalfLife'', Gordon romps into a character who dies within 10 seconds, with or without delivering a line of dialog beforehand. It became somewhat a staple of fan missions.

* In ''ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' the whole misadventure is set off when notorious criminal "Smiler" Grogan kicks the bucket ([[VisualPun literally]]) after sending his car flying off a cliff, but not before telling a group of witnesses to the accident about $350,000 he buried in a distant state park. True to this trope, he groans into unconsciousness...then scares everyone by bolting up yelling "Say it don't make no difference, Aunt Belle!"

* In ''ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' the whole misadventure is set off when notorious criminal "Smiler" Grogan kicks the bucket ([[VisualPun literally]]) after sending his car flying off a cliff, but not before telling a group of witnesses to the accident about $350,000 he buried in a distant state park.

* The taxi driver serial killer from [[Sherlock]], although his was forced out of him.

** Also, after Zelda flees Castle Town in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', searching an alleyway reveals an injured RedShirt who tells Link that Zelda wanted to give him something, and that if he has it he should to hurry to the Temple of Time before going limp. Further attempts at conversation result in "He's not moving anymore..."

* The first episode of the ''[[{{V-2009}} V]]'' remake has a textbook example.

* In the early ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics, this trope was used many times with background characters who would provide vital information before shoving off.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', just before the emotional ([[DeathIsCheap first]]) death of Vegeta, he tells his rival Goku of Frieza's ruthlessness, by telling him the history of his manipulation and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness extermination]] of the Saiyans, and pleaded he kill him with whatever it takes.

* In ''LegendOfDragoon'', a messenger shows up in the town of Lohan to inform you that the king has been kidnapped, and dies. Particularly convenient since your characters had just decided to go and see the king.