History Main / PlotTriggeringDeath

* ''Series/AlexRider'': Two of them.

* The death of a minor character, Mr. Kinney, triggers the events of ''Film/Robocop1987''. He is killed by the malfunctioning ED-209. This convinces The Old Man to not rely on ED-209. He is then convinced by Bob Morton to authorize the Robocop program.

## Make the protagonists start taking some kind of action which later pulls them into the big plot (which must not be necessarily related to the death).
* In case of TV series or long runners with clear continuity, the death must have affected the big picture of the series. For example, the deaths occurring on every episode of a murder mystery series do not count; but the death of a close one that made the protagonist take the decision to become a detective so he could investigate the mystery behind that murder ''does'' count. Deaths on this kind of works that trigger new mystery arcs also count.

* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': The deaths of Tatsumi's two friends from his village motivates him to join the Assassin Group Night Raid, a group devoted to taking down targets in the EvilEmpire.

** The deaths of Farlan and Isabel resulted in [[WorldsStrongestMan Levi]] abandoning his life of crime and laid the framework for his UndyingLoyalty to Erwin.
*** Adding to Levi's story, his mother died when he was a very young child, leading to him being raised by serial killer Kenny Ackerman. Kenny is responsible for most of Levi's character traits: his [[SpringCleaningFever clean freak behaviour]], many of his combat skills (specifically with knives and guns) and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking his habit of telling poop jokes]].

** The deaths of Masaki Kurosaki, Souken Ishida, Kaien Shiba, and Hisana Kuchiki all combine to create the reason for why the first 181 chapters of the manga unfold as they do. Even after those chapters have passed, Masaki's death continues to be the motivation for [[TheHero Ichigo's]] resolve to protect as many people as he can, Souken's death remains the primary motivation for Uryuu's determination to stand by Ichigo and work with the shinigami despite quincies and shinigami being traditional enemies, Kaien's demise is the reason why Rukia opened up the path to power for Ichigo in the first place (and continues to guide her decisions after she replaces him as 13th division lieutenant), and the death of Hisana is the reason why Byakuya adopted Rukia and why Ichigo and Byakuya now possess a bond so unbreakable it can even defy brainwashing. Without those four deaths, this story would have been completely different, or perhaps even non-existent.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': C.C. "dies" but not before granting Lelouch a Geass. With his new superpower, he investigates the murder of his mother Marianne, whose own death initiated plot as it led to Lelouch and Nunnally being exiled to Japan.

* ''Manga/Dorohedoro'': The plot was kickstarted by the death of the sorcerer Matsumura at the hands of [[BladeEnthusiast Kaiman]] and [[ChefOfIron Nikaido]], which alerted [[TheDon En]] to their existence and put them on his hitlist.

* The death of Uatu the Watcher kickstart the events of ''ComicBook/OriginalSin''.

** Peter Parker is set into his heroic path because of the death of his Uncle Ben.

* ''Fanfic/NumberFourteenMHA'' begins after Izuku Midoriya commits suicide, and focuses on the effects it has on Bakugou.

* The main plot of ''Fanfic/TheSevenMisfortunesOfLadyFortune'' kicks off when Gabriel Agreste commits suicide.

* ''Fanfic/ThreesACrowdNaruto'' opens with Naruto being murdered by Akatsuki when he's only ten years old. Somehow, his consciousness ends up inside of Sakura's head alongside [[BeneathTheMask Inner Sakura]], forcing the three to navigate their bizarre situation while keeping it hidden.

** The first scene after the title and opening credits features the death of a Kingsman agent codenamed Lancelot. His death sets off the [[TwoLinesNoWaiting two main plotlines]]: Eggsy is recruited to replace him, while Lancelot's collegue Harry Hart, who recruited Eggsy, is given the task of finishing Lancelot's mission.

* The killing of an embassy employee triggers an investigation which uncovers the Baron's plot in ''Film/MissileXTheNeutronBombIncident''.

* ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' begins with a funeral where the deceased's brother drunkenly rambling that the mob boss they both worked for killed him. This man later on is killed himself and his death is witnessed by Michael Jr.

* In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', it's Odin's death that frees the BigBad Hela and it's her quest of conquering the nine realms that fuel's Thor's efforts to return to Asgard.

** Deccon Ribobe at the start of ''Literature/MovingPictures''. In the first scene of the book he dies of old age, leaving no-one to perform the rituals that [[SealedEvilInACan keep the Holy Wood magic in check]].
** The death of King Verence at the start of ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', which leads to Duke Felmet taking over the kingdom, and the witches rescuing the crown prince and finding themselves medding in politics.

* In ''Literature/{{Holes}}'', the death of Sam the onion salesman in the 1880s sets off the events of the entire novel; if Sam hadn't died, his lover Kate Barlow wouldn't have become an outlaw who accumulated a large fortune of stolen riches and buried it in the dried-up lake of her old town. This led to Kate's rejected suitor, Trout Walker, spending the rest of his life trying to find the treasure, thus leading to the establishment of Camp Green Lake. It is even implied that Green Lake drying up was a BoltOfDivineRetribution after the town killed Sam for nothing more than [[MalignedMixedMarriage kissing a white woman]].

** The death of Rhaegar's wife, Elia Martell, also ended up causing problems later on. The Martells became extremely vindictive against the Lannisters, as Tywin had implicitly ordered her death (he actually only wanted her children killed, but [[BloodKnight Gregor Clegane]] didn't listen). Oberyn volunteers to become Tyrion's champion against Clegane during his trial by combat, because he wants to avenge his sister's death. While he dies, he ends up inflicting a mortal blow on Clegane. In ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'', [[spoiler:it is revealed that Doran Martell has been drafting a plan for years to aid the last of the Targaryens in their reconquest of Westeros, hoping to watch the Lannisters fall.]]

** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Every single instance somehow stems from the first entry, Rebecca Merlyn, and caused a season's worth of problems. Seasons 1, 3, and 5's can be chained together, while Season 2's is only connected to Season 1's. The only season that ''wasn't'' the result of a death, from either Oliver's five years away from home or previous seasons, was Season 4.

** The main Series 7 arc is also launched when the confirmed new companion Clara is killed off in her second episode. Of course, it's not that she died and more that this was the second time the Doctor saw her die, making him realize there's something weird going on. Because, you know, the same person on two different planets and two different time periods died.

** The major plot of centers around Matthew [[UnexpectedInheritance becoming the heir to the title "Earl Grantham" (and the corresponding estate)]] after both people with better claim to it go down on the ''Titanic'', forcing some rushed (and frequently foolhardy) attempts by the present Earl and family to make sure his daughters are still provided for. The ''Titanic'' disaster also claimed the life of Charles Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Early in Series 3 the Railway is declared bankrupt because Hays' successors weren't as good as him, taking most of the Crawleys' money with it.

** Jon Arryn's death may have set the process in motion, but it's Ned's execution that ultimately plunges Westeros into all-out bloody war.

** King Tar-Palantir's death at the end of the first season frees the way to power for the power-hungry Pharazon, and Numenor's path for self-destruction.

* ''Series/NextOfKin'' begins when a man named Graham and his wife dies in a car crash, leaving his {{Jerkass}} parents to raise the three children that he left behind.

* ''Series/ViudasEHijosDelRockAndRoll'' began with a flashback in 1992. Miranda had a romance with Diego in Villa Gesell, and everything was fine... until her best friend Sandra [[MayDecemberRomance seduced Roby]], Miranda's father. Miranda tried to see Diego again at the Buenos Aires obelisk, as planned, but he failed to meet her in time (and, trying to give mystery to their first date in Buenos Aires, they did not exchange addresses or phone numbers). She renounced to everything related to Rock and Roll, swore to never interact again with the dreaded Sandra or Roby, and started a romance with Segundo, a delicate high-society boy. End of flashback. Now, in the present, Roby has died. Miranda is now the heir of Roby's rock radio, she has to work alongside Sandra (Roby's widow) on a daily basis, and Diego saw her in the funeral and finally located her after so many years.

** The backstory that led to all the events taking place in season 1 was caused by [[spoiler: [[CrimeOfSelfDefense Morticia killing Garrett Gates, her stalker, in self-defense.]] After this event and Gomez being acquitted afterwards, this led the Gates family into a massive downwards spiral, resulting in the deaths of Garrett's parents and prompting his little sister to seek revenge.]]

** The death of Arnold Weber, one of the co-founders of the titular park, convinced his partner, Robert Ford, that he is right that the [[ArtificialHuman hosts]] can achieve consciousness after years of seeing the abuse inflicted by the human employees and guests. This prompted him to create a new narrative that would start the RobotWar by helping Dolores continue her path of consciousness.

* ''Theatre/ARaisinInTheSun'' involves an inner-city black family's conflicts over how to spend a life-insurance check following the death of the father.

* ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' kicks off with Jeanne sacrificing her soul to save Bayonetta from [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters an out of control demon]], which causes Bayonetta to go find a way to Inferno to rescue her.

* ''VideoGame/DareToDream'': The shock of Tyler's father dying causes him to repress all negative emotions, which form into an evil personality unto itself inside Tyler's mind, who he has to confront before it can destroy him.

* Both of the first two games in the ''VideoGame/DetectivesUnited'' series have one of these, as the BigBad of each game has a FreudianExcuse for what he's doing. [[spoiler:The wife and children of the first game's villain were murdered by criminals; the wife and son of the second game's villain were killed in a terrible car accident. In both cases, the BigBad is a good man who has been driven to evil extremes to try to revive his family. Fortunately, in this universe, the rule of StableTimeLoop does not apply and the heroes are able to make it that neither of these events ever happened, thereby averting the present-day tragedies which resulted.]]

** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' begins with [[TheEmperor Uriel Septim]] murdered along with all his direct heirs. This severs a pact with the [[CrystalDragonJesus Aedra]] to keep the mortal world from the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]], and thus starts a HellOnEarth plot.

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' starts with [[DeadToBeginWith an already dead Sissel]] discovering the powers of the dead he's been granted, looking forward to using them to solve the mystery of who he was. As he progresses, it is discovered that the entire chain of events that lead to the current situation also started off with a pair of deaths. Namely, [[spoiler:the BigBad Yomiel's "death" caused by [[MagicMeteor the Temsik meteorite]] ten years before, and the subsequent suicide of his fiancée, driving him to madness and a revenge plot]].

** The plot of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' is set off by Alex's brother Gabe being killed by a rock slide caused by a mine blast which was supposedly called off. Suspecting foul play, Alex sets forth and investigates the suspicious circumstances of her brother's demise in hopes of uncovering the truth.

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' plays with this. While not immediately obvious, through the game you find out about a death of a girl 9 years prior to when the game takes place, and it later turns out that said girl's death is the reason behind [[BigBad Zero's]] plan. [[spoiler:The girl is later revealed to be Akane, [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter who is also Zero]]- she intends to use a {{mindlink|Mates}} between her and Junpei to send information she needs to survive [[MentalTimeTravel to the past]] to ''prevent'' her death]].

* The plot of ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'' is begun by the death of Baron Reinhold, whose widow asks the Professor to come and solve the curious riddle of his last will and testament. It just gets weirder from there.

* ''VideoGame/SummertimeSaga'': The unsolved murder of Frank Cummings sets off the entire plot, as Main Character decides to uncover the mystery behind his father's death, as well as make up for his long absence at school and slipping grades that resulted from it.

* King Spatch of Sunk dies shortly before the start of ''Webcomic/RiceBoy'', which sets the plot in motion: Spatch was the latest in a long line of MultipleChoiceChosen tasked with fulfilling an ancient prophecy, but turned out to be [[ThePoorlyChosenOne a bad choice]]; his death puts TheChooserOfTheOne on the hook for finding a new candidate (who turns out to be Rice Boy), and leads [[TheChosenWannabe King Spatch II]] to try and eliminate both [[TheChooserOfTheOne chooser]] and [[TheChosenOne chosen]] to prevent any more "fakes" taking his family's glory.

* Dellarko Karinik's death in ''Literature/HelpNotWantedRemixedPhallicMemoriesInHD'', which the four protagonists try to solve while also finding themselves entangled in a conspiracy between two rivalry orc tribes.
* ''WebAnimation/MetaRunner'': [[spoiler: The [[UncertainDoom apparent deaths]] of two [=TASCorp=] alumni, scientist Dr. Sheridan and Meta Runner Lucinia Porter, led Lucinia's fellow Meta Runner Masa to suspect her murder by their boss, Lucks, leading to a failed attempt to hack into his private server for evidence, leading to his decommissioning, and Masa in turn to form MD-5 with Lucinia's sister, Sofia, to fight against his former employer. Meanwhile, main protagonist Tari is connected by unknown means to Project Blue, which was what Dr. Sheridan was working on before he and Lucinia were seemingly blown up, and has very brief and cryptic flashbacks to him and the accident when she wakes up. Later subverted, when the season 2 finale reveals that the both of them are alive; Dr. Sheridan survived the explosion and later ended up orchestrating Lucks' murder, while Lucinia physical body survived, but her mind ended up fragmented, with part of it merging with Sheridan's AI, revealed to be Tari, giving it sentience and eventually ending up in an artificial body.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Invincible|2021}}'': The murder of The Guardians of the Globe in the first episode sets the plot in motion as various characters investigate the circumstances on the motive of the culprit.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that Emilie Agreste is in a coma rather than being dead, but her coma is the cause of the show's main events: [[BigBad Gabriel Agreste, aka Hawk Moth,]] is so consumed by his grief over losing his wife that he brainwashes people into supervillains in order to steal Ladybug and Cat Noir's [[TransformationTrinket Miraculi]] so he can make a wish to bring her back.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick's DarkAndTroubledPast began when his original wife and daughter were killed by a renegade Rick. In his multiversal search for the killer, he finds that Rick Prime leaves virtually no trace to whereabouts and decided to live in the former's home universe where the show began until he finds a new lead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': The entire plot can be traced back to the death (or derezzment, in this case) of Bodhi, Beck's best friend, at the hands of one of Clu's soldiers, which inspired Beck into taking on the mantle of Tron.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' (Indigo Prophecy in the US) starts with the player character committing a murder while under a trance. You have to clear his name, and also play as the cops who are investigating the murder.

* The first/second season of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is motivated by the death of Pegasus's wife.
** In the manga, said plot ended in Pegasus’s own death, which in turn kickstarted the plot of ''Manga/YuGiOhR''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': The murder of a woman at the Silver Banshee's hands kicks off the plot and leads to a new battle between Supergirl and the supernatural villain.

* The deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne would lead their young son Bruce to take up the cowl and become the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''.

* Abin Sur's death in ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''. As he dies, he passes the ring to Hal Jordan, the first human Green Lantern. By exposing the crimes of fellow Lantern Sinestro, who goes on to [[StartMyOwn form his own Lantern Corps]] and trigger the War of Light, Hal Jordan directly or indirectly causes the fulfillment of many of the rather apocalyptic prophecies in the Green Lanterns' resident ancient tome of prophecy.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' is set into his heroic path because of the death of his Uncle Ben.

** The death of Aunt May (later reversed) was the catalyst of ComicBook/TheCloneSaga, with Ben Reilly arriving in Manhattan to pay her respects and thus being drawn back into Peter's life.
* The death of the Scarlet Witch by a sudden and unexpected shot kickstarted the events of ''ComicBook/TheUltimates 3''.

%%* Used recurrently in Creator/DanBrown's novels.
* Aimee's suicide in ''Literature/{{Aimee}}'' is the reason why the main character is put on trial for murder and forced to leave her hometown. Her court-appointed psychiatrist suggests that she write a diary, which is the FramingDevice for the book.

* The ''Literature/BookOfExodus'' starts when the Egyptian Pharaoh orders the massacre of the Hebrews' firstborn which led to one of them being [[MosesInTheBulrushes hidden away and found by Pharaoh's daughter]].

* The death of the Balance Guardian Ariel kicks off the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' saga.

** The major plot of centers around Matthew [[UnexpectedInheritance becoming the heir to the title "Earl Grantham" (and the corresponding estate)]] after both people with better claim to it go down on the ''Titanic'', forcing some rushed (and frequently foolhardy) attempts by the present Earl and family to make sure his daughters are still provided for.

** The ''Titanic'' disaster also claimed the life of Charles Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Early in Series 3 the Railway is declared bankrupt because Hays' successors weren't as good as him, taking most of the Crawleys' money with it.

* ''Fanfic/NumberFourteenMHA'' begins after Izuku Midoriya commits suicide, and focuses on the effects it has on Bakugou.

* The murder of John Reid's brother Dan in ''Film/TheLoneRanger2013'' [[spoiler:leaves the Comanche ripe for extermination. Dan was the only one mediating peace between the Comanche and the US government]].

* ''Film/TheKingdom'' started with a terrorist attack on an American housing compound in Saudi Arabia.

* Luther in ''Film/TheSting''.
* ''Film/Thir13enGhosts'': Cyrus Kriticos is killed in the opening while he and his team were trying to capture a dangerous evil spirit. His mansion is left to his nephew in his will, which turns out to be a GhostHouse. [[spoiler:As it later turns out, Cyrus faked his death in order to lure his relatives there for a HumanSacrifice.]]