History Main / PlotTriggeringDeath

** ''VideoGame/FatalFrameIIITheTormented'': Kaname Ototsuki's death. He snuck into the temple where his lover was lying, covered in the Holly tattoos, and woke her up. [[spoiler:Kaname is killed in front of Reika's eyes, which causes the Holly to enter her eyes and not only force her to replay her lover's death in front of her eyes until she's appeased, but also released the Rift into the temple, killing hundreds, and pull people into the Manor of Sleep.]]
** ''VideoGame/FatalFrameVMaidenOfBlackWater'': The Maidens of the Black Water were brutally killed, which was psychically and emotionally felt by Ouse. [[spoiler:Their death and regret, along with her own desire to ''live'' with Kunihiko Asou instead of simply dying with him, caused her ritual to fail and doom Mt Hikami.]]

* The events of ''Amsterdam'' are set into motion when [[PosthumousCharacter General Meekins's]] daughter Liz (played by Music/TaylorSwift of all people!) is pushed into traffic and killed by an oncoming car.

* Robert's death in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' has set off a chain of circumstances that leads to Joel meeting up with Ellie. If it wasn't for Robert selling the guns to the Fireflies (without Tess and Joel's permission), Joel would never have met Marlene, the Leader of the Fireflies. And if Joel had never met Marlene, he would never have had to escort Ellie to safety at her request. Even earlier, [[spoiler: if Sarah hadn't died at the beginning, the game would probably just be about Joel and Sarah trying to survive everyday life, and Joel never would've met most of the rest of the cast.]]

* Anna Voralberg's death at the start of ''{{VideoGame/Syberia}}'' forces lawyer Kate Walker to seek out Anna's previously [[DeathFakedForYou believed dead]] brother, Hans, to buy the family's toy company from him, thus setting off the events of the series.

* Episode 1 of ''LightNovel/HighschoolDXD'', shows the main character dying ''before the show even begins''.

* ''LightNovel/TokyoRavens'': The [[HeroicSacrifice death]] of [[KillTheCutie Hakuto]] prompts Harutora to become an [[MagiciansAreWizards onmyoji]] to fulfill her wish.

* ''{{Webcomic/Phantomarine}}'': The assassination of Phaedra and her companions triggers the events that lead to the main plot.

[[caption-width-right:324:Uneasy lies the crown that wears no head.]]

->''"I am Doctor Edward Roivas. I am a clinical Psychologist. I am also dead. […] Their attention turns to my grand-daughter. For she is the last of my line, and the last hope of humanity."''
-->-- ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', Introduction (abridged).

** President Al-Fulani's execution in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' is a downplayed instance, as it only sparks the American side of the campaign, which is noticeably shorter and more self-contained than the British side, and is over and done with before the halfway point. However, his death, combined with [[spoiler:the deaths of 30,000 Marines in the ensuing events and [[BystanderSyndrome the apathetic response from the rest of the world]] to those deaths]], are what motivates the BigBad of ''Modern Warfare 2''.

** Will Irons dying is what sparked Jonathan Irons, CEO of [[PrivateMilitaryContractor Atlas Corporation]], to become involved in the story of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare'' [[spoiler:(although given the fact Irons is sitting at the helm of the world's largest standing military and dislikes government militaries even prior to the game, things may have happened with or without Will's death)]].

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Finrod's death is what sets Galadriel neatly onto the path of revenge and spending centuries of seeking to undo the evil that killed him. As such, she refuses Valinor when Gil-galad decides is time for her to stop before it becomes a TemptingFate, and finally finds the very evil she was searching for, setting up a DisasterDominoes just like Gil-galad predicted.

* The death of King Brion Haldane at the start of ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} Deryni Rising]]'', which begins the multi-volume saga of King Kelson Haldane's rule as well as the specific challenges of getting him safely crowned king.

* ''Film/theLastRitesOfRansomPride'': Outlaw Ransom Pride is killed in a Mexican border town after an arms deal goes bad. His lover Juliette learns his body is being held by "The Bruja", a witch who runs the town's brothel. The Bruja informs Juliette that Ransom accidentally shot and killed her brother, a priest, and the only way to redeem Ransom's corpse is to give her Ransom's brother in exchange.

[[/folder]]

* In ''Fanfic/NecessaryToWin'', Mizuho's death was the catalyst behind Saki and Teru's parents separating, and Saki gets involved in tankery at Oarai in hopes of reuniting the family.

Can sometimes overlap with StartsWithASuicide, PosthumousCharacter, DeathByOriginStory, TheLostLenore, ILetGwenStacyDie, CrusadingWidower, DoomedHometown (can be a greater scale of this trope), StartsWithTheirFuneral, UnexpectedInheritance, and the list [[LongList goes on and on]].

* ''Anime//DeathParade'' takes place in the afterlife, where human souls are judged after death. The episodes that stick to this formula are like this by default. It goes deeper, however, as the MythArc unfolds. Later episodes reveal that [[TheNameless the dark-haired woman]] [[spoiler: was a human who died by suicide and was intentionally brought to Decim as a catalyst for helping him develop human emotions]].