History Main / PosthumousNarration

* The ending of [[spoiler:{{Fallen}}]] specifically ''defies'' this trope after luring the audience into expecting it.
--->'''Narrator ([[spoiler: Azazel]]):''' "Ah, but you forgot. I said this was the story of the tme I ''almost'' died"

* Also from Brazil, the movie ''Redentor'' - though you don't know the protagonist is dead in the first scene, [[HowWeGotHere only when the narrative eventually reaches that scene]]. Considering his ghost emerges from his body shortly later, it avoids the "no explanation given" part.

* In NickPerumov's books, '''most''' of the narrating characters die later in the book.

* Mary-Alice Young, the narrator of ''DesperateHousewives'', died in the opening of the pilot episode.
** ''TheStrangerhood'' explicitly parodied this:

* The song "Passage" by ViennaTeng is told from the point of view of a young woman killed in a car accident as she describes moments from the lives of her loved ones as they move on.
* "Hurt" by NineInchNails, arguably. The fact that only after the character's death can he see how wrong he was is utterly heartbreaking.

* Augustus Hill in ''{{Oz}}'' does his [[LemonyNarrator odd narrations]] throughout the series. [[spoiler:He's killed in the Season 5 finale.]]

* The ''InvestigationDiscovery'' series "Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets" uses this as its basic premise: each episode has the victim of a RealLife crime narrating the circumstances surrounding their murder.

* [[VideoGame/EternalDarkness "I am Dr. Edward Roivas. I am a clinical psychologist. I am also dead."]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Jackie in ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'', who [[UnexplainedRecovery gets better]]. [[spoiler:Twice.]]

* "Hurt" by NineInchNails, arguably. The fact that only after the character's death can he see how wrong he was is utterly heartbreaking.

-->-- '''Dave''', ''Film/{{Kick-Ass}}''

Being a [[Main/DeathTropes death trope]] and all, there are going to be unmarked spoilers below. You have been warned.

* Danny Devito's character from ''{{LA Confidential}}''.

* Subverted in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 2-part season finale "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday": Rose Tyler begins each part saying "This is the story of how I died"...only it turns out she was merely trapped in a parallel universe while being declared dead in her own. Since she is separated from the Doctor forever though, this could have [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic more than one meaning]]...

* ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy XIII}}'': Vanille. [[spoiler:Note that she was in fact put into crystal stasis, which is considered equivalent to death by most people in-game. Doesn't stop her from making an (albeit brief) appearance in the sequel.]]

* ''SamuraiJack'': [[spoiler: X-9]] in the Tale of X-9 Film-noir episode.
* Similar to the ''Series/{{Wings}}'' example above, the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Star Trek" (nothing to do with the [[Franchise/StarTrek show]], for once) starts in the FilmNoir-style with Steve lying facedown in a pool of cherry jello. Steve narrates how he became an accomplished children's book writer by writing a book making fun of Roger. He gets everything he wants, including a giant mansion and a pool of jello. There's also a movie that is going to be filmed based on his book. Then it turns out that the person in the pool was actually an actor who was supposed to be playing Steve in the movie accidentally killed by Roger (he wanted to kill Steve). The episode ends with Stan helping Steve dump the body in a lake. Steve admits this was "kind of a screw to the audience" and apologizes for it.

* Double subverted (?) in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' where The Prince would say this didn't happen even though he's narrating over his death in game. [[ThatDidntHappen "No wait that's not right, I didn't die..."]]

* In ''{{Tangled}}'', Flynn Rider starts out narrating the film with "This is the story of how I died." [[spoiler:He did. But he got better.]]

* The main action of the much-maligned PIF ''{{Apaches}}'' is intercut with scenes of preparation for a tea party, commented on by the film’s young narrator, Danny. At the end, the party is revealed to be Danny’s funeral wake. "I wish I was there...honest."

* The narrator in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Melody" describes how his obsessive stalking of the eponymous woman finally led him to jump to his death from the fifteenth floor of the Gilmore Building.

* The murder victims in every episode of ''TheForgotten''.

* Edward Roivas in EternalDarknessSanitysRequiem is the narrator of the game despite dying before the start of it.

* [[EternalDarkness "My name is Doctor Edward Roivas. I am a clinical psychologist. I am also dead."]]

* The College Humor video "Every Teen Movie Ending" utilizes this trope. After the narrator explains what happened to his friends following graduation, he notes that he really misses them and that it's "too bad I drowned in a pool when I was 8."

* A variation in StarTrekOnline: Ambassador Spock was thrown into the past of an AlternateUniverse rather than killed, though anyone in the prime universe where the game is set would assume that he has been dead for many years and he certainly would have no knowledge of the goings-on of the game's universe after he left it. Nonetheless, the Ambassador provides substantial narration to explain events that occurred long after he vanished.

* Double subverted (?) in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' where The Prince would say this didn't happen even though he's narrating over his death in game. [[ThatDidntHappen "Not wait that's not right, I didn't die..."]]

* Double subverted (?) in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' where The Prince would say this didn't happen even though he's narrating over his death in game. "Not wait that's not right, I didn't die..."

* Double subverted (?) in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' where The Prince would tell this didn't happen even though he's narrating over his death in game. "Not wait that's not right, I didn't die..."

* The ''BarenakedLadies'' song "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel". Just think about that title for a minute.

* The song ''Long Black Veil'', originally by Lefty Frizzell, has the singer telling how he came to be hanged, and why a woman secretly mourns for him.