History Main / WhiteShirtOfDeath

!!Examples:

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'':
** ''Film/SawI'':
*** Adam wears a white T-shirt for the whole movie, which ends up drenched in his and Zep's blood. Played with in that he ends up dying in a bloodless way, as shown in a flashback in ''Film/SawIII'' (namely Amanda asphyxiating him as a MercyKill when he's LockedUpAndLeftBehind).
*** Averted with Lawrence, who wears a white T-shirt identical to Adam's in the Bathroom, but never gets covered in blood and survives the game.
** ''Film/SawII'':
*** Xavier wears a white tank top that gets progressively covered in the blood of the other Nerve Gas House victims (including the ones he directly murders). His own blood eventually gets to the tank top when he cuts out part of his nape's skin and Daniel then slashes his throat.
*** Gus dies when [[MoeGreeneSpecial his left eye is shot by the Magnum Eyehole]], with the ensuing blood getting his white shirt drenched in the process.
** In ''Film/SawIV'', Rigg wears a white T-shirt during his trial, which gets a few blood stains, though it mostly receives dirt-related ones. While he doesn't die onscreen at the end of the film (he only gets a shot from Eric attempting to prevent him from entering the Ice Block Trap's room), he's declared dead at the beginning of [[Film/SawV the next one]].
** Subverted and inverted with Strahm in ''Film/SawV''.
*** The subversion happens at the beginning of the film when Strahm gets abducted by Hoffman and is put in a trap meant to be inescapable. His white shirt at the time gets stained in blood, but he survives the trap long enough to be rescued afterwards.
*** The inversion happens at the end of the film, where Strahm, with the black T-shirt that he wore for most of the movie, suffers one of the series' most gruesome deaths in the Glass Coffin's room.
** ''Film/SawVI'':
*** William wears a white shirt during his trial, which is stained in blood from the beginning due to him having had [[TreasureChestCavity a key surgically placed inside him]].
*** Inverted with Sachi, who wears a black shirt in the only scene where she appears, and dies when she's gunned to death by Perez while Hoffman uses her as a meat shield towards the latter, leaving a visible trail of blood when Hoffman drops her into a wall.
** In ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'', Zeke wears a white shirt when he's abducted by the Spiral killer for a trial of his own. He doesn't die, but his shirt gets stained with blood from his wounds and other victims throughout the trial.

** Adam wears a white shirt for most of the [[Film/SawI first movie]], which ends up drenched in his and Zep's blood. Played with in that he ends up dying in a bloodless way, as shown in a flashback in ''Film/SawIII'' (namely Amanda asphyxiating him as a MercyKill when he's LockedUpAndLeftBehind).
** In ''Film/SawII'', Xavier wears a white tank top that gets progressively covered in the blood of the other Nerve Gas House victims (including the ones he directly murders). His own blood eventually gets to the tank top when he cuts out part of his nape's skin and Daniel then slashes his throat.

** In ''Film/SawVI'':

*** The

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** In ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'' Zeke wears a white shirt when he's abducted by the Spiral killer for a trial of his own. He doesn't die, but his shirt gets stained with blood from his wounds and other victims throughout the trial.

** In ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'' Zeke wears a white shirt when he's abducted by the Spiral killer for a trial of his own. While he doesn't die, his shirt gets stained with blood from his wounds and other victims throughout the trial.

** Adam iwears a white shirt for most of the [[Film/SawI first movie]], which ends up drenched in his and Zep's blood. Played with in that he ends up dying in a bloodless way, as shown in a flashback in ''Film/SawIII'' (namely Amanda asphyxiating him as a MercyKill when he's LockedUpAndLeftBehind).

** In ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'' Zeke wears a white shirt when

!!Since this is a [[DeathTropes Death Trope]], expect unmarked spoilers!

* In ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'', Chidori is wearing a white dress when she is fatally shot in the chest to protect Yuuhi. Later, Aya is wearing white clothes when she is stabbed by [[spoiler:Aki, who is possessed by Shisou]]. She survives, along with Tooya's baby.

** Subverted, [[spoiler: at the end of the series he is shown to be the only one besides Eva that survived Rokkenjima]].

* Inverted in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack''. November 11 habitually wears a white suit, which usually remains spotless. The one time he wears a ''black'' suit, he gets killed.

* Adam iwears a white shirt for most of the first ''Film/SawI'' movie, which ends up drenched in his and Zep's blood.

* In ''Film/{{Chappie}}'', [[spoiler:Yolandi]] wears a white shirt for the final battle. Guess who of the RagtagBunchOfMisfits dies.

--> '''Wick:''' How good's your laundry?
--> '''[[SeenItAll Concierge]]:''' I'm sorry to say that no-one is that good.
--> '''Wick:''' (sighing) No, I thought not.

* ''Film/RazorsTheReturnOfJackTheRipper'': In Ruth's dream, Sadie is wearing a long white nightgown when the Ripper [[SlashedThroat slits her throat from behind]] ([[ShownTheirWork the way Jack is supposed to have killed most of his victims in real life]]). The blood gushes out of her throat and down her front; staining the front of the nightgown a bright red. (Possibly counts as FridgeBrilliance, as Sadie is Asian, thus tying in with the origins of this trope.)
* Downplayed in ''Film/HussarBallad''. [[spoiler:Vincento]], the only non-RedShirt, non-{{Mook}} casualty, is in a white shirt during his final battle and death while the rest of the soldiers are in uniform (his uniform having been [[spoiler:taken by Shura for her disguise]]). However, due to the film running on BloodlessCarnage, no blood is shown.

* In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', James Bond removes his black sweater and wraps it around [[spoiler: his daughter Mathilde as he sends her and her mother Madeleine to safety. This leaves him in a white sweater when he's shot multiple times by the villain Safin and later dies in a missile strike.]]

** [[spoiler: Xiao Feng]] commits suicide while wearing a white dress.

** [[spoiler:Samantha Roth]] during Day 7. Also, later on in the same season, [[spoiler:Erica]].

** In the first season, Jack gets [[spoiler:Alexis Drazen's]] blood all over his white shirt as he desperately tries to keep him from bleeding out after he's unexpectedly stabbed in the gut.

** A variation in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]". [[spoiler:When Tara gets shot her blood splatters onto the white shirt worn by Willow. For added effect, Tara doesn't even ''realize'' she was shot; her last words are a confused "Your shirt?" before she falls.]]

** [[spoiler:Mr. X]], although, in an unusual variation, it's a white shirt with pinstripes.

* On ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'', [[spoiler: JT]] is wearing a white shirt when he dies.

* In the unusually violent Tom Baker-era ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "The Deadly Assassin", the Doctor changes, for unclear in-universe reasons, from his usual layered multicoloured outfit into a much more minimalistic outfit consisting of slim trousers and a billowing, flimsy white poet shirt. The shirt spends the entire third part of the episode serving as a canvas for as much blood, filth, and ClothingDamage [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence as they could get away with on a children's show]]. (As it turns out, they couldn't get away with it - the producer lost his job over the level of violence in this story.)

* In ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' [[spoiler: Mikoto Nakadai AKA Abare Killer]] bleeds out in a white lab coat before [[spoiler: riding on Top Galer who flies high enough to make sure the explosion from his Dino Minder won't kill anybody else.]]

* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' we witness a more scruffy and cynical Blake who has apparently TookALevelInJerkass. Yet he's wearing a white shirt under his vest, [[LightIsGood showing he's still on the side of the good guys]]. [[spoiler:Unfortunately this also foreshadows his BloodierAndGorier death when [[MultipleGunshotDeath Avon shoots Blake]] in the [[TragicMistake mistaken belief]] that he's turned traitor. The actor incidentally wanted to make it perfectly clear that he had been KilledOffForReal, hence this trope.]]
* Miss Parker in ''Series/ThePretender'' is wearing a bright white ensemble when she jumps in front of a bullet aimed at her father. [[spoiler: She gets better]].

* The final battle of ''VideoGame/{{Stranglehold}}'' has Mr. James Wong, like most of Creator/JohnWoo's villains, wearing white. [[spoiler:Though he gets shot up plenty, he is finally brought down by Teko, who sends him off a balcony as he's preparing to finish off her father]].
* It's not ''your'' death in ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'', but you get to keep the all-white suit covered in blood from [[spoiler: the hit at Winston's wedding]].

* This happens to The Girl in White in ''VideoGame/ThePath''; one of the only splotches of blood in an otherwise bloodless game: [[spoiler: After all six sisters have been taken by their respective wolves, The Girl in White goes to see Grandma... and returns with her dress stained [[GainaxEnding with what probably isn't]] ''[[GainaxEnding her]]'' [[GainaxEnding blood.]]]]

** The Austrian army during the Musketry Era wore white. Historians are divided as to whether this trope caused any handicap. The pragmatically-minded British, on the other hand, [[BringMyRedJacket wore red for precisely this reason.]]

** Which is a fun myth, but sadly, only a myth - even a cursory experience would cause one to [[FridgeLogic realise blood still darkens and dyes red cloth of that hue]]. In truth, red dye from madder was just cheaper for the British to produce, and officers enjoyed the scarcity, expense, and thus prestige of brighter cochineal.

Ever notice [[RuleOfDrama how much more dramatic]] blood looks on a white background? It follows that wearing a white shirt can be more hazardous than wearing a RedShirt. The death of a white shirt wearer will be [[{{Gorn}} much]] [[BloodyHilarious bloodier]] than that of your traditional RedShirt.

Since this is a {{Death Trope}}s, expect spoilers.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Ladd Russo from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' finds himself subject to this trope. He doesn't ''die'' per se, but he does get his ear clipped off and his left arm completely skinned to the bone. Notably, Ladd invoked the trope, explaining that he and his friends all wear white because he thinks blood spatters look best on white clothing. Of course, at the time, he probably didn't think it would be ''his'' blood... And ''then'' there is the Rail Tracer, whose [[spoiler:white conductor uniform]] gets completely coated in the blood of his victims.
* In ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'', [[spoiler:Chidori]] is wearing a white dress when she is fatally shot in the chest to protect [[spoiler: Yuuhi]]. Later, [[spoiler:Aya]] is wearing white clothes when she is stabbed by [[spoiler:Aki, who is possessed by Shisou]]. She survives, along with [[spoiler:Tooya's baby]].
* For the final arc of ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[spoiler:''Emperor'' Lelouch]] wears a fancy white set of robe. In the very last episode, [[spoiler:he is stabbed through the chest with a big honking sword, [[ThanatosGambit just as he planned]]. A lot of focus is put on the blood.]]

* Solf J. Kimblee in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' starts wearing an entirely white suit after being released from prison. His death? Having his jugular vein and possibly the carotid artery bitten off by a chimera, which Pride lampshades [[spoiler:before eating him and gaining his alchemic power]].
* Inverted in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack''. November 11 habitually wears a white suit, which usually remains spotless. [[spoiler:The one time he wears a ''black'' suit, he gets killed.]]

* [[spoiler: Hakuron]] from ''Manga/HaouAiren'' is shot to death while wearing a white suit.
* [[spoiler: Rei "Hana no Saint Juste" Asaka]] from the ''Manga/DearBrother'' anime is all dressed up in white when [[spoiler: she falls in the path of a train and to her death.]]
* Manga/{{Inuyasha}} often sustains his worst injuries when he's stripped down to his white undershirt, losing the protection of his armored kimono. The most notable example was during his fight with Goshinki, who [[spoiler: predicted his every move, avoided his attacks, clawed his back open, and left him dying in a pool of his own blood. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide He got better.]]]]
* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'': [[spoiler: Lacus's BodyDouble Meer Campbell is dressed in a ''gray'' outfit when she's killed in a HeroicSacrifice, but her lifeless body gets a white gown put on her right before [[DueToTheDead she's given]] a BurialInSpace by Lacus, Athrun, Kira, and their friends.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* [[spoiler:Barbossa]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''

* HeroicBloodshed movies do this a lot, and the deaths of people who wear white get quite bloody. Usually, it's the villain wearing white, but at least one heroic example happens with Ah Jong/Jeffrey Chow and Inspector Li Ying from ''Film/TheKiller'' during the church shootout. Though then again, [[spoiler:Ah Jong, the tragic hero in question, is one of the three main characters to be killed off. And Inspector Li is the one who survives at the end to kill Wong Hoi, which in turn results in his arrest by his fellow officers at the end]].

* Adam in the first ''Film/SawI'' wears a white shirt for most of the movie, which ends up drenched in [[spoiler: his and Zep's]] blood.

[[folder:Myths and Religion]]

[[folder:Theater]]

* Subverted in ''Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore'', in which [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mad Padraic]] wears a wife-beater when he gets down to [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]], and it gets covered with other people's blood. [[spoiler: Until he gets killed, messily, and this trope is Double-Subverted.]]

* ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'' makes good use of this, cutting to a white screen whenever you die that really highlights your character's blood pooling around his body. In addition, there's the [[spoiler:funeral shootout]] at the very end of ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney''.

* Kaede Smith in ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'' always wears a white dress with a big red blood splat on it. Especially fitting, given that [[spoiler:the bloodstains match the bullet wounds that ended her previous life.]]\\

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': [[spoiler: Partially subverted. Cabanela does die (though you fix it), but [[BloodlessCarnage his coat remains unstained.]] He just falls over.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' [[spoiler: Lunafreya wears a white dress throughout the story. She is stabbed by Ardyn at the end of Chapter 9]]

* Mr. Blank from ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' wears [[HighlyVisibleNinja an all-white ninja tunic]], which tends to get blood-splattered [[http://samandfuzzy.com/704 when he goes into combat]] ([[OneManArmy though not with]] ''[[OneManArmy his]]'' [[OneManArmy blood]]). [[spoiler:His death is remarkably bloodless if we ignore the part where he got his face and mask torn off by a killer robot -- he fell off the side of a building.]]

[[/folder]]

* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'': WhiteShirtOfDeath: Besides greatly increasing Rarity's [[ThePowerOfBlood control over her blood]] [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation creations,]] her Fullbring turns her whole form snow-white, making it easy to spot even the tiniest drop of blood. WordOfGod it symbolizes her willingness to kill her opponents, and [[IDidWhatIHadToDo accept the consequences.]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry Potter slices Draco Malfoy up like a Christmas ham in the bathroom and Draco nearly dies, but [[UnexplainedRecovery he gets better]]. His white shirt was covered in his blood.

* In ''Film/DeathOnTheNile2022'' Poirot examines the blood splatter pattern on a white bulkhead and realises there was a witness to the crime.
* ''Film/NinjaAssassin''. The owner of a laundromat goes to investigate the sounds of a ruckus and finds a white washing machine vibrating erratically before blood starts pouring out of it. Then we MatchCut to someone [[BlackComedy pouring too much ketchup on his fries where are in a white paper cup]].

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry Potter slices Draco Malfoy up like a Christmas ham in the bathroom and Draco nearly dies, but he gets better. His white shirt was covered in his blood.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry Potter slices Draco Malfoy up like a Christmas ham in the bathroom and Draco nearly dies, but [[UnexplainedRecovery he gets better]]. His white shirt was covered in his blood.

* ''Film/BloodRedSky''. At the start of the hijacking [[PsychoForHire Eightball]] stabs an air marshal to death, then [[MilkingTheGiantCow proudly displays]] his blood-splattered white steward's shirt to the passengers to intimidate them. When he gets too close to [[VampireRefugee Nadja]], she has to restrain herself from vamping out in response to the smell of blood. When Eightball shoots her, she's wearing a white jumper to make the bloodstains clear to the audience before she comes back to life in TheReveal that she's a vampire.

* ''Series/Reacher''. In episode 5 a team of assassins wearing gloves and forensic suits to avoid leaving trace evidence come after the title character. They leave this trope instead, seeing as they are a [[TooDumbToLive nice white color that shows up in the dark]].

** Invoked in "Look After Annie" when Annie Irvine insists she only have red and white roses displayed, to symbolise the blood she shed during a failed assassination attempt.

* ''Series/Titans2018''. The girl of the [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether Nuclear Family]] pouts that she's got a few spots of blood on her white blouse after leaving a building where she's just helped torture (and likely kill) someone for information.

** Invoked in "Look After Annie" when Annie Irvine insists she only have red and white roses displayed, to symbolise the blood she shed during a failed assassination attempt.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals'' has at least two incidences where this happens, both involving Doyle;

* The final battle in ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}''.