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1->'''Daisy Fitzroy:''' But... you mean I won't live to see the -- no...\
2'''Robert Lutece:''' It's up to you what matters more.\
3'''Rosalind Lutece:''' Your part in the play...\
4'''Robert Lutece:''' Or the play itself.
5-->-- ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea''
6
7There are [[ThanatosGambit some plans perpetrated by a select few]] that involve the ''villain's own demise'' as the finishing touch: A PlotTriggeringDeath that is ''self''-triggered. Naturally, any plan that involves the literal [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of the world]] would finish off an antagonist as well as everyone else, but that's usually a side effect. My Death Is Just the Beginning has it as the first (or one of the first) items on the BigBad's To Do list.
8
9There are plenty of reasons for why these plans are drawn up. Sometimes it is to evade justice from the heroes; the villain knows that if he is successful, someone will want to take revenge. Perhaps the character doesn't actually ''want'' to die, but knows that [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption there's no way around it if he wants to succeed]]. It could be a plan to turn TheHero to TheDarkSide, or maybe the villain's death is part of an overarching GambitRoulette and it will set in motion events the heroes couldn't possibly predict. Still, there are some bastards who just love to have [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the last laugh]].
10
11My Death Is Just the Beginning isn't the sort of plot the average antagonist will use, as it requires a certain dedication to results over personal glory and power. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremists]] can drift towards plans of this sort, especially if they happen to be [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans dedicated to the fulfillment of some lofty ideal]]. TheChessmaster has the sort of talents to execute this kind of scheme, and will opt to do himself in if the gains are substantial enough.
12
13This all depends on what the nature of death is in a series though. Media in which DisneyDeath is common, DeathIsCheap, or uses any [[DeathTropes death trope]] along similar lines that lessens the impact of a character dying is less likely to use My Death Is Just the Beginning, because the essential sacrifice is missing. Then again, that doesn't stop some writers.
14
15If done in a series in which StatusQuoIsGod, it may herald a GenreShift, or will at the least be the climax of a major story arc.
16
17Heroes are also capable of doing this, but more often than not those are just undertakings that are [[HeroicSacrifice considered suicide]] and not part of some master scheme. If anyone on the hero side pulls this off, it will probably be TheMentor, complete with an ObiWanMoment.
18
19Can overlap with StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred.
20
21Compare SuicideByCop, in which dying is the goal and not a step, and DeathActivatedSuperpower if the user intentionally dies for the purpose of setting it loose. It usually also makes [[FaceDeathWithDignity Facing Death With Dignity]] a little easier. Also compare/contrast ThanatosGambit, in which the villain or hero's death is the final part of a complex plan. It can also overlap with VillainousLegacy. Take into consideration NiceJobBreakingItHero as well (when either the hero kills the villain without considering the consequences, or does it anyway despite the warnings of what might happen). Is frequently the motivation for/preceded by "StrikeMeDown."
22See also YouCannotKillAnIdea and InspirationalMartyr.
23
24Related to FailureGambit. Unrelated to XanatosGambit because the planner's death is a crucial element, and so if it doesn't happen, ThePlan fails.
25
26!!As this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
27----
28!!Examples:
29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32* Friend from ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'' tries to do one of these by faking his death. Unfortunately, he underestimated one of his subordinates, who seizes the opportunity to kill him for real and take his place in the scheme.
33* Desty Nova in ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita''. He gets better -- more than once -- and currently has multiple versions of himself around, ''each'' with separate plans.
34* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': Clow Reed only predicted one particular aspect of everything wrong (that Sakura and Yukito would get together), and it was one that didn't have any effect on the plan.
35* Miyori Sahara from ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'', who kills herself in the most gruesome way she can come up with (by flying to the highest building in her surroundings and throwing herself off there) as revenge against Aya, whose alter-ego Ceres murdered Miyori's beloved mother in her initial RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
36* Lelouch vi Brittania to bring about the Zero Requiem in ''Anime/CodeGeass''.
37* ''Manga/DeathNote'':
38** Mello's last move involves his own death. His sidekick Matt also dies, though this wasn't necessary.
39** With L dead and Light assuming the identity of L unbeknownst to the world, it would seem like Light had won... if not for a countdown timer set up by L to inform his chosen heir of his death if he fails to reset it every month.
40** In the live-action version, L writes his own name in the Death Note, which grants him temporary immunity from Kira, but will kill him in 23 days time. L's backup plan often works like this too, since if he is killed by Kira it will narrow the suspects down significantly.
41* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': After Angemon channels all of his power into a [[TakingYouWithMe suicidal]] [[HandBlasts Hand of Fate]] to kill Devimon, Devimon takes the time before he kicks it to gloat that there are several other Digimon out there that are just as strong as he is, if not more so, and since Angemon couldn't even defeat Devimon himself without a HeroicSacrifice, then the [=DigiDestined=] are doomed.
42* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
43** In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', after failing to seal King Piccolo away again, Master Roshi spends his last moments swearing to Piccolo that he hasn't won yet, and where he failed, someone else ''will'' succeed.
44** Goku's death in episode 5 of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' sets up his afterlife journey to power up for the battle against Vegeta and Nappa.
45** In [[Anime/DragonBallZSuperAndroid13 Movie 7]], Dr. Gero's death (not by the main characters) sets off the finishing of three more androids (15, 14, and BigBad 13).
46* In ''Manga/GhostInTheShell: Human Error Processor'', Section 9 investigates a series of ArmsDealer murders, and finds the perpetrator is dead, but left a brainwashing virus on the Net that will compel vulnerable people to murder anyone fitting the target description. [[DownerEnding The virus may still be out there, and may mutate as well, endangering any number of innocent people]].
47* Masaki Kihara of ''Manga/HadesProjectZeorymer''. He was killed by Oki before the start of the series. However, by creating clones of himself with [[DysfunctionJunction personality flaws galore]], an [[ArtificialHuman android with the ability to grow up]] to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild serve as the titular mech's main system]], [[BrainUploading implanting his personality into said mech]] so that he can pull a SplitPersonalityTakeover on one of the clones when the time is right. In his own words: ''he gambled with himself for control of the entire world.'' It was a GambitRoulette in which he was able to bet half of everything on red and the other half on blue. Thankfully for the world, [[SpannerInTheWorks the ball lands on 0]] as a result of one of his clones [[SplitPersonalityMerge overpowering his personality and then incorporating it into himself]], and then blowing the other remaining clone to bits.
48* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
49** In [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Part 5]], Carne approaches the plane the heroes are about to take, apparently unarmed. Mista guns him down on the spot. Unfortunately for the heroes, Carne was something of a suicide bomber -- [[DeathActivatedSuperpower his death was the trigger to awaken Notorious B.I.G.]], one of the most powerful and dangerous Stands in the series. (How powerful? Try ''absolutely indestructible''.)
50** [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Part 6]] touches on this again and ends up seemingly turning it into a type of Stand of it's own. Sports Maxx has the Stand ability Limp Bizkit, which takes the form of maggots rooting themselves into corpses. These corpses are then turned into invisible, inaudible zombies. [[spoiler:The user is not exempt from this.]]
51* ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh'': Shinou died to set into motion a great [[AncientConspiracy Conspiracy]] drawn out over a period of ''four millenia'', which involved manipulating the whole of Demon Tribe for all those years in a cycle of incarnations and reincarnations, in order to defeat the BigBad Shoushu. And he managed to do it without being evil... well, at least most of the time!
52* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'':
53** In the last episodes, Ribbons kills the "twins" Regene Regetta and Tieria Erde, only to find that Regene was manipulating him all along. Regene and Tieria's deaths allow Tieria's consciousness to be uploaded into the supercomputer VEDA, where he works against Ribbons as a benevolent AI.
54** This was also [[TheChessmaster Aeolia Schenberg]]'s backup plan: despite being in cryogenic suspension for two hundred years, his murder at the hands of Alejandro Corner immediately triggers the Trans-Am program for the Gundams, giving them a critical advantage over their enemies.
55* Altena in ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' shows she is willing to sacrifice everything and everyone she loves for her holy cause, including herself.
56* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
57** The government executes the pirate king, Gold Roger, to send a message of warning to all the pirates in the world. Instead, Roger uses his moment of publicity to announce to the entire world where his treasure can be found, setting off the beginning of the Great Age of Pirates. It's also revealed that Roger planned it this way, rather than just taking advantage of his last moments to screw over his enemies one more time. He turned himself in, knowing it would result in a public execution, because he was [[IncurableCoughOfDeath already dying]] and wanted to make sure his death would mean something.
58** Like Roger, Whitebeard, in his last moments, declared that the legendary One Piece '''really''' does exist and triggers another coming age of pirates.
59* In ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'', [[MentorOccupationalHazard Koumyou's death in a youkai attack]] right after he passed his rank and responsibilities onto his pupil is suggested to be this trope. Considering the person who voiced the suggestion, the reveal of this ''might'' have been intended just to mess with Sanzo, but on the other hand, said person ''did'' get to see Koumyou's true strength first-hand, and thus his claim that Koumyou was powerful enough to easily fend off the attackers is far from being baseless. The implication is that Koumyou knew what effect his HeroicSacrifice for Sanzo would have on Sanzo himself; indeed, this results in Sanzo's life getting dedicated to recovering his master's sutra stolen in the attack, and he grows up to be the {{Determinator}} seen throughout the main series. Whether Koumyou's death had something to do with his bet with Ukoku remains to be seen.
60* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'':
61** Chisa Yomode throwing herself off a building is what sets almost all the events of the series in motion. Lain doesn't notice anything strange in her life until she and other girls receive e-mails sent ''after Chisa's suicide'' -- and she's the only one who replies to these messages.
62** Masami Eiri throws himself under a train as the last part of his plan to discard the physical body and live on the Wired as God.
63* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul[=:Re=]'', Kishou Arima has spent roughly a decade becoming TheDreaded as part of a larger plan to spark a revolution. As the most powerful servant of the GovernmentConspiracy, anyone that killed him would immediately become a HopeBringer for ghouls and a powerful force capable of opposing his masters in V. After three years grooming Kaneki into his SuperiorSuccessor, Arima goads him into a brutal final battle and tries to provoke Kaneki into killing him. When he is defeated but spared, Arima commits suicide and requests that Kaneki claim credit for his death. Eto later explains to Kaneki that as Arima's "killer", he is now in the unique position to become the One-Eyed King and lead the revolution that she had planned with Arima.
64* ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': This ''Anime/{{Mazinger|Z}}'' series gave us a rare heroic example. In the Creator/GoNagai manga, a [[{{Robeast}} Saucer Beast]] cornered [[TheHero Duke Fleed]] and [[TheDragon Blackie]] demanded that he reveal Grendizer’s hideout. He refused to talk and assured that ''[[Anime/MazingerZ all]]'' ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger his]]'' ''[[Manga/GetterRobo friends]]'' would go on fighting until they defeated them using his HumongousMecha.
65* Emperor Dornkirk in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' as part of his plan to activate his fate engine. Stupid KarmicDeath.
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Comic Books]]
69* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
70** In ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', Harbinger is possessed by one of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons and kills the [[CosmicEntity Monitor]] under its influence. However, the Monitor anticipated her betrayal, and arranged it so that the energy released by his death was able to preserve Earths One and Two from being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.
71** ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'': In ''Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1'', Vandal Savage corners the Immortal Man, who kills Savage in order to end the war. Savage then reveals that "spilling immortal blood summons Niczhuotan -- Destroyer of Worlds".
72* Winnowill eventually tries to pull this off in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. She at least gets the dying part right.
73* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': The supervillain Judge Death was already an insane HangingJudge when he was alive. His goal of [[OmnicidalManiac destroying his entire homeworld]] in the name of justice required him to die and then be resurrected through dark magic as a zombie, partly so he would become an [[YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead unstoppable menace]], and partly because "kill everyone" would just have been hypocritical if he didn't.
74* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
75** ComicBook/TheDefenders originate as a result of this sort of plan by a forgotten enemy of ComicBook/DoctorStrange who has created a techno-magical device that will destroy the Earth if he dies -- he then steps in front of a bus. Strange gathers [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and the ComicBook/SubMariner to stop the device from working, only to find out that they're part of the EvilPlan already. The villain eventually returns anyway.
76** Supervillainous genetic engineer Maelstrom is the king of this; basically, all but two of his stories end with him killing himself so the heroes can't capture him, and then [[CloningGambit transferring his soul into a clone body]] to start scheming anew.
77** Perhaps the most ridiculous example from Marvel is UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. According to one comic, his suicide was only intended to free up his soul to be transferred into a [[YouClonedHitler clone body]], thus not only FakingTheDead but also perfecting the procedures necessary for his ''true'' master plan: to possess the Cosmic Cube. Also, his clone body dresses in a purple Klansman outfit, goes by the name "Hate-Monger", and fights the ComicBook/FantasticFour and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/hatemonh.htm See for yourself.]]
78** At the end of the fifth book of ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', Carnage presents Eddie Brock with an ultimatum: kill him to save his son and take back his symbiote, or let Eddie eat his son and then kill him to claim their codices. Either way, the dark god Knull -- creator of the symbiotes -- will be unleashed. Eddie chooses to kill Cletus, but that not only unleashes Knull but puts Carnage in a position to make a series of comebacks and grow more powerful than ever in the ''Venom Island'' arc of ''ComicBook/VenomDonnyCates'' and ''ComicBook/ExtremeCarnage''.
79%%* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', though saying anything more would be spoiling some of the most epic moments.%%Saying anything more would also keep this from being a ZCE.
80* A recurring villain in ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', Paul Saveen, does this.
81-->'''Denby Jilks:''' Do you think Paul Saveen will let being dead stop him?
82* At the end of ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', V is now unneeded. The destruction is finished -- what is needed is someone with the powers of creation, not the monster who V knows he has become. Thus, he specifically trains his 'sidekick' to succeed him and then commits SuicideByCop. She becomes V, he becomes immortalized, and she picks a new sidekick.
83* Creator/{{WildStorm}}:
84** Citizen Soldier, a constantly reincarnating ComicBook/CaptainAmerica {{Expy}} from ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}: Team Achilles''. Anticipating that the protagonists, who know about his reincarnation cycle, will put him in cryogenic suspension, he arranges for someone less knowledgeable to find out his location and kill him right as the protagonists are about to take him into custody.
85** ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'': Lord Emp, founder of the Wild C.A.T.s, needs to ditch his corporeal body in order to complete his [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascension]] into an {{energy being|s}}, but the rules dictate that he [[ICannotSelfTerminate can't do it himself]]. Because the process of ascending releases enough energy to incinerate the killer, Emp tries to trick his long-time nemesis into killing him, thereby killing two birds with one stone. However, it turns out the nemesis is apparently so obsessively attached to their ongoing rivalry that, unable to accept the situation, he [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] instead, so Emp moves on to plan B, getting his [[NighInvulnerability nigh-invulnerable]] android buddy to do the deed instead.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Fan Works]]
89* One of the end-game reveals in ''Fanfic/DanganronpaParadiseLost'' is that [[StrawNihilist Junpei]]'s plan to kickstart the [[DeadlyGame Killing Game]] and prove his HumansAreBastards mentality right was to deliberately provoke somebody into killing him.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
93* ''Anime/PatlaborTheMovie'' opens with the suicide of a computer scientist. As the police protagonists investigate his death along with the suddenly destructive behavior of the Labors he wrote the operating system for, they reveal a sophisticated plan according to this trope.
94[[/folder]]
95
96[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
97* In ''Film/BlackAdam2022'', the main villain, Ishmael Gregor/Sabbac wishes to reclaim his legacy through becoming the all-powerful demon king. He does so by threatening Amon, a son figure to the movie's protagonist, Teth-Adam. He kidnaps the boy and holds him at gunpoint. He eventually fires, as Teth-Adam barely manages to vaporize the bullet and prevent Amon's skull from getting drilled open. Then, unable to control himself, Teth-Adam loses it and pulverizes Ishmael and all of his lackeys, while also inadvertently hitting Amon and sending him into a coma. The plan works perfectly, as in the moment of being disintegrated by Teth-Adam's lightning Ishmael dons the crown of Sabbac, which short-circuits his brain and wills him back into existence after a while, while also bestowing him with an awesome powerset of ancient demons. Teth-Adam is stricken with guilt over Amon's fate and gives up his powerset, turning himself in. The Justice Society locks him up in the depths of icy Russian waters, triggering the stage for the movie's 3rd act.
98* In the 2002 Taiwanese film ''Double Vision'', police detective Huang Huo-tu has to confront a girl cult leader who entices him to kill her so that she can achieve immortality.
99* ''Film/Constantine2005'' has the protagonist turn to this sort of plan to stop Gabriel from releasing Mammon.
100* Bartleby and Loki's plan in ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' revolved around this. Azrael, who was [[TheChessmaster manipulating them]], had [[SuicideByCop something else in mind]].
101* Subverted in ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'' when Norfolk is arrested for treason.
102-->'''Norfolk:''' I believe a man's courage is measured in the manner of his death. So cut off my head and make me a martyr. The people will always remember it.\
103'''Walsingham:''' No, they will forget.
104* ''Film/{{Fallen}}'': The demon Azazel cannot take over Denzel Washington by his usual touch transference, but he can do so if his spirit is released from its host by death. So he spends the entire movie crapping on Denzel's rep and framing him for murder so that he can finally get Denzel to kill him in a SuicideByCop scenario and run wild in his body.
105* In ''Film/TheFrighteners'', Michael J. Fox can see ghosts but cannot interact with them. Twice in the movie he is forced to let his physical body die so that his spirit can fight with the spirit of the serial killer. He got better.
106* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'':
107** Subverted by Prince Vigo in ''Film/GhostbustersII''. Despite his apparent last words being "Death is but a door; time but a window. I'll be back!", it was not his intention to die and become all powerful. He was murdered with extreme prejudice against his wishes, and just happened to have a way to reincarnate as an immortal overlord a few centuries later.
108** A straighter example is seen in ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' where that movie's villain, Rowan North, commits suicide so he can be born again as a powerful ghost.
109* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' begins in the 18th century when the French authorities prepare to punish Destro's ancestor. When he speaks the trope saying that his legacy will continue through his descendants, the French respond, "We're not going to kill you, we're going to make an example of you." and shove a red hot metal mask on his face.
110* In ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'', the [[ClockPunk clockwork cyborg]] Karl Ruprect Kroenen does this to infiltrate BPRD headquarters. He "killed" himself by unwinding his own clockwork heart; upon finding his body, BPRD agents took him back to their headquarters to examine him, unaware that he could be revived.
111* In ''Film/IRobot'', Dr. Alfred Lanning orders Sonny to kill him by throwing him out of his office window. He does this in order to attract Detective Spooner's attention because he knows that the vehemently anti-robot Spooner would fully investigate the incident and discover the inherent flaw in the Three Laws Of Robotics.
112* ''Film/TheItalianJob1969'': Knowing that he may be killed by TheMafia, Beckermann arranges for Charlie to receive his VideoWill detailing the plan so that they will still know exactly how to carry out the robbery and his murder will only further motivate his fellow criminals.
113* The ''aversion'' of this is a driving plot point in ''Film/LChangeTheWorld'', a spinoff to the LiveActionAdaptation ''Manga/DeathNote'' films. The ecoterrorist BigBad has a super-virus that will wipe out humanity, but he is not willing to die along with the rest of us. However, the scientist who created a vaccine destroys it and kills himself after learning of the villain's plan rather than let the plan succeed, causing the villain to go after the scientist's daughter, who has notes on the vaccine and who L takes in.
114* ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': Neo knew going in he could not defeat Smith without "balancing the equation", i.e. negating both of them.
115* ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'' has a literal example with Imhotep, down to carving it in the very coffin he's buried in.
116* ''Film/{{Rampage|2009}}'': Mass murderer/terrorist Bill Williamson orchestrates several massacres while releasing viral videos urging people to cause violence all over the world. He's finally killed by the end of the third movie after a massive manhunt, but more chaos erupts after his death since more people are shown going on massacres.
117* A literal example occurs in the opening scene of ''Film/SawIV''. When he finds one of [[SerialKiller Jigsaw]]'s characteristic microcassettes in the latter's stomach during his autopsy, the coroner Adam Heffner tells a co-worker to call Detective Mark Hoffman in. Hoffman listens to the tape as Jigsaw explains that "it's not over just because [he's] dead", and "the games have just begun". Of course, Hoffman himself ended up taking on Jigsaw's mantle following TheReveal at the end of the movie.
118-->''"I promise that my work will continue. You think it's over, just because I'm dead? It's not over. The games have just begun."''
119* The serial killer in ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' was a MadArtist who wanted to orchestrate a string of deaths correlating with the seven deadly sins and culminating with his own murder. He thinks this will inspire a new wave of violent piousness in the modern, secular masses, but we never find out whether it works.
120* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', Lord Blackwood when asked if he had any last words before his hanging declares that death is only the beginning. Of course, he comes back from the dead and wreaks fear and havoc across England. Turns out he actually faked his death and would eventually get his KarmicDeath in the end.
121* Due to a device attached to his heart, the death of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jason Wynn]] in ''Film/Spawn1997'' would cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. He believes he'll be able to use it as a DeadMansSwitch to protect himself from Spawn, but the demon who suggested he install it is using both him and Spawn, expecting the latter to kill Wynn and unwittingly end civilization.
122* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
123** Obi-Wan Kenobi's death in ''Film/ANewHope'' is either a heroic version of this trope or a HeroicSacrifice depending on whom you ask. It helps that he has secretly learned how to [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence become one with the Force.]]
124--->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
125** One of Palpatine's many plans ended with Luke killing him, thus cementing his feet onto the path of the DarkSide.
126*** It's also hinted in the now non-canon ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'' comic arc that Palpatine planned for his own death so he could grow stronger in the dark side, or at least created a back up plan involving cloning in case his original body had been unexpectedly killed that consequentially resulted in him gaining more power.
127** At the climax of ''Film/TheLastJedi'', Luke warns Kylo Ren that the war has only just begun, and that he will be with him always, before he follow's Obi-Wan's example.
128--->'''Luke Skywalker:''' See you around, kid.
129[[/folder]]
130
131[[folder:Literature]]
132%%* Crake in ''Literature/OryxAndCrake''.
133%%* Albus Dumbledore in ''Literature/HarryPotter''.
134%%** Harry, too.
135%%** While Cedric's death really didn't "inspire" anyone to avenge him or whatever, his death was the tell-tale sign that the series had [[CerebusSyndrome taken a turn for the more serious]].
136* Aslan in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''. It should be noted that Aslan is Christ and thus is linked to the Bible reference below.
137* Mellar in ''Literature/{{Jhereg}}'' attempted this, to start a war between the Houses of Dragon and Jhereg; unfortunately for him but fortunately for everyone else, he was OutGambitted by the protagonists.
138* Mr. Wednesday in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'' plots this along with Mr. World. He started off trying to unite the old gods in a war against the new gods so that he and Mr. World could secretly gain overwhelming power from the many casualties, and he decided the best way to unite the distrustful old gods was to arrange for himself to be assassinated by the new gods.
139* ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'': God Emperor Leto II's final step in ensuring his Golden Path was, after millennia of setting himself up as the biggest obstacle to humanity's growth and finding a way to block anyone else from abusing an OmniscientMoralityLicense as he has, to drive them to kill him in some twisted combination of MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning and a HeroicSacrifice. Humanity promptly ''explodes'' outward into the universe with such force that nobody can ever hope to find them all ever again, supposedly ensuring their survival in the upcoming RobotWar and forever afterward.
140** It's compounded by the fact that in order to kill him, they had to be able to avoid his ability to scry the future, something he'd been trying to breed into humanity over all this time. It's the combination of these things which brings his plan to fruition, and the scrying-immune catalyst (whose genes will soon be spread through a significant proportion of humanity, making ''them'' undiscoverable also) is [[spoiler:his own distant descendant]].
141** In the [[Literature/LegendsOfDune prequel series]], Serena Butler tries to get Omnius to kill her in order to become a martyr and inspire humanity to destroy Thinking Machines once and for all. Erasmus catches on and stops Omnius before he can do this. Unfortunately for the Thinking Machines there is also a plan B. Serena is killed by one of her female guards and her death is presented as Omnius’ fault anyway.
142* ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' by Brandon Sanderson:
143** Kelsier sets himself up as a figure of quasi-religious adoration, gets himself publicly and heroically killed, and arranges for a shapeshifter to take his form and make a bunch of ambiguous appearances, as part of an elaborate plan to foment rebellion.
144** The [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler]] himself counts as well -- he didn't intend to die, but he does inform the heroes that if they kill him, the world situation will become even worse, as he's the only thing standing between mankind and destruction. He's right, and it turns out in the third book that he did have plans for the eventuality -- which the heroes wind up following.
145** Also Preservation, who sacrificed most of himself to set off the dominoes that would ultimately lead to the death of his [[OrderVersusChaos opposite number]] Ruin. Technically he didn't actually die until much later, but since his sacrifice left him almost totally unable to interact with the world, and his eventual true death was also part of his plan, it counts.
146* In the second ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' book, the death of the Grotesquery is apparently necessary for the return of the [[CosmicHorror Faceless Ones]], in contrast to Baron Vengeous's belief that the Grotesquery would be able to summon them.
147* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
148** Tigerstar spends all his time in the afterlife walking in other cats' dreams and training them to kill Firestar. However, sickness as well as Firestar's own [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifices]], have done a better job of killing him off than Tigerstar's interference.
149** Spottedleaf died in the first book in the series, yet is still a recurring character, acting as a guide and mentor to Firestar and his descendants through dreams and visions.
150** In fact, half the plot of the fourth series is about the dead spirits of all of the disgraced, evil, and forgotten warriors rising up and waging war on [=StarClan=].
151** And the other half of the plot is how the Clans' most heroic spirits, both dead and alive, work together to fight them.
152* ''Literature/TollTheHounds'', book eight of Creator/StevenErikson's ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', has a non-villainous, HeroicSacrifice case that involves ''two'' people. As part of a GambitRoulette, [[TheGrimReaper the Lord of Death Hood]] and WarriorPrince Anomander Rake set up their own deaths, the first being beheaded by the second and the second staging an ILetYouWin DuelToTheDeath. It allows [[{{Psychopomp}} for Death's face to change]], but more importantly to end the existence of the [[YourSoulIsMine soul-sucking sword Dragnipur]], to free the Gate of Darkness and for Mother Dark to return to her children.
153* In the backstory to Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' trilogy, the [[TheFairFolk Sithi]] prince Ineluki attempts to use forbidden magic to destroy the human forces invading the city of Asu'a, but the spell [[PhlebotinumOverload backfires]] and kills him and his five servants. However, his spirit survives and eventually returns to haunt the world as the Storm King.
154* Creator/DJMacHale's ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'': In ''Raven Rise'', book 9, Naymeer, the leader of a huge cult, is killed by Bobby. It turned out his death made him a martyr to the cult, and corrupted Bobby.
155* Played with throughout J.C. Hutchins' ''Literature/SeventhSon'' trilogy. The main villain, John Alpha, is killed in the climax of the first book in order to further his wicked plans. However, the villains can [[CloningGambit copy their consciousness into clone bodies]], so it's only a temporary setback.
156* In Creator/MercedesLackey's ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Mage Wars]]'' trilogy, the wizard[=/=]warlord Ma'ar said something to this effect as he killed himself moments before his stronghold underwent the EarthShatteringKaboom thing. Considering that he had found a way to send his soul into hiding until he could hijack a descendant, this was a rather accurate assessment.
157* Also, according to Simon's father in ''[[Literature/{{Illuminatus}} The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'', the night before his execution, Joe Hill called the local Industrial Workers of the World chapter and told them "Don't grieve, organize".
158--->I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night\
159Alive as you or me\
160Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead"\
161"I never died," says he...
162* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/EnderInExile'', when two characters both come up with a plan to expose their rival for "who he really is" that involves being beaten to death (or almost) by the other character and recording a video of it. And try to do this to each other at the same time.
163* In Daniel Suarez's ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'', a dying, reclusive billionaire game designer sets up oodles and oodles of programs to start working once one of them detects his obituary appearing in the media. Societal upheaval ensues.
164-->'''Matthew Sobol''': ''Detective Sebeck. I was Matthew Sobol. Chief technology officer of [=CyberStorm=] Entertainment. I am dead. I see you’ve been assigned to the Josef Pavlos and Chopra Singh murder cases. Let me save you some time; I killed both men. Soon you’ll know why. But you have a problem: Because I’m dead, you can’t arrest me. More importantly: You can’t stop me. Since you have no choice but to try and stop me, I want to take this moment to wish you luck, Sergeant – because you’re going to need it.''
165* In Margary Allingham's Literature/AlbertCampion novel ''Police at the Funeral'', the solution to the mystery is that the first victim killed himself, making it look like murder, and left booby traps in the house he shared with his family which killed and injured several of them. He hated them ''that much''.
166* In Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'', the ''vodun'' sorcerer Edward Thatch -- better known as Blackbeard the pirate -- schemes to become the eternal king of the West Indies by gaining immortality from the Fountain of Youth, then staging his own demise in battle so he can be reborn with no criminal record and use his ill-gotten fortune to take over the region.
167* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story ''The Problem of Thor Bridge'', Maria Gibson, jealous of the close relationship between her husband and the family's governess, commits suicide and attempts to frame the governess for her murder.
168* In the ''{{Literature/Deverry}}'' novels, a curse was placed to ruin the start of Maryn's reign, triggered to start the moment his rival Burcan died. The full details of the curse were not discovered until after Burcan had been killed in battle. Unusually for this trope, it is uncertain that Burcan was ever told about the curse (It was cast by his [[BrotherSisterIncest sister/lover]]).
169* A select few Aspect holders in ''Literature/GloryInTheThunder'' will become immortal and ageless when they die for the first time. Rashk murders Tsovinar to activate this against her will, saving her from a probable eternity in a weak and frail body when she eventually succumbs to old age.
170* ''The End of All Things: This Hollow Union'', a short story in the ''Literature/OldMansWar'' series, climaxes with General Tarsem Gau, the beleaguered leader of the Conclave, being killed by a bomb while addressing the Assembly on the importance of the Conclave's continued survival. A letter he left for his assistant and [[YouAreInCommandNow successor]] apologizes for putting her in such a situation, while explaining that [[HeroicSuicide he planted the bomb himself]], in hopes that his assassination would galvanize the Conclave into getting past its troubles.
171* ''Literature/NightOfTheNecromancer'' starts with the protagonist's death, and continues with his soul making a deal with the [[TheGrimReaper Watcher of the Gate]] to uncover the circumstances behind his death and save his sister from suffering the same fate as himself.
172* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'': The ninth book, ''At the Sign of Triumph'', reveals that the death of Vicar Hauwerd Wylsynn in the fourth book was far more than the SuicideByCop it appeared. Not only was it set up in advance between himself and the guardsman who actually killed him as a MercyKill to avoid torture by the Inquisition, it also made that guardsman a trusted agent of the Inquisition. Further, it's revealed a piece of paper he slipped to the AntiVillain Duchairn just before was a list of guardsmen who were ready and willing to launch a coup when the time was right. These factors, combined with support from the protagonists, allow for a rebellion that overthrows the Inquisition in Zion.
173* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' fourteenth book ''Literature/ColdDays'', corrupted Winter Lady Maeve invokes this idea when facing her mother. After slaying Summer Lady Lily, and forcing the Summer Lady mantle to flow into the person Maeve knew Mab was planning to replace Maeve with, Maeve invokes this idea against killing her. Maeve is confidant that Mab cannot know who is the next closest person to their island in the middle of no where to which the Winter Lady mantle will travel to first, and that person will be soon tainted by the same thing which is inside Maeve. This will utterly screw Mab's plans in their greater duties in the world. This is subverted in the end because Mab didn't make one back-up to Maeve, she made two. That second person is indeed on this island, and Maeve is miscalculating that while Mab cannot bring herself to directly kill her child, she can free the bindings on a person present, who will shoot to kill Maeve as Maeve is now going to kill Harry. Maeve dies and her gambit fails as a new, more responsible Winter Lady is created.
174* ''Literature/Gameknight999'': [[spoiler:Herobrine leaves behind malicious code after his death, which will corrupt and overload the Minecraft server]].
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
178* At the end of the third season of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Daniel Holtz ordered his disciple Justine to kill him in order that Connor would believe that Angel was the murderer. Holtz even specifies that he be stabbed in the throat in two places -- seemingly with vampiric fangs -- to make it appear that Angel had turned evil again and bitten him.
179* There was an episode of ''Series/Charmed1998'' which involved a warlock needing to die nine times to attain immortality.
180* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' featured a woman who provoked ''her own son'' to kill her with a nail gun so she could frame her much-loathed ex-husband.
181* A similar event happened in an episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': a woman decided to get revenge on a doctor that negligently killed her daughter by giving her CPR while under the influence of drugs by getting a job as a door woman in the doctor's building, having an affair with him to produce fake evidence, and finally killing herself all to frame him for her "murder."
182* Mary Alice's suicide is what prompts the main events in ''Series/DesperateHousewives''.
183* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
184** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E5TheSeedsOfDeath "The Seeds of Death"]]: Fewsham, who has been a DirtyCoward up until this point, finally grows a pair and makes sure that Earth gets desperately-needed info on the pending invasion, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath at the cost of his own life]].
185** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: While not exactly his plan, the Master creates a cult devoted to himself and leaves specific instructions on what to do in case he is killed. After he is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords shot by his wife]], he chooses not to regenerate to stop himself being stuck as the Doctor's prisoner, and because he knows his followers will bring him back to life. Unfortunately for him, his resurrection is sabotaged by his wife, which causes him to [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]] in a rapidly-decaying body.
186*** Bonus points for showing someone finding his ring after his death, in the style of [[Film/FlashGordon1980 Ming the Merciless]].
187** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood "Cold Blood"]]: Captured Silurian warrior Alaya deliberately goads MamaBear Ambrose into murdering her in an attempt to start a war between humans and Silurians, a war in which Alaya hopes the humans will be wiped out. Thanks to the actions of other characters, however, the war never comes to pass.
188* Freddy Krueger gets such a moment in the pilot episode, and then the opening credits, of his spinoff series ''Series/FreddysNightmares''. Once he's been set on fire, he triumphantly shouts "I'll be back, I'm free!" and laughs maniacally before he dies, as though he already knew what his death [[DeityOfHumanOrigin would bring]]. Oddly enough, [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare the sixth movie]] of the ''Elm Street'' franchise later showed the exact same scene in a flashback, except this time there's no such moment of triumph (instead, he makes a desperate DealWithTheDevil while dying).
189* ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': Evolt planned with Shinobu Katsuragi to let the heroes destroy him in order to complete a Lost Bottle and speed up their plans, with Evolt leaving behind some DNA on his Evol Driver to regenerate after Shinobu finds him a new host. While Shinobu uses the opportunity to betray Evolt, Evolt reveals that he also split off some of his DNA to possess Utsumi as insurance, so Evolt's plan succeeds anyway.
190* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' begins with Kai making a LastStand against the BigBad. TheHero dies. Thousands of years later he comes back, joins the protagonists and is instrumental in their victory. Despite being TheUndead, he is the most heroic of the main characters.
191* John Locke's death on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' first seems to be part of a preordained plan to save the island. Later events make it seem Locke was suckered into believing his death would have meaning, when really it was part of the villain's grand plan. Ultimately, however, John's death is the trigger for the Oceanic 6 to return to the island, which leads to the villain's defeat.
192* ''Series/{{Roswell}}'' opens with this voiceover: "I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life." It was only a DisneyDeath, though.
193* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Homaged with [[Film/FlashGordon1980 Ming the Merciless]]-expy Dr. Chaotica as he lays dying, 'killed' by Queen Arachnia and Captain Proton (Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Paris) in ''The Adventures of Captain Proton!'' holodeck program.
194-->'''Chaotica:''' Arachnia, death as you know it has no hold on me. My defeat is but a temporary setback. I shall return to seek my revenge.\
195'''Janeway:''' He doesn't give up, does he?\
196'''Paris:''' They never do.\
197'''Chaotica:''' Our love was not meant to be, my Queen, but be warned. You have not seen the last of...Chaotica.\
198''[THE END then shows on the screen, [[TheEndOrIsIt followed by a question mark]], and Chaotica's EvilLaugh.]''
199** In "Worst Case Scenario", former antagonist Seska comes back to haunt the crew (via a holodeck program) despite the fact that she had died in the season premiere. In this case, it wasn't her specific intent, but as Tom points out, it's perfectly in keeping with Seska's established traits to do something like this, intentionally or otherwise.
200--->'''Tom:''' You should never have crossed her, Tuvok.\
201'''Tuvok:''' She has been dead for over a year now. There would have been no way to predict this turn of events.\
202'''Paris:''' I guess we should have known Seska wouldn't let a little thing like death stop her from getting even.
203* On ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Lilith [[UnwittingPawn manipulates Sam and Dean into killing her]], since her death is required to free Lucifer.
204* Suzie Costello in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "They Keep Killing Suzie". So expertly plotted on her part that her suicide had actually taken place several episodes before; setting off a series of events that — once Torchwood became involved — would ''lead to her own resurrection''.
205* Attempted in ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'': [[spoiler:Reginald Hargreeves turns out to have killed himself to give an excuse for his children to [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether reunite and stop the apocalypse]]. Unfortunately, their collective dysfunction causes them to [[SelfFulfillingProphecy be the ones that start the apocalypse in the first place]]]].
206* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' has two of these gambits in its opening series. There's one from each of the park's co-founders, Arnold Weber and Robert Ford:
207** When the park was opened, Arnold (who had always believed the Host robots who formed the park's population were capable of sentience) quickly realized [[HumansAreBastards the park's human guests would mostly spend their time]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential raping and murdering them, over and over.]] He staged a massacre and then commanded a Host to shoot him in the head, hoping the resulting publicity scandal would get Host technology abandoned and the park shut down before it ever opened. Unfortunately for him, the park had already attracted the intention of powerful investors, who [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney were rich enough to have the whole thing buried]] and the park opened for business. However...
208** Arnold's death did succeed in giving Ford an attack of conscience, and in convincing him that Hosts could be made sentient. Secretly, he spent the next thirty-five years turning Westworld into a pressure cooker, letting the Hosts suffer [[InvokedTrope so that they would eventually]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn on humanity]] [[RobotWar and overthrow them.]] The final step of his plan is pushing a Host into killing him, this time by choice: and so creating a robot rebellion that wipes out the park for good.
209** Maeve, one of the park's Hosts and one of the first to become sentient, also ([[DeathIsCheap sort of]]) pulls one off. Realising that dead Hosts are taken by the park technicians to be repaired and mind-wiped, she goads a park guest into [[OutWithABang strangling her to death during a rough sex session]], then once repaired, she confronts the technicians and blackmails them into boosting her mental attributes.
210[[/folder]]
211
212[[folder:Music]]
213* "By And By" by Chumbawamba (on the legendary Folk singer Joe Hill).
214-->"Don't waste the days when I'm dead and I'm gone\
215Wind up the clocks, ring around, carry on\
216Don't gather flowers, dry your eyes, call your friends\
217For all I sang was a start, not an end."
218%%* The song "Hero" by Heather Dale.
219[[/folder]]
220
221[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
222* In regards to Kayfabe, Wrestling/TheUndertaker is the living embodiment of this trope. After he "dies", whether by getting stuffed in a casket or buried alive, he always came back with a more intense look within a few months. One of his most memorable moments is the [[http://youtu.be/lBr_Kz2MCrk return of the Deadman gimmick]] after his biker self got buried alive by his brother Wrestling/{{Kane}}.
223[[/folder]]
224
225[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
226* In ''Literature/TheBible'', the death and resurrection of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}. By having himself killed in a particularly nasty and brutal way after a mock trial, Jesus made it sure he would be far more dangerous to his enemies dead than alive. He managed to stain the reputation of Pharisees and Sadduceans ever after, and by having himself martyred he made sure his teachings would live on and on.
227* In Myth/NorseMythology, Odin once carefully performed all the appropriate rituals to be a human sacrifice... to Odin. He hung himself from the world tree for nine days, before returning to life with new knowledge - nine magical songs and eighteen magical runes. {{Determinator}} much?
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
231* Becoming a [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' requires that a wizard or similar spellcaster kill himself in a specific ritual to attain greater power in undeath.
232** There's also the Clone spell, which is essentially a buggy arcane resurrection. A villain in TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms had multiple clones going before his death, and all or most of them started running around, [[HilarityEnsues leading to hilarity]].
233* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' universe, the great dragon Dunkelzahn (also president-elect of the United American and Canadian States) sure planned ahead for his death. His Last Will is long enough for a book and arranges the founding of the Draco Foundation, a Mega Corporation that supervises the fulfillment of all of Dunkelzahn's last demands and has a lot of control over the sixth world. It is financed by the dead dragon's vast riches and is the only Mega Corp the players can work together with without feeling guilty afterwards. Also it is very successful in making the world a better place. It's revealed in the ''Dragonheart Trilogy'' that Dunkelzahn arranged his own death in order to power a spell to prevent [[CosmicHorror the Horrors]] from crossing over into the world.
234* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': According to Phyrexian myth/propaganda, Yawgmoth killed himself for various reasons that make sense only to Phyrexians. The true story is very different.
235** Also, this is the point of the "double" spells from the joke set Unglued, which affect the next game you and your opponent play. So, you might lose the current game, but win the next one.
236* In ''TabletopGame/{{Illuminati}}'', one power (The Servants of Cthulhu) can win by committing suicide. Each player has one main group (Illuminati) and over the course of the game can control, neutralize, or destroy various subordinate groups. In addition to the general victory condition--controlling a certain number of groups--each player has his own special victory condition as well; the victory condition for the Servants is to destroy eight (not necessarily subordinate) groups. Now, if a player does not control at least one subordinate group at any time after his third turn, his main group is destroyed and he is eliminated from the game. Also, a player can voluntarily give up control of any subordinate group he controls. Thus, if the Servants have already destroyed seven groups, they can give up control of all their subordinate groups, killing themselves--and winning the game because they just destroyed their eighth group.
237* In the backstory of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the psychic powered shamans of ancient times realized that their power was beginning to wane. In order to preserve their power, every single shaman congregated to a single place and simultaneously committed ritual suicide. In doing so, their powers were combined and and placed within the body of a single human being who would later become the God Emperor of Mankind.
238* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The First Age Solars, who by that point had gone [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity cuckoo for cocoa puffs]], were killed during the Usurpation, and as their souls settled into the Underworld, they finally realized [[DeathEqualsRedemption what sort of atrocities they'd committed]]. That is, save for 13 Solar ghosts who still raged at their betrayal... and who were all too happy to accept the deal the [[EldritchAbomination Neverborn]] offered them. Thus were the Deathlords born -- immensely powerful ghosts with a stated goal of dragging all of Creation into the maw of Oblivion.
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder:Video Games]]
242* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness: Sanity's Requiem'':
243** This game is the TropeNamer, although Pious Augustus, the character who utters the eponymous phrase, [[SubvertedTrope isn't actually an example]].
244** Edward Roivas, Alexandria Roivas' grandfather, is a rare protagonistic example: The ending to his chapter implies that he was fully aware of the monster present in the room being poised to kill him, but allowed it to happen anyways, presumably as part of his and other characters plans to stop Pious and his ancient's plans to be released.
245%%* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' has a couple of examples of this - notably the Weskers.
246* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has Xehanort, a guy whose plans involve him sacrificing himself so that his heart and body can be split into two separate entities, both of which will perform a separate task, at which time they will combine to revive him, granting him his final goal: the X-Blade, Kingdom Hearts, and a new Keyblade War.
247** As you defeat Xehanort for the first time in ''Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep'' he says "Only now have I truly won."
248** A second example is that by defeating his two forms in a specific order, he comes back to life making this a very literal example.
249%%* In ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}: Wrath of Heaven'', if you kill a white ninja, they shout 'I'LL BE BACK! In another fo~orm!'
250%%* The first campaign in ''VideoGame/SpellForce''.
251* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' features a plan that requires two deaths, masterminded by the eponymous demon himself. It was first hinted at in ''Diablo II'' by the fallen angel Izual, who hints that the deaths of the Prime Evils are serving some greater purpose. In Diablo III, the purpose is to get all the defeated Evils, Prime and Lesser, into the same Black Soulstone, which is then jammed into the chest of the daughter Diablo fathered after being killed the first time. This allows Diablo to become the personality in charge of the full power of ''the'' Prime Evil.
252* Kel'thuzad in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' allows Arthas to kill him, knowing that Arthas will eventually pull a FaceHeelTurn and bring him BackFromTheDead.
253--> '''Kel'Thuzad:''' Naive fool...my death means little in the long run. For now, the [[ZombieApocalypse Scourging]] of this land...begins.
254* The last words of the [[DuelBoss Arishok]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' are "One day we shall return!"
255** Though due to the philosophy of the Qunari it's not really a threat, or the Arishok indicating there's a gambit in the motion. It's more of stating facts, since that's how they roll.
256** Anders, on the other hand, says this before you kill him for blowing up the Chantry with the Grand Cleric and some other people inside. Before you strike him, he asks you to do it quickly, as the sooner he dies, the sooner his name would live on to inspire generations of mages to strive for freedom. It can be averted if you don't kill him, but he gets the war he wanted either way.
257* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Teron Gorefiend pulls off one of these. To avoid destruction at the hands of the Alliance and the destruction of Draenor, he committed suicide, scattering his relics to several different locations. When the time is right, his ghost manipulates the player into collecting those relics so that he can be revived. Of course, as a Death Knight, this is not the first time Gorefiend has died...
258* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''
259** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness'', Cornell journeys to Dracula's castle to save his sister and winds up in a battle with Dracula himself. In the end, even though he kills Dracula, the demon lord drains his beastman essence from him in the process. Death proceeds to use it to revive Dracula again in a new form, setting up the events of ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania 64}}''.
260** Also, there are EpilepticTrees concerning the Crimson Stone from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'', now in the possession of Dracula/Mathias, which suggest that every time Dracula is defeated and resurrected, his power is multiplied exponentially, and that it's all part of a GambitRoulette similar to the Diablo example above...which would certainly explain why Drac, a proven ManipulativeBastard, keeps letting himself die in predictable confrontations with the heroes. One does have to wonder, though, where [[{{Reincarnation}} Soma Cruz]] fits into this...
261*** It's implied that after the death of his second wife and Alucard's rebellion, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Drac got tired of the his eternal fight]] and may have only been going through the motions, until the Belmonts finally found a way to finish him. And Soma's life ''is'' significantly better than the previous go around.
262** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'' is the very result of one of these on the side. Dracula cursed Simon upon being defeated in an attempt to destroy the Belmont bloodline. Sadly, it didn't work, as Simon resurrected Dracula himself to kick his ass and break the curse.
263** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'': During his battle with Soma, Demon Lord candidate Dmitrii came to the realization that the true heir to Dracula's powers is not necessarily the one who was born with them, only the one who possess them. So he allowed Soma to kill him and then Soma seemingly absorbed Dmitrii's soul. Once inside Soma's soul, Dmitri copies the Power of Dominance and all the souls that Soma had gained up to that point. When Soma witnesses Celia killing Mina later on (actually a doppelganger of his childhood friend), he almost loses control and gives himself up to the darkness but is able to prevent it if the player has equipped Mina's Talisman before the confrontation. Dmitrii takes advantage of this moment of weakness to exit Soma's body and then revives himself using the doppelganger as a host body. Unfortunately for Dmitrii, he is proven wrong in the end: his human soul lacks the strength to handle the power of the multiple souls he obtained. So then he dies upon losing control of the countless demons inside of him which then merges together into Menace, a colossal abomination and FinalBoss of the game. Of course, in [[ArrangeMode Julius Mode]] Dmitrii's plan completely backfires because Soma ''does'' go absolutely nuts.
264* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' loves this trope.
265** Garland in the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI first game dies]], only to come back as the [[FinalBoss ultimate]] [[BigBad Chaos]] (though, he didn't plan it in the present, probably, he did in the future). Confusing? [[StableTimeLoop It gets worse.]]
266** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII's'' Emperor Palamecia allows himself to be overthrown and killed, to return as the ruler of hell and resume the world-taking-over.
267*** Made ''even worse'' in the remakes. It's revealed that his soul split in half at the time of his death: his dark half became the Emperor of Hell, while his light (''[[LightIsNotGood but still evil]]'') side became the Light Emperor and presides over the game's equivalent of ''Heaven''. Mateus has you screwed from '''both''' sides of the celestial chain.
268** Zemus in the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV fourth part]] doesn't really fight back, when he is attacked by Golbez and [=FuSoYa=]... because afterwards he becomes near invulnerable Zeromus, a being of pure hatred.
269*** He even states most of the Trope Name as he dies in the original translation: "Death is only the beginning..."
270*** This is also [[TrickBoss Scarmiglione's]] plan to kill Cecil. Upon being killed in your initial fight with him, he rises again as a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies zombie]], much more powerful than he was.
271** Exdeath in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' merges with the void after his death. If it's planned is not entirely sure, though.
272*** It's not planned. Exdeath wanted to ''rule'' the world with the power of Void. Neo Exdeath specifically wants to reduce everything to nothingness.
273** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Sephiroth [[SubvertedTrope doesn't fall into this,]] as he wasn't planning at all on his demise at Nibelheim. However, it did ultimately put him and Jenova in the position to cause the events of the game several years later. Then the game flips the trope into a rare heroic usage ''without'' even using TheMentor; the game heavily implies ''Aerith'' manages to do this thanks to being Cetra, and ultimately saves the world in the end by getting the planet itself to help Holy defeat Sephiroth's Meteor. To reiterate: [[BigGood the flower girl]] [[ThanatosGambit outsmarted the strongest man on the planet]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by essentially using her death at his hands to counteract his plan at the last minute.]] It's open to interpretation if this is what she really intended, but there's a lot of evidence suggesting it.
274** Seymour in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is hardly affected by death. It's probably not wanted, but he doesn't care much and instead increases in strength, whenever he returns. Further, upon revealing his plans to learn how to control Sin from within, he relishes that (due to [[ResurrectiveImmortality being an unsent spirit]]) he has "all the time in the world" to accomplish this goal. Also "main villain" Sin's death is nothing but a break for the people to catch their breath before it returns.
275*** Auron accidentally falls into this trope as well, ten years prior to the game's beginning, when he's killed but immediately reanimates as an Unsent. He took advantage of his new mortality status to ride Sin to Zanarkand and help mold Tidus into the hero his father wanted him to become. Namely, one who'd be willing and able to destroy his father, the newest incarnation of Sin, forever.
276** Also, in terms of gameplay, it is often times easier to allow your characters to die and then revive them than heal their wounds and negative status effects. Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', where many status effects stay on dead characters, and a merchant points this out.
277** In the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', after failing to sacrifice the protagonist's sister in the penultimate Boss Battle, [[TheDragon Hashmalun]] pulls a [[HeroicSacrifice Villainous Sacrifice]] to summon [[BigBad Ultima]] (mistranslated "Altima" in the English version), the [[OneWingedAngel Bloody Angel]].
278** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 XIII-2]] has Caius, whose death by itself causes the end of the world. He possesses the Heart of Chaos, which, when destroyed, destroys the goddess Etro, and basically when ''she'' dies, chaos is released into the world, destroying it. He therefore plans to have Noel kill him in order to achieve this.
279* The first stage of ''VideoGame/GladiatorSwordOfVengeance'' ends with Invictus Thrax's death by an unknown assailaint. He then wakes up and realize he's in Elysium, where he comments he's finally free from a life of killing... only for the gods, Romulus and Remus, to inform him "Your work is just beginning!"
280* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'': [[spoiler:The Torhid royal family agreed to have Baragona murder every single member to appease the True King and the Torhid king and queen would sacrifice themselves in a mad attempt to distract him as part of one long con to position Baragona in a place where he would be able to destroy the Great Wall.]]
281* Subverted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. The Boss didn't have any plan of her own past dying, but before the final battle, she ominously states that whoever lives will have to face an endless series of battles and will never obtain peace. This is undoubtedly true, as Big Boss's victory is what sets up the rest of the series.
282* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' ends with a song where the villain AI, [=GLaDOS=], taunts that she is "Still Alive", that your escape taught her new things, and that she is continuing her research on new subjects. It spawned one of the largest internet memes ever. The sequel reveals that [=GLaDOS=] is, in fact, destroyed, but she is restored around fifteen minutes in by accident.
283* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', PLAYERS can sometimes do this (though usually only in pvp). There was once a gimmick build involving this (it was hit by nerf collateral, but still technically works), where players suicided to provide corpses necessary to power production of army of undead minions. since Death Is Cheap, this was a viable tactic. Another build involved abusing Edge of Extinction, an environmental effect that that caused health loss when a creature of same type died (i.e., damage to human if human within range died). Several players on the opposing side could suicide to trigger this effect, instantly wiping opposing team without even having to be close to them, and if some precaution was takes so that suicide team would have one survivor ... instant victory. Another [=PvP=] tactic with similar effect was abusing Warrior skills 'I Will Avenge You!' that gave bonus for each dead ally within range. Hilarity ensued when people started running several warriors with pets (which also count as allies) and PETA took notice. In [[PlayerVersusEnvironment PvE]] this is much tamer, but still: The only way to get title of 'Legendary Defender of Ascalon' is to let monsters level up by killing player repeatedly so that player can kill them later for experience, this usually consists of luring monsters to respawn point and letting them camp player for several hours. Similar tactics are also used when obtaining high-level pets: instead of capturing low-level version and leveling it by normal gameplay, player can elect to aggro pet, lure it to respawn point and let it level off by killing and camping the character while the player browses TV Tropes. And then there is a resurrection skill called 'Vengeance' that returns player to full life with hefty damage buff, and there are many interesting combination of abuse of the skill Rebirth (resurrects dead player and teleports him to casters location) and necrotic traversal (Players teleports to corpse): If players can manage to kill foe beyond obstacle, one party member can traversal through it and have rest of party commit suicide and then rebirth them to the other side. As you can see, Dying Is Fun in Guild Wars.
284** There is one mission in the first Guild Wars campaign (Prophecies) in which it is almost impossible to complete the bonus objective unless you use the skill "Necrotic Traversal" or have a member of your party who can use that skill. This is highly irritating to players who are trying to go for a "Survivor" title.
285* In ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}} 2'' when Rico and Sev find [[BigBad Visari]], he points out that killing him would only make him into a martyr figure for the Helghast. Rico shoots him anyway, and the war rages on.
286* ''VideoGame/SilentHill4: The Room'' has main character Walter Sullivan committing suicide as one of the steps necessary to perform the 21 Sacrements. His ghost continues the ceremony by killing sacrifices in his stead. In his case, it's not really the ''beginning'' so much as it is the halfway point.
287* ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' has a variation of this trope in that killing Luca Blight accomplished nothing. The only result was a country calling for blood and a continued war. Luca [[OmnicidalManiac would have approved]].
288* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''/''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'' has the "Vengeance" power, which a character can use when an ally is defeated to give all teammates a significant power-boost. On some tough fights, having one person charge in and die as "Vengeance Bait" then reviving them is a reasonable strategy.
289* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'': Lezard Valeth kills himself to gain immortality, which allows him to survive Ragnarok. This is only seen in the best ending, but presumably occurs in every one since there are no NiceJobBreakingItHero moments related to him.
290* Nathan Hale's last words in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}} 2'' before he is shot to death.
291* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', be careful not to slay Medeus before you recruited or killed the Noble sisters or they will offer their lives to Medeus.
292* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
293** Twice in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast''. Defeating Agahnim in Hyrule causes a portal to draw Link into the Dark World. When you defeat him in Ganon's Tower, he sheds his disguise and exposes himself as Ganon.
294** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Ganondorf's final words are a promise to Link and Zelda that his death will not change anything, reassuring them that he will ensure that the history of light and shadow will be written in the blood of his enemies. All of this was conceivably working under the premise that one day he expected his Triforce of Power would revive him from the dead despite his defeat at Link's hand. Ganondorf's Triforce of Power symbol on his right hand then powers down and disappears from his hand entirely, thus ceasing his life for the rest of the game.
295** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', the final boss of the game, the ancient demon Demise, finally released from the seal placed on him by the goddess Hylia, invokes this against Link, Zelda, and their descendants, that an incarnation of his hatred will continuously be reborn to seek revenge against them. Said incarnation? Ganon. Yep, ''Skyward Sword'' is the Great King Of Evil's OriginsEpisode.
296* One interpretation of the plot of ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'': Sydney has been manipulating events so that when he and the Duke die at the end, Ashley is the only person left with the power to master The Dark.
297* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}''
298** In the backstory to [[VideoGame/{{BioShock 1}} the first game]], "legimitate businessman" and mobster Frank Fontaine was gunned down in his own office by police. Before going to the mattresses, Frank complained publicly about the city stealing his revenue (they had) and their plans to assassinate him (they did). This cast a baleful light on Rapture's patriarch, Andrew Ryan. Double inverted -- Frank faked his death, then masqueraded as a paddy freedom fighter to demand the city turn Frank's assets back over to the people, i.e. Fontaine himself.
299--->'''[=McDonagh:=]''' Strikes me that Fontaine wasn't overly inconvenienced by his own demise.
300** In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}'', Subject Delta unless you get the neutral selfless ending. In the evil, neutral selfish, and good endings, Eleanor drains his Adam into her and his viewpoint melts into hers, implying that Delta's living consciousness is now inside of Eleanor, despite his body being lifeless.
301** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'''s Daisy Fitzroy, leader of the rebellion against [[BigBad Comstock,]] holds a young boy captive and tells Booker that he needs to die because he's a son of the one of Columbia's most corrupt men, and if you "wanna kill the weed, you gotta pull it up from the root," but Elizabeth sneaks up behind her and stabs her with a pair of scissors. ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea'' DLC reveals that Fitzroy had absolutely no intention of hurting the boy, was actually appalled at the idea of even making the empty threat, but the Luteces took her aside and told her only by taking a life would Elizabeth harden into the woman who would, alongside Booker, finally take down Comstock. Daisy realizes that she won't be live to see the fruits of her movement's labor be realized, but decides to make the ultimate sacrifice.
302--->'''Rosalind:''' It's up to you what matters more.
303--->'''Robert:''' Your part in the play...
304--->'''Rosalind:''' Or the play itself.
305** At the end of [[BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea the very same DLC]], Elizabeth dies with a smile on her face with the newly recovered knowledge that her death and telling Atlas/Fontaine the trigger phrase for Jack's mental conditioning will [[VideoGame/{{BioShock 1}} bring Jack to Rapture and]], [[GoldenEnding at least in the timeline she's in]], [[VideoGame/{{BioShock 1}} lead to the Fontaine's death, the freedom of Sally and the little sisters and the downfall of Rapture]].
306* In the Seal of Nehahra, a four-hour long Machinima fully rendered in VideoGame/{{Quake}}, the phrase "Death is Just the Beginning" is uttered numerous times by a number of characters, most notably by Sergeant Lawrence Maxwell when he executes Major Bent.
307* In ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2'' Hasdrubal takes his own life and gives his most able subordinate Izebel one last order to ensure that his son's rebellion will succeed. Izebel is to pretend that Hasdrubal has rebelled and she crushed it, and there-by secure the position of Governor-General of Hispania for herself. From there she is to as far as possible limit the expansion of [[CorruptChurch the Holy Church]] within Hispania, and she would be in a position to protect the seeds of rebellion, his son and other subordinates, until the time is right.
308* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'': the leaders of the Bacterion Empire like to claim that by destroying them, all you've done is scatter their body across the stars, and each piece will grow and become a new Empire to come attack you again later. Several boss characters are fought multiple times across the series due to this facet of Bacterion biology. According to ''Gradius NEO'', set far into the future, the Bacterions are never exterminated, but eventually they become unable to rebuild their intelligence and are reduced to wild animals.
309* The Jester in ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' wins by getting themselves lynched, which allows them to take one of the people who voted for their execution with them by haunting them on the following night. The Jester does not win if they're killed at night or executed by the Jailor.
310* In ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'', the "Patient Zero" campaign only continues because of Oybek Nabazov's dead mans trigger waking up sleeper agents that 47 has to then take care of in Italy (a live virus sample is being traded for use at a convention), Colorado (a testing bed for the virus overseen by a doctor) and Hokkaido (where the titular Patient Zero is being treated), in order to stop a deadly global pandemic from breaking free.
311* In ''VideoGame/{{Scrapland}}'', The Archbishop of Chimera is the first in a string of murders of Chimera's most influential citizens.
312* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': In an alternate universe of the DCU, although ComicBook/TheJoker was killed off early in the game by a grieving Superman for tricking him into killing his wife Lois and nuking Metropolis, the MonsterClown did have the last laugh as his VillainousLegacy of causing Superman's downfall has slowly led to the collapse of everything good in the ''Injustice''-verse, most notably the Justice League falling apart due to the enmity between Batman and Superman. Ironically, [[BatmanGambit this is exactly]] [[ThanatosGambit what Joker wanted]], including the part where it got him killed: to prove that others can have "a really bad day" in his twisted StrawNihilist mindset. Things haven't changed much in [[VideoGame/Injustice2 the sequel]], as although he only appears as a gas-induced hallucination to Harley, he still haunts everybody even from the grave, and many pre-match intros even discuss about the chaos he left. Worse still, Doctor Fate notes that Joker's scheme worked ''so well'' that it's causing [[OrderIsNotGood the Lords of Order]] to give up on humanity and back Brainiac's invasion, believing that he'll restore the balance, ''despite knowing'' the Coluan's countless crimes. Fate also warns that if Batman and Superman keep on fighting each other, then the Lords will back even bigger threats.
313* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': Upon his defeat, Zoma laughs in the face of his impending death, forswearing that beyond both his and the Hero's time, a new evil would emerge to succeed him. The Hero's response to this is to leave behind their armaments to Fling a Light into the Future.
314* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': In the final chapter, [[spoiler: It's revealed the Moonshade Order were dousing the lights of the Sacred Flame by using sacrifices. While some of the members offer up other characters to sacrifice, Ori, Petrichor and Oboro voluntarily commit suicide so as to resurrect Vide. (Well, Ori [[BungledSuicide attempts to kill herself but fails.]])]]
315* ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' has Sigma use this trope as, in a twist on the usual formula, he is the prologue boss...but that was his plan, as it spread the Sigma Virus upon his defeat throughout the world while the Space Colony Eurasia is being dropped on the planet.
316[[/folder]]
317
318[[folder:Visual Novels]]
319* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' has a continuing plot arc involving a family of spirit mediums, so it was really only a matter of time before you found yourself interrogating a channeled spirit whose testimony begins "The plot began with my death."
320** While it wasn't exactly intended, the death of Dahlia Hawthorne did not stop (the continuation of) her EvilPlan, the entirety of which spanned for ''three whole cases''.
321** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' of the same franchise has Magnifi, if you think about it. His death and trial for it caused the events that eventually resulted in Phoenix losing his license, the death of Drew Misham and framing of Vera, and finally the creation of the Jurist System.
322[[/folder]]
323
324[[folder:Webcomics]]
325* ''Webcomic/AxeCop'': In "The Dogs", [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext the witch doctor cats, Iggy and Willy, let the superhero dogs kill them on purpose so that they can be resurrected as mummies and turn the whole world into cats]].
326* ''Webcomic/DragonMango'': A shapeshifted fortune teller explains she's doing this -- and her enemy is too [[http://dragon-mango.com/comic/chapter05/dm05-24.htm overconfident to care]].
327* Subverted in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', when Thaco the Goblin finally defeats Dellyn Goblinslayer, the ranger who captured and tortured him years before. Dellyn takes great delight in telling Thaco how his name will go down in legend among the goblins because of his glorious death at Thaco's hands. Things [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/06292009/ do not turn out]] [[http://www.goblinscomic.org/06302009/ like he hoped]].
328* GI Guy from ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', being a [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned]] OmnicidalManiac, thought the only way to stop the circle of violence for sprites and humans was to kill them all. When he actually tried to go through with it, he was happily the first to die.
329* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Belkar tries to provoke Miko into killing him so that she would get her status as Paladin revoked. [[DeathIsCheap He assumed that his teammates could just resurrect him afterward.]] However, this is subverted as V points out that Belkar DidntThinkThisThrough: the Raise Dead spell requires 5,000 GP's worth of diamond dust, which they did not have. Also given that he's a {{jerkass}} SociopathicHero going on VillainProtagonist, his teammates might not have been willing or (and given they were in a Lawful Good country in which he had murdered someone) able to gather the components to Raise him.
330** The kobold oracle is able to use his power of foresight to predict his own death, which allows him to both arrange for a cleric to resurrect him, and (in the case of that time he was murdered by Belkar) set up a nasty surprise for whoever was responsible.
331* The last words of King Stonehammer in ''[[http://www.remembercomic.co.uk Remember]]'' are literally "I do pity you, my death shall empower history, yours will be but a footnote."
332* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has had this come up occasionally. Most particularly, when Captain Tagon and Commander Andreyasn are discussing Hugo Matsui Xinchub, the man they consider their archenemy...
333-->'''Tagon:''' He could turn his own death into a tactical advantage.\
334'''Andreyasn:''' I've done that before. It hurts, but it's not actually that difficult.
335* ''Webcomic/SuicideForHire'': One client wanted to die because of the constant harassment after he was involved in a classmate's accidental death by alcohol poisoning. Hunter helped him assemble evidence of every instance of harassment (copies of the threatening letters and emails, photos of the defacement of his dorm room, etc), resulting in lawsuits between both sets of grieving parents after the suicide was completed.
336[[/folder]]
337
338[[folder:Web Original]]
339* ''[[WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries Rainbow Dash Presents]]'': "{{Fanfic/Bittersweet}}", Pinkie Pie (incorrectly) assumes that her diabetic-induced death would cause a massive uproar in the community, resulting in a restructuring of the health care system that cheated her and put her on a leash. [[SubvertedTrope In reality]], no one gives her death the time of day, Twilight and the others were left confused as to what she was even trying to accomplish in the first place by rejecting medical treatment [[PoorCommunicationKills because she never bothered disclosing her plan to anyone else]], and the only one she did confide her plan to was Rainbow Dash, who's too much of a ditz to even realize Pinkie's plan and instead [[ItsAllMyFault becomes guilt-ridden for months]].
340* In ''Literature/TheReturnOfPaulTwister'', Ken'tu Kel accuses Ryell of employing this trope, and tells Paul it would be in his best interest to [[SpannerInTheWorks sabotage this plot]] by killing all the ''tractumil.'' Paul doesn't listen, as he doesn't want to be a murderer.
341* In the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' tale "The Dark at the End of the Tunnel", Dark is revealed to be long dead due to a heart condition after she refused Marshall and Carter's life extenders. She continues to run Marshall, Carter, and Dark from beyond the grave through letters containing detailed orders, having used some means of seeing the future to arrange things centuries in advance. Every time Marshall and Carter tried to disobey the orders, they would suffer misfortune.
342-->Eternally prophesying, eternally predicting, eternally manipulating.\
343Dark would probably be pleased. If she wasn't dead.
344[[/folder]]
345
346[[folder:Real Life]]
347* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmWtzfKcMpA This commercial]] featuring the late Bob Monkhouse, filmed (mostly) before his death with the rest edited in later. "Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your TV again, here I am."
348** Similar to the Creator/JohnWayne anti-smoking ads that he filmed as he was dying of cancer. Something like, "If it can kill me, it can sure kill you." They waited until after he died to air them.
349** Creator/YulBrynner did this as well.
350** So did Creator/JohnHuston.
351* The alleged last words of UsefulNotes/CheGuevara.
352-->"I know you have come here to kill me. Shoot, you coward, [[YouCannotKillAnIdea but you will only kill a man]]."
353** He probably didn't know that it was also the beginning of one of the most ''popular t-shirt motifs''...
354* Even some non-human animals adopt this idea in their systems: A Hornet that is killed near its nest releases an "Attack Pheromone" which acts as a beacon for calling reinforcements to annihilate the intruder. As for the Nomura Jellyfish, an invasive Species dwelling in Asian waters, killing them while still they are in the open waters is a big No-No, as they release enormous quantities of sperm and eggs which would form millions of smaller jellyfish later upon dying, or just feeling fatally threatened.
355** Bacteria who [[AdaptiveAbility develop a resistance to antibiotics]] can eject their genetic material into the environment upon death, allowing other bacteria to integrate it into themselves and carry on the resistance.
356* Huan Yi, a Qin general who defected to Yan, killed himself as part of Jing Ke's (ultimately botched) assassination attempt on Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. Jing Ke was to present the head of the traitorous general to Ying Zheng so he could get close enough to stab him.
357[[/folder]]
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