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[[caption-width-right:175:Four’s bad. Fourteen’s even worse. Thirteen was glad for the company. Zero is shunned for reasons unknown.]]

In {{Chinese|Language}}, {{Japanese|Language}}, and Korean, the words for "four" (四) and "death" (死), despite being written differently, are pronounced similarly (somewhat like "''sì''" in Mandarin, "''sei''" in {{C|hineseDialectsAndAccents}}antonese, "''shi''" in Japanese, "tư" in Sino-Vietnamese, and "''sa''" in Korean). As a cultural trope, Asian works of media tend to treat the number the same way Western writers treat the number 13.

As a similar point of reference, building floors and apartments are (mis)numbered accordingly to omit the fourth floor[[note]]The US does the same with the number 13. Floors will go straight from 12 to 14, while the UK skips Rm13.[[/note]] or substitute the letter F for the numeral, and some Japanese people prefer to say "''yon''" (another word for four) instead of "''shi''".

Villainous groups of four are often given the name of Shitennō, a reference to the Four Heavenly Kings, Buddhist guardian gods of the four cardinal directions. Historically, the name Shitennō was applied to a samurai lord's four best men, which is the root of the "four subordinates to a powerful leader" trend in many Japanese stories (while you're more likely to see heroes in groups of [[PowerTrio three]] or {{five|ManBand}}). That said, there's probably overlap with FiveBadBand. (Unless, of course, TheLeader is a samurai lord and his FiveManBand are the Shitennō to him - SamuraiSentaiShinkenger comes to mind).

On an unrelated note, Christianity also has several examples of Four Is Death, with the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse and the Four Last Things (Death, Judgment, Hell, and Glory). In Judaism, the number four is also prominent, some examples being the four worlds described in the Kabbalah, [[http://www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/foursons.htm the four sons]], the four horns of the altar in Daniel, the forty days of raining during the Deluge, and the four matriarchs (not to mention the ''Tetragrammaton'', or four letter name--the written name of God YHVH).

Probably unrelated is the fact that 4 is the most common numeral at which NumberedSequels peter out and are [[StoppedNumberingSequels replaced with some subtitle instead]]. The RuleOfThree may also be implicated.

Compare OneHundredAndEight, ThirteenIsUnlucky and the NumberOfTheBeast.

'''Note''': This is not a repository for every time the number 4 just happens to appear (or for series where the fourth installment was [[{{Sequelitis}} particularly bad]]), this is for when the trope is consciously addressed.

----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' manages a set of four [[QuirkyMinibossSquad lesser villains]] per story arc (the Amazon Trio are red herrings for the proper Amazones Quartet). The first set was explicitly called the "Shitennou" (roughly, "four heavenly kings").
** the third arc actually averts this by having the QuirkyMinibossSquad be 5 villains.
** It is also shown in flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom, Princess Serenity[=/=]Sailor Moon and the four Sailor Soldiers were a "leader and four elite subordinates" group. Season two reveals that [[spoiler: in the future, the ''current'' incarnation of the gang will be this for Crystal Tokyo, once an AfterTheEnd world is pulled BackFromTheBrink and into prosperity by them; a happy ending even if they can't avert the disaster that will befall Earth as we know it in a few years.]]
* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', the fourth Evangelion unit (really the fifth unit if you count the prototype 00, but being called the 04 was all it took) disappeared into a Dirac sea during a startup experiment, taking a large chunk of the Mojave Desert with it. Also, Unit 03 -- the ''real'' fourth Evangelion -- [[spoiler:got taken over by an Angel and had to be destroyed, nearly (and in the manga, ''actually'') killing Toji too, who was, of course, the Fourth Child.]]
** Unit-04 was always referred to as ''yon''-gouki in dialogue. Even ''Rebuild'' does this.
** This may yet be played totally straight in RebuildOfEvangelion, as it appears that the series will now be 4 full-length features, rather than 2 fulls, and 2 half-length shorts to make a third, and we all know [[EndOfEvangelion how the original series ended, after all...]] Of course, with three and four in DevelopmentHell, it looks like we'll never know.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', megavillain {{Orochi}}maru sends his followers the Sound Four to retrieve Sasuke for him. The pursuit team of good guys sent after them, by contrast, are a five-man squad. (Which conveniently allows everyone on the team to face down a Sound Four member, with Naruto himself facing Sasuke).
** Later, Naruto's SuperpoweredEvilSide becomes dominant and goes into "kill everyone" mode when he grows four fox tails.
** The Fourth Hokage spent the shortest time in office, a tenure that ended with him saving the village with a "Seal Evil" technique that required him to sacrifice his own life and seal his soul in the Death God's stomach, in eternal combat with the sealed Evil. Yeah, number four had it rough.
** Meanwhile, the Fourth Kazekage seemed to be the worst thing to ever happen to Suna. He sealed a Tailed Beast in his son (in this case Shukaku, the One-Tailed [[{{Obake}} Tanuki]]) which was already [[SealedEvilInACan contained in a tea kettle.]] Gaara wasn't born yet and as a result the Kazekage's wife died delivering him. He then proceeded to alienate the boy from birth and when Gaara showed signs of being AxCrazy (like all of Shukaku's previous hosts) he ordered the poor kid's uncle (the only person up to this point who had shown any kindness to him) to assassinate him. And to top off his career, he got his face torn off by Orochimaru as a prelude to his village being used as cannon fodder in an invasion.
** According to the Fifth Mizukage, the Fourth Mizukage was like this for the Mist Village, and is largely responsible for the "Bloody Mist" image held by most other countries. The fact that [[spoiler: he was being mind-controlled by Madara probably didn't help]].
** It's widely believed among the fans that, following the pattern, something seriously bad is going to inevitably happen to the stated-by-[[AllThereInTheManual an artbook]]-to-be-the-Fourth Raikage (though maybe [[spoiler:losing an arm]] was enough).
** The Forest of Death's official title is the 44th Training Ground and has 44 gates.
** The fourth stage of the Uchiha's Sharingan is the Mangekyo, which requires the user kill their best friend, and the fourth power of the Mangekyo is [[spoiler: Izanagi, which allows the user to cheat death]].
** Of the Eight Celestial Gates, first through third are Initial, Heal, and Life; the fourth, however, is the Harm Gate. When opened, this gate puts enough strain on the body that the muscles tear themselves apart. And twice that, the eighth gate, is the Death Gate ([[DeadlyUpgrade Opening that gate gives the user great power for a while and then a one-way ticket to Dead Meat County]]).
** Sasuke was going to be the fourth body Orochimaru claimed before [[spoiler:Sasuke thwarted Orochimaru and killed him]], and before that, was going to be the fourth body Orochimaru had, including his original, before the Sound Four took too long and Orochimaru had to transfer prematurely.
* The Kibao Hoarde of the ''SDGundamForce'' anime. Four elite Musha Gundams who protect Kibaomaru's castle. There's Bakuhamaru the Undefeated, Mokinmaru the Sword of Raven, Kijumaru the Battle Beast, and Haganemaru, the Iron Sphere.
* One episode of ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' deals with an apparently haunted Room 104.
* ''XXXHolic'' refers to this early on.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' Ulquiorra Cifer is the most powerful Espada Ichigo fights, leading Ichigo to initially assume he's number one. Not quite.
** He's also the only Espada with a second [[SuperMode release state]]. Moreover, even the first release state of certain Espada is too powerful to be used under the dome of Las Noches, since it might tear the whole fortress down. Guess which Espada is the weakest to fall under that prohibition.
** Also, Ulquiorra's general deathly appearance: pale skin, black hair, permanently cold-looking eyes with lines underneath running down his cheeks like tear marks... you get the picture.
** Not to mention Ulquiorra is the only character in the series to actually [[spoiler:kill Ichigo]]...twice. Or at least that's until [[spoiler:Ichigo's SuperpoweredEvilSide [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps him]] like nobody's business.]]
** The Eleventh Division's fourth seat is empty for both the superstition and because Yumichika thinks the kanji for "Four" is ugly.
** Unohana Retsu, the captain of the Fourth Division is TheDreaded. [[spoiler:She is also the ''First'' Kenpachi of the Eleventh Division, and the '''''worst''''' criminal to ever exist in Soul Society. Meaning that she was (and still is) worse than '''''Aizen'''''. Her actual name is Unohana Yachiru, the person Zaraki Kenpachi respected the most, and Yachiru's namesake. The name "Yachiru" means 8000 styles, referring to the fact that she has mastered ''every'' sword style in Soul Society. To top it all off, she is the inventor of the Art of ''Killing'', which she plans on teaching to her tenth successor. She is probably the most blatant example of FourIsDeath in all of Bleach]].
* Moroboshi Ataru of ''UruseiYatsura'' was marked out as a CosmicPlaything by being born on the second most ill-omened day in the Japanese calendar, the thirteenth of April: ''4''-13. (This was also on ''Butsumetsu'', the anniversary of the Buddha's death; the only unluckier day is April 4th, which is Four Is Death ''squared''.) Additionally in the first episode, his jersey has the number 4 on it.
* In episode 4 of ''{{FLCL}}'', Naota gets beaned by Haruko during the 4th inning of the baseball game at the beginning of the episode. The umpire even shouts "dead ball!"
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'''s sequels and {{Spiritual Successor}}s like toying with this:
** Being the protagonist's TemporaryLoveInterest, Four Murasame in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' was so predestined to die. And she did. Twice. And again in the {{Compilation Movie}}s with a bullet to the head.
** ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'' uses this trope in a similar way as ''Manga/SailorMoon'', with the Dark/Devil Gundam having four principal minions known as the Four Heavenly Kings, more than likely supposed to represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, what with Gundams named ''God'' and ''Devil'' in the series.
** Also worth mention is the fact that both ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' skip the obvious fours in their Gundam lineups (there is no GN-004 or GAT-X104). We then later find out what became of 004: it's [[spoiler:hidden underneath GN-005, [[{{Bishonen}} Tieria]]'s Gundam Virtue. It's a girly looking FragileSpeedster down to the flowing red "hair" coming out of its head and is called Gundam Nadleeh, which is incidentally the word for [[{{Transsexual}} people of the third, fourth, and fifth genders]] in Navajo culture]], which only deepens the mystery of [[spoiler: whether Tieria's a GenderBender.]]
** The second season of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' seems to go to complete overkill with regards to the number four: it takes place 4 years at the end of the first season, the main Gundam Meisters are still composed of 4 members, the protagonist unit's designation number is 0000 and it is also the only 4th generation model at the start of the series. And if you want to take things further, the said unit is powered by two GN-Drives, one's from the very first (O) Gundam, while the other is from the protagonist's previous unit which is part of the third generation. Want to do the math? 1+3=? Guess. Oh, [[spoiler: and the [[ArtificialHuman Innovades]] are '''four''' pairs, and it includes the BigBad and Tieria.]]
** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' has an interesting take on this, Quatre Winner is the fourth Gundam Pilot (it's even in his name), and has an aversion to killing whenever possible. [[spoiler: Yet with his destruction of a whole colony with Wing Zero he has arguably the highest body count of any of the [[FanNickname Gundam Boys]]]]. Also [[AllThereInTheManual he apparently killed his Mother giving birth to him]].
* In the 1000-Year Demon story arc of ''KonjikiNoGashBell'', the main bad guys our heroes have to get through to get to mastermind Zofis are the "Shitennou", the four strongest demons from last millennium's battle.
* ''HokutoNoKen'': Four words you do not want Kenshiro to say to you: "''Omae wa mou shindeiru''"/"You are already dead."
** Kenshiro is also the youngest of the Four Hokuto Brothers.
* ''{{Claymore}}''s work in fours when participating in group demon-exterminating missions. In addition, when Number 6 (Claymores are ranked by power) lists the top five for her companions to watch out for, the only one to warrant emphasis and additional description is not Number 1 (by definition the strongest) but rather Number 4, who ''"cares nothing for the lives of her comrades or the lives of humans in general... A woman who lusts for battle and the blood spilled."'' The Number 4 to take over for her, Miata, is also little more than a PsychopathicManchild, leading at least a few to conclude that all Number 4 Claymores are crazy.
* There are powers of four all over ''Manga/DeathNote''... for obvious reasons. Take the Note's rules as one example: once a name is written in it, that person dies 40 seconds later. In addition, you have six minutes and forty seconds to write the details of the death after the name and cause - in other words, 400 seconds. One of the rules unmentioned in the series is that writing a name incorrectly four times in the Death Note by accident will grant the person who the user was trying to kill immunity to that Death Note. However, writing the name four times incorrectly on purpose will not only not render the target immune to that Death Note, but kill the user who wrote the name.
** On a far more obscure note, Light's given name is spelt as "moon" (月). This has four strokes, which is ... crashingly unlucky and symbolic. Poor Light, doomed from birth.
** On top of that, Mikami's office is number 4.
** Also, Rem is Shinigami ranked number 4
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': In the 5th arc Guido Mista has a problem with the number 4. This is seen in not only his normal life where any time he is around anything that has 4 of itself he freaks out, but in his Stand which is six bullet-kicking creatures that have numbers on their heads... that of course skip the number 4. He himself said that whenever he is around the number 4 bad luck follows him. Ironically he is Italian, not Japanese.
** Near the end of that part, after a bunch of people end up switching bodies... (ItMakesSenseInContext) Guido accidentally ends up dropping four bullets on the ground. He begs another character to drop another, but then the villain attacks and [[spoiler: kills Narancia.]] After that, the number of protagonists left is, in an instance of twisted humor, ''four''.
* In ''YakitateJapan'', Kazuma's Ja-pan Number 44 is rather dangerous. It's so delicious, anyone who eats it for the first time has a NearDeathExperience.
* Appears repeatedly in ''WeissKreuz'': not only is Weiss, a team of [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]], made up of four members, so are three different groups of antagonists they go up against, and one team of allies. Sequel series ''WeissKreuz [[OddlyNamedSequel Gluhen]]'', which re-forms the team into its fourth iteration, does not end well.
* In ''OutlawStar'', the #4 Caster bullets are capable of killing the shooter if they fire them in sucession. (As do the #9 and #13 bullets, both also being unlucky numbers.)
* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' is actually an American manga, but takes place in feudal Japan. At one point the hero Usagi has to fight an infamous band of four assassins called... Shi. It is made explicit that this is an intentional pun on their part.
* In ''GetBackers'', Ginji led a gang called VOLTS, and his direct subordinates were known as the Shitennou. They inspire equal amounts of terror and admiration among the population of Lower Town, and in the series proper are re-introduced to him and Ban as antagonists. According to one of them, Shido, the title "Shitennou" is for someone who has cheated death countless times.
** Another one, Makubex, attempts to duplicate their success with his "New Four Kings." After his HeelFaceTurn, [[PsychoForHire one]] dies and the other just vanishes, leaving him with TheComicallySerious and TheIdiotFromOsaka, plus his TeamMom.
** Ironically, Kazuki, the least hostile of the four, has his own set of four subordinates who mirror the situation between Ginji and the Shitennou--including the aforementioned ComicallySerious in Shido's place as the angry-but-ultimately-forgiving one. The aforementioned TeamMom mirrors Kazuki himself: clearly working against her former leader, but not directly threatening him.
** Shido's Maryuudo tribe also boasts the four Shiki clans, which correspond to the four seasons. Their mortal enemies, the Kiryuudo, greatly fear the reunion of the four leaders, because it literally ''does'' mean death for them. Shido has the power to awaken hidden abilities to their fullest potential, and the other three have the powers of putting everything to sleep, healing, and instantly killing everything. They massacre the entire population of Kiryuudo pretty much in the blink of an eye.
* In the ''RosarioToVampire'' anime, Tsukune arrives at the bus stop at 4:44 pm and is attacked by rivals for Moka's love. Later on, 4:44 pm is the scheduled time for [[spoiler:his execution for being human.]]
** Kuyou, the leader of the Student Police, is a [[spoiler:youko with four tails]].
* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', the four Dark Masters are the bad guys of the final arc.
* ''ViolinistOfHameln'' has the four Mazoku Generals as acting [[BigBad Big Bads]].
* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', weapon meisters use a form of spiritual telephone to keep in contact -- the number for direct contact with Shinigami-sama is 42-42-564 ('shini, shini, goroshi' out loud -- in other words, 'die, die, kill').
** The 'shini' part gets used for [[{{Shinigami}} Kid]] in the increase in the size of his soul - one scanlation translated Liz's comment as "42 soul-widths") and the Sanzu Line-enabled form for the Thompsons - Death Eagle .42.
** This is also the other reason that [[BlandNameProduct Death Robbins]] ice cream has 42 flavors instead of 31. Ohkubo seems to really love this trope.
* Lord Fungus in ''FinalFantasyUnlimited'' survived the first three shots from Kaze's Magun, but the fourth did him in.
* The Godhand in ''{{Berserk}}'' originally had four members before Griffith did his epic FaceHeelTurn.
* Lordgenome's four generals in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', who are also given a "Heavenly Kings" nickname. They are also named after DNA base pairs.
* In DotHack GU, Tri-Edge's mark looks like a stylized rendering of the Arabic numeral "4", rotated to its side (or mirrored, depending on how you look at it). The mark signifies those that have been killed by the enigmatic Tri-Edge, making the people that got killed [[YourMindMakesItReal fall into comas left and right]].
* In ''CodeGeass R2'', the first person with any screen time to die against Suzaku's new Lancelot Albion is the debuting Knight of Four. In the same series, the Valkyrie Girls, a group of pilots under the command of Luciano Bradley, are four in number- and they are the first to be killed by Kallen in the Guren SEITEN.
** Tohdoh's "Four Holy Swords" are an example of Shitennou, though they aren't bad guys and they don't (all) die. In fact, they all survive the first season.... [[spoiler:but only one of them lives until the end]].
* In ''DGrayMan'' a Level 4 Akuma could take on Generals easily and was close to annihilating the Black Order.
* In ''BlackLagoon'', Roanapur is controlled by four criminal organisations - [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs the Triads]], [[TheMafiya the Russian Mafiya]], [[TheMafia the Italian Mafia]], and a [[TheCartel Columbian drug cartel]].
* The Shisheiten, Taishiro, and Holy Red Cross Knights from ''SamuraiDeeperKyo''
* Though they haven't all had screen time yet, ''OnePiece'' has four superpowerful pirates known as the Four Emperors (one of whom happens to be someone extremely important to Luffy) who act as a counterbalance to the Marines and the [[LuckySeven Seven Warlords of the Sea]].
** The 4th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Thatch, was the only commander who met an unfortunate end before the present story.
** PX-4 was the first of the [[ArtificialHuman Pacifista]] to be destroyed.
* In ''SaintSeiya'', the local PsychoForHire resides in the Fourth Temple of the Sanctuary, the Temple of the Giant Crab. He's actually named [[MeaningfulName Cancer Deathmask]].
* In a FictionalDocument in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', called "The Nameless Monster", the Nameless Monster goes through four hosts. [[spoiler: The first three are consumed from the inside out. The fourth consumes everyone who knows his name.]]
* Albert Heinrich, aka [[{{Cyborg009}} Cyborg 004]], is the most heavily reconstructed and had most of his body replaced with various weapons. The original manga even saddled him with the nickname "[[{{Shinigami}} God of Death]]", and his original personality was that of a rather frightening vengeance-seeker that enjoyed battling Black Ghost. However, his character evolved over the years, and in the 2001 version, he's more of a [[GermanicDepressives withdrawn]], BigBrotherMentor who's very disturbed by his enhancements.
* Akane-san from the broadcasting room from ''[[GhostStories Gakkou no Kaidan]]'' will kill without fail any and all people who hear her voice. She counts aloud the exact time of the sunset before she finally kills her victim, carefully avoiding the number 4. Her spirit can be repelled if one interrupts her count and say the number 4 out loud. To seal her, [[spoiler:she has to hear the chime that indicates the end of a broadcast before sunset]]. Guess how many bell rings does that make.
* In ''[[Manga/BlackButler Black Butler II]]'', Ciel and Alois arrange to have a formal duel while their [[BattleButler Battle Butlers]] face off. Ciel explains that it is traditional, in duels, to take ten paces away from each other before the beginning, but, after reaching four (which is deliberately pronounced "shi" rather than "yon") Ciel attempts to cheat by attacking. He is thwarted, but this starts off the duel nonetheless, with it ending in [[spoiler:Ciel stabbing Alois, which later leads to his death]].
* ''DeadmanWonderland'': The [[strike: TokyoFireball]] earthquake happened on 4/4/2014, measured 11.4 on the Richter scale, and 148,000 people died/went missing. The odd number out is that it happened at 5 PM.
* In ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', the QuirkyMinibossSquad of the first arc has four members.
* In the animal adventure episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', one of the dogs is portrayed as a gambler who compulsively fiddles with a pair of dice. At one point he rolls a 4 and 2 ("shi ni", meaning "to death") and remarks that it's a bad omen.
* ''TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime'': Makoto [[spoiler: alternately, Kousuke and Kaho]] is fatally hit by a train just as the town clock strikes 4:00
* At the very beginning of ''Manga/GhostHunt'', Mai and two other girls are telling ghost stories, at the end of which they count one-by-one, and there's supposed to be an imaginary fourth person. Only, Naru sneaks in and fills the role for real, with obvious results.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', there are four models of MechaMooks used by the BigBad. Types I through III are relatively benign: sure, they might hurt you and knock you out for a bit, but they are not really meant to kill people. [=Type IVs=], on the other hand, are the HeroKiller kind, designed specifically to make people (especially mages) very dead. In addition to redshirts, their rap sheet almost included the title character herself and [[spoiler:Vita]] by the end of the series.
** For that matter, the four Wolkenritter, harbingers of the destruction the Book of Darkness will bring.
* The four of spades in the OsamuTezuka ReusedCharacterDesign playing card deck is Kiriko, the doctor of death from ''Manga/BlackJack''.
* The fourth episode of ''{{Shiki}}'' is appropriately titled "Fourth Death". It repeats for episode 14, given the kanji used.
* {{Toriko}}, Coco, Sunny, and Zebra are collectively known as the Four Heavenly Kings, even though they're good guys. The fourth member introduced, Zebra, is such a vicious brute that his being released from prison caused a MassOhCrap the world over. And now the Kings have to fight the Four Beasts, a quartet of giant monsters from the [[DeathWorld Gourmet World]] that invade the human world to feed on humans. These Four Beasts are so strong that they can shrug off a full assault from a massive army, including kill-sats.
* In ''KinnikumanNisei'' Tel Tel Boy ([[DubNameChange Dialbolic]]) schedules his fight against Mantarou for 4:44 PM. Mantarou immediately notes that four is unlucky.
* The tenth episode of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' goes through four [[spoiler:previous timelines]], each more tragic than the last. The fifth one turns out to be much less so: [[spoiler:four of the five magical girls [[InvertedTrope do not get tragic endings]]]].
* {{Sekirei}} gives us the Black Sekirei, #04 "Karasuba". Considered the most dangerous Sekirei in existence [[spoiler: by those that don't know about #01, Miya]], she is referred to as "MBI's dog" for her work hunting down anyone that breaks the rules of the game. She's a BloodKnight MasterSwordsman obsessed with killing the heroine during the final battle, and actively encourages her to become stronger because otherwise [[CombatSadoMasochist it won't be enjoyable]]. Did we also mention that she's an OmnicidalManiac that intends to use her victory in the Sekirei Plan to destroy all life?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5597112/1/Humble_Shopkeeper Humble Shopkeeper]], of the Bleach fandom, Shichi (an OC), whose (nick)name means 'seven', splits it into "Shi" (aka, 4) and "Chi", spelling them "death" and "blood", or, alternately, together "the place you die". This is explained due to her being an [[CrazyAwesome insane linguist]].
* The four number is carried on in FanFic/KiraIsJustice, to the point that sixteen is a number used a few times. For example, the sixteen SIS agents.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''JuOn'', the Japanese movie on which ''TheGrudge'' is based, features a scene in which Mizuho goes back to her school to meet her boyfriend, Tsuyoshi, only to find that he isn't there. All she discoverts is a mysterious cell phone that happens to be lying around. She ends up having to wait inside the school whilst a member of staff searches the building - [[spoiler:suddenly, the room goes dark, Toshio starts running around out of her eyesight, and the cell phone she found earlier begins to ring when she is hiding underneath a desk. The number displayed on the screen is simply "4444444444". And when she takes the call, she only hears Toshio's creepy mewing noise. (Of course, Toshio also happens to be ''right behind her'' at this point.) Obviously, these are ghosts who like making culturally appropriate dark jokes....]]
** There's also the ''JuOn'' short film, which is simply titled ''4444444444''. It is set during the first movie, and is directly connected to the scene above - it details just what happens to poor Tsuyoshi after he also discovers the mysterious phone.
* ''{{Shutter}}'' features a horror sequence where the protagonist is running down a series of stairs. No matter how many flights he goes down, it's always level 4. Creeeepy.
* In the Robert Duvall vehicle ''Film/BrokenTrail'', his character rescues from sexual slavery five immigrant Chinese girls. Since none of them speaks English, and he obviously doesn't speak Chinese, he names them "Number One" to "Number Five". When the girls realize this, "Number Four" objects to being given an unlucky number for a name. One of the other girls eventually accepts to be "Number Four", and she does so because she fully expects a tragic fate to befall her--which indeed it does.
* Japanese horror film ''Gakkou No Kaiden'' revolves around things that haunt an abandoned school when the clock hits... 4:44AM. 4:44AM typically is more horrifying than 4:44PM, where it's HandWaved that it's actually 16:44.
* The Gang of Four in TheStoryOfRicky; Huang Chan, Shorty, Taizan, and Hai.
* How much was [[{{Ghost}} Sam Wheat's]] life worth to Carl? ''Four million dollars.''
* In the film of "Film/BattleRoyale", it takes four bullets to fell [[spoiler: Mitsuko]].
* The Korean horror film ''White'' is about a K-pop group made up of four members, who all become cursed after covering a song haunted by a ghost.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Features heavily in one of the stories in Amy Tan's ''Literature/TheJoyLuckClub'', although with the Chinese ''si'' instead of Japanese ''shi''. For example, it is a very bad thing to be the fourth concubine.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' short story "It's All Done with Mirrors", the characters go to meet with a {{Yakuza}} boss who has recently arrived in Seattle because of mishaps in his business to ask what will appease him into leaving. The Yakuza boss then outlines a task they will have to do for him. One of the mob boss's servants lays out sake with cups, and the boss offers to pour the drink for his guests. When TheSmartGuy asks what will happen if they fail, the mob boss doesn't answer, but pours three times into his cup and four times into the cups of his guests. Only TheSmartGuy, the GeniusBruiser, and TheProfessor in the group get the message.
* ''HouseOfLeaves'' has a lot of this: the Navidsons put four [[SealedEvilInACan locks]] on the door leading to the scary parts of the [[color:blue:house]]; the [[color:blue:house]] is explored in teams of three with one person remaining behind to man the radios; there are four members of Will Navidson's nuclear family; there are four Exploration videos; and lots of little things peppered throughout the text.
* Seen on occasion in ''BattleTech'' novels set in or involving characters from the Draconis Combine. Which isn't a big surprise, since being feudal Japan InSpace! is basically that Successor State's [[PlanetOfHats hat]]; it just means the authors [[ShownTheirWork actually did do some research]].
* Used verbatim in [[http://www.artemisfowl.co.uk/downloads/atlantiscomplex_chapter1.pdf this early chapter]] of the Literature/ArtemisFowl book ''Atlantis Complex''. Justified in that [[spoiler: the character in question is in the middle of a psychotic breakdown where he fixates on the number five.]]
** Eoin Colfer is a cruel man. Just a few pages of one character talking in fives, and suddenly you're counting everyone's words...
* Literature/TrappedOnDraconica: Inverted. Erowin is the fourth dragokin sister and was blessed with the power to ''heal'' in addition to her elemental powers. [[spoiler: She is the only one of the four to die and then come back from the dead.]]
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' had [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteen books]], to go with its gloomy nature. The prequel series, ''Literature/AllTheWrongQuestions'', will have four. This is undoubtedly not an accident.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' seventh season episode "Toe Tags", this trope is mentioned as they investigate the drowning of the bodyguard of an Asian high roller at a casino. She had been drowned because [[spoiler:the high roller had bad luck and came unexpectedly back to his room and found her taking a bath in the bathtub he had had sprinkled with rose petals for good luck. So]] he blamed her for his bad luck.
* In ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'', Momotaros, who counts his attacks, ends up missing "Part 4" due to some combination of tiredness and feeling unappreciated. When Ryotaro calls him out on this, he claims that not using four is cool and proves it by counting from one to ten... while skipping four.
* ''KamenRider555'' had the Lucky Clover, a group of four elite villains.
* The same happened in ''KamenRiderKiva'', with the Checkmate four
* In ''KamenRiderBlade'', the 4th Rider Leangle was possessed by the evil spider undead and could defeat the other Riders with ease during his first appearances. Sadly almost his whole life gets ruined by this. But after a few [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifices]] and ThePowerOfLove, he breaks free of the Undeads influence and was able to control his powers freely.
* The from ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' follow this. Rita Repulsa's henchmen (Goldar, Finster, Baboo and Squatt) were her own equivalent of the Shitennou.
** In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' Tommy Oliver wears his '''fourth color''' (green, white, red, black) and is the '''fourth''' Ranger to join the team...but isn't exactly the luckiest in the season: First he gets encased in amber by the evil possessed White Ranger. When, some episodes later, he breaks out of it, he couldn't morph back to human form. Then when his genius friend Hayley tries invention on him to turn him back to human, he turns invisible and can't turn visible for a few episodes. After another experiment, he turns visible again, but falls unconscious. During his unconsciousness he has a dream in which he must fight 3 of his previous incarnations. After he defeats those and wakes up, things start to go better for him.
*** This means ''four misfortunes happen to him.'' Amber, ModeLock, invisibility, coma.
** Dai ''Shi'' from ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' and the four Phantom Beast Generals, actually based on TheFourGods (there's a dragon, a tiger, and a turtle, and later, against their wishes, [[HollywoodChameleons Camille]] getting upgraded into [[MidSeasonUpgrade Camille Phoenix]] to round it out.) Also, four sets of villains in ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive,'' and generally four of the five main villains active at a time in ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai''. (Serrator didn't show up at first, then Deker was presumed dead by the time he did, then Deker came back but Xandred overtaxes himself to CurbStomp the Rangers so he's out of action for a while. During these periods, there's still four baddies.)
*** It should be noted that the name Dai Shi was probably meant to reference "shishi" (獅子), which means "lion," rather than "four," especially when you consider "dai" (大) means "big" or "great."
* One example from ''SuperSentai'' were the Four Hell Kings from ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'', who ended up being so powerful that the heroes needed to gain their [[SuperMode Legend]] [[MidSeasonUpgrade Modes]] just to be able to defeat two of them, though the other two they handled on their own.
* Another one, by way of RealLifeWritesThePlot, is the unfortunate outcome for one of the Rangers in ''ChoudenshiBioman''. In the case of Yellow ''Four'', four is quite indeed death.
* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Hung out to Dry" Tony initially refuses a switch of reserve parachutes with a marine because their reserve is number 4, citing the fact that four is unlucky in China. He relents when Gibbs points out they're not in China.[[spoiler: Turns out that the reserve Tony had ([[ThirteenIsUnlucky Number 13,]]) was unable to open as the marine he swapped with sabotaged it to kill the victim. It was up there as part of a BatmanGambit by Gibbs to expose him.]] The number of the "dirty" reserve parachute was selected ''because'' the victim was like a living rabbit's foot. The guy's mindset wouldn't let him say no to taking the 'chute.
* Numerous occurrences on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Four is one of the show's Numbers. Boone wears multiple t-shirts in the first season containing fours or sets of four, and is the first regular character to die. In a season 5 flashback, Miles discovers his ability to speak to the dead by finding a dead man in Apt. #4. [[spoiler:In Jacob's cave, Locke is indicated by the number 4, and is the first of the six uncrossed names to be crossed out (as he is dead).]] There are ''many'' other instances.
* Food Network used to have a Chinese-cuisine show called ''East Meets West'', whose chef/host Ming Tsai occasionally mentioned this trope and went out of his way to make servings consist of either three or five.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The tenth Doctor is told that "He will knock four times." and then The Doctor will die. The Master has a beat of drums in his head, a beat of four. Yet, [[spoiler: The Master goes to his FinalDeath without the four knocks occurring anywhere but in his own head.]] We get a HopeSpot... and ''then'' we find out [[spoiler: who ''really'' knocks four times to signal Ten's end.]]
** The Doctor turns with an OhCrap expression as he hears it, too, and the one knocking doesn't get it, so keeps knocking. We wind up getting ''four sets of four knocks!'' Death squared!
* Related to ''Doctor Who'' continuity, in ''{{Torchwood}}'', the titular organization has four different bases, and Torchwood '''Four''' is apparently missing.
* In the episode "Phantom Traveler" of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', planes keep crashing after 40 minutes of their departure. Later it is even mentioned that this is because four is a "biblical number" and "means death" ([[TheGreatFlood Noah's ark and the forty days of flooding]] given as an example). Hell, the ''episode itself'' is the fourth episode of the show ever! On top of this, try to guess what's [[ThirteenIsUnlucky the number of the gate the last plane takes off?]] Talk about [[NumerologicalMotif numerological motifs]]!
** And then on season five we get [[spoiler:the four original HorsemenOfTheApocalypse]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]

* The fourth track on {{Coldplay}}'s ''Viva La Vida''--their fourth full-length album--is "42." All of its lyrics explicitly reference death, ghosts, and the afterlife, and it's almost exactly four minutes long. That's four 4's. There's no way this is a coincidence, but [[ShrugOfGod good luck getting them to cop to it.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Some [[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Sin Eaters]] have the number 4 tattooed onto them as a reminder of their deaths.
* The older ''{{Ravenloft}}'' supplement ''Islands of Terror'' had an isolated Chinese-themed domain that played this trope for all it was worth.
* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' gives us Sasuke Samurai #4, the very definition of DemonicSpider. When it battles an enemy, if the player gets a coinflip right, [=SS4=] instantly destroys that enemy without actually battling it. If you're playing one of the video games, expect [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the computer to ALWAYS FREAKIN GET THE RIGHT FLIP]].
* The board game ''Sorry''. Draw a "3" card, move forward three spaces. Draw a "5" card, go forward five spaces. Draw a "4" card? Go BACKWARD four spaces.
** There are plenty of times this can be advantageous, though.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theme Parks]]
* At [[DisneyThemeParks Disneyland Hong Kong]]in the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaways Mine Cars rollercoaster, the train goes through shaft no 4 (which is covered in danger signs) instead of shaft no 8 (a lucky number). Inevitably, later in the ride, a cable "breaks" on a chain lift, sending the train backwards.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]

* MachineRobo's MR-4, Gyro Robo, was designated as an Enemy character in the American ''Gobots'' line.
* The first wave of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' action figures only had four Foot clan characters.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''MegaManZero's'' Four Guardians of Master X, who served as X's generals and bodyguards. They would later become good guys of a sort -- but not before Phantom self-destructed, reducing their number to three, which, in turn, changed the stature to RuleOfThree- he was the only general without a dominant element or weakness to another element.
** ''Mega Man Zero 4'' has that [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] conclusion, where it implies (we repeat, ''implies'', not confirms) [[spoiler: Zero was killed]].
** In the same franchise, ''MegaManBattleNetwork 6'' features [=EraseMan=].EXE (aptly named [=KillerMan=].EXE in the original Japanese version), an assassin Navi whose design draws on''{{shinigami}}''. When Mega Man fuses with [=EraseMan=], he gains the ability to instantly kill viruses when the digit 4 is in their HP. As for Navis, they get an HP-sapping bug that eventually does them in.
** Likewise, the first game has Wily acquire four superprograms to create the Life Virus. Later on, ''Battle Network'' '''''4''''' has the impending impact of a meteor that will wipe out Planet Earth- which turns out to be an insanely powerful and near-omnipresent robot called Duo. ''4'' is also regarded as one of the weakest titles of the ''Battle Network'' series.
** In between the time periods of ''MegaManX'' and ''[[MegaManZero Zero]]'', there's the [[WorldSundering Elf Wars]], resulting in a barren world, and a massive drop in the population (60% humans and 90% [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Reploids]] were wiped out), that lasted for four years.
** ''[[MegaManX Mega Man X4]]'' was the first game in the ''X'' series to escalate the body count up to a horrific extreme- and first to present a legitimate threat to destroy the entire planet. It was also the same installment where Zero suffered a tragic loss... [[spoiler: the [[TearJerker death of]] [[KillTheCutie his crush]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Iris]]]]. In addition, three more key-to-the-plot Reploids perish: [[spoiler: Colonel, a martyr to his own cause, Double, who performs a gory FaceHeelTurn and gets a KarmicDeath, and General, who performs a HeroicSacrifice]]. That makes four major deaths in the story.
* In ''SilentHill1'', an elevator in an AbandonedHospital that previously had only three floors [[MissingFloor suddenly gains a fourth floor button]]. Travelling to this "fourth floor" triggers a trip to the town's hellish AlternateUniverse.
* ''Neo {{Contra}}'' takes place in the year A.D.4444. The game also features a [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad Four Elite]].
* The Malice Four in the NES ''NinjaGaiden''.
* A good number of ''HarvestMoon'' games do evil things to you at precisely 4:44 when you perform a specific action. For example: looking at the TV in Friends of Mineral Town. This feature is often removed from the US version, and in some cases is related to more serious glitches caused by a bad removal! Maybe it ''is'' cursed...
** Don't forget the battles that you can unlock in DS/Cute,when you sit behind your dog house at 4:40 ''am'',and press A multiple times.
* Death-related bosses and enemies in video games often have 444 or 4444 HP. ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'''s Death is usually an example of this. So is Mitsuki Konishi, aka Tigris Cantus, from ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''.
** Also, Master Tonberry, a robed green lizard like thing carrying a butcher knife and lantern that will slowly advance on your party before one hit killing you with said knife, or attack with 'Everyone's Grudge' doing 1 damage for each enemy a character has killed in the game, had 44,444HP in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
** Death-themed items in Castlevania play by this trope as well. The Book of Death in Portrait of Ruin has 44 ATK, while Death's Robe in Dawn of Sorrow boosts STR, CON and LUCK by 4 (and Int by 13!). Death's Ring is especially noteworthy, as it boosts 4 different stats by 44 each but turns you into a OneHitPointWonder.
* The Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi in ''TheKingOfFighters'', each with control over a different element. The Hizoku (a ninja clan with suspicious motives) has its own set of Heavenly Kings - [[PoisonousPerson Lin]], [[UseYourHead Sai]], [[PlayingWithFire Ran]] and [[CreepyChild Chat]].
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series often has a group known as the Four Fiends or some variation thereof, called the Shitennō in Japanese versions of the games. They usually consist of a FourElementEnsemble that form the villain's chief minions.
** Sometimes averted in that the party size for most games is also four.
* The four bosses at the end of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' are Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison, who form the "Four Devas" of Shadaloo (although this is downplayed in the later games, as the series introduced more members to the organization; Sagat also canonically left the organization prior to ''Street Fighter II'', although this story element wasn't presented until ''Alpha 3'' and at the time they were just including him as a boss to throw back to the original ''Street Fighter'').
* ''Tenchu 2'' has the Four Lords of the Burning Dawn, who are named after the Four Heavenly Kings.
* The ''FireEmblem'' series usually has a group of four bad guys who are tougher than any villain in the game except the BigBad. The Four Wyvern Generals (initially three, but one is replaced after you kill him, meaning you fight four of them) in ''The Sword of Seal'', Four Fangs in ''The Sword of Flame'', Four Riders in ''Path of Radiance'', etc.. ''The Sacred Stones'' looks like it'll subvert this at first -- there are initially six characters in this group. However, one is betrayed and murdered by one of the others and another [[HeelFaceTurn defects]], leaving the number you actually have to fight and kill at -- you guessed it -- four.
** In Fire Emblem 4 Seisen no Keifu, halfway through the game,[[spoiler: your army falls into Alvis' trap. Most of the army dies including the main character, Sigurd. The female characters who escaped the trap die rather quickly after having their children as well.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', the Flower People's civilization went into the Dark Ages in their year 444.
** You have to pay 4 coins for the ferryman to ferry you across River Twygz.
* The first ''{{Golgo 13}}'' NES game combines this with ThirteenIsUnlucky, as you are given 52 chances (4 x 13) to complete your mission, or else it's Game Over.
* The QuirkyMinibossSquad in ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' calls themselves the Big Bad Four.
* Every iteration of the main series ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games has a group of expert trainers known as the Elite Four. Defeat them, and you get to face off against the [[FinalBoss Champion]] in an ''[[FinalBattle epic]]'' Pokémon battle for all the bragging rights.
** Of note is that, in the original Japanese, the Elite Four are ''actually called'' the Shitennou.
** Of more note is that in the ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' manga they [[spoiler:want to kill everyone.]]
** In Platinum, Cyrus has four Commanders under him.
** There are also four Team Rocket Executives in [=HeartGold=] and [=SoulSilver=].
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Shadows of Almia'', the Incredible Machine atop Altru Tower normally has three power levels, the highest of which allows it to [[{{Brainwashed}} hypnotize Pokémon from a radius of 500 miles]]. The BigBad, after he unleashes Darkrai, pushes the Incredible Machine [[UpToEleven one level further]]: Level "Dark", which supposedly has more than enough power for him to assert complete control over the legendary Shadow Pokémon...[[EvilIsNotAToy or so he thinks]].
** And there's the Go Rock Quad from the original Pokémon Ranger game.
* ''GodHand'' has the Four Devas as the main villains (along with a mercenary they hire at one point, Dr. Ion). In addition, the DynamicDifficulty has 1, 2, and 3, but the level after 3 is Die.
* Vexen, the fourth member of Organization XIII in ''KingdomHearts'', is the first one to die, assassinated by Axel when he attempts to betray the Organization in a bid for his life by revealing the existence of Roxas to Sora.
** Also, the fourth [[spoiler:and final, in Sora's story]] member you fight in Chain of Memories is Marluxia. Fitting, what with having a [[SinisterScythe scythe]] and all.
* In ''{{Persona 3}}'', October 4th is a very, very bad day. Additionally, [[TheGrimReaper The Reaper]] has 4,444 hit points.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', Link must visit four dungeons, kill the four boss monsters, and retrieve their four masks. It turns out, though, that [[spoiler:the four masks hold the spirits of the Four Giants of Termina, who are good guys that help stop the moon from falling into the world at the end of the game.]]
** Including the Fierce Deity's Mask, there are four transformation masks (and being the fourth mask, it's the deadliest). The dungeons lie in the four compass directions. If you draw lines connecting the temples/areas in the order you visit them in on the map, it will be a big four (on its side). And [[spoiler:if you count the cut scenes at the end of the game, Link is in Termina for four days.]] The number was ''very'' important to this game.
** The fourth dungeon in various ''Zelda'' games refer to this as well. In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', the fourth Adult Link dungeon is the [[BigBoosHaunt Shadow Temple]], which deals with the undead. Similar cases include the Arbiter's Grounds in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', the Maze Island Palace in ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink The Adventure of Link]]'', the entire Ikana Canyon in the aforementioned ''Majora's Mask'' (though the residing Stone Tower Temple isn't too dark, perhaps not at all), the Ghost Ship in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'', and the Ancient Cistern in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]''.
* The four main bosses in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' are The Beauty and the Beast Corps, a group of [[BreakTheCutie women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the horrors of war]] that were turned into literal war machines.
** Notice how the fourth game was the [[spoiler:end to the story (supposedly, and end as in no sequels), and everyone involved with the Patriots dies]]
** ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' has Dead Cell, which is comprised of Vamp, Fatman, and Fortune, and are led by Solidus Snake. This was done unintentionally though, since Dead Cell was initially planned to have more members than the ones that actually made it to the game.
* In ''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Wild ARMs]]'', the leaders of the Demon army are called... the Quarter Knights.
** ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 2}}'' follows this up with a four-member RecurringBoss squad known as Cocytus, who become the party's main antagonists for the first half of the game.
* ''Super VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' calls attention to its four strongest bosses (excepting BigBad Mother Brain) with a golden statue of the four clustered together that blocks the entrance to the final level. While the group is not explicitly given a name in the game, some sources refer to them as the Four Guardians (Kraid, Phantoon, Draygon, and Ridley).
* In the Shmup "Diadra Empty", flying dangerously close to one of the last bosses will give you a bonus called "Abyss Walker", worth 44,444 points.
* In the Sega Genesis RPG ''Traysia'', the fourth party member turns out to be [[spoiler: the BigBad]].
* ''AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' has Yellow 4, the first story-significant enemy who [[spoiler:gets shot down by the main character, thanks to her plane being in disrepair]].
** Also, the opposing side in 04 give Mobius One two prominent [[RedBaron nicknames]]. One is "the Grim Reaper"; so the player character in the fourth game is death.
** A non-in-universe example: Namco really didn't want to make a fourth game in the series - they finally agreed to on the condition that it was numbered ''04''.
** ''AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' has a much subtler example: you can have up to three wingmen, but a number of them get shot down: [[spoiler: first Bartlett (who never returns), then Nagase (who is rescued), then Chopper (who is KilledOffForReal)]]. Since then, no AceCombat game had a four-man team (two-man armies in ''Zero'' and ''6'', two wingmen in ''X'').
*** A less subtle example from the same game: after destroying the ballistic missile-launching submarine Hrimfaxi, the four pilots in the squad are nicknamed by the enemy "The Demons of Razgriz".
** ''AceCombatJointAssault'' has the four-man Rigel Squadron [[spoiler: that defects and becomes RecurringBoss Varcolac Squadron]].
* The Vicious Ones, the main antagonists of ''BeyondTheBeyond'', have four members (winged archer Dagoot, grotesque magician Yeon, and BigBad BlackMagic duo Ramue and Shutat).
* The {{Lufia}} series has four [[BigBad Big Bads]].
* ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom'' has the Zombies, a faction of the Plague comprised exactly of four members. In the Japanese version, they were known as the Shitennou.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', Tigris Cantis, [[{{Shinigami}} Konishi's]] noise form, has 4,444 hit points.
* In ''{{La-Mulana}}'', the last of the four key seals which must be found is the Death Seal, whose symbol contains the game's numeral 4. However, the Sage of Death (who unlocks the path to the Death Seal) will likely be the ''first'' of the four sages the player has to talk to.
* In ''BreathOfFire: Dragon Quarter'', the "names" of the [[strike:dragons]] [[NotUsingTheZWord D-Constructs]] are simply numbers in Gratuitous Russian. "Odjn" (One) is linked to the hero. "Dva" (Two, mistranslated as "Dover") is the BonusBoss. And Chetyre (Four) is, of course, the BigBad.
* ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' has four psychotic stalkers pursuing the main character trying to kill her.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', an unlockable minigame, the 4th Survivor features an Umbrella Soldier codenamed Hunk. In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis's'' epilogue files, it's revealed that Hunk is nicknamed "Mister Death", and has a habit of being the only member of his squad to survive.
** Hunk comes back as one of the four characters in the Mercenaries mode of VideoGame/ResidentEvil4. Consequentially, the fourth stage has the deadliest enemy in the game, which can spawn four times in a run.
** The Keeper's Diary in the first game. Since it's his own personal ApocalypticLog, the inexplicable "4" at the top of the last entry may have been a mistranslation. Since [[spoiler:the keeper attacks you before you get a chance to read the diary]], it can mean death for you, too.
** In the [=REmake=], you only get to see the last few pages of [[spoiler:Lisa Trevor]]'s journal while picking it up in the cabin near the cemetery. When combined with the remaining pages that you later find elsewhere, they form an Apocalyptic Log, which slowly deteriorates into illiterate writing as the dates proceed, as a WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, until it ends with the same inexplicable numeral "4" at the top of the last entry as in the Keeper's Diary. Since [[spoiler:[[TragicMonster Lisa]] attacks you as you are about to leave the cabin after reading the last page of her journal]], it can also mean death for you.
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' has [[spoiler:Margaret]]' who is a living embodiment of this trope. [[spoiler:She is the 4th ranked assassin of the UAA, [[DualWielding wields two]] [[AwesomeButImpractical gun/scythe hybrids]] and even has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTlIzfL7tUI&feature=sub boss music that alludes to this]].]]
* ''Makeruna! Makendou Z'' features four demon queens during the second half of the game: Honmanimou (a big-breasted cow woman), Honmadecker (a prison wardeness, who upon defeat [[spoiler: turns out to be Doro's wife, now back to her senses]]), Honmadengunner (a cyborg), and Honmayaner (an archer woman). Main villain Dr. Mud also tried to enslave Makenkah (whose real name was Kaimyouji Eizan) as a fourth cyborg general of his, the other three being Dinosaur, Chuuko, and Shou. Even further, this game is the fourth installment of the Makendou series (if you count the OAV), and seems slightly darker and edgier than the previous two games, ending with [[spoiler: the school building collapsing (with who knows how many people inside).]]
* In ''NanashiNoGame'', Riko at one point gets trapped on a creepy subway where every car is Car #4. [[spoiler:She dies at the end of that chapter.]] In addition, the company that created the game is located on the fourth floor of the building it's in -- and it's [[spoiler:been closed for four years]], which you find out from the fourth e-mail you receive on the fourth day.
* The four Knights of Danika in ''OgreBattle64''. You can also get a maximum of four Black Knights.
* In the Wii version of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', one of the challenges in Exhibition Mode requires you to defeat Japanese boxer Piston Hondo after blocking 44 jabs.
* In ''GhostTrick'', main character Sissel can use his powers to rewind time to exactly four minutes before a person's death in order to attempt to prevent it.
* In ''VideoGame/FateEXTRA'', the Protagonist learns this applies to getting into the Holy Grail War: [[spoiler:potential Masters had four days to figure out something was wrong with their school, investigate, and survive a qualifying battle. If they failed to succeed at this after four days, well... they weren't going ANYWHERE]].
* Done rather subtly in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''. ''Platinum'' introduced a fourth Admin into the astronomy-themed Team Galactic. His name? Pluto (Charon in English), the planet/moon named after the god of death or his ferryman.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', the rolling ball stages are full of massive iron dice blocks threatening to knock you into the abyss. Every side on these dice blocks read four.
* Many enemies from ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' have a four theme. You have the Four Lords, Gwyn's Four Great Knights and the corrupted monsters the [[WolfpackBoss Four Kings]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'' there are four playable characters (and Kagura has four shot types), there are 8 (4*2) Segments, the Shrine of Farewell has four titled bosses and four Kaname Stones, [[spoiler: four of the Prayer bosses are titled "Heroic Dead", the first form of the final boss has four Satisfaction Levels (counting 0), and the Quadruple Ones are four children]].
* Since its first inception, the Pokemon games have presented players with the greatest challenge of their story arc, the Elite Four (Shitennou) [[spoiler: though, this is something of a subversion since the player is then tasked with facing a fifth opponent, the Champion]].
* In the Japanese escape-the-room game ''[[http://hilgreed.natsu.gs/game/usen2/Usen2.html U-Sensor 2]]'', you have to find a way out of a deserted office building in which it's rumored that there was a murder on the fourth floor in spite of the elevator not having a button available for that floor. [[spoiler:It turns out that a vengeful ghost haunts that seemingly nonexistent floor and will kill you if you don't prevent the elevator from stopping at the fourth floor during the endgame. If you get the Bad Ending where the ghost kills you, your character sprite will be shown turning around exactly four times in the elevator before the ghost catches him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web comics]]
* ''NoNeedForBushido'', set in FeudalJapan, features the Four Demons of Sorrow, the four elite {{samurai}} or daimyo Wataro.
* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', as noted on its page, has the four Light Warriors (the protagonists and arguably the worst thing to happen to the world), the four Fiends (some of the few actually dangerous enemies) and the four orbs to go with them (which are being used by the BigBad for some diabolical purpose), the four Dark Warriors (a group of IneffectualSympatheticVillain characters), the four Other Warriors (inspired by Dungeons & Dragons classes), and the four real Light Warriors (making four warrior groups total). In addition, the average strip is four rows long. ... Yeah, that world is doomed.
* ''OurLittleAdventure'' has introduced four high ranking members of the Souballo Empire who each seem to be in charge of a department.
* The cover of the [[http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=MSPA-PS-BOOK04&Category_Code=MSPA-BOOKS fourth print volume]] of ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' is adorned with Death's weeping face.
** This also makes it look like the [[WebComic/{{Homestuck}} ~ATH coding book.]] Tildeath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the Vulfsatz is a group of four elite assassins. Demons have four hordes, each led by an archdemon.
* The number four shows up more than what should be considered coincidental in MarbleHornets:
** In Entry #26, Jay recieves a mysterious text message on the 4th of April (i.e. 4/4). Two weeks later, he receives a tape dated 4.4.2010 which contains footage of [[spoiler:Jay's missing friend Alex and his girlfriend Amy narrowly avoiding an attack by the Operator, which happens at 4:04 PM. There is also some distortion around the entry's 4:04 mark]].
** The Totheark video "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhwO6wm76-U Decay]]" was uploaded on April 4, 2012, and it shows some of the footage from the tape in Entry #26, distorting it so that the date and time overlay each other. The last seven seconds of the video, when run through a spectrograph, reveal an image with the text, [[spoiler:"TODAY IS YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY," with four dots under the word "birthday." Alex's birthday is April 4th.]]
*** In the same video, Totheark writes, "(HE WILL) [[FourIsDeath LEAD ME TO DEATH]]."
** The motif is continued in entry #'''4'''0 - posted on May '''4''', with screen tearing occuring at 4:40 on the Website/YouTube player and [[spoiler: The Operator showing up moments later]].
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (Kang and Kodos describing an island shaped like a skull) "That looks just like our number four!"
* The Fearsome Four are the most competent bad guys in ''ZorroGenerationZ''.
* On ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', one of Mr. Krabs's stories involves a person who liked to make funny faces, most enjoyably sticking his toungue out. After doing it 444 times, he couldn't get it back in until most of it crumbled off of him.
* In "Hard Luck", a Season 4 episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', in which Odd is suffering from a case of bad luck from a broken mirror, as the gang are traveling to one of X.A.N.A.'s Repika via the Skid are talking about bad luck -- to Odd's annoyance -- Yumi remarks something similar to the following: "People in Japan avoid anything to do with the number 4 because it sound like the word for death."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This even carries over to ''technology''.
** The Sony company has created several successive types of digital video tape, named D-1, D-2, D-3, etc. There was no D-4, due to the stigma associated with the number ([[FridgeLogic Yet they had no problem with using the fourth letter of the alphabet...]]). Averted with the {{PlayStation 4}}, however[[note]]Although it did look like they were going for this initially, the official announcement dropped the ''Orbis'' monicker and calls the device the PlayStation4[[/note]].
** Canon also has several product lines conspicuously skipping from 3 to 5, but not skipping 40 and other multiples of ten.
** Music equipment manufacturer Roland/Boss do this as well. The Boss guitar pedals are generally named along the lines of DD (digital delay) or OD (overdrive) and then a number. Guess which number is nowhere to be found in their product lineup.
* 164 (一六四, yi liu si) is a Chinese homophone for "one road to death" (一路死, yi lu si). This was the reason that the Alfa Romeo 164 was marketed in many Chinese-speaking societies as the 168 (一六八, yi liu ba) instead. Which, incidentally, sounds like "one road to prosperity" (一路發/一路发, yi lu fa).
** There is a popular shopping center in the Philippines called 168.
** Plenty of Chinese shops will put 168 in their signs for its auspiciousness.
* In Cantonese, 14 (十四， sap sei) is consider a unluckier number than 4, since it sounds like "will surely die"/"is doomed" (實死, sat sei). 24 (二十四, yi sap sei) is even worse, as it could be interpreted as "easy and sure death/easily doomed" (易實死, yi sat sei) or if its digits are read individually (二四, yi sei), it sounds like "easy death" (易死, yi sei).
* While US FFC regs normally prohibit customers from choosing specific numbers, T-Mobile company policy specifically requires them to grant any and all requests for a phone number with no '4's.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four_%28China%29 Gang of Four]] from China were the four Communist party officials who were officially blamed for the Cultural Revolution. After their arrest, and during their trials, a massive hostile propaganda campaign was launched against them, which made ''full'' use of the four/death homophone.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Big_Pollution_Diseases_of_Japan Big Four Pollution Diseases of Japan]] were four major environmental disasters which led to the establishment of the Environment Agency (the Japanese equivalent of the American EPA) in 1970. Three of the incidents took place in the 1960s, but the 1912 outbreak of cadmium poisoning called "itai-itai disease" is lumped in because a lawsuit wasn't brought until 1968.
* In East Asian countries, the fourth floor is either skipped (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, ...) like the thirteenth floor is skipped in the West or, in an elevator, the buttons are numbered 1, 2, 3, F, 5 ... with "F" standing in for the English word "four" (which does not sound like death). Another common work-around is to replace the "4"-number with the previous floor's number appended with the letter A (i.e. 3A, 23A), as is floor 13 (replaced with 12A, and 14 replaced with 12B in this case). 14 is particularly bad. In Mandarin, 14 can be read ''yao si''[[note]]''Yao'' is an alternate reading for "one" when saying numerals[[/note]], a near homophone of "will die" or "death wish".
** This is UpToEleven in Hong Kong, as floor numbers with the number 4 are all skipped together in some newer buildings.
*** And thanks to the influence from being a former British colony, the traditional 13 is also skipped.
** This convention is also quite common in Vancouver and Toronto, owing to their large Chinese population. The combination of eastern and western superstitions means that it's not unheard of for floor numbers in apartment buildings to jump from 12 to 15, missing both 13 and 14.
* Tea sets or chopstick sets are sold with 3 or 5 cups/pairs rather than 4.
* A common gift in China is three or five oranges, rather than four.
* Dice in East Asia, aside from arranging the pips differently, use [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smjDiceFM_2942.jpg red pips for the numbers 1 and 4]] to ward off bad luck (as opposed to the standard black).
* The Rio Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas avoids the digit "4" in all floor numbers and room numbers. The floor just above the 39th is the 50th, for example.
* In [[TarotMotifs the standard reading of Tarot decks]], number four in the minor suits typically signify stagnation or stalling. A common image for the Four of Swords shows a man lying as though dead on a stone bier, just to give you an idea.
* The fearsome '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Armoured_Division_%28Syria%29 4th]]''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Armoured_Division_%28Syria%29 Armored Division]] of the Syrian military, commanded by President Assad's brother Maher and accused of numerous atrocities during the civil war there.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster Chernobyl disaster]]. The catastrophic meltdown happened with reactor number four.
* Zig-Zagged with the StarWars franchise: Episode 4: A New Hope was an award winner and a blockbuster despite being the fourth episode in the installment (it was actually just fancy numbering, this was the first film- and even that the Episode 4 title was tacked onto the film later and didn't appear in the original theatrical run). On the other hand, the actual fourth film of the series, The Phantom Menace (which was called Episode 1 by the studio), universally has the lowest rating of the 6 released films.
* An unintentional example occurred with Microsoft DirectX... the version numbers jumped from 3.0 straight to 5.0, with version 4.0 never being released into the open.
* Noboru Yamaguchi, author of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', died on April 4, 2013, before he could complete the light novels (though [[ItMakesSenseInContext technically, he did live to complete the series]]). Particularly noteworthy because of the date (see the ''Urusei Yatsura'' entry on this very page for some more on that).
* From TheOtherWiki: "According to the FBI, for individuals, mass murder is defined as the person murdering four or more persons during a particular event with ''no cooling-off period'' between the murders."
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93 United Airlines Flight 93]], one of four airlines that were hijacked on September 11, 2001, had exactly 44 people on board, including four terrorists.
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