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Harbinger of Impending Doom
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"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."
There's a group of people held up in a building or house somewhere partying, shopping, or just minding their own business, when all of a sudden, there's some random injured and bloody guy/girl who shows up giving an ominous message that someone/something's trying to kill them, and that it's following them. Sometimes the bloody stranger dies before they can be specific about the threat. Thus the group of friends/family starts to argue and debate among themselves about what he or she could have been running from. And of course, the threat eventually shows up...
Can also involve when said threat doesn't even leave time for the heroes to debate what they are up against and attacks immediately resulting in a Surprisingly Sudden Death.
A side note for authors to avoid a Rouge Angles of Satin situation, there are only two "r"s in harbinger. "Harbringer" is not a word.
Subtrope of Herald. Compare Vagueness Is Coming.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- In the "Zodd The Immortal" episode of Berserk, a badly wounded Hawk Raider escapes the castle and only has enough time to choke out the name of the demon in question before dying, prompting Guts to enter the castle and take him on alone.
- In the manga version of Berserk, Guts is perpetually enacting this trope, due to the brand on his neck that attracts demons.
- In Nico Robin's backstory from One Piece, she is finally reunited with her mother after a traumatic childhood raised by abusive relatives. However, her mother is on the run from the Marines for the dangerous knowledge she, and her entire civilization possesses. Guess who followed her...
- Kotaro's return in Mahou Sensei Negima!.
- In episode 19 of Heroman, the government scientist who shows up just minutes ahead of the tentacle monster.
Comics
- Pariah from DC Comics whole gimmick is this. His main trick is popping up, stating "I'm Pariah and I'm doomed to go from world to world to see them get destroyed!", ad nauseum.
Film
Literature
- In the Stephen King story and film The Mist, a bleeding man runs into a grocery store and warns people about the monsters that are in the titular mist.
- It happens too in The Stand. At the beginning of the novel, the first infected almost blows up the gas station where one the main character is spending the day with some friends when he loses control of his car.
- A majority of Doc Savage novels begin this way outside Doc's reception room. The cleaning costs must be enormous...
- In The Riftwar Cycle: Literally. When the last city of their once multi-planet empire is close to falling, the taredhel retreat to Midkemia, their ancestral home - and the horde of demons pursuing them means to follow.
- "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
- In The Maltese Falcon, the shot and badly wounded Captain Jacobi manages to stumble into Sam Spade's office and press the eponymous MacGuffin into Sam's hands before expiring on the office floor. Trouble quickly follows.
- Lampshaded in Far North, by Marcel Theroux. A ragged, starved woman drags herself into the extremely isolated frontier town and dies in front of the grocery store. Makepeace reflects that they should have known she wouldn't be the last.
- From The Stormlight Archive "The Desolation has come. Oh, God...it has come. And I have failed." quoth Talanel'Elin the Lost Herald after stumbling into Kholinar and immediately before collapsing. Although he might not be dead.
Live Action TV
- Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere introduced Door this way. Richard thinks, "Oh, a bleeding and wounded girl; I'd better help her." His girlfriend thinks, "I'm going to be late for my meeting and she's probably drunk."
Video Games
- In the opening cinematic for the original Descent: FreeSpace game, the sole survivor of a patrol wing arrives outside a space station and starts screaming about 'death black' ships coming after him. Before he can calm down, the Shivans have already arrived. In the sequel, the sole survivor of Kappa wing, which disappeared a dozen or so missions earlier, shouts down the radio, warning to get out of the nebula. He's destroyed shortly thereafter, and the threat to which he refers is made plain some sorties later.
- In Prey, a Coast to Coast AM listener calls Art Bell and frantically tries to explain the proof he collected about regular alien abductions since 1995. Before he can calm down, the aliens abduct him.
- This occurs twice in NieR, first with Emil and then a Man of the Mask from Facade. Respectively, they bring warnings of an attack by Shades and the Knave of Hearts/a wolf attack during the King and Fyra's wedding. In both cases they're too late.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- More of a Heck's Comin' With Me: on Ben 10, a young camper is found frightened and babbling on the road after fleeing an alien mushroom-monster in "Camp Fear".
- This is pretty much the entire plot of the short film The Chubbchubbs.
- This is the plot of The Secret of Kells: Aidan of Iona shows up with the Book of Kells and Vikings on his tail. The rest of the film is about how to finish the book before the Vikings burn the abbey.
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