History Main / DeathByFlashback

* Bleeding Gums Murphy in ''TheSimpsons'' reveals a whole bunch of [[BelatedBackStory previously unmentioned backstory]] about him before he dies in the episode "'Round Springfield". There's also a hint that he may be Dr. Hibbert's long-lost brother, but it never goes beyond a brief throwaway joke.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' loves this trope though subversions also appear. Fans often joke about a character going down with "a terminal case of flashbacks".

Basically, if a character experiences an extended flashback sequence, often explaining his origins and, especially, getting rid of all the loose ends in his BackStory, there is a good chance that he is going to be KilledOffForReal. If this is combined with gloomy omens, such as cracking pottery or falling flower petals, he is almost certainly done for.

* The Sheriff in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' dies in the episode where we learn his fairy-tale identity.

[[folder: Anime And Manga]]

* On ''Series/{{Angel}}'' Fred got both extended flashbacks before she was taken over by Illyria and a ReallyDeadMontage after she died and Illyria took over.

* In ''{{The Vampire Diaries}}'', Elena has flashbacks about life before the Salvatores came to town. She dies the same way her parents did.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' it's common for someone to get their expository flashback the episode of or right before their death. Calamity Mary gets an episode to breathe while Ruler, Magicaloid 44, Hardgore Alice, Minael, and Cranberry all have their backstories shown the episode they die. Tama subverts it by getting her flashback right after she dies.

* Regius Gaiz and Zest Grangaitz of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'', who both get killed soon after we receive a flashback that reveal their BackStory.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' it's common for someone to get their expository flashback the episode of or right before their death. Calamity Mary and Top Speed get an episode to breathe while Magicaloid 44, Hardgore Alice, Minael, and Cranberry all have their backstories shown the episode they die. Ruler and Tama subvert it by getting their flashbacks right after they die.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' it's common for someone to get their expository flashback the episode of or right before their death. Calamity Mary, and Top Speed get an episode to breathe while Magicaloid 44, Hardgore Alice, Minael, and Cranberry all have their backstories shown the episode they die. Ruler and Tama subvert it by getting their flashbacks right after they die.

* After failing to cast suspicion on Falsetto, Claves of ''EternalSonata'' is killed by one of the people she was working with. She does not, however, die immediately; we have to watch several snippets of conversation from earlier cutscenes, some extremely recent. This is mingled with musing on why she failed, both in her mission, and in her love life.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendofKorra'' both Tarlock and his brother Noatok get an extended flashback moments before they die.

* In the 1975 TV movie ''Katherine'', the main character sits on a stool as she tells you how she went from college student to violent radical. At the end she dies when a bomb she is delivering goes off prematurely. We return to the stool and it is empty and she is gone. About 3/4 of the way through I suddenly thought of Spoon River Anthology.

* ''Film/MenaceIISociety'', has Caine telling his story about the summer in Los Angeles where he'd eventually get murdered in a drive-by-shooting right before the start of fall where he planned to move from his gang infested area and leave the street life behind. Done as a [[{{Anvilicious}} cautionary]] tale about how the street life leads to prison or death, as his mentor who brought him into the street life ended up doing life in prison. Sadly, many whom liked the film, [[MisaimedFandom didn't get the message]].

* Ted Kord in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''. He is, of course, not quite the BlueBeetle focused on for this show, but his extended flashback shows how he was as a character and the legacy Jaime must live up to.

* ''EdenItsAnEndlessWorld'': PlayedWith. Anyone who tells his backstory another character dies pretty soon afterwards. However, flashbacks happening for the reader's eyes only don't seem to trigger a death.
* The ''{{Trigun}}'' episode, ''Paradise'', focuses a lot on Wolfwood and he dies at the end.

* Shannon, Ana, Eko, Nikki, Paolo, and Faraday in ''{{Lost}}''. Subverted by Charlie whose final flashback episode is about him coming to grips with his impending death, and preparing himself for it. Due to a ProphecyTwist the end of the episode, he is still alive. He dies in the next episode, after the spotlight has moved on. Juliet might also qualify, as said character did have a flashback in her (possibly) final episode, even though the episode was centered on another character. And the character said episode ''was'' centered around, Jacob, also seemed to meet his doom by the end.

* In the ''CowboyBebop'''s GrandFinale, we finally get to see what went down between Spike and Vicious, something that had just been hinted at earlier. Guess which two that are going to end up killing each other...

* Mosp from ''SluggyFreelance'' got her own flashback [[StoryArc mini-arc]] immediately before being [[DroppedABridgeOnHim getting killed off quick]].
* An unusual example in the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' parody issue of ''{{Nodwick}}''. Because the two warriors of Clan [=MacClod=] were concentrating on their extended flashback to a previous adventure, they weren't paying attention while Yeager walked up to them and cut their heads off.

* ''MenaceIISociety'', has Caine telling his story about the summer in Los Angeles where he'd eventually get murdered in a drive-by-shooting right before the start of fall where he planned to move from his gang infested area and leave the street life behind. Done as a [[{{Anvilicious}} cautionary]] tale about how the street life leads to prison or death, as his mentor who brought him into the street life ended up doing life in prison. Sadly, many whom liked the film, [[MisaimedFandom didn't get the message]].

* For a long time this was the only way characters died in {{One Piece}}. That is until Ace and Whitebeard.

** The same thing happens to Nucky Thompson. All of Season 5 shows flashbacks of Thompson's life: From a poor boy who felt powerless, to eventually becoming a trusted employee for the Commodore as a young man. This ultimately ends by showing Nucky making the one choice which gave him his rise in power as well as foreshadowed and sealed his death: Him giving a thirteen year old Gillian over to the Commodore in order to become a part of his inner circle. He's killed by the grandson that cruel union eventually produced, as revenge for Nucky killing this father, Jimmy Darmody who was Gillian's son by the Commodore.