History Main / ItIsNotYourTime

* ''Film/LastActionHero''. Death tells Danny -- a young boy at the time this takes place -- that he dies a grandfather.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop: Knocking On Heaven's Door'':
** As an example of this as a stock phrase, Vincent nearly kills Spike and throws him out a monorail to die. Spike is rescued by some people who look like Native Americans, one of whom tells him that it wasn't his time.

[[folder:Comics]]

* [[ComicBook/StrangersInParadise Emma tells Katchoo this when the latter is on the verge of death]].

* Roleplay/DCNation plays with this. While [[ComicBook/TheSandman The Endless]] are part of the universe, Death herself is very enigmatic about when it is and isn't someone's time. She ''does'' have a pair of "agents" working on her behalf, though. Jonah Hex is her "bounty hunter," collecting the souls that are overdue, and the OriginalCharacter Ash (the ghost of a 9-11 firefighter) is sent to protect people who shouldn't die yet.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11494031/1/Fair-Lady Fair Lady]]'', [[ComicBook/TheSandman Death]] warns a young Literature/HarryPotter about doing hazardous activities, citing that he's still too young to join her.

* In the last episode of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Spawn}}'' [[AnimatedAdaptation animated series]], [[spoiler:Spawn uses his shroud to allow Granny to see her late husband again. She begs him to take her with him, but he tells her that it's not her time and there are people who still need her.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Puhoy", Finn winds up trapped in a world made entirely of pillows where his human abilities make him a living legend. He settles down, raises a family, and eventually dies of old age. But right after he dies, he's flying towards some kind of monster (presumably the guardian of the pillow-world's afterlife) but bounces off of it and pops out the pile of pillows in his house as his young self.

-->Theresa: Death is not your destiny today, little Sparrow.

--> King Radamthas: Your future is cloaked in shadow. The world of the afterlife is not yet ready for you.

* ''Film/DateWithAnAngel'' [[spoiler: centers on this trope. The titular Angel is injured while coming to earth to escort the protagonist, Jim, to the afterlife. Once she regains her powers, she prays to God to spare Jim from the brain tumor that's killing him. It works.]]

** In "The Fisher King (Part 2)", Elle talks with her dead father after being shot by an [=UnSub=]. Somewhat bizarrely, the entire conversation (which is interspersed throughout the episode) takes place on the team's jet, which is slowly being emptied of furniture. At the end of the episode, Elle returns to life, and her father promises they'll see each other again, when it's her time.
** In "Epilogue", there was an [=UnSub=] who would drown people and then try to bring them back to life to ask them if they saw a light or something. At the end of the episode, he almost drowns and we see his dream or whatever and then we hear a angelic voice saying "It's not your time, Chase". He wakes up and Prentiss repeats the line as her and Reid are arresting him.

* In one episode of ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'', a rather morbid kid obsessed with death is mistaken for a wandering spirit ready to enter the afterlife by some sort of spiritual attendant (played by Gilbert Godfrey). He eventually gets thrown into the afterlife...and is promptly thrown out. He explains that "they" said he wasn't dead yet. The kid seems to take that to heart and is noticably less morbid at the end of the episode.
* Mac gets told this, though not verbatim, by his late wife Claire in the ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode "Near Death", where he's been shot and is hovering on the brink.

* After falling in a river and seeming to drown in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater, Snake ends up in a very different river (evocative of Styx) in which he encounters a specter called the Sorrow (evocative of Death) along with the restless souls of every enemy the player has killed throughout the game thus far. If the ensuing boss fight goes on long enough without the player figuring out the [[PuzzleBoss trick]], the Sorrow will tell Snake that he doesn't belong here... not yet, anyway.

** In ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', Death is out fishing. His lure scares all the fish into the basket of someone fishing nearby, who is then pulled into the river. Death saves him, and when asked why, responds with:

** In ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', when he shows up before Granny Weatherwax, she asks if she is dying or is going to die. Death replies [[AC:Yes]]. But she then reasons that Death is more or less immortal, so to him, ''everyone'' is "dying", so [[MathematiciansAnswer that doesn't really mean much]].

* Kratos chooses his time in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''. Even the Judges of the Underworld admit that Kratos did not belong in the afterlife yet.

* ''Manga/KimetsuNoYaiba'': In the aftermath of Zenitsu’s winning bout against Kaigaku he has a vision of the river of death, Zenitsu sees his beloved master on the other side, Zenitsu apologizes for not being a good pupil and preventing his death, the master however cries tears of joy and tells Zenitsu he has always been his pride and joy, Zenitsu tries to cross the river to his master’s side but vines bind his feet, preventing him from crossing over, symbolizing it’s not Zenitsu’s time just yet, he then gets reanimated back to life.

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': in ''Inferno'' when the Toa Inika reach the Chamber of Death, Matoro offers himself as a sacrifice so that the rest can continue further. He is promptly killed ... and then revived, as the voice that commanded the sacrifice says it wasn't his time and lets the group continue on. The whole trial in the chamber was a test of courage.

[[quoteright:345:[[Franchise/{{Bobbinsverse}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c72dfa9064efaed590302640256d6d01.png]]]]

* The Eleventh Doctor in the ''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]" is at the end of his final regeneration, and is dying from old age, about to be KilledOffForReal, when the Time Lords grant him a new regeneration cycle. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He then uses the energy from "regeneration number thirteen", to destroy the Dalek fleet attacking Trenzalore]], and manages to remain for several more minutes as the [[Creator/MattSmith Eleventh]] [[TheNthDoctor Doctor]], before permanently changing into the [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Twelfth Doctor]].

* In the Franchise/{{Bobbinsverse}}, Death himself is a little cynical about these things. [[http://www.scarygoround.com/?date=20150220 His response to someone even starting the line is "Cliché party."]]

* ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'': Near the end of the game when preparing to reset the house's breaker one last time, [[spoiler: you suddenly get electrocuted to death. Following a surreal trip through a glowing blue tunnel to a floating blue platform in space with spinning gothic arches, an angel shows up and says not only this line, but also reminds you of your overall goal, and gives you [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish wisdom]] to continue what you were doing.]]

* ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'': Near the end of the game when preparing to reset the house's breaker one last time, you suddenly get electrocuted to death. Following a surreal trip through a glowing blue tunnel to a floating blue platform in space with spinning gothic arches, an angel shows up and says not only this line, but also reminds you of your overall goal, and gives you [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish wisdom]] to continue what you were doing.

** In another case, when he shows up before Granny Weatherwax, she asks if she is dying. Death replies [[AC:Yes]]. But she then reasons that Death is (more or less) immortal, so to him, ''everyone'' is "dying", so [[MathematiciansAnswer that doesn't really mean much]]. Death agrees with that, and eventually states that no, he is not here at the moment to collect her soul.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Finn winds up trapped in a world made entirely of pillows where his human abilities make him a living legend, he settles down, raises a family, and eventually dies of old age. But right after he dies, he's flying towards some kind of monster (presumably the guardian of the pillow-world's afterlife) but bounces off of it and pops out the pile of pillows in his house as his young self.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, anthropomorphic personification of Death is rather prone to this.
** In ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', the Death is out fishing. His lure scares all the fish into the basket of someone fishing nearby, who is then pulled into the river. Death saves him, and when asked why, responds with:

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', the anthropomorphic personification of Death is out fishing. His lure scares all the fish into the basket of someone fishing nearby, who is then pulled into the river. Death saves him, and when asked why, responds with:
** [[AC:For later.]]