History Main / KilledOffScreen

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'': We never really get to see Athena get killed by the ship.

* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', the story of how [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Beatrice]]'s passed from Earth to {{Heaven}} is left unsung in [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]]'s poetry, because he didn't feel he could do the subject justice.

'''As a DeathTrope, beware of spoilers!'''

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Mello is last seen driving a truck with his captive Takada in it, thinking about Matt's death. The next time he's seen is as a dead body, when Takada calls Light to inform him that she was able to kill him with the Death Note.
* Krillin's first death in ''Manga/DragonBall''. Goku hears him scream and runs over to investigate, he finds his dead body on the floor with the tournament announcer lying injured next to him. He explains that a monster attacked, taking a list of names and a Dragon Ball and Krillin was killed trying to stop it. We later see what happened in the next episode when his killer, Tambourine, recalls in a flashback, he killed him with a kick to the head that broke his neck.
* In the last episode of ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', careful watching reveals that one of Black Forest's tanks did not make it to the town where Miho had retreated. It's possible that it broke down on the way there.

* Midnight in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is seen being attacked by villains before her call with her students gets cut short. Her body is later seen several chapters later when Best Jeanist thanks everyone who helped stop Gigantomachia, though it is left ambiguous whether she is dead by that point due to him thanking several unconscious heroes as well. At the end of the Paranormal Liberation War, several of her students are seen crying over her body, and she is confirmed as deceased when she is the first face on a list of casualties.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Orochimaru does this on two separate occasions during the Invasion of Konoha Arc. He sacrifices Zaku and Kin to summon the First and Second Hokages, and it's revealed after the invasion that he killed the Fourth Kazekage, his own ally, to steal his identity.

* In the penultimate chapter of ''Manga/TheSummerYouWereThere'', Shizuku visits Kaori, whose condition has taken a turn for the worse, in the hospital. After going home, Shizuku sends Kaori the ending of her book, which doubles as a LoveConfession, and late at night, Kaori replies, "Me too," in response. That morning, Shizuku wakes up and learns that Kaori has passed away.
* In the sequel of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'', [[spoiler:Shiori's mother]] dies of an illness years before the series starts.
* At some point before the last chapter of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Genkai passes away offscreen, [[SparedByTheAdaptation a death that does not happen in the anime]]. While she had died and been resurrected during the Dark Tournament arc, this death is permanent.

* Initially was the case for [[Franchise/TheFlash Barry Allen]]'s parents, Henry and Nora Allen. Back during the arc where Wally West first encountered Barry's EvilTwin, Malcolm Thawne/Cobalt Blue, it was established that Henry and Nora died shortly after Barry himself fell during ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', so even without the CosmicRetcon that Thawne went back, murdered Nora, and Henry died in prison after being framed for it, Barry was coming back to a world where his parents were no longer among the living.

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', the Beetle Gang, a group of minor upstart supervillains who were given Mysterio's tech, is offed as part of the Enforcers' introduction.
* On separate occasions in ''Fanfic/CelestiasRocketAdventures'' two members of Team Flare get killed off, the first by a group of fully evolved Pokémon that had been enslaved in Dark Balls, and the latter utterly incinerated by a vindictive Houndoom. The chapters that both events feature in end before the deaths actually take place.
* In ''Fanfic/TheDearSweetieBelleContinuity'', [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie]] has died by the start of ''The Changelings Have a King'', from unspecified natural causes.

* In ''[[https://www.wattpad.com/story/325408590-the-frozen-heart%27s-star The Frozen Heart's Star]]'', this fate happened with [[spoiler:Franchise/{{Kirby}}]] not once, but ''[[Main/DeaderThanDead twice]]''. The first time [[Main/DownplayedTrope wasn't really a death]], but it happened in-between Chapters [[https://www.wattpad.com/1281487513-the-frozen-heart%27s-star-chapter-4-a-suspicious-ice 4]] and [[https://www.wattpad.com/1281487782-the-frozen-heart%27s-star-chapter-5-another-frozen 5]], although [[Main/SoundOnlyDeath you can hear his poyo language, which sounded like him screaming in pain over getting struck in the chest hard and cold and as if he was screaming out for help]], at the end of the 4th chapter, and the second time was in the scrapped Extended Cut, despite that it might've took place after he died, with [[https://www.deviantart.com/apigirl000/art/Shocked-by-the-next-victim-891203052 this really shocking artwork of what happened with him]], which had absolutely no traces of him as an ice statue, but ''[[Main/SayMyName only his name]]'' [[Main/SayMyName was featured]], which inexplicably states that he was frozen to death by his HeroicSacrifice before then! For both times, though, the blue skin, purple feet, and Ice hat, (for the first time), and his fully icy body, along with the same Ice hat (for the second time), completely confirmed what happened to him during the fic.
* ''[[Fanfic/TheHeartTrilogy Heart of Ashes]]'': The deaths of Thorin Oakenshield, Fíli and Kíli (who appeared in the trilogy's first story) are this in the second book. [[ForegoneConclusion Their deaths are about the same as in book canon]]. In Thorin's case, it's also debatably a slightly more KarmicDeath for his responses -- or lack thereof -- to Kathryn's and (implied) Bard's [[WhatTheHellHero arguments against his cause]] in the first story.

* In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'', this happens at several points.

* ''[[Fanfic/{{Luminosity}} Radiance]]'': The werewolf Brady is killed when the Volturi turn his imprint, Pera, and the vampire mate-bond turns out not to reciprocate werewolf imprinting. This possibility is mentioned while Pera is turning, but neither Elspeth nor the audience finds out that it has actually ''happened'' until two weeks later.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' doesn't actually show the various supers being lured to their deaths by [[spoiler:Syndrome and his people]], but we do see a distraught Mr. Incredible learning of their deaths later - and even stumbling across the remains of Gazerbeam.
* Among the deaths in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'' are ComicBook/TheJoker (who was killed by the ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}-corrupted Batman during the two year TimeSkip) and ComicBook/AmandaWaller (who was already revealed to be terminally ill in ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay''; ''AW'' reveals it was cancer and confirms it claimed Waller).

* A lot of beloved Season 1 characters were killed during ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''. However, when Season 3 started, very few Autobots from the pre-movie seasons appeared and most that didn't appear were assumed to be this.
** In the episode "Dark Awakening", Daniel lists off some of the Autobots that died during the Great War. Prowl, Ironhide and Ratchet were explicitly and violently killed on-screen, but he also mentions Huffer, who only appears for less than a minute in the movie and doesn't die or even appear harmed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', The Guardian of the portal to the past is killed by Aku at some point in the 50-year TimeSkip between seasons 4 and 5.

* In the sequel of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'', [[spoiler:Shiori's mother]] dies of an illness years before the series start.

* ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'': Mizuki is arrested for treason and slated for execution just before the start of the TimeSkip. While the reader never sees him being killed, [[spoiler:the fact that he shows up as an Edo Tensei zombie during the Fourth Ninja War confirms it.]]

** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'': [[Characters/TheLostWorldJurassicPark Ajay]]. He's last seen in the film running into the Velociraptor-inhabited long grass after the rest of the disoriented party whilst warning them not to. Word of God says Ajay is [[spoiler:ripped apart in the long grass by the raptors]] albeit we do not see him get attacked. His death is only confirmed verbally by a despondent Tembo in a later scene in the film, although cause of death is never specified.

* The Kraken in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''. Despite being one of the central threats in [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest the previous film]], where it is main weapon of the villain Davy Jones and apparently [[Main/HeroKiller kills]] series protagonist Jack Sparrow, it appears in ''At World's End'' only briefly in one scene as a corpse washed ashore, after Cutler Beckett ordered Davy Jones to kill it, lest it be used against Beckett

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', President Shinra, the apparent BigBad, is last seen ordering the party to be imprisoned after they get caught infiltrating Shinra headquarters. When the party wakes up, President Shinra has been killed by Sephiroth[[note]]or rather, by one of Jenova's parts[[/note]], who establishes himself as the ''real'' BigBad.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', on the Golden Deer route [[spoiler:as well as the Church of Seiros's route]], Dimitri fights against Edelgard and is killed offscreen. A similar fate befalls Rodrigue (Felix's father) and Gilbert (Annette's father) on the [[spoiler:Church]] route. In the Crimson Flower route, Ladislava dies in battle offscreen in Chapter 15, and the dying Randolph tells Edelgard about Ladislava's death with his final breaths.

** ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Morooka is murdered by JackTheRipoff with his body being found by the police after the fog has lifted.

* Most film versions of ''Literature/LittleWomen'' avoid actually showing Beth's death. Of the major screen adaptations, only the 1994 film and the 2017 TV miniseries give her an onscreen death scene.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

* Owen from ''VideoGame/{{Propagation}}: Paradise Hotel'', your partner early on. You're forced into a LetsSplitUpGang situation, and hears some monstrous creature in the vents, so you quickly runs back to the rendezvous point where Owen's waiting for you. Alas, you find Owen's corpse with [[AnArmAndALeg his legs messily chewed off by that creature]].

* ''{{WebVideo/AFK}}'': [[spoiler: Maybel]] is killed in between seasons.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Mello is last seen driving a truck with his captive Takada in it, thinking about Matt's death. The next time he's seen is as a dead body, when Takada calls Light to inform him that she was able to kill him with the Death Note.

** Surprisingly enough, this happens to the main character, Jerry, who is killed off at the beginning of ''The Titans Strike Back''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidArielsBeginning'': We never really get to see Athena get killed by the ship.

* ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'':
** You will never get to see the principal shooting your other classmates in face if they get sent to his office. [[spoiler:You may, however, see the direct aftermath of the principal shooting Lily (namely, him being absolutely covered in her blood) in Ms. Applegate's route.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemBlazingSword'', this is the fate of both Brendan Reed and Sonia if you skip or don't unlock Night of Farewells. If you do play the sidequest you directly witness Sonia kill Brendan, and then kill her in a boss fight.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', on the Golden Deer route [[spoiler:as well as the Church of Seiros's route]], Dimitri fights against Edelgard and is killed offscreen. A similar fate befalls Rodrigue (Felix's father) on the [[spoiler:Church]] route. In the Crimson Flower route, Ladislava dies in battle offscreen in Chapter 15, and the dying Randolph tells Edelgard about Ladislava's death with his final breaths.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrosVSkyrim'', the Vigil of Stendarr is a ChurchMilitant order dedicated to hunting down and destroying supernatural threats to mortal life, including Daedra, Daedra worshipers, vampires, lycanthropes, and others. You can visit their headquarters, the Hall of the Vigilant south of Dawnstar, and speak with the members there, but it has no quest relevance. However, with the ''Dawnguard'' DLC installed, the Hall is destroyed and the members present are wiped out offscreen by the newly introduced Volkihar vampire clan. Slightly averted as the Vigilants are still very much active and even have another base near Riften.

* The ViralMarketing for ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' reveals Angel and Azazel were [[spoiler:shot by the CIA between ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' and the JFK assassination. In the actual movie, Magneto lists them among some mutants who died. Later Angel's wings are seen stored in a government vault.]]