History Main / MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning

* Aslan in ''The Chronicles of {{Narnia}}: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe''.
** Should be noted that Aslan is Christ -- *IS* Christ -- and thus is linked to the Bible reference below.

* In MercedesLackey's ''[[HeraldsOfValdemar Mage Wars]]'' trilogy, the wizard[=/=]warlord Ma'ar said something to this effect as he killed himself moments before his stronghold underwent the EarthShatteringKaboom thing. Considering that he had found a way to send his soul into hiding until he could hijack a descendant, this was a rather accurate assessment.

* In ''GuildWars'', PLAYERS can sometimes do this (though usually only in pvp). There was once a gimmick build involving this (it was hit by nerf collateral, but still technically works), where players suicided to provide corpses necessary to power production of army of undead minions. since Death Is Cheap, this was a viable tactic. Another build involved abusing Edge of Extinction, an environmental effect that that caused health loss when a creature of same type died (i.e., damage to human if human within range died). Several players on the opposing side could suicide to trigger this effect, instantly wiping opposing team without even having to be close to them, and if some precaution was takes so that suicide team would have one survivor ... instant victory. Another [=PvP=] tactic with similar effect was abusing Warrior skills 'I Will Avenge You!' that gave bonus for each dead ally within range. Hilarity ensued when people started running several warriors with pets (which also count as allies) and PETA took notice. In [[PlayerVersusEnvironment PvE]] this is much tamer, but still: The only way to get title of 'Legendary Defender of Ascalon' is to let monsters level up by killing player repeatedly so that player can kill them later for experience, this usually consists of luring monsters to respawn point and letting them camp player for several hours. Similar tactics are also used when obtaining high-level pets: instead of capturing low-level version and leveling it by normal gameplay, player can elect to aggro pet, lure it to respawn point and let it level off by killing and camping the character while the player browses TV Tropes. And then there is a resurrection skill called 'Vengeance' that returns player to full life with hefty damage buff, and there are many interesting combination of abuse of the skill Rebirth (resurrects dead player and teleports him to casters location) and necrotic traversal (Players teleports to corpse): If players can manage to kill foe beyond obstacle, one party member can traversal through it and have rest of party commit suicide and then rebirth them to the other side. As you can see, Dying Is Fun in Guild Wars.

* ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': This ''Anime/{{Mazinger|Z}}'' series gave us a rare heroic example. In the GoNagai manga, a [[{{Robeast}} Saucer Beast]] cornered [[TheHero Duke Fleed]] and [[TheDragon Blackie]] demanded that he reveal Grendizer’s hideout. He refused to talk and assured that ''[[Anime/MazingerZ all]]'' ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger his]]'' ''[[Manga/GetterRobo friends]]'' would go on fighting until they defeated them using his HumongousMecha.

* In ''FireEmblemAkaneia'', be careful not to slay Medeus before you recruited or killed the Noble sisters or they will offer their lives to Medeus.

* Subverted by Prince Vigo in ''Film/GhostbustersII''. Despite his apparent last words being "Death is but a door; time but a window. I'll be back!", it was not his intention to die and become all powerful. He was murdered with extreme prejudice against his wishes, and just happened to have a way to reincarnate as an immortal overlord a few centuries later.

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''[[Literature/EndersGame Ender in Exile]]'', when two characters both come up with a plan to expose their rival for "who he really is" that involves being beaten to death (or almost) by the other character and recording a video of it. And try to do this to each other at the same time.

* In OrsonScottCard's ''[[EndersGame Ender in Exile]]'', when two characters both come up with a plan to expose their rival for "who he really is" that involves being beaten to death (or almost) by the other character and recording a video of it. And try to do this to each other at the same time.

* Mellar in ''[[{{Dragaera}} Jhereg]]'' attempted this, to start a war between the Houses of Dragon and Jhereg; unfortunately for him but fortunately for everyone else, he was OutGambitted by the protagonists.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Belkar tries to provoke Miko into killing him so that she would get her status as Paladin revoked. [[DeathIsCheap He assumed that his teammates could just resurrect him afterward.]] However, this is subverted as V points out that they needed 5,000 GP's worth of diamond dust, which they did not have. Also given that he's a {{jerkass}} SociopathicHero going on VillainProtagonist, his teammates might not have been willing or (and given they were in a Lawful Good country in which he had murdered someone) able to gather the components to Raise him.

Protagonists are also capable of doing this, but more often than not those are just undertakings that are [[HeroicSacrifice considered suicide]] and not part of some master scheme. If anyone on the hero side pulls this off, it will probably be TheObiWan, complete with an ObiWanMoment.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Sephiroth [[SubvertedTrope doesn't fall into this,]] as he wasn't planning at all on his demise at Nibelheim. However, it did ultimately put him and Jenova in the position to cause the events of the game several years later. Then the game flips the trope into a rare heroic usage ''without'' even using TheObiWan; the game heavily implies ''Aerith'' manages to do this thanks to being Cetra, and ultimately saves the world in the end by getting the planet itself to help Holy defeat Sephiroth's Meteor. To reiterate: [[BigGood the flower girl]] [[ThanatosGambit outsmarted the strongest man on the planet]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by essentially using her death at his hands to counteract his plan at the last minute.]] It's open to interpretation if this is what she really intended, but there's a lot of evidence suggesting it.

* Friend from TwentiethCenturyBoys tries to do one of these by faking his death. Unfortunately, he underestimated one of his subordinates, who seizes the opportunity to kill him for real and take his place in the scheme.

* ''EternalDarkness: Sanity's Requiem'' is the TropeNamer, although Pious Augustus, the character who utters the eponymous phrase, [[SubvertedTrope isn't actually an example]].

* In ''{{Tenchu}}: Wrath of Heaven'', if you kill a white ninja, they shout 'I'LL BE BACK! In another fo~orm!'
* The first campaign in ''SpellForce''.

->''"The Darkness is not so easily destroyed! No... my death is just the beginning!"''

* Citizen Soldier, a constantly-reincarnating CaptainAmerica {{Expy}} from ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}: Team Achilles''. Anticipating that the protagonists, who know about his reincarnation cycle, will put him in cryogenic suspension, he arranges for someone less knowledgeable to find out his location and kill him right as the protagonists are about to take him into custody.

* In the backstory to TadWilliams' ''MemorySorrowAndThorn'' trilogy, the [[TheFairFolk Sithi]] prince Ineluki attempts to use forbidden magic to destroy the human forces invading the city of Asu'a, but the spell [[PhlebotinumOverload backfires]] and kills him and his five servants. However, his spirit survives and eventually returns to haunt the world as the Storm King.

* Miyori Sahara from ''AyashiNoCeres'', who kills herself in the most gruesome way she can come up with (by flying to the highest building in her surroundings and throwing herself off there) as revenge against Aya, whose alter-ego Ceres murdered Miyori's beloved mother in her initial RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* Masaki Kihara of ''HadesProjectZeorymer''. He was killed by Oki before the start of the series. However, by creating clones of himself with [[DysfunctionJunction personality flaws galore]], an [[ArtificialHuman android with the ability to grow up]] to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild serve as the titular mech's main system]], [[BrainUploading implanting his personality into said mech]] so that he can pull a SplitPersonalityTakeover on one of the clones when the time is right. In his own words: ''he gambled with himself for control of the entire world.'' It was a GambitRoulette in which he was able to bet half of everything on red and the other half on blue. Thankfully for the world, [[SpannerInTheWorks the ball lands on 0]] as a result of one of his clones [[SplitPersonalityMerge overpowering his personality and then incorporating it into himself]], and then blowing the other remaining clone to bits.

* Citizen Soldier, a constantly-reincarnating CaptainAmerica {{Expy}} from ''{{Stormwatch}}: Team Achilles''. Anticipating that the protagonists, who know about his reincarnation cycle, will put him in cryogenic suspension, he arranges for someone less knowledgeable to find out his location and kill him right as the protagonists are about to take him into custody.

* Unfortunately, the motive of every lunatic suicide terrorist who wants to be an inspiring martyr.

* Parodied in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10 this strip]] of ''PennyArcade''.
** There are also a couple of shirts [[http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/pah070071.html]] [[http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/pah070072.html]] with the same basic text.

* Obi-Wan Kenobi's death in ''StarWars'' is either a heroic version of this trope or a HeroicSacrifice depending on whom you ask.

*** It's also hinted in the now non-canon ComicBook/DarkEmpire arc that Palpatine planned for his own death so he could grow stronger in the dark side, or at least created a back up plan involving cloning in case his original body had been unexpectedly killed that consequentially resulted in him gaining more power.

* Subverted by Prince Vigo in the second ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' movie. Despite his apparent last words being "Death is but a door; time but a window. I'll be back!", it was not his intention to die and become all powerful. He was murdered with extreme prejudice against his wishes, and just happened to have a way to reincarnate as an immortal overlord a few centuries later.
* Due to a device attached to his heart, the death of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jason Wynn]] in ''{{Spawn}}'' would cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** Seymour in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is hardly affected by death. It's probably not wanted, but he doesn't care much and instead increases in strength, whenever he returns. Further, upon revealing his plans to learn how to control Sin from within, he relishes that (due to {{ResurrectiveImmortality}}) he has all the time in the world to accomplish this goal. Also "main villain" Sin's death is nothing but a break for the people to catch their breath before it returns.

** Seymour in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is hardly affected by death. It's probably not wanted, but he doesn't care much and instead increases in strength, whenever he returns. Also "main villain" Sin's death is nothing but a break for the people to catch their breath, before it returns.

* In DJ MacHale's Pendragon series [[spoiler: in Raven Rise, book 9, Naymeer, the leader of a huge cult, is killed by Bobby. It turned out his death made him a martyr to the cult, and corrupted Bobby.]]