History Main / MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'''s Daisy Fitzroy is stopped from murdering a child only by the intervention of Elizabeth... then the ''BioshockInfinite/BurialAtSea'' DLC reveals that Fitzroy had ''no intention'' of murdering the boy, was actually upset at the idea of even making the empty threat, and only went through with the plan because she was told up front that she would die at Elizabeth's hands, and that her death would harden Elizabeth into the woman who would be instrumental in bringing down [[BigBad Zachary Comstock]] and by extension Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine.

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

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' has a couple of examples of this - notably the Weskers.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Mello's last move involves his own death. His sidekick Matt also dies, though this wasn't necessary.

* Goku's death in episode 5 of ''Manga/DragonBallZ'' sets up his afterlife journey to power up for the battle against Vegeta and Nappa.
** In Movie 7, Dr. Gero's death (not by the main characters) sets off the finishing of three more androids (15, 14, and BigBad 13).

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Fanfic/Gameknight999Series'', [[spoiler:Herobrine leaves behind malicious code after his death, which will corrupt and overload the Minecraft server]].
[[/folder]]

* Freddy Krueger gets such a moment in the pilot episode, and then the opening credits, of his spinoff series ''Series/FreddysNightmares''. Once he's been set on fire, he triumphantly shouts "I'll be back, I'm free!" and laughs maniacally before he dies, as though he already knew what his death [[AGodAmI would bring]]. Oddly enough, [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare the sixth movie]] of the ''Elm Street'' franchise later showed the exact same scene in a flashback, except this time there's no such moment of triumph (instead, he makes a desperate DealWithTheDevil while dying).

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

* In the ''Literature/Gameknight999Series'', [[spoiler:Herobrine leaves behind malicious code after his death, which will corrupt and overload the Minecraft server]].

* In the ''Literature/Gameknight999Series'', Herobrine leaves behind malicious code after his death, which will corrupt and overload the Minecraft server.

->''"The Darkness is not so easily destroyed! No... my death is just the beginning!"''
-->-- '''Pious Augustus''', ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', the {{Trope Namer|s}}

** In OVA Movie 7, Dr. Gero's death (not by the main characters) sets off the finishing of three more androids (15, 14, and BigBad 13).

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': In Part 5, Carne approaches the plane the heroes are about to take, apparently unarmed. Mista guns him down on the spot. Unfortunately for the heroes, Carne was something of a suicide bomber - [[DeathActivatedSuperpower his death was the trigger to awaken Notorious B.I.G.]], one of the most powerful and dangerous Stands in the series. (How powerful? Try ''absolutely indestructible''.)
** Part 6 touches on this again and ends up seemingly turning it into a type of Stand of it's own. Sports Maxx has the Stand ability Limp Bizkit, which takes the form of maggots rooting themselves into corpses. These corpses are then turned into invisible, inaudible zombies. [[spoiler:The user is not exempt from this.]]

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Ganondorf's final words are a promise to Link and Zelda that his death will not change anything, reassuring them that he will insure that the history of light and shadow will be written in the blood of his enemies. All of this was conceivably working under the premise that one day he expected his Triforce of Power would revive him from the dead despite his defeat at Link's hand. Ganondorf's Triforce of Power symbol on his right hand then powers down and disappears from his hand entirely, leaving things up in the air if Ganondorf will ever return.

* ''Literature/NightOfTheNecromancer'' starts with the protagonist's death, and continues with his soul making a deal with the [[TheGrimReaper Watcher of the Gate]] to uncover the circumstances of his death and save his sister from suffering the same fate as himself.

* Desty Nova in ''Manga/{{GUNNM}}''.
** He gets better. More than once. And, currently, has multiple versions of himself around, EACH with separate plans.

[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* In Literature/TheBible, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
** By having himself killed in a particularly nasty and brutal way after a mock trial, Jesus made it sure he would be far more dangerous to his enemies dead than alive. He managed to stain the reputation of Pharisees and Sadduceans ever after, and by having himself martyred he made sure his teachings would live on and on.

* In ''VideoGame/Hitman2016, the "Patient Zero" campaign only continues because of Oybek Nabazov's dead mans trigger waking up sleeper agents that 47 has to then take care of in Italy (a live virus sample is being traded for use at a convention), Colorado (a testing bed for the virus overseen by a doctor) and Hokkaido (where the titular Patient Zero is being treated), in order to stop a deadly global pandemic from breaking free.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' ends with a song where the villain AI, [=GlaDOS=], taunts that she is "Still Alive", that your escape taught her new things, and that she is continuing her research on new subjects. It spawned one of the largest internet memes ever.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': In an alternate universe of the DCU, although ComicBook/TheJoker [[KickTheSonOfABitch was killed off early]] in the game by a grieving Superman for tricking him into killing his wife Lois and nuking Metropolis, the MonsterClown did have the last laugh as his VillainousLegacy of causing Superman's downfall and the subsequent fallout has slowly led to the collapse of everything good in the ''Injustice''-verse, most notably the Justice League falling apart due to the enmity between Batman and Superman. Ironically, [[BatmanGambit this is exactly what the Joker]] [[ThanatosGambit ultimately intended]], including the part where it got him killed: to prove that others can be NotSoDifferent from him if they had "a really bad day" in his twisted StrawNihilist mindset. Things haven't much in [[VideoGame/Injustice2 the sequel]], as even though he's DeadAllAlong in the game and only appears as a Fear Toxin-induced hallucination to Harley in chapter 2, he still haunts everybody even from beyond the grave, and many pre-match intros even discuss about the chaotic situation he left in his wake. Worse still, Doctor Fate notes that the Joker's scheme worked so well that it's causing [[OrderIsNotGood the Lords of Order]] to give up on humanity and back [[BigBad Brainiac's]] invasion, believing that he'll restore the balance, ''despite knowing'' the Coluan's countless crimes. Fate also warns that if Batman and Superman keep on fighting each other, [[spoiler:then the Lords will back even bigger threats.]]

->''"The Darkness is not so easily destroyed! No... [[TropeNamer my death is just the beginning]]!"''
-->-- '''Pious Augustus''', ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''

%%** Cornell's storyline in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness''.

* In ''VideoGame/Hitman2016, the "Patient Zero" campaign only continues because of Oybek Nabazov's dead mans trigger waking up sleeper agents that 47 has to then take care of,l in order to stop a deadly global pandemic from breaking free.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hitman2016}}, the "Patient Zero" campaign only continues because of Oybek Nabazov's dead mans trigger waking up sleeper agents that 47 has to then take care of,l in order to stop a deadly global pandemic from breaking free.

* Freddy Krueger gets such a moment in the pilot episode, and then the opening credits, of his spinoff series ''Series/FreddysNightmares''. Once he's been set on fire, he triumphantly shouts "I'm free, I'm ''free''!" and laughs maniacally before he dies, as though he already knew what his death [[AGodAmI would bring]]. Oddly enough, [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare the sixth movie]] of the ''Elm Street'' franchise later showed the exact same scene in a flashback, except this time there's no such moment of triumph (instead, he makes a desperate DealWithTheDevil while dying).

* [[MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics']] ComicBook/TheDefenders originated as a result of this sort of plan by a forgotten enemy of Dr. Strange, who had created a technomagical device that would destroy the Earth if he died -- then stepped in front of a bus. Strange gathered the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner to stop the device from working, only to find out they were part of the EvilPlan already. Eventually, the villain returned anyway.

--->'''Denby Jilks:''' Do you think Paul Saveen will let being dead stop him?

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Ganondorf's final words are a promise to Link and Zelda that his death will not change anything, reassuring them that he will insure that the history of light and shadow will be written in the blood of his enemies. All of this was conceivably working under the premise that one day he expected his Triforce of Power would revive him from the dead despite his defeat at Link's hand. Ganondorf's Triforce of Power symbol on his right hand then powers down and disappears from his hand entirely, leaving things up in the air if Ganondorf will ever return.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': In an alternate universe of the DCU, although ComicBook/TheJoker [[KickTheSonOfABitch was killed off early]] in the game by a grieving Superman for tricking him into killing his wife Lois and nuking Metropolis, the MonsterClown certainly had the last laugh as his VillainousLegacy of causing Superman's FaceHeelTurn and the subsequent fallout in later years has slowly led to the collapse of everything good in the DCU, including the Justice League falling apart, [[WeUsedToBeFriends Superman and Batman hating each other]], and the deaths of many who tried to stop Superman. Ironically, [[BatmanGambit this is precisely what the Joker]] [[ThanatosGambit ultimately intended]], including the part where it got him killed: to prove that anybody can be NotSoDifferent from him if they had "a really bad day" in his twisted StrawNihilist mindset, all ForTheEvulz. Things haven't much in [[VideoGame/Injustice2 the sequel]], as even though he's DeadAllAlong in the game and only appears as a Fear Toxin-induced hallucination to Harley in chapter 2, he still haunts everybody even from beyond the grave, and certain pre-match intros show that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even villains]] such as Gorilla Grodd, Poison Ivy and Captain Cold [[HateSink despise him]] for the chaos he left in his wake. Worse still, Doctor Fate notes that the Joker's scheme worked so well that it's causing [[OrderIsNotGood the Lords of Order]] to give up on humanity and back [[BigBad Brainiac's]] invasion, believing that he'll restore order, ''despite knowing'' what the Coluan has stored for Earth. Fate also warns that if the infighting between Batman and Superman keeps on going, [[spoiler:then the Lords will back an even bigger threat.]]

* Miyori Sahara from ''Manga/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.

Compare SuicideByCop, in which dying is the goal and not a step. It usually also makes [[FaceDeathWithDignity Facing Death With Dignity]] a little easier. Also compare/contrast ThanatosGambit, in which the villain or hero's death is the final part of a complex plan. It can also overlap with VillainousLegacy. Take into consideration NiceJobBreakingItHero as well (when either the hero kills the villain without considering the consequences, or does it anyway despite the warnings of what might happen). Is frequently the motivation for/preceded by "StrikeMeDown."

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': In Part 5, Carne approaches the plane the heroes are about to take, apparently unarmed. Mista guns him down on the spot. Unfortunately for the heroes, Carne was something of a suicide bomber - his death was the trigger to awaken Notorious B.I.G., one of the most powerful and dangerous Stands in the series. (How powerful? Try ''absolutely indestructible''.)

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'': During his battle with Soma, Demon Lord candidate Dmitrii came to the realization that the true heir to Dracula's powers is not necessarily the one who was born with them only the one who possess them. So he allowed Soma to kill him and then Soma seemingly adsorbed Dmitrii's soul. Once inside Soma's soul, Dmitri copied the Power of Dominance and all the souls that Soma had gained up to that point. When Soma witnessed Celia killing Mina (actually a doppelganger of his childhood friend), he almost lost control and gave up to the darkness but was prevent if the player equipped Mina's Talisman before the confrontation. Dmitrii took advantage of this moment of weakness to exit Soma's body and then revived himself using the doppelganger as a host body. Unfortunately for Dmitrii, he was proven wrong in the end: his human soul lacked the strength to handle the power of the multiple souls he obtained. He died upon losing control of the countless demons inside of him which then merged together into Menace, a colossal abomination and FinalBoss of the game.