History Main / MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning

* While not exactly his plan, the Master in the new ''DoctorWho'' series creates a cult of FanGirls and leaves specific instructions on what to do in case he is killed. After he is shot by his wife, he chooses not to regenerate so as not to end up the Doctor's prisoner, and because he knows his followers will bring him back to life. Unfortunately for him, his resurrection is sabotaged by his wife, which causes him to [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]]. Worse, this all may have been a XanatosRoulette of [[strike:TimothyDalton]] the Time Lords.

There are plenty of reasons for why these plans are drawn up. Sometimes it is to evade justice from the heroes; the villain knows that if he is successful, someone will want to take revenge. Perhaps the character doesn't want to die ''per se'', but knows that there's no way around it if he wants to succeed. It could be a XanatosGambit to turn TheHero to TheDarkSide, or maybe the villain's death is part of an overarching XanatosRoulette and it will set in motion events the heroes couldn't possibly predict. Still, there are [[XanatosFuneral some bastards who just love to have the last laugh]].

* While not exactly his plan, the Master in the new ''DoctorWho'' series creates a cult of FanGirls and leaves specific instructions on what to do in case he is killed. After he is shot by his wife, he chooses not to regenerate so as not to end up the Doctor's prisoner, and because he knows his followers will bring him back to life. Unfortunately for him, his resurrection is sabotaged by his wife, which causes him to [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]]. Worse, this all may have been a XanatosGambit of [[strike:TimothyDalton]] the Time Lords.

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. 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/preceeded by "StrikeMeDown."

* At the end of VForVendetta, V does this, although here he seems to just commit SuicideByCop once his XanatosGambit is almost finished.

* In ''IRobot'', Dr. Alfred Lanning orders Sonny to kill him by throwing him out of his office window. He does this in order to attract Detective Spooner's attention because he knows that the vehemently anti-robot Spooner would fully investigate the incident and discover the inherent flaw in the Three Laws Of Robotics.

* In [[Film/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes]], Blackwood when asked if he had any last words before his hanging declares that death is only the beginning. Of course, he comes back from the dead and wrecks fear and havoc across England. Turns out he actually faked his death and would eventually get his KarmicDeath in the end.

* Albus Dumbledore in ''HarryPotter''.

* ''WarriorCats'': Tigerstar spends all his time in the afterlife walking in other cats dreams and training them to kill Firestar. However, sickness as well as Firestar's own [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifices]] have done a better job of killing him off than Tigerstar's interferance.

* In the backstory to TadWilliams' ''[=~Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn~=]'' 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.

***** Osiris didn't resurrect. He came back as the king of the dead, so he's more like a mummy (hey, egyptian) than a resurrected figure.

** By having hinself 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 everafter, and by having himself martyred he made sure his teachings would live on and on.

* MagicTheGathering: According to Phyrexian myth/propaganda, Yawgmoth killed himself for various reasons that make sense only to Phyrexians. The true story is very different.

* In ''{{Guild Wars}}'', 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 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 tvtropes. 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.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmWtzfKcMpA&feature=channel_page This commercial]] featuring the late Bob Monkhouse, filmed (mostly) before his death with the rest edited in later. "Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your TV again, here I am."

* Used in one quest in ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura: Wrath, an insane wizard jealous of Sharpe the apothecary and his relationship with Ivory, commits suicide with a glass of poisoned wine in the hope that Sharpe will be blamed for his death.
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* The last words of Che Guevara.

** Harry, too

* Freddy Krueger gets such a moment in the pilot episode, and then the opening credits, of his spinoff series ''[[NightmareOnElmStreet Freddy's Nightmares]]''. 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, the movie series 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).

* In NorseMythology, Odin once carefully performed all the appropriate rituals to be a human sacrifice... to Odin. He hung himself from the world tree for nine days, before returning to life with new knowledge - nine magical songs and eighteen magical runes. [[Determinator]] much?

** Or a blatant bluff, since Kenobi's ghost doesn't really seem any more powerful than a well guided 8 ball.
*** Kenobi might have been exagerrating, but if his ghost hadn't been around Luke wouldn't have blown up the Death Star or found Yoda. That's not necessarily more powerful than he was while alive, but it's still a lot more powerful than Vader expected when he killed him, thus making him more powerful than Vader could have possibly imagined him being while dead. So his words were true, FromACertainPointOfView.
*** This troper would say that Obi-Wan wasn't referring to the kind of power that you use in a fight.
*** Obi-Wan became one with The Force, the strong power that binds the galaxy together, which is considered "true immortality."
*** In a bit of fridge brilliance, we recall that one of the main reasons for Anakin/Vader's turn to the dark side was to find power over death, out of guilt brought on by his mother's death. Upon being killed by Vader, Obi-Wan reverted into an apparent immortal state -- power over death.

*** And if Palpatine hadn't been stupid enough to actually encourage Luke to do this he might have succeeded in his plan.
*** Instead, he just set himself up to be Darth Vader's RedemptionEqualsDeath moment.

** [[GainaxEnding Or something.]]
** Or is it a bit of FridgeBrilliance, since Smith was nattering on about his purpose the whole time, his only reason for existing? Which would be to defeat Neo. No Neo, no purpose.

** [[FridgeLogic Revived how? He was the only one in the room.]]
*** [[IncrediblyLamePun Obviously he set the wake-up alarm on the clock.]]
*** Actually, Kroenen's master, Rasputin, is himself a master of necromancy, among [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow other dark arcane arts]]. One can infer from the scene in which Professor Bruttenholm is killed that Kroenen's re-animation was made possible by Rasputin being somewhere close by at the time. ("I see the puppet. Where is the puppeteer?")
* There is a movie from the 1950s or 1960s - I can't remember its name - where the man is apparently in love with, or a stalker of, some woman, and I guess she's not interested in him, so he [[XanatosGambit stages his own death]] in such a way to frame ''her'' for his own murder. (He puts a knife that she touches in a door, then impales himself on it, so that the knife that killed him will have her fingerprints on it.) She is just barely saved from being executed by a detective who tries a trick on her: if she had committed the crime, she'd know about a hidden entrance and would use it. She didn't and didn't.
* In ''[[IRobot I, Robot]]'', Dr. Alfred Lanning orders Sonny to kill him by throwing him out of his office window. He does this in order to attract Detective Spooner's attention because he knows that the vehemently anti-robot Spooner would fully investigate the incident and discover the inherent flaw in the Three Laws Of Robotics.

* In ''{{WorldOfWarcraft}}'', Teron Gorefiend pulls off one of these. To avoid destruction at the hands of the Alliance and the destruction of Draenor, he committed suicide, scattering his relics to several different locations. When the time is right, his ghost manipulates the player into collecting those relics so that he can be revived. Of course, as a Death Knight, this is not the first time Gorefiend has died...

* Albert Wesker, in ''ResidentEvil''. [[IGotBetter He got better]].
** [[ResidentEvil5 Not Any More]]

* The ''aversion'' of this is a driving plot point in ''L: Change The World'', a spinoff to the LiveActionAdaptation ''DeathNote'' films. The ecoterrorist BigBad has a super-virus that will wipe out humanity, but he is not willing to die along with the rest of us. However, the scientist who created a vaccine destroys it and kills himself after learning of the villain's plan rather than let the plan succeed, causing the villain to go after the scientist's daughter, who has notes on the vaccine and who L takes in.

* Subverted in ''[[http://goblins.keenspot.com Goblins]],'' when Thaco the Goblin finally defeats Dellyn Goblinslayer, the ranger who captured and tortured him years before. Dellyn takes great delight in telling Thaco how his name will go down in legend among the goblins because of his glorious death at Thaco's hands. Things [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/06292009/ do not turn out like he hoped]].

-->'''Scarmiglione:''' Ah yes, you've given me a fine death! A fine death indeed! And only in death can you know the true terror of Scarmiglione!

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'''Warning: Comes With Spoilers'''

* In ''DeathNote'', [[spoiler:Mello's last move involves his own death. His sidekick Matt also dies, though this wasn't necessary.]]
** [[spoiler:With L dead and Light assuming the identity of L unbeknownst to the world, it would seem like Light had won... if not for a countdown timer set up by L to inform his chosen heir of his death if he fails to reset it every month.]]
** In the live-action version, [[spoiler:L writes his own name in the Death Note, which grants him temporary immunity from Kira, but will kill him in 23 days time. L's backup plan often works like this too, since if he is killed by Kira it will narrow the suspects down significantly.]]
** In the Death Note: Another Note: The B.B Los Angeles Murders novel, [[spoiler:Beyond Birthday tries to make himself the last victim in a string of murders he's commited to stump, and therefore defeat, L. He fails when Misora realizes the detective working with her is B, which is why he knew so much about the case]]

* In the last episodes of "{{Gundam 00}}", [[spoiler: Ribbons kills the "twins" Regene Regetta and Tieria Erde, only to find that Regene was manipulating him all along. Regene and Tieria's deaths allow Tieria's consciousness to be uploaded into the supercomputer VEDA, where he works against Ribbons as a benevolent AI.]]

** Like Roger, [[spoiler: Whitebeard]], in his last moments, declared that the legendary One Piece '''really''' does exist and triggers another coming age of pirates.
* [[spoiler: Lelouch]] in the second season of ''CodeGeass'' [[spoiler: deliberately acted like a tyrant when he became Emperor of Brittannia and secretly arranged his own assassination at the hands of Suzaku, who would be disguised as Zero. With the entire world's hatred focused on him, Lelouch deduced that his death would usher in a better tomorrow. Plus, the combined guilt of his many ShootTheDog ''and'' KickTheDog moments convinced him that [[DeathSeeker death was his only path to redemption]] even if there might be other alternatives to arrive at the same result.]]
** [[spoiler:Truthfully, there would have been less dog-kicking with many other plans that didn't involve his death. Having passed the DespairEventHorizon since Nunnally's apparent death and the betrayal from the Black Knights at the end of R2 19, he was looking for a ThanatosGambit that would end both his life and the world's tyranny, his first attempt being when he isolated himself in C's World with Charles.]]
* CardCaptorSakura: Clow Reed. He only predicted one particular aspect of everything wrong ([[spoiler: the YaoiGuys, Touya and Yukito]]), and it was one that didn't have any effect on the plan.
* [[spoiler: Friend]] from {{Twentieth Century Boys}} [[spoiler: 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.]]

* [[spoiler: Miyori Sahara]] from AyashiNoCeres, who [[spoiler: kills herself in the most gruesome way she can come up with (by flying to the highest building in her surrounding and throwing herself off there) as revenge against Aya, whose alter-ego Ceres murdered Miyori's beloved mother in her initial RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]]

* At the end of VForVendetta, [[spoiler:V does this, although here he seems to just commit SuicideByCop once his XanatosGambit is almost finished.]]
** The reason is that [[spoiler:V is now unneeded. The destruction is finished, what is needed is someone with the powers of creation. So, he specifically trained his 'sidekick' to succeed him, and then committed suicide. She becomes V, he becomes immortalized, and she picks a new sidekick.]]

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

** When you think about it, the whole thing fails to gel. [[spoiler:We know he's been working on this scheme for at least a year, as that's how long he's had Sloth tied to a bed. His goal is to drive Detective Mills over the edge and turn him into Wrath. But Mills has only been in the city for a week.]]
*** It's likely that his intention was that [[spoiler: once he caught the police's attention, he would find out who was assigned to the investigation and would choose one of them to be Wrath.]]
*** The above, plus [[spoiler: Mills handed himself to Doe on a silver platter to be the intended Wrath victim with the stairwell confrontation scene.]]
*** Plus John Doe might have been forced to improvise, [[spoiler:given that the police found his hideout with all his plans and equipment. He might have had a Wrath victim picked out, but then decided to change to Mills after the stairwell confrontation.]]

* A literal example of this occurs in ''{{Saw}} IV''. After finding a microcassette in the stomach of [[spoiler:Jigsaw]] during his autopsy, the medical coroner calls the police in. They listen to the tape as [[spoiler:Jigsaw]] explains that his death is just the beginning, and that his work will continue. Of course, [[spoiler:a detective]] ended up taking on his mantle.

*** Actually, Kroenen's master, Rasputin, is himself a master of necromancy, among [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow other dark arcane arts]]. One can infer from the scene in which [[spoiler:Professor Bruttenholm is killed]] that Kroenen's re-animation was made possible by Rasputin being somewhere close by at the time. ("I see the puppet. Where is the puppeteer?")

* In [[Film/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes]], Blackwood when asked if he had any last words before his hanging declares that death is only the beginning. Of course, he comes back from the dead and wrecks fear and havoc across England. [[spoiler: Turns out he actually faked his death and would eventually get his KarmicDeath in the end.]]

* [[spoiler:Albus Dumbledore]] in ''HarryPotter''.
** [[spoiler:Harry, too]]

* [[spoiler: Mr. Wednesday]] in NeilGaiman's ''AmericanGods'' plots this along with Mr. World. [[spoiler: He started off trying to unite the old gods in a war against the new gods so that he and Mr. World could secretly gain overwhelming power from the many casualties, and he decided the best way to unite the distrustful old gods was to arrange for himself to be assassinated by the new gods.]]

** The [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler]] himself counts as well- he didn't intend to die, but he does inform the heroes that if they kill him, the world situation will become even worse, as he's the only thing standing between mankind and destruction. [[spoiler: He's right, and it turns out in the third book that he did have plans for the eventuality- which the heroes wind up following.]]
* In the second ''Skulduggury Pleasant'' book, the death of [[spoiler: the Grotesquery]] is apparently necessary for [[spoiler: the return of the [[CosmicHorror Faceless Ones]], in contrast to Baron Vengeaous's belief that the Grotesquery would be able to summon them.]]
* ''WarriorCats'': [[spoiler:Tigerstar spends all his time in the afterlife walking in other cats dreams and training them to kill Firestar. However, sickness as well as Firestar's own [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifices]] have done a better job of killing him off than Tigerstar's interferance.]]
** [[spoiler:Spottedleaf died in the first book in the series, yet is still a recurring character, acting as a guide and mentor to Firestar and his descendants through dreams and visions.]]
** [[spoiler:In fact, the entire plot of the fourth series is about the dead spirits of all of the digraced and forgotten warriors rising up and waging war on [=StarClan=]]].
* In ''Toll the Hounds'', book eight of Steven Erikson's ''{{Malazan Book of the Fallen}}'', [[spoiler:Anomander Rake and Hood both sacrifice themselves]] in order to free the world within Dragnipur and reconcile the Tiste Andii with Mother Dark.

* Played with throughout J.C. Hutchins' ''7th Son'' trilogy. The main villain, John Alpha, is killed [[spoiler:in the climax of the first book in order to further his wicked plans. However, the villains can [[CloningGambit copy their consciousness into clone bodies]] so it's only a temporary setback.]]

* Margary Allingham's "Police at the Funeral" involves [[spoiler:the first victim killing himself, framing his family members, and leaving booby traps which kill and injure several members of the family. He hated them ''that much''.]]
* In ''[[TimPowers On Stranger Tides]]'', the ''vodun'' sorcerer Edward Thatch [[spoiler: better known as Blackbeard the pirate]] schemes to become the eternal king of the West Indies by gaining immortality from the Fountain of Youth, then staging his own demise in battle so he can be reborn with no criminal record and use his ill-gotten fortune to take over the region.

* An episode of ''{{CSI}}: Miami'' featured [[spoiler: a woman who provoked ''her own son'' to kill her with a nail gun so she could frame her much-loathed ex-husband.]]

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', [[spoiler:Lilith's death frees Lucifer.]]

* While not exactly his plan, the Master in the new ''DoctorWho'' series creates a cult of FanGirls and leaves specific instructions on what to do in case he is killed. After he is [[spoiler:shot by his wife]], he chooses not to regenerate so as not to end up the Doctor's prisoner, and because he knows his followers will bring him back to life. Unfortunately for him, his resurrection is sabotaged by [[spoiler:his wife]], which causes him to [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]]. Worse, this all may have been a XanatosGambit of [[spoiler:[[strike:TimothyDalton]] the Time Lords]].

* In the ''{{Shadowrun}}'' universe, the great dragon Dunkelzahn (also president-elect of the United American and Canadian States) sure planned ahead for his death. His Last Will is long enough for a book and arranges the founding of the Draco Foundation a Mega Corporation that supervises the fulfillment of all of Dunkelzahn's last demands and has a lot of control over the sixth world. It is financed by the dead dragon's vast riches and is the only Mega Corp the players can work together with without feeling guilty afterwards. Also it is very successful in making the world a better place. It's revealed in the ''Dragonheart Trilogy'' that [[spoiler:Dunkelzahn arranged his own death in order to power a spell to prevent [[CosmicHorror the Horrors]] from crossing over into the world.]]

** Also, there are EpilepticTrees concerning the Crimson Stone from ''Lament of Innocence'', now in the possession of Dracula/[[spoiler:Mathias]], which suggest that every time Dracula is defeated and resurrected, his power is multiplied exponentially, and that it's all part of a XanatosRoulette similar to the Diablo example above...which would certainly explain why Drac, a proven ManipulativeBastard, keeps letting himself die in predictable confrontations with the heroes. One does have to wonder, though, where [[{{Reincarnation}} Soma Cruz]] fits into this...

** [[spoiler:Seymour]] in ''FinalFantasyX'' [[spoiler: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.]]
*** [[spoiler:[[{{Badass}} Auron]] accidentally falls into this trope as well, ten years prior to the game's beginning, when he's killed but immediately reanimates as an Unsent. He took advantage of his new mortality status to ride Sin to Zanarkand and help mold Tidus into the hero his father wanted him to become. Namely, one who'd be willing and able to destroy his father, the newest incarnation of Sin, forever.]]

* ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' has a continuing plot arc involving a family of spirit mediums, so it was really only a matter of time before [[spoiler: you found yourself interrogating a channeled spirit whose testimony begins "The plot began with my death."]]
** While it wasn't exactly intended, [[spoiler:because I don't think she planned to be executed,]] the death of [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]] did not stop (the continuation of) her XanatosGambit, the entirety of which spanned for ''three whole cases''.

* In ''Killzone 2'' when Rico and Sev find [[spoiler: [[BigBad Visari]], he points out that killing him would only make him into a martyr figure for the Helghast. Rico shoots him anyway, and the war rages on.]]

* ''Suikoden II'' has a variation of this trope in [[spoiler:that killing Luca Blight accomplished nothing. The only result was a country calling for blood and a continued war.]]

* ''ValkyrieProfile'': [[spoiler:Lezard Valeth kills himself to gain immortality, which allows him to survive Ragnarok. This is only seen in the best ending, but presumably occurs in every one since there are no NiceJobBreakingItHero moments related to him.]]

* [[spoiler:GI Guy]] from ''KidRadd'', being a [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned]] OmnicidalManiac, thought the only way to stop the circle of violence for sprites and humans was to kill them all. When he actually tried to go through with it, he was happily the first to die.

->''You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.''
-->-- '''Obi-Wan Kenobi''', ''StarWars: Episode IV: A New Hope''

In a ThanatosGambit, a villain's goals are brought closer to fruition unknowingly by the exploits of the heroes. But there are some plans perpetrated by a select few that involve the ''villain's own demise'' as a crucial element. Naturally, any plan that involves the literal [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of the world]] would finish off an antagonist as well as everyone else, but that's usually a side effect. MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning has it as one of the steps on the BigBad's To Do list.

In a XanatosGambit, a villain's goals are brought closer to fruition unknowingly by the exploits of the heroes. But there are some plans perpetrated by a select few that involve the ''villain's own demise'' as a crucial element. Naturally, any plan that involves the literal [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of the world]] would finish off an antagonist as well as everyone else, but that's usually a side effect. MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning has it as one of the steps on the BigBad's To Do list.

** Or is it a bit of [[FridgeBrilliance]], since Smith was nattering on about his purpose the whole time, his only reason for existing? Which would be to defeat Neo. No Neo, no purpose.