With My Dying Breath I Summon You



It's been a long, hard journey. Our heroes have fought through hordes of monsters and mooks. They've finally reached the enemy fortress, and it's time to take out the Big Bad before he can release the Sealed Evil in a Can! But wait, what's this? As they strike him down, with his dying breath he manages to finish the incantation! Watch out heroes, the Sealed Evil lives again!

This trope thrives in stories where the entire plot has revolved around reviving some ancient evil, and the summoner is at the very end of the journey. This summoner dies, but shouts the trope name (or something similar to it), and the Ancient Evil springs to life so the heroes can crush it forever. It's often used as a ticket to a great climactic Final Boss, when a development team is unable to reach a more fluid transition. Also avoids a very anticlimactic conclusion; how wimpy the ending would be if the heroes reached the end after hearing so much about the Sealed Evil, fought the summoner, and never fought the real villain!

Film

 * In the first Hellboy movie, - if it wasn't a case of, in which case Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.
 * Khan did this Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan before activating the Genesis device. It's not technically a summoning, but it follows pretty much the same form.

Literature

 * A dwarf, betrayed, abandoned, and left to die does this in Thud!! Fortunately for

Video Games

 * Shining Force revolves around the story of Darksol, an evil sorcerer, trying to revive Dark Dragon to take over the world. The heroes fight him in Dark Dragon's lair, and as he's about to die, Darksol shouts the trope namer and Dark Dragon is brought to life as the Final Boss.
 * The King of Fighters '97. The plot revolves around three young adults trying to revive Orochi of Japanese folklore since their leader was defeated in the last game (KOF '96). After you defeat the 3 characters, it is discovered that one of the characters is in fact the vessel that Orochi is being summoned through and with their final strength, the remaining two give their energy and their lives to the character so that he transforms. Thus the final boss battle begins.
 * In Silent Hill 3,
 * In Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, if following the Light Side,
 * In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, at the end of a linked game,
 * Halfway through Shadow Hearts Dehuai attempts to do this after his defeat, only to fail as the last bit of his energy isn't quite enough.
 * does this to revive Dracula in Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia.