Almost-Dead Guy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Sometimes, they have survived without serious injury, but are still in the middle of danger. They reach the heroes, they deliver the message, and ''then'' they get struck down. Sometimes after escaping injury for hours or days. This can be a case of [[Truth in Television]], because in [[Real Life]], human beings are often much tougher and harder to kill than people think, and in some cases have held on for ''months'' before finally expiring from their injuries.

* Used several times in ''[[X 1999]]'', where despite gaping holes in chests through the heart characters are able to deliver important last words often critical to the plot (though till the end one guy just [[Cannot Spit It Out]]). At least in the flipped American manga it was a little more plausible since the victims were punched through the lung, not the heart as in the original Japanese.

* The ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' Anime does this unusually often with Glyde. When Colorman/Wackoman takes him down, he tells Mega Man, "beware the...ball..." and similarly, when taken down by a plant-themed Navi he whispers, "beware...the vines..." - this guy pretty much IS this trope personified.

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', just before the emotional ([[Death Is Cheap|first]]) death of Vegeta, he tells his rival Goku of Frieza's ruthlessness, by telling him the history of his manipulation and [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|extermination]] of the Saiyans, and pleaded he kill him with whatever it takes.

** It's implied that he didn't know the entire truth, but was aware that the real Pain was elsewhere.

** Sasori survives long enough after being pierced through his "heart" to debate with Sakura, and winds up by telling her information about Orochimaru.

*** I thought that last Kamui was the coffin in his nail, actually. I always thought he died of chakra exhaustion.

* Teoro of ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' manages to get his message to Hakuoro so that he can prepare for a surprise attack. Nobody actually realizes his almost dead status despite the fact that when they're gone he leaves a huge bloody stain everywhere. That's right, his message was so important it stopped blood from soaking his clothes.

 

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** A memorable near-example is Joe Chill, the criminal who shot Bruce Wayne's parents. In his first appearance, Batman tracks him down and unmasks while threatening him; Chill flees, then [[Karmic Death|gets shot]] by vengeful fellow crooks. Suddenly realizing they've just shot the only person who knows Batman's real name, they urge Chill to tell them -- and he's ''about'' to. But Batman knocks out the crooks just in time, and Chill's last words are to him instead.

* [[Mad Magazine|Don Martin]] once did a [[Film Noir]] parody, "The Letter", starring Fester Bestertester as a [[Sam Spade|tough private eye]], and featuring "Frankie The Kid", who staggers into a scene to gasp out some vital information before dying. Frankie then appears '''again''' at the climax of the story, to deliver the titular [[MacGuffin]] into Fester's hands, before dying [[Running Gag|a second time]].

* Marvel's Onslaught storyline began with [[The Juggernaut]] getting [[The Worf Effect|Worfed]] within an inch of his life, able to convey only the villain's name before he passed out. He didn't die, but this is a guy who can consistently take on the whole X-Men; just the fact that he'd ''lost'' was shocking.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* The German Comedy ''Neues vom Wixxer'' has the eponymous serial killer shooting up the office of Scotland Yard's Commissioner from a safe distance via sniper rifle. During the shootout, a random bobby happens to walk in and exclaim, "Good news, Sir John! [The doctor says] [[Tempting Fate|I don't have cancer after all]]!". Then... well, [[Boom! Headshot!|you know]]...

* In the original ''[[Godzilla]]'' movie, some shipwrecked mariners are found. They say that they were attacked by a monster, and then die almost immediately after of radiation burns.

** This was actually subverted. The guy who washes up on shore near the beginning of the movie survives and moves back in his with family in the village. Of course, the brutal irony here is when he's eventually killed by Godzilla ''anyway'' when the monster tramples the village during the night, as he's the same guy who throws open the door during the storm and screams as he meets Godzilla face-to-face. The commentary on the Classic Media two-disc set talks about this misconception in great detail, and you can blame it somewhat on the American version's choppy editing and translating.

** Though the way it's said, it might be a case of the guy doing the ''voiceover'' dying just before he could say the name of the castle. Not too hard to believe in a movie where a monster can be defeated by the animator for it suffering a fatal heart attack.

** Another case from ''Holy Grail'':

*** Subverted, because he didn't actually die. He made a point of repeatedly telling Lancelot that he was going to be okay.

* Parodied in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', where Art Carney lives just long enough to give Arnold Schwarzenegger the key piece of information, then says, "I'm outta here!" and dies.

** And then, depending on your interpretation, there's either a subversion or just an interesting way of playing it straight when Mr. Universe lives long enough to program his [[Robotic Spouse|wife]] with a message for Mal.

* Yoda's final function in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' -- "There is...an...other...Sky...walk...errrrr."

** Also happens in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', where Anakin's mom survives a long period of time enslaved by Sand People, only to die in Anakin's arms once rescued. Given Padme, it is clear prequel women have a strange sense of deciding when to die.

{{quote| '''Master Tang''': Just because a guy goes "eeeeeaaaahhh..." doesn't mean he is dead.}}

* Played almost to the point of ridicule in ''[[Dead On Arrival]]''. The main character, fatally poisoned, staggers into a police station and tells his story to the policemen, narrating the whole movie before dying.

* Played straight in ''[[Heat]]''. One of De Niro's posse is murdered offscreen by Waingro. However, this guy ''truly is almost dead'' - as in, clinically he displays the symptoms of a person mortally wounded: extremely low respiratory rate, pale complexion and so on.

* Satine in ''[[Moulin Rouge]]'', who holds on just long enough to say her goodbyes AND THEN SOME.

{{quote| Captain: You're too late, Bond. Our submarines are already on station. In four minutes the missiles will be launched.}}

* Parodied repeatedly in the Jet Li movie ''[[Last Hero In China]]''. After discovering the plot, a secondary character is warned that [[Genre Savvy|"once a seriously injured person tells a secret, they die after telling the secret."]]. Further attempts to reveal the secret see him wounded throughout the film. At the end of the movie, he staggers up to tell Jet Li's character who simply turns and walks away while the other characters groan and chastise him yet again.

* In ''[[The Untouchables]]'', Sean Connery's character take a burst from a Thompson in the chest, but manages to live long enough to talk later.

* ''[[The Last Hurrah]]'': This one doubles as a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]. Defeated mayoral candidate Frank Skeffington more-or-less reconciles with the Roman Catholic Cardinal on his deathbed. As Skeffington fades off into death, Roger Sugrue (Skeffington's longtime opponent and [[Moral Guardian|self-appointed arbiter]] of acceptable Roman Catholic behavior) suggests that Skeffington would do everything differently, if he had it to do over again. Skeffington then summons the energy to say one last thing before he dies: "''Like hell I would!''"

* Parodied and played straight at the beginning of ''[[Shrek|Shrek The Third]]'', where the King (who is a frog) 'dies' and revives multiple times during his [[Final Speech]] before actually dying. Particularly funny when a fly crawls out of his mouth and starts to fly away, only to have the King's tongue snap out and catch it before he continues.

* Rocket in ''[[Sucker Punch]]'', after she [[Tear Jerker|gets stabbed]]. Played to be a [[Dying Moment of Awesome]] in Babydoll's imagination.

* Parodied (possibly a shout out to Monty Python) in ''[[Sin City]]'': The Big Fat Kill.

 

 

** There's also another story of a soldier running from Athens to ''Sparta''. A British historian in the army vindicated this story, from which the Spartathlon emerged.

** The original version of Pheidippides story (recorded by Herodotus, who was writing about forty years after Marathon) was that he was a professional distance runner who ran from Athens to Sparta in two days, gave a message, then ran back with the reply, then delivered the reply to the Athenian Assembly ''before'' the Battle of Marathon. The story about him bringing a message ''after'' the battle, and of his dying at the end of his run, does not appear until ''five hundred years'' later (in Plutarch's ''Lives'''). It's still [[Older Than Feudalism]], though.

* [[Diana Wynne Jones]]' ''[[The Dalemark Quartet|Cart and Cwidder]]'': Clennen is dying from stab wounds, but he has just enough time to tell Moril that the magical cwidder is now his responsibility. Incidentally, that cwidder playing is what keeps Clennen alive so long.

* In ''Honored Enemy'' by Raymond Feist and William Forstchen, a young soldier is stabbed by a traitor but manages to survive the ride back to his fort, where he warns his commander of the traitor's actions - and, in his commander Hartraft's eyes, he is finally redeemed for having indirectly and unintentionally caused the death of Hartraft's oldest friend.

{{quote| "Oh, for heaven's sake," said Prak, and died testily.}}

* From ''[[His Dark Materials]]'': the angel Baruch manages to get to Lord Asriel's tower and deliver his message - only semi-coherently, amid distracted rambling that reveal his origins and his once-blood relationship with the Metatron - before a ''gust of wind'' dissolves him into Dust.

** In ''The Traitor's Hand'', a praetor is fleeing Chaos insurgents when he meets Cain's forces. He fills Cain in and is shot. Unusually, the medic pronounces his injuries not serious, and later, Cain is told that he is recovering well.

** Back to ''Cain's Last Stand'', would Donal count? He fills pretty much the same expository purpose, it's just rather unusual in nature, both [[Brainwashed and Crazy|the danger]] and [[Driven to Suicide|cause of death]].

* In Lee Lightner's ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' [[Space Wolf]] novel ''Sons of Fenris'', Magni lives just long enough to tell Ragnor about the [[Hostage Situation]] they face.

* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|A Fighting Man of Mars]]'', men are found, broken, on the ground; one lives just long enough to tell how of their ship disintegrated under them.

** And in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Morwen stays alive long enough to reunite with her husband, tell him she's dying, and then die.

* In the first [[Kurt Wallander]] novel one of the murder victims manages to hang on to life for several days after she is attacked. When she regains consciousness she mouths the word "foreign" and dies. This is sort of a [[Double Subversion]] because she dies before the police are able to get any useful information from her, but her attackers do indeed turn out to have been Czech.

* In Les Miserables, both Eponine and Jean Valjean take their sweet time dying.

 

* The [[Game Show]] ''Where In The World Is [[Carmen Sandiego]]?'' sometimes posed a question by having "The Dying Informant" come in and gasp out clues as to where Carmen's henchman of the day had taken the [[MacGuffin]] du Jour.

* A particularly outrageous example can be found in ''[[Andromeda]]'' -- in one episode, a character has their neck cleanly snapped and slumps to the ground during a fight, which should have been an instant death. However, after the fight is over, it turns out she's [[Only Mostly Dead]] and gets to give her dying words to the main characters (acting like she was stabbed or poisoned instead of being instantly killed), and then actually dies.

** Charlie gets the code to un-jam the signal in The Looking Glass station seconds before Bonnie dies and then dies himself, but not before pulling another one of these with the help of a window, a Sharpie, and his hand.

** Also true of Naomi, both played straight and subverted. At first she gives all vital information on how to contact her ship and is seemingly killed by Locke. But it is then revealed that she didn't die and gets the radio once more so she can warn the crew about the people on the island being treacherous, just before she died. Daniel, Libby, Eko, and Charlotte also get to say some important stuff before they die.

** Also parodied with the "What did he say?"/"He told me to get my knee off his chest" joke.

** Or "Afraid...I shan't live long enough...to tell you...pity."...after already "waking up" twice and wasting all of each time informing Max that he's dying.

** Also in ''[[The Film of the Series|The Nude Bomb]]'', when a murder-attempt victim keeps springing back to life, leaving the heroes vacillating between calling for a hearse or an ambulance. They finally settle on the latter.

* The Face of Boe in the third season of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' sacrifices himself to free the inhabitants from the perpetual motorway, but survives just long enough to drop his [[Wham! Episode|bombshell]]

{{quote| You...are not...alone...}}

* ''[[Burn Notice]]'' plays with this a bit. One guy gets shot and manages to share some information. However, it's just a few lines about his wife, and the only reason he managed to hold on is because he had ''just'' been shot as part of a ridiculously precise and elaborate frame job.

* One episode of ''[[Mr. Show]]'' contained a series of characters afflicted with Imminent Death Syndrome, a disease which puts them at the verge of death for "fifty or sixty years"; rather than giving them time to give out crucial information, IDS allows its sufferers to be the ceaseless benefactor of everyone else's sympathy for the rest of their lives.

 

== [[Music]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

 

== [[Theater]] ==

* [[Shakespeare]] did this often, with a few examples below. The line [[Large Ham|"I am slain!"]] is spoken often.

* [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]'' contains a particularly ridiculous example: Desdemona manages to whisper her last words to her friend Emilia minutes after being murdered ''by asphyxiation!''

** Most modern productions cut this out, perhaps realizing the audience probably won't buy it. These days, once killed, she just lies there and is dead.

** He's got nothing on Anthony, who fails to stab himself in an appropriately fatal manner when attempting suicide, and takes ''several scenes'' to die. He doesn't breathe his last until Cleopatra finally turns up.

*** Partially [[Truth in Television]]: The real Mark Antony tried to commit suicide by falling on his sword, but he [[Bungled Suicide|botched the job]] and so took an uncomfortably long time to die.

** That and make puns.

* This pops up in the [[Sera Myu]] any time the song Sorezore no Elegy (Each one's Elegy) pops up. The 97 version is considered the most heart wrenching. It generally has the Sailor Senshi having, just been defeated by Galaxia, sing their goodbyes to Usagi (who is singing goodbye back) before they drop over dead or Galaxia gets fed up and finishes them off. They do get better of course.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** King plays it straight, surviving just long enough to give you his weapon and tell you to avenge him.

* In ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'' you find a dying sage who dies the instant you talk to him. Nothing can heal him. In a [[Guide Dang It]] moment, for one of the best endings you have to give him an Amulet of Life Saving before even talking to him. So he _does_ die... but comes back because he was [[Only Mostly Dead]].

{{quote| '''Tela Vasir''': "You want to judge me? Look in the mirror! Kidnapping kids for biotic death camps! Killing Alliance admirals who ask questions! And you're working with them! Don't you dare judge me! Don't you..."}}

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has '''lots''' of them!

** In the [[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty|second game]], Emma stays conscious just long enough to disable the main computer, after being stabbed in the stomach.

** Happens only to The Boss in [[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater|the third game]].

** It appears to happen to EVA after she is impaled by a rod from an iron grate after she crashes her bike in a [[Shout-Out]] to the third game where she suffers exactly the same injury. Though it would most likely be lethal within minutes, she was able to walk it off in 15 minutes and is then able to skip at an easy jog and prepare a plane for takeoff without any signs of pain. Being 50 years older now, she seems not to be able to take it that well, but still manages to wait 20 minutes for Snake to kill their attacker, climb into the sewers and travel underground to the river, where they are captured again with a 30 minute conversation taking place without anyone attending to her injuries. Then the boat that transported her gets sunk in a massive firefight and she gets pulled out of the river. And after 3 more minutes talking with Snake, she suddenly dies just as ambulances are arriving. However while it's never mentioned in the game, it's assumed that it was the Foxdie virus that was injected into Snake 10 years ago and specifically engineered to kill the leaders of the Patriots enemies.

* In ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'', a messenger shows up in the town of Lohan to inform you that the king has been kidnapped, and dies. Particularly convenient since your characters had just decided to go and see the king.

** Well, there's no real explanation, but he tells you, that he "heard Peach's voice and suddenly woke up", so we can assume it was done by [[The Power of Love]].

* Run into the ground and steamrolled all the way into China by the [[In Name Only]] [[R Emake]] of ''[[The Bards Tale|The Bard's Tale]]''. The Nucklavee (A demonic centaur with blades for arms from Irish mythology) nearly saws one of the Bohds (there's a bunch of them, all brothers in various stages of disfigurement) in half with his huge blades. Despite this, Bohd falls back as gently as if he were going to take a nap, and [[Bloodless Carnage|without any blood at all]]. It takes him [[Overly Long Gag|about seven whole minutes to die]], as he keeps fading out and coming back, each time without finishing what he's supposed to say, or becoming distracted and rambling about unrelated events in his life. The exasperated Bard is about to take matters into his own hands when Bohd finally [[Killed Off for Real|kicks it for good.]]

* Lotz's sole purpose of existence in ''[[Fire Emblem|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]''. Poor Lotz.

** Greil and Rajaion also lived long enough to say goodbye to Ike and Ena, respectively.

** Notably this doesn't happen in real time, but in the "cyberspace" where the protagonist ends up when the synchronization fails. When these scenes end, not a second has passed around them. Ofcourse this raises the question of just how this works in the story's internal logic.

*** The way a couple of the monologues are said, including the leader of the Teutonics going "No, please, don't do this!" despite already having been knifed, implies that Altair cornered his targets and allowed them final words before killing them.

* In one Shockwave adventure game, you encounter in the first scene a dying man clinging to the edge of a rooftop. It's important to ask every question you can if you want all his info, because the second you leave the conversation he loses his grip and falls off the roof.

* In ''[[A Link to The Past]],'' Link finds his uncle in the sewers under Hyrule Castle, mortally wounded. The uncle lives just long enough to give Link his sword and tell him to go help the princess before expiring.

** It turns out that he's [[Not Quite Dead]] - as one of the scenes in the ending shows you that "Your Uncle Recovers."

*** Or maybe he was. The king and the priest were both dead, but Link's wish brought them back; it could have also brought his uncle back.

** ''[[Majoras Mask|Majora's Mask]]'' has Mikau, the Zora, encountered moments before his death. Whether you meet him in the first, or last hour in the game's 3-day repeating [[Groundhog Day Loop]], he always has just enough time to perform a song before he dies.

* The dying villager at the entrance to the Church that begins the "Butcher" quest in ''[[Diablo]]''. Since he'll hang on forever as long as you don't speak to him, and you don't actually need to speak with him to deal with the Butcher, some players simply ignore him in order to save his life.

** There is also Sota who states his and Nao's demise isn't Neku's fault and wished Neku good luck before his time was up. Neku's response drives home that he's no longer an [[Ineffectual Loner|uncaring loner]].

** This seemed to be parodied when Everdred is "dying." He gives a long speech, asks for confirmation then... stands up and leaves.

*** Actually, [[Battalion Wars|he's had it, commander]]. Don't believe me? Just sleep at the Fourside Hotel after going through Moonside.....

* Used often in ''[[Warcraft III]]'', where many characters, including Kel'Thuzad, Uther and the [[Threshold Guardians|Guardian of]] [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Frostmourne]] all get a final speech before falling over and dying.

** In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', in a quest chain in Magister's Terrace, a Scryer agent hangs on long enough to inform the player what Kil'Jaeden's forces are doing before dying. Players who drop the quest and retake it can hear him say it again. Kael'thas, the boss of the dungeon, gives his [[Final Speech]] while standing up after being defeated.

* Done in an implausibly epic and disturbing way near the very beginning of ''[[No More Heroes|No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]''. There probably aren't too many examples in fiction where Almost Dead Guy manages to deliver his message after [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTmLHO7AdU being decapitated...] and essentially telling the guy who did it that he's a pathetic little bitch.

* Subverted in ''[[Dragon Age]]''. Near the beginning of the game, you come across a random soldier who is badly wounded. You have the option of fixing him up and letting him limp back to camp, letting him limp back without medical aid at all, or ''killing him yourself''. However, if you don't kill him, he presumably dies along with everyone else at Ostagar. But he doesn't die of his wounds!

* In ''[[System Shock]]'' games, everyone who isn't already dead (or [[Everything Trying to Kill You|trying to kill you]]) is this.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]'', a rebel returns, on the brink of death, to bring the news that Leon has become Emperor.

* In the point-and-click adventure ''Amerzone'', this trope is used three times, with all three members of a long-ago jungle expedition. Possibly justified, as each man is about a hundred years old, and meeting you gets them emotionally worked-up enough to induce cardiac arrest.

 

 

== Visual Novels ==

 

 

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010302 Sluggy]'' where Hereti-Corp issues a '''memo''' instructing employees to die in someone's arms just before revealing vital information.

* Parodied in ''[[Framed]]!'': Derek has some vital information to pass on to Frank, but he's been lethally wounded and is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know that he'll die once he's said his piece. He opts to keep his mouth shut instead, just to survive.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* In the pilot of ''[[Cause of Death]]'', the slob is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEFxSOVd6A left this way for the second half of the] episode.

* In [[Olan Rogers]]' ''New Prime'', we have Hans, and in ''The Last Scene'' we have Zack.

* In the second season of [[Marble Hornets]], Jessica performs this function for Jay, in a sense. Almost immediately once Jay realizes that the otherwise unremarkable girl might know something about his [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|mysterious amnesia]] (or at least shares [[Slender Man Mythos|his strange symptoms]]), Jessica disappears [[Never Found the Body|without a trace]].

* Parodied in the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon ''Deduce, You Say'' when a messenger collapses on Dorlock (i.e., Daffy) Holmes' doorstep. Holmes eagerly IDs him as 'a clear case of curare poisoning, of one of Her Majesty's Cold-cream Guards!' only to have the guard chirp "You'd best 'ave that step fixed, guv'nor!" as he pops up and hands Holmes the telegram. "Just for that, you'll receive no gratuity!"

** Bugs Bunny always pretends to be this when he's [[Faking the Dead]], usually causing Elmer Fudd to burst into tears.

 

{{reflist}}