Author Existence Failure: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"After all, as some of you like to point out in your emails, I am sixty years old and fat, and you don't want me to [[Person as Verb|'pull a]] [[The Wheel of Time|Robert Jordan]]' on you and deny you your book."''<ref>Someone created a cartoon pretending that he's deliberately planning to do '''exactly''' that. "They think they hate me now... wait til they see who I kill off next!"</ref>|'''George R.R. Martin''' on ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire|A Dance with Dragons]]''}}
|'''George R.R. Martin''' on ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire|A Dance with Dragons]]'' in 2009}}
 
A [[Fandom]]'s worst nightmare.
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Please note that this trope applies when a creator (writer, director, etc.) ceases work on a project, not a participant (actor, well... mostly actors) unless they had significant input.
 
Not to be confused with the criticism trope known as "[[Death of the Author]]". Or [[Apocalyptic Log]]. See also [[The Character Died with Him]], where the show goes on without the character a dead actor portrayed, and [[Fake Shemp]], where there is an attempt to disguise the absent actor. Contrast [[Outlived Its Creator]].
 
{{examples}}
== Anime &and Manga ==
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* When [[Osamu Tezuka]] died, he left his life's work ''[[Phoenix]]'' unfinished. Which is an absolute shame, as he quite clearly had great plans for it. Had he stayed alive to finish it, the separate stories of each time period in each volume would eventually converge at a central point, the "present", and tying all the loose ends of the Phoenix's story together. Now we can only wonder...
* Although Kentaro Miura is still quite alive and healthy, many fans fear that he will eventually die before completing ''[[Berserk]]'' due to the fact that only a handful of chapters are released every year.
* Noboru Yamaguchi tried to avert this trope by attempting to finish ''[[ZeroThe noFamiliar Tsukaimaof Zero]]'' as fast as possible while also undergoing treatment for cancer. He died in April 4, 2013. [[Posthumous Collaboration|That said, the series is going to{{when}} continue to completion anyways]].
* Ken Ishikawa, the creator of ''[[Getter Robo]]''. Though he did leave some notes behind, they were apparently only for Getter Robo Hien - a prequel. The cliffhanger ending of ''Getter Robo Āḥ'', the latest series chronologically, has yet to be resolved.
* The director of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'', Takeyuki Kanda, died while the OVA was still being produced. One effect of that was that it took over three years to finish it, making it the longest-running single [[Gundam]] production until [[Gundam Unicorn]], except the long running period for that has been planned from the start.
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* Perhaps not a total Existence Failure, but what happened to mangaka Kyoko Okazaki certainly comes close - in 1996, she was hit by a drunk driver before completing the last few chapters of her [[Body Horror]]-esque cosmetic surgery drama ''Helter Skelter''. The resulting accident [[And I Must Scream|left her quadriplegic and mute]]. The manga was finished in 2004, by her former assistant [[Sugar Sugar Rune|Moyoco Anno]] (yup, the wife of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Hideaki Anno]]), working from Okazaki's storyboards and with her consultation, albeit on a [[Cliff Hanger]]. Poor Mrs. Okazaki's rehabilitation continues to this day - thirteen YEARS later.
* Takahiro Yamato of ''[[Kaze no Stigma]]'' is now dead.
* [[ShinCrayon ChanShin-chan|Yoshito Usui]]. Tragically killed in a hiking accident in September 2009.
** On the other hand, ''[[Crayon Shin-chan]]'' is more like a newspaper comic in terms of presentation (i.e., there's a "sliding timeline", and doesn't really have much of an overall plot; the anime is more like a [[Sitcom]] in this respect), so his death won't have that much of an impact on the original manga. The anime (which mostly uses original stories not found in the manga anyway) was put on hiatus for a few weeks after his death, but it was later announced it would continue. Now the word has come that (in another parallel with newspaper comics) the manga will also continue with a new author.
*** The anime (which mostly uses original stories not found in the manga anyway) was put on hiatus for a few weeks after his death, but it was later announced it would continue. Now the word has come that (in another parallel with newspaper comics) the manga will also continue with a new author.
* Keiko Tobe, the mangaka of ''[[With the Light]]'', died of an unspecified illness in late January 2010, leaving the manga unfinished.
* [[Satoshi Kon]] suddenly died while making a film called ''The Dream Machine'', which he described as aimed at a younger audience but accessible for his older fans, with a cast made entirely of robots.
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* ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]'' - Although Dave Sim did not die while making Cerebus (and is still alive as of 2010), he had "planned ahead" (and I'm using this term very loosely) in case this happened. He had mentioned in interviews that, if he DID die before completing the series, the series would continue all the way to issue 300, but all subsequent issues would only have the background art (by Sim's colleague Gerhard). There would be no characters nor text/narrative of any kind.
** If they had both died subsequent issues would have been kinda dull.
*** No joke. Before Gerhard joined him (around issue 80) Sim had said that if he died, he had left instructions for all the remaining issues to be published BLANK''blank''.
* Marshall Rodgers died in the middle of ''Cap'n Quick and a Foozle''. The Captain's last known words: "Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you about this part."
* Willy Vandersteen left very specific instructions behind for the continuation of his ''[[Suske en Wiske]]'' franchise after his death. No character could ever age, or change, no main character may ever be dropped or added, and sex is a taboo, and a number of situations may never be altered (Lambik and Sidonia may never wed). Vandersteen died in 1990, but gave up artistic control of the ''Suske en Wiske'' franchise in 1972, to this day his wishes remain the guiding principles of the comic.
* [[Jack Kirby]] started a project called ''Phantom Force'' shortly before he died. [[Image Comics]] published the first two issues, with many of their top artists(Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Jerry Ordway, Jim Valentino and Keith Giffen, among others) inking Kirby's pages. The story arc was finished by Kirby collaborator Greg Theakston.
 
== Fan Works ==
* Fan author Brian Randall -- author of ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' and many other fanfics -- [http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,102984.0.html took his own life on January 17, 2014], leaving ''Kyon'' and all his other in-progress work incomplete.
 
== Film ==
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** And then his son Brandon died from an accident involving a prop on the set of one of ''his'' movies, ''[[The Crow]]''. The film was finished using a body double, shot in shadows (such as when Sarah embraces Eric in his apartment), seen from the back (particularly noticable when Eric is walking back to his apartment after his ressurection), or [[Digital Head Swap|with Brandon's face added]] (in the fight scenes).
* H.B Haliki, the man that gave us the original ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]'' (the independent film made in 1974 on a shoestring budget, not the 2000 remake with [[Nicolas Cage]]), died while filming the [[What Could Have Been|now unfinished]] ''Gone in Sixty Seconds 2'', when a stunt sequence malfunctioned and he was crushed by a water tower.
* Trinidad Silva died in an auto accident before he filmed all his scenes as Raul in ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'', so the movie had to abort his subplot before {{spoiler|the poodles got their revenge.}} The film is dedicated to him.
* Likewise, "Red" the fire truck in ''[[Cars (film)|Cars]]'' is silent as Joe Ranft, who was to voice the character, was killed in an road accident before the film was completed.
* [[Ernst Lubitsch]] died two weeks into shooting on ''[[That Lady in Ermine]]''. [[Otto Preminger]] stepped in to finish directing the film; he had replaced Lubitsch as director of ''A Royal Scandal'' for similar but less fatal reasons.
 
 
== Literature ==
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* Frank Herbert died in 1985, leaving his ''[[Dune]]'' series unfinished, though Herbert had been tacking books onto the series for some time. After his death, his son Brian Herbert, along with Kevin J. Anderson, wrote a handful of sequel and prequel books to the series.
* Arthur Ransome had an unfinished ''[[Swallows and Amazons]]'' book when he died. Nicknamed "Coots in the North,'' it had the Blacketts meeting the Death-and-Glories, and makes one weep for [[What Could Have Been]].
* Robert Jordan died before he could complete the "definitely, probably final" 12th book of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series, but he left behind extensive notes. Before his illness was discovered, he used to joke that if he died before the series was over, [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|his will was going to dictate that his notes be destroyed]]. Fortunately, he relented, and Brandon Sanderson was been picked to finish the series. Sanderson isworked painstakingly working to fulfill Jordan's plotlines as the author wanted them; the introduction for "The Gathering Storm" classifies the book as something to the effect of "Robert Jordan's story as told by Brandon Sanderson".
* A lot of [[Franz Kafka]]'s stuff was unfinished, including the novel ''The Trial'' and a bunch of short stories. He still had fragments. What's more, he never intended to publish any of it; his papers were to be burned unread upon his death, and we only have them today because no one followed instructions. Many people have speculated that Kafka left his papers to Max Brod because he knew Brod would under no circumstances obey his request to have the papers burned.
* Stieg Larsson died of a massive heart attack in 2004 after having completed the third book of his supposed-to-be-decalogy ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|Millennium]]'' (''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', ''The Girl who Played with Fire'' and ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest''). All of the completed novels were only published after his death.
* [[Herman Melville]] died before completing his final novel, ''Billy Budd''.
* [[Vladimir Nabokov]] died before finishing ''[[wikipedia:The Original of Laura|The Original of Laura]]''. What remains is a series of notecards with isolated scenes and plot which only his family and a few selected scholars have seen. He requested that the notecards be burnt in the event of his death, but his son, believing that the story was Nabokov's best, agonized for 30 years before deciding in 2008 to publish it.
* Patrick O'Brian, author of Thethe [[Aubrey/-Maturin]] series, died after finishing the first three chapters of the 21st book. [[The Powers That Be]] published it anyway. It was surprisingly well-received. O'Brian had previously foreshadowed in his books that he had no intention of ending the series, with two characters discussing how many nearly-great stories through history would have been better off with no ending whatsoever.
* Robert C. O'Brien, author of the Newbury Medal Award-winning ''[[The Secret of NIMH|Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]'', passed away shortly before finishing his [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] children's novel ''[[Z for Zachariah]]''. Luckily, his wife and daughter (authors themselves) finished it based off the notes he left behind and published it posthumously. His daughter, Jane Leslie Conly, went onto publish two more ''NIMH'' books.
* Mervyn Peake died when ''Titus Alone'', part three of his ''[[Gormenghast]]'' trilogy, was still in early drafts. His widow, Maeve Gilmore, submitted his manuscript to the publisher with notes on how it could be improved. Unfortunately, the publishers took these notes as the intended changes themselves, and published the novel as is. The novel was later re-edited by Langdon Jones into something (presumably) closer to Peake's intended version. In 2010, a manuscript of the fourth novel, completed by Gilmore, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jan/18/shortcuts-fourth-gormenghast-novel-discovered was discovered by the family.] It was published in 2011 as ''Titus Awakes''.
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** As of late 2010, what is probably the last Stone/Randall novel, a crossover, is out, and while as noted the works were all ongoing series, as a final book, {{spoiler|it ends things well, with the two main characters, who had been struggling with personal issues, making a good effort to find happiness with each other much the way Spenser and Susan had in the Spenser novels.}}
* Jack Chalker set up a huge cliffhanger with Horrors of the Dancing Gods, leaving {{spoiler|his main hero (originally a Barbarian Warrior) now in the form of an immortal (even by immortal standards) wood nymph (oh, and she's pregnant by the Big Bad with who knows what), his son in love with a young girl with male genitalia, the second main character having switched to the evil side of thing...}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131010193523/http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=30610 Nothing else] is coming out after [[Harlan Ellison]] dies:
{{quote|"My wife has instructions that the instant I die, she has to burn all the unfinished stories. And there may be a hundred unfinished stories in this house, maybe more than that. There's three quarters of a novel. No, these things are not to be finished by other writers, no matter how good they are."}}
* [[Gordon R. Dickson]] died after completing the 9th of an unknown number of books in his [[Dragon Knight]] series, leaving Jim Eckert's journey from 20th Century grad student to Master Magickian incomplete. The 11th book in his more famous [[Childe Cycle]] series, ''Antagonist'', was completed by his assistant and friend David W. Wixon and published in 2007.
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* Z.A. Recht died with the third book in his ''Morningstar Strain'' trilogy unfinished.
* Andrew Keith, who co-wrote the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] III'' [[Novelization]] and ''[[Wing Commander (novel)|False Colors]]'' with William Forstchen, passed away in 1999 before he and Forstchen could work on a planned sequel to ''False Colors'' that would have bridged the gap between that book's end and the start of ''Wing Commander IV''.
* [[Diana Wynne Jones]] was working on a fourth book in the ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (novel)|Wizard's Castle]]'' series before her death in 2011. Although series completion is thankfully not an issue with that series (like her ''[[Chrestomanci]]'' series, ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (novel)|Wizard's Castle]]'' is a series of individual stories connected by a few recurring characters), it was nonetheless a disappointment, as the series had received a recent [[Colbert Bump|popularity boost]] thanks to [[Studio Ghibli]]'s adaptation of [[Film/HowlsHowl's Moving Castle (anime)|adaptation of the first book]].
* ''The Cat Who Smelled Smoke'' was to be the thirtieth volume in the popular ''[[The Cat Who]]...'' mystery series by Lilian Jackson Braun. It was to have been published in 2008, but was put on hold due to the author's failing health. When she passed away in 2011, the book was canceled entirely, and so the series will remain unfinished.
* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''Skeleton Men of Jupiter'', the last story in the ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'' series, was intended as the first in a series of novelettes with ongoing plot, so the story ends with the plot unresolved. The followups never got made, and ERB died a few years after the story's publication.
* Averted at one point by [[Stephen King]], who had finished only four out of seven books in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series when he was struck by a van and sent to the hospital with severe injuries. He later references this, at least indirectly.<ref>After he is written into the story, fictional King says he became motivated to finish the story after coming so close to death.</ref>
* Cao Xueqin died before he could finish off and publish ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]''.
* [[Anne McCaffrey]] managed to avoid this with the long-running [[Pern]] series by collaborating with her son, Todd, on a few books before turning the franchise over to him entirely. So even though she passed away in November 2011, Pern survives. (YMMV as to whether this is a good thing or not.)
** Their final collaboration has been finished and 'in the can' for quite some time. The publisher is sitting on it for unknown reasons, perhaps to avoid a [[Too Soon]] release that could be construed as capitalizing on her death. There's also the "final" Pern book she worked on for years, with a working/joke title ''After the Fall is Over''. No word on whether or not Todd will finish it.
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* ''[[The Sandbaggers]]''' creator Ian Mackintosh died in a mysterious plane crash halfway through the third season. The season was finished with three episodes written by other writers, and the show wasn't continued after that.
* A particularly sad example with ''Chico And The Man'': Freddie Prinze [[Driven to Suicide|killed himself]] towards the end of the third season. They wrote it into the script that Chico was visiting family in Mexico and then later stated that he died, and they tried to [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|replace him]] with [[Cousin Oliver|Raul]], but ratings dipped in the final season and it was canceled. [[Tear Jerker|All the more disturbing and sad]] because he killed himself a few ''hours'' after taping his final episode, "Ed Talks to God."
* Similar to the ''Father Ted'' example, narrowly averted by ''[[The Bill]]'' where actor Kevin Lloyd died only a week after being [[Role -Ending Misdemeanor|fired for his alcoholism.]]
* Former ''[[Jackass]]'' cast member Ryan Dunn died in a car accident in June 2011, after [[One-Episode Wonder|just one episode]] of ''Proving Ground'' - a ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' inspired [[Experiment Show]] series he co-hosted on G4 - had aired. The show was pulled immediately, a presumed difficult decision for the network, considering that the series premiered to decent ratings and they had spent quite a bit of time in the preceding weeks promoting the series on their other programs. They eventually aired the remaining eight episodes later in the Summer of 2011, but the show's future without Dunn remains uncertain.
* ''Pitchmen,'' a [[Discovery Channel]] show about finding (and shilling) unknown-but-great products and inventions, had as one of its costars [[No Indoor Voice|legendarily loud]] huckster [[Billy Mays]]. After Mays' death, the show floated in limbo for a while, until it was eventually revealed (almost two years later) that his son would start doing the show.
* The 1985 TV series ''Lime Street'', starring Robert Wagner and essentially devised for Samantha Smith after her letter to Yuri Andropov brought her worldwide attention, ended even before it aired - with just eight episodes produced, the 13-year-old and her father were killed in a plane crash not long before the series premiered. Rather than recast her role, the series simply ceased production.
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* John Paul Larkin, aka Scatman John sadly died of lung cancer in his Los Angeles home on December 3, 1999.
* There's been speculation that [[Otis Redding]] intended "(Sittin' on) The Dock of The Bay" to be part of a [[The Beatles (band)|''Sgt. Pepper'']]-like concept album, but he was killed in a plane crash 18 days after recording it, and he didn't record anything else before then.
* Buddy Holly [http://www.buddyhollyonline.com/apttapes.html wrote a bunch of new songs]{{Dead link}} in the months leading up to his death (including "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping") and recorded acoustic guitar demos of them. We'll never know how he intended to arrange them, but that didn't stop his label from overdubbing and releasing them on two separate occasions.
* Former La Bouche singer Melanie Thornton died in a plane crash before her solo album could be completed. The vocals from two of her unreleased songs were used in a [[Posthumous Collaboration]] with the rest of the group.
* Keyboardist Dwayne Goettel of [[Skinny Puppy]] died of a heroin overdose while the album ''The Process'' was in the works, and the rest of the group disbanded for several years. Cevin and Ogre reformed the group in 2003 with Mark Walk.
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* The lead singer of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Charles Haddon, [[Driven to Suicide|committed suicide]] just before the release of their first ([[One-Book Author|and likely last]]) album.
* [[TLC]] member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was killed in a car crash in 2002, during the recording of the group's latest album ''3D''. The album was eventually finished by T-Boz and Chilli (they were determined to finish it in Left Eye's honour), in some cases using Left Eye's previously-recorded rap solos.
** There was also a posthumous album of unfinished solo material that was released in 2009 and was finished with contributions from many artists, including [[Missy Elliot]], [[Chamillionaire]] and the remaining members of TLC, T-boz and Chili, as well as Left Eye's sister Reigndrop.
* Mark Linkous, leader/only constant member of cult indie rock band [[Sparklehorse]], had dealt with depression for most of his life and had notably attempted suicide in 1996 while his band was touring as [[Radiohead]]'s opening act. That suicide attempt caused damage to his legs which never quite heeled. Linkous eventually took his own life in 2010, shortly before the wide release of his ''Dark Night of the Soul'' collaboration with Danger Mouse and [[David Lynch]]. Another project, Sparklehorse's fifth album, was left in a near-complete state after his death and has not yet seen the light of day.
* [[The B-52's|The B 52s]] began recording their ''Bouncing Off The Satellites'' album in 1985. The album was originally recorded early in thisthat year, but the record company rejected this version. The band starting rerecording the album with producer Tony Mansfield. Unfortunately, guitarist Ricky Wilson died during the sessions for the second version of the album, which meant that the songs he hadn't recorded parts for had to be overdubbed by session musicians. They were so short on material that one of the songs on the album (Juicy Jungle) is an outtake from Fred Schneider's 1984 solo album. Whilst ''Bouncing Off The Satellites'' and several singles from it were released in 1986, the remaining band members were too upset due to Ricky's death to tour or promote it. Luckily, it got better - drummer Keith took Ricky's place on guitar in 1988 and they started recording new material. They have been together ever since.
* The sudden death of Peter Christopherson in November 2010 put an end to [[Throbbing Gristle]].
* Bradley Nowell, the singer, songwriter and guitarist for [[Sublime]] died a few months before the release of his band's breakout third album. This meant their label had a hit album, no band to send out on tour and no chance for a follow up album. Instead, the surviving two members and Brad's dog Louie starred in a series of music videos released for each of the three singles released for the album. The label proceeded to fulfill the rest of the band's record deal with an continuous (and morbid) series of rarity and greatest hits albums that continue to be released to this day. The two other members went on to a series of other bands of varying success before reforming as Sublime with Rome, which is legally not the same thing as Sublime due to Nowell's estate owning the copyright on the name.
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== Tabletop RPG ==
* [[Gary Gygax]] left many unfinished projects behind for ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', including his oft-promised but never delivered Castle Greyhawk dungeon complex.
* Carl Sargent, a popular module writer for TSR, disappeared suddenly in the late '90s, leaving many D&D fans wondering what happened (according to a fellow module writer and friend of his, Sean K. Reynolds, the truth is that he was involved in a car wreck in 1997 and has been unable to write due the severity of his injuries).
* In 1995, Nigel Findley, game designer and novelist who wrote for ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', ''[[Shadowrun]]'', and other RPGs, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 35. His work introduced many key metaplot elements (e.g. bug spirits) to the ''Shadowrun'' game setting, which later authors expanded upon.
* Dream Pod 9, the Publishers of ''[[Heavy Gear]]'' and ''[[Jovian Chronicles]]'' nearly suffered from this; most of the company's artists and writers left in short order, leaving both storylines in the lurch. ''Heavy Gear'' was picked up by Steve Jackson Games in 2008, nothing happened, and in August 2010, SJ Games handed the franchise back to DP9.
* Similarily averted with ''Battletech'' - Twice; when Decipher shut down FASA (who they owned at the time), the Battletech fame franchise was inhereted by Wiz Kids who, in turn, leased them to Fan Pro, a German company who had been publishing localized Battletech material for years, resulting in the game being picked up in short order. Following the shutdown of Wiz Kids, the Battletech rights (as well as most of the writing staff) went to Catalyst Gaming Labs. Most fans feel that the Fanpro-Catalyst years have been some of the best the franchise has ever had. ''Shadowrun'' experienced the same fate moving to the same companies (though fan opinion as to the quality of post-FASA releases is far from a concensus).
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* In a non-death example, with the sacking of [[Keiji Inafune]] from [[Capcom]], the ''[[Mega Man Legends]]'' series is, for all intents and purposes, finished. Guess Roll and Tron never were able to finish that rocket. Doesn't make the fans [[Internet Backlash|any less pissed]], though.
* Downplayed in the case of ''Merlin's Revenge'', where the creator was forced to permanently abandon the series due to medical problems, explaining the whole situation in a seriously [[Tear Jerker]] speech.
* A sequel to PS1 shooter ''[[Blasto]]'' was considered after development finished but dropped after the death of Blasto's actor Phil Hartman (it was his final work). As Hartman's ad-libbed dialog was considered the soul of the project, both by staff and reviewers, it was deemed impossible to continue.
 
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Joe D'Angelo, creator of webcomic ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120215212050/http://piratecove.jb.org/Archives.html Pirate's Cove]'', decided to avert this trope and created an "[http://piratecovecomic.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-16th-2007-death-of-pirate-cove.html ending]" that would be revealed if he died prematurely.
* Similar to the above, the writer of [[Looking for Group]] and [[Least I Could Do]] has mentioned keeping a special script which should resolve things, and his notes on future plots, in a safe in the event that he passes away before his comics finish. Either the artist has the combination, or one of their wives do.
* Paul Gadzikowski of ''Arthur, King of Time and Space'' is another example - his plan involves synthesising the many Arthurian legends into an overarching story to be told in "real time" over the twenty-five years of Arthur's reign (although he has jumped forward by a couple of years and has hinted that he will probably do so again). He has stated on several occasions that he has kept detailed notes about the rest of the story in case he passes away before the comic is due to finish in the mid to late 2020s.
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* Scott Kuehner passed away in January 2009, leaving the world of ''[http://www.lookwhatibroughthome.com Look What I Brought Home]'' with a bunch of unanswered questions. Now we'll never know what happens with Bess or Kunky.
* [http://captainn.net/main.html N-Fans: The Series] began to flounder in 2007, when creator Webster Swenson passed away unexpectedly. The people who inspired the other characters made a few attempts to revive the series and keep it going in his memory, but the entire website has stagnated since early 2008.
* Angel "Inqy" Yates of [[Wicked Alchemy]] wrote on her [[Live JournalLiveJournal]] about her declining health not long before her sudden death in the summer of 2009. In addition to the webcomic, she also had a slice-of-life comic strip, Onna Chance, and a pirate avatar game. Sadly, Onna Chance and her original site Mutedfaith are both down, a more than a year after her death.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601070804/http://www.wolfiespack.com/wordpress/ Bad Bunny] After doing a reprint of a classic set of strips for Pennsic, it looked like the author Wolfie was going to get back to the original strip's storyline of pants too tight (this is a strip where the mundane becomes insanely funny). Unfortunately Wolfie - real name W. Michael Dooley - contracted H1N1, and died aged 41 in December 2009.
* Tom Siddell, of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', joked that due to his strip buffer, if he were to keel over and die this instant, we'd still get about three months worth of strips.
* The creator of Just Another Webcomic passed away after coming out of a coma. He was only 9 pages into the third volume of his work, which he was unable to continue after the coma because he had lost a lot of sensation in his drawing arm.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* Spoofed in ''[[PRIMARCHS]]'', where the {{smallcapssmall-caps| Emperor of Mankind!}} obliterates the writer at the keyboard for back-chatting him. He gets better.
* SuperPie suffered a (fortunately non-lethal) version of this in Game 11 of [[Comic Fury Werewolf]].
* ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' has had two confirmed deaths of writers: Skelosh Delaroch and Raven Darkness.
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* Kathleen Freeman, the voice of Ms. Gordon in ''[[As Told by Ginger]]'', died before she finished her role in the episode "No Hope for Courtney." As a result, the character she played passed away instead of getting out of retirement. The whole episode was dedicated to the voice actor.
* Mary Kay Bergman, who originally voiced most of the female characters on ''[[South Park]]'' (including Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Broflovski, Mrs. McCormack, Mrs. Cartman, Wendy, etc.) had suffered from depression for years and committed suicide just after finishing recording her parts for the show's third season. "Starvin Marvin In Space" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" were dedicated to her memory.
* Tony Jay was the voice of Megabyte, ''[[Re BootReBoot]]''{{'}}s [[Big Bad]]. The series ended on a cliffhanger with Megabyte in the Principal Office, and then Tony Jay died. Who knows what Rainmaker will do if they continue the series.
** Long John Baldry was the voice of guest star Captain Gavin Capacitor, and he died as well.
* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'' features Slinky Dog, formerly voiced by Jim "Ernest" Varney, who died in 2000. Varney's friend Blake Clark supplied Slinky's voice for the third film.
** Also, Wheezy the penguin doesn't feature in the film: both his speaking (Joe Ranft) and singing (Robert Goulet) voices had died by the time the film was made.
* Lyricist Howard Ashman died in the middle of the production of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', leaving Tim Rice to supply lyrics to "One Jump" and "A Whole New World." Tim Rice was called on for the [[Screen to Stage Adaptation]] of ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' for the same reason.
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** [http://www.planetmule.com/ Enter Planet M.U.L.E..]
* ''Robotech: Crystal Dreams'' became [[Vaporware]] due to the folding of Gametek.
* A planned sequel to ''[[Twisted Metal]] Black'' called ''Harbor City'' was scrapped, but four completed levels were included in ''[[Twisted Metal]] Head On: Extra Twisted Edition'' along with a documentary claiming that ''Harbor City'' was canceled because six of the developers died in a plane crash. However, this was [[Based on a Great Big Lie]]; the "documentary" was part of an [[Alternate Reality Game]] hinting at the development of a [[PlayStationPlay Station 3]] ''Twisted Metal'' game.
* Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War breaks off abruptly partway through the eighth book. Fortunately Xenophon picked up where Thucydides left off, so we know how the war ended. Athens lost.
* WWE superstar Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand appeared with his partner Joe "Animal" Laurinatis on the May 17, 2003 ''WWE RAW'' and despite his history of severe drug and alcohol abuse, performed exceptionally well, as he had finally gotten completely clean. According to those who knew him, Hegstrand had dedicated himself to staying drug-free for the rest of his life; unfortunately, his years of drug abuse had taken such a physical toll on his body that he died of a heart attack six months later.
Line 401 ⟶ 403:
 
== Tropers ==
* Weremonkey Gus, one of the [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20060522021029/http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeremonkeyGus founders and original host] of [[The Other Tropes Wiki]]. Userwas pagereported andto otherhave detailsdied unfortunatelyat lostsome inpoint [[Thearound Greatthe Crash]]beginning of 2009.<ref> (However, after ATT forked from TVT in 2012, evidence came to light which suggestssuggested that Webmonkey Gus, Fast Eddie, and several other TVT staff members were all [[Sock Puppet]]s for onea single person, -- a fellow by the name of Gus Raley -- and the "Gus" persona did not so much die as was retired.</ref>)
* Danny Lilithborne, aka Dasrik, JuJube The Tree, blankpage, and Ricardo Arturo Lafaurie, Jr., [https://web.archive.org/web/20100525172048/http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=220982 passed away January 2nd, 2010] after several weeks in a persistent vegetative state. In his last days, he was continuing work on his highly regarded ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' fanfic "[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1519987/JuJube_the_Tree Negative Zero]", as well as a series of novels called [http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Chateau_Aensland_(saga) Chateau Aensland]. Rest in Peace.
 
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[[Category:Real Life Writes the Plot]]
[[Category:Creators]]
[[Category:Trivia Trope]]
[[Category:Opera]]
[[Category:NPR]]
[[Category:Index Failure]]
[[Category:Author Existence Failure{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]