Dead Man Writing: Difference between revisions

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This is a message from a dead character, either left in the knowledge of their death, or left in such a way that it won't be seen unless they die. Often it contains useful secrets, the reason why he's dead, the actual information that got him killed in the first place, and an apology for dying and getting the reader involved.

Somehow, the message can end up in the hands of its intended recipient even under circumstances that can border on a post-mortem [[Gambit Roulette]]. The subversion where it winds up in the hands of the villain instead is also common, and often happens because the dead person has the [[Idiot Ball]]. In yet a third possibility, it sometimes does get to the intended ~~recipient--who~~ turns out to be in league with the villain.

Somehow, the message can end up in the hands of its intended recipient even under circumstances that can border on a post-mortem [[Gambit Roulette]]. The subversion where it winds up in the hands of the villain instead is also common, and often happens because the dead person has the [[Idiot Ball]]. In yet a third possibility, it sometimes does get to the intended recipient—who turns out to be in league with the villain.

Quite often, [[Will Foresight]] is subverted when the person who made the will adds, after "I'm dead", "unless..." and adds a humorous (if unlikely) hypothetical meant to lighten the mood.

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* ''[[Serenity]]''

** The Operative runs Mr. Universe through with a sword, but makes the mistake of leaving him alone before he actually dies. Mr. Universe takes the chance to record a message for Mal, telling him where he can find a secret back-up broadcast system. Unfortunately, the Operative comes back after Mal has triggered the message, and hears it too...

** There's also Dr. Caron, who spends her final moments recording a holographic message revealing the truth about what happened on Miranda; the message ends abruptly (although the ''recording'' doesn't) when she's attacked and cannibalised by one of the Reavers she helped create. Getting this particular example of [[Dead Man Writing]] out to the wider world becomes the driving goal of the film.

** There's also Dr. Caron, who spends her final moments recording a holographic message revealing the truth about what happened on Miranda; the message ends abruptly (although the ''recording'' doesn't) when she's attacked and cannibalised by one of the Reavers she helped create. Getting this particular example of Dead Man Writing out to the wider world becomes the driving goal of the film.

* ''[[Blue Thunder]]'': Frank Murphy's sidekick, Lymangood, gets tortured and eventually killed by the badguys who want from him the tape containing evidence of their conspiracy. Later, Murphy finds a message left by Lymangood on the flight recorder of the titular [[Black Helicopter]], revealing the location of the tape.

* Parodied in ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' when King Arthur and his knights read a message regarding Castle Aaaaaaagh. Maybe he was dictating?

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* A straight example occurs in the second book in the ''Looking Glass Wars'' series, where Hatter comes across a message which his former lover, Weaver, left him in case she died before they could meet again (which she obviously did... or did she?).

* This appeared in ''[[Jedi Academy Trilogy|I, Jedi]]'', a [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel featuring Corran Horn, whose father, secretly the son of a Jedi, had died years before, and left a holographic message for him. It started with the "My hope is that we're watching this together..." variant, and the thought that they'd be laughing at how young he looked.

** Corran gets to subvert this in the [[X Wing Series]]~~-- he~~ and Tycho psyche Wedge out with a fake 'last message' before revealing that they're both fine. Later in the series it's played straight with the message Phanan wrote while dying and gave to Face.

** Corran gets to subvert this in the [[X Wing Series]]—he and Tycho psyche Wedge out with a fake 'last message' before revealing that they're both fine. Later in the series it's played straight with the message Phanan wrote while dying and gave to Face.

** Also in the EU, Lorn Pavan recorded a message for his son Jax. Jax had been taken and raised by the Jedi, and one of the last things Lorn did was tell the recording droid to find his son.

* In ''[[Tortall Universe|Lioness Rampant]]'' by [[Tamora Pierce]], the person sent the letter to a friend, thinking trouble was likely. If he survived, she was to burn the letter; if he didn't, she was to pass it on to Alanna.

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* In [[David Eddings]]' [[Malloreon]], Belgarath and Belgarion find a message written by the [[Big Bad]] of [[The Belgariad]], Torak, that is addressed to Belgarion. It (not entirely typically) starts "If you are reading this, we have already met in battle and you have killed me..." and goes onto explain a few rather important points of the Prophecies that they both serve. It ends with the instruction that Belgarion must be ready to do anything, even kill his own son, rather than allow the Dark Prophecy to be fulfilled. Pretty ominous, considering the Dark Prophecy is the one Torak was serving.

* In ''Mockingjay'', the last book in [[The Hunger Games]] series, Katniss gets one from Cinna. His sketchbook contains designs for a suit of armor for her to wear into battle and the message "I'm still betting on you."

* In ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Diplomatic Immunity]]'' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], Miles records several of ~~these -- to~~ his parents, his brother and cousin, and his unborn ~~children -- when~~ he thinks he's likely to die of exposure to a Cetagandan bioweapon. When he's cured, his wife refuses to erase them, saying that the next time he's in mortal danger, he might not have time to record them again.

* In ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Diplomatic Immunity]]'' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], Miles records several of these—to his parents, his brother and cousin, and his unborn children—when he thinks he's likely to die of exposure to a Cetagandan bioweapon. When he's cured, his wife refuses to erase them, saying that the next time he's in mortal danger, he might not have time to record them again.

* This is the entire plot of ''[[Thirteen Reasons Why]]''.

* In [[Agatha Christie]] novels:

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** Kirk's taped message from the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "The Tholian Web" is revealed even though he doesn't actually die.

** Tasha's holo-message is revealed in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Skin of Evil"...and she ''[[Killed Off for Real|did]]''.

** In the ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Civil Defense", a message like this from Gul Dukat to his Cardassian underlings is revealed, as part of a long-buried computer subroutine that's assuming the Cardassians still control the station and there's a slave revolt in progress. Dukat is not only still alive, but ''vastly'' amused by the whole ~~thing -- at~~ least until {{spoiler|another facet of the subroutine locks him out as well.}}

** In the ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Civil Defense", a message like this from Gul Dukat to his Cardassian underlings is revealed, as part of a long-buried computer subroutine that's assuming the Cardassians still control the station and there's a slave revolt in progress. Dukat is not only still alive, but ''vastly'' amused by the whole thing—at least until {{spoiler|another facet of the subroutine locks him out as well.}}

** In the ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Visionary", Chief O'Brien, before taking on a dangerous time-travel mission, informed Dr. Bashir that he had left a message for his wife Keiko in the event of his death.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':

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** In the episode "To the Last Will I Grapple With Thee", the murder victim left a video tape claiming that a friend of Jessica's was out to kill him. {{spoiler|He actually committed suicide, arranging his death to implicate Jessica's friend, a man whom he blamed for making his life miserable.}}

* ''[[Monk]]'', on the series finale, it's revealed that Trudy left Monk a tape as a Christmas gift before she died. While the entire tape wasn't shown yet, she does reveal that she knew she was in danger.

* One episode of ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' had a twist on the trope, in which a video message was left by the murder victim. As it turned out, he was not a murder ''victim'' at ~~all -- he~~ knew he was dying of cancer, so had hired a hit man to kill him and frame both his cheating wife and her lover. The video was given to his best friend, with instructions that he was to show it to the district attorney if anyone ever tried to pin the murder on him.

* One episode of ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' had a twist on the trope, in which a video message was left by the murder victim. As it turned out, he was not a murder ''victim'' at all—he knew he was dying of cancer, so had hired a hit man to kill him and frame both his cheating wife and her lover. The video was given to his best friend, with instructions that he was to show it to the district attorney if anyone ever tried to pin the murder on him.

* The letter Bart leaves for Chuck on ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' (which oddly enough mentions that he's left Chuck Bass Industries, but fails to mention the morality clause).

* In ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'', Tully leaves a warning for George in this manner. Annie attempts to do this with an answering machine message, but it gets listened to before she's gone anywhere. (Both in the same episode, too!)

* In ''[[Murder Most Horrid]]'', an episode begins with a woman recording her suicide note that begins "Dear Mum, by the time you read this, I will be dead.", but she ends up embroiled in {{spoiler|an assassination attempt of sorts. By the time it's over, she's decided not to kill herself, and also decides to phone her mother to tell her all about it. Unfortunately, she dies anyway and the last words she says to her mum before the tape begins playing are 'I've got so much to say I could explode!'. Guess how she dies.}}

* On ''[[Rubicon]]'', Katherine's husband is [[Driven to Suicide]] under mysterious circumstances, and ends up leaving her a cryptic note reminding her to celebrate their anniversary, as per usual, which includes watching ''[[Meet Me in St Louis]]''~~--but~~ the DVD in the case is actually a message from him explaining [[The Conspiracy]] that caused his and others' deaths. {{spoiler|Too bad it doesn't save her from getting killed a few days later.}}

* On ''[[Rubicon]]'', Katherine's husband is [[Driven to Suicide]] under mysterious circumstances, and ends up leaving her a cryptic note reminding her to celebrate their anniversary, as per usual, which includes watching ''[[Meet Me in St Louis]]''—but the DVD in the case is actually a message from him explaining [[The Conspiracy]] that caused his and others' deaths. {{spoiler|Too bad it doesn't save her from getting killed a few days later.}}

* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', before {{spoiler|Gabriel faces his brother Lucifer and is ultimately killed by him}}, he leaves a video for Sam and Dean containing some important information. In the form of a porno. Him as the leading man, of course, [[Porn Stache|'stache]] and all. He halts the action for a moment to deliver the info. After admitting that Dean was right, {{spoiler|Gabriel}} had been too much of a coward to face his family, he ends with this [[Funny Moments|little gem]]:

{{quote|{{spoiler|Gabriel}}: This is me standing up. And ''this''... is me lying down.}}

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* The prologue of ''[[Deadlands]]: Hell on Earth'' is a [[Apocalyptic Log]] written by a Templar named Jo about the state of the world and events that led to it meant to bring players up to speed on the lore. She is on her death bed, and is most likely dead by the time the player would realistically read it.

* ''[[Silent Hill]]'' RPG.

** In the sewer system under the amusemrnt park the [[PC~~|PCs~~]] can find the diary of W. Irving. It says that two of his friends have been killed by a monster in the sewer water and that he's going to try to kill it.

** In the sewer system under the amusemrnt park the [[PC]]s can find the diary of W. Irving. It says that two of his friends have been killed by a monster in the sewer water and that he's going to try to kill it.

** In the Indian Runner delivery office there's a journal of an undercover officer working for a drug gang. The last entry says:

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* The NES game ''[[The Guardian Legend]]'' has one of these after you complete the introductory space shooter level, when you first enter the labyrinth.

* Mary's letter in ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', though we don't get to read it all until James lets himself read it all. The very first thing James says in the game is that it can't be possible he got a letter from Mary, since she's been dead for years now. But near the end, we find out that she's only been dead about a week.

* Your foster father Gorion in ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' leaves one of these kinds of letters for you to pick up late in the game. (He also apparently ''lies''--[[Fanon]] is divided on whether the two stories of your mother can be ~~reconciled--but~~ then he is [[The Obi-Wan]].)

* Your foster father Gorion in ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' leaves one of these kinds of letters for you to pick up late in the game. (He also apparently ''lies''--[[Fanon]] is divided on whether the two stories of your mother can be reconciled—but then he is [[The Obi-Wan]].)

** The whole thing smells of [[Retcon]]. Probably done in order to be able to say that Sarevok and the PC could have exchanged places but for the smallest accident of chance.

* Near the very end of [[System Shock]] 2, as SHODAN starts warping reality, the player finds another of the [[Apocalyptic Log~~|Apocalyptic Logs~~]] left by Delacroix, although earlier in the game the player found her body and final log. This one, floating in the air all on its own, starts, "Re: some small assistance. If you are receiving this, I am already dead. When I realized SHODAN had betrayed me, I integrated these comments into her primary data loop." Her messages then guide the player.

* Near the very end of [[System Shock]] 2, as SHODAN starts warping reality, the player finds another of the [[Apocalyptic Log]]s left by Delacroix, although earlier in the game the player found her body and final log. This one, floating in the air all on its own, starts, "Re: some small assistance. If you are receiving this, I am already dead. When I realized SHODAN had betrayed me, I integrated these comments into her primary data loop." Her messages then guide the player.

* {{spoiler|George Crabtree}}'s journal in ''[[Dark Fall: The Journal]]''

* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'':