Dead Man Writing: Difference between revisions

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*** Although the note is signed as her, it's implied to have been written by someone else. Whether or not that person was a victim has not been stated yet.

* Subverted rather gruesomely in ''[[Loveless]]''.

* In the ''[[Ranma ~~One Half~~|Ranma 1/2]]'' manga, Nabiki tries to find some way to frame Ranma in retaliation for him destroying her concert ticket. She makes it look like he killed her and wrote the words "Ranma did it" on the floor.

* In the ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]]'' manga, Nabiki tries to find some way to frame Ranma in retaliation for him destroying her concert ticket. She makes it look like he killed her and wrote the words "Ranma did it" on the floor.

* [[Parental Substitute|Linith's]] diary in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] [[The Movie|Movie 1st]] [[Comic Book Adaptation|The Comics]]'', which Linith wrote with the expectation that Fate will find it after she's dead.

{{quote| '''Linith:''' To my beloved Fate-chan: When you read this diary, both Precia and I would probably no longer be by your side.}}

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== [[Fanfic]] ==

* "[http://www.thekeep.org/~mike/imbs.html Ill Met by Starlight]." [[Ranma ~~One Half~~|Ranma 1/2]] [[Dark Fic]]. Nabiki to Akane.

* "[http://www.thekeep.org/~mike/imbs.html Ill Met by Starlight]." [[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]] [[Dark Fic]]. Nabiki to Akane.

** And by the same circle of authors, a hilarious use of the same trope is found in "[http://www.thekeep.org/~mike/pastpresent.html Pastpresent]", a fanfic about Ranma reading Genma's memoirs after he passes away from disease.

{{quote| ''If you're reading this, boy, either I'm dead or you're more like me than I thought. If it's the latter, turn around very slowly and pray Kasumi goes easy on you.''<br />

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* 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.

* The original novel ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' has two. The first is written briefly before Hyde takes over Jekyll forever. Hyde is dead by the time the second letter is read, so that moves it out of "technically".

* This is subverted in the book ''[[The Time ~~Travelers~~ Wife]]'', where Henry suggests that it's a bit presumptuous to start such a letter in such a certain way, and suggests that the letter might be read before he has really died.

* This is subverted in the book ''[[The Time Traveler's Wife]]'', where Henry suggests that it's a bit presumptuous to start such a letter in such a certain way, and suggests that the letter might be read before he has really died.

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'' #34, this is done with not a note, but the stored ''memories and persona'' of Aldrea. Which puts Cassie in the rather unique position of inverting this by saying, "Yes, Aldrea, you are dead."

* Occurs in the short story "Death of a Bachelor" by Arthur Schnitzler. After the man dies, his housekeeper rounds up three men who knew him but have no seeming connection to each other. (It was supposed to be five, but two couldn't make it.) They are given the letter. It begins with "About a quarter of an hour ago I breathed my last", and proceeds to describe in gratuitous detail the affairs that he had with each of their wives.

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* Used straight, from your former commanding officer, at the start of the [[Humongous Mecha]] game ''[[BattleTech|MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries]]''.

** And then ''Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance'' starts with the protagonist receiving a message from his late father.

* One of Mario's quests in ''[[Paper Mario ~~the~~ Thousand Year Door]]'' is to deliver such a letter to Admiral Bobbery, thus releasing him from the mental torment that keeps him from sailing the seas.

* One of Mario's quests in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' is to deliver such a letter to Admiral Bobbery, thus releasing him from the mental torment that keeps him from sailing the seas.

** Earlier in the game, Koops finds such a message in a pile of bones that he believes to be his father's. As it turns out, that wasn't his father's skeleton after all.

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