Death's Hourglass: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', Rei was pierced in the Shinketsushuu power point by Raoh. When he was struck, Rei was given 72 hours to live. During his final days of life, Rei and his allies would fight Yuda. As the 3-day limit was about to take effect, Toki briefly counters it by giving Rei one more day by touching the Shinreidai power point.

* In ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', everyone has a time at which they are destined to die. It's only visible to those with a Shinigami's eyes. However, using a death note allows you to kill people before their time and indirectly extend lives.

* ''[[Mahoromatic]]'': How many days before [[Robot Girl|Mahoro]] completely shuts down is shown at the end of each episode. (Parodied in ''[[He Is My Master]]''.)

* The [["On the Next..."]] preview of ''[[Fate Zero]]'' shows how much time are left before the Holy Grail appears. Since {{spoiler|Irisviel}} is the conduit for the grail and the manifestation will obliterate her personality, this effectively acts as her [[Death's Hourglass]].

 

== Film ==

* In Fritz Lang's film ''Der Mude Tod'', Death has a candle representing each person and when the candle burns out the person dies. Whether this is an example of the fatalistic variety is ambiguous; Death gives the main character a chance to save three lives whose candles are about to go out, but in every case the protagonist fails, suggesting that perhaps it's impossible to defeat Death.

** This is likely a reference to one of the lesser known fairy tale collected by [[The Brothers Grimm (Creator)|The Brothers Grimm]]: In it, a poor man with a lot of children tries to find a godfather for his newest son by asking everyone he meets. After God and the Devil he meets Death which he decides on. The godfather grants the son knowledge which allows him to become a famous doctor, but after cheating Death one time too many over a princess' life, Death brings him into a cave full of candles. When each burns down the person connected to the flame dies. The son begs Death after being shown his own short candle to light another with the flame. Death agrees - but drops the candle before lighting the new one.

 

== Literature ==

* The Death of the ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' has shelves and shelves of most different hourglasses.

** The Discworld's "lifetimers" aren't just clocks. If a person's hourglass is broken, they immediately die or go catatonic, and Death doesn't normally control the flow of timers. He is merely supposed to help a timer's owner pass on when the sand runs out. (Fiddling with timers is usually a bad idea, as several characters discover the hard way.) Even Death has an hourglass, but it has no sand and cannot be damaged.

** As the [[Discworld (Literature)/Hogfather|Hogfather]], Death was able to reverse the flow of sand in the Match Girl's hourglass.

{{quote| {{smallcaps|"The Hogfather gives presents. There's no greater present than a future." }}}}

** He does the same thing for the title character in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Mort|Mort]]'', and is able to ''add'' to the sand in a young girl's hourglass in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', by sacrificing the sand in his own glass (not the one above; he's been given a new one as a "retirement present").

** It is explicitly stated that this is a ''mortal'' ability - many do it all the time, without even realizing. Death, under normal circumstances, cannot truly extend someone's life.

== Webcomics ==

* Death in ''[[Death and The Maiden]]'' has one so he can travel in time. It becomes the [[MacGuffin]] in the sequel when it gets stolen, prompting Death to get a replacement: a wrist watch.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' - every dog has a clock representing their lives (in heaven): it's suggested these are countdown clocks, though it's never actually said. When Charlie returns to life, he is immortal as long as his clock keeps working, which is similar but not identical to the trope.

** There's also the fact that interfering with the natural progression of his life in such a manner gets him banned from returning to Heaven when he finally dies. He sees what happens

* The website http://www.tombclock.com. You enter some basic information about yourself (age, height, weight, living environment, etc.) and, using some unknown algorithm, the site will calculate the exact date of your death.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[D Gray Man]]'' Yu Kanda possesses a similar glassed flower. Nothing is known about it, not how he acquired it, if it's reverseable, what happens when all the petals have fallen nor who's time it even counts. It's almost [[Fanon]] though, that it counts down Kanda's lifetime and belongs to a curse.

** Recent chapters show that Kanda has had hallucinations of lotus flowers for many years, and that they have been a red herring all along. The thing that actually shows his lifespan appears to be a tattoo.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'': After losing to [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Yami Malik]] in the Battle City Finals, Mai is trapped in an hourglass by the former where she will die if her captor isn't defeated in a duel within the next 24 hours.

 

 

* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'': "Do you see that? That's how much longer you've got to be alive! And it isn't long, my pretty -- it isn't long!"

** And the [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' scene in ''[[Flash Gordon (Film)|Flash Gordon]]'':

* ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]'' had one in the form of the clock with 13 numbers. Sarah had 13 hours in order to get through the labyrinth, get to the castle, and get her baby brother or else he'd be turned into a goblin. Understandably if she failed she'd probably be sent home to try to explain what happened to her brother...

* In ''[[In Time]]'', everyone has a personal death clock. However, time is used as currency, and thus can be extended. The poor race against the clock every day, while the world's richest people are effectively immortal.

 

== Literature ==

* Discworld again: in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'' Death is laid off by the Auditors of Reality and is given a small hourglass with a few weeks of life in the world. He demonstrates that people can "live on borrowed time" by {{spoiler|sharing his hourglass with a little girl whose life was at risk}}, and later someone else repays the favor at just the right moment.

* In Piers Anthony's ''On A Pale Horse'', the Incarnation of Death carries an hourglass that shows how long he has to collect his next client's soul. Subverted in that Death can actually postpone a given death briefly if his schedule demands it, although Fate will intercede if he delays things too long.

** In [[For The Love Of Evil]], Lucifer torments Parry by telling him the exact time of his death.

* In the [[Left Behind]] book ''Kingdom Come'': While lacking the actual timepiece, citizens of the Millennial Kingdom know that "naturals" who stay unbelievers by the time they reach 100 will instantly die and go to Hell. The only way for "naturals" to avoid this fate is to [[Religion Is Right|accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.]] [[La Résistance|The Other Light faction]] sees [[God Is Evil]] because of this and has prepared for that contingency by having their teachings passed down to the next generation of its converts so that the generation that [[Final Battle|gets to confront God and Jesus by the end of the Millennium]] will be "assured victory" when [[Sealed Evil in A Can|Satan is released]]. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Unfortunately for them,]] [[You Can't Fight Fate|it didn't go as they hoped.]]

 

== Live-Action Televison ==

 

 

== Music Videos ==

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Who can forget the original ''[[Prince of Persia]]''?

* When characters (well, the ones called "Players") in ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' receive a mission, they get numerical timers superimposed on their hands. If one pair doesn't complete the mission in time, they all get erased. (You, on the other [[A Worldwide Punomenon|hand]], can [[Take Your Time]].) At the end of the game, you find out that {{spoiler|the Conductor ''also'' has a timer on his hand, albeit a longer one, and it runs out before he can finish.}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' often shows countdown clocks of this nature.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The flower in the glass with its dropping petals of from Disney's ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]'' showed how long the Beast had before the curse was unbreakable, ending at his 21st birthday.

* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'', Jafar uses the "Sands of Time" to discover the one person (Aladdin) who can retrieve the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Later, he imprisons Jasmine in the lower half of a giant hourglass, where she is in danger of suffocation due to the sand falling on her.