Harbinger of Impending Doom: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."''|[[The Bible|Revelation 6:7-8]]}}

 

 

A side note for authors to avoid a [[Rouge Angles of Satin]] situation, there are only two "r"s in harbinger. "Harbringer" is not a word.

 

Subtrope of [[Herald]]. Compare [[Vagueness Is Coming]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the "Zodd The Immortal" episode of ''[[Berserk]]'', a badly wounded Hawk Raider escapes the castle and only has enough time to choke out the name of the demon in question before dying, prompting Guts to enter the castle and take him on alone.

* In Nico Robin's backstory from ''[[One Piece]]'', she is finally reunited with her mother after a traumatic childhood raised by abusive relatives. However, her mother is on the run from the Marines for the dangerous knowledge she, and her entire civilization possesses. Guess who followed her...

* Kotaro's return in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.

* In episode 19 of ''[[Heroman]]'', the government scientist who shows up just minutes ahead of the {{spoiler|tentacle monster}}.

 

* This was also the [[Silver Surfer]]'s gig. Depending on which version, he'd either go around picking out likely worlds for Galactus to devour, or show up to alert said worlds that Galactus was on his way. Or both.

 

== Film ==

* The western film, ''[[Pale Rider]]'' uses the page quote as part of its narration. A subplot of the movie is whether or not the pale rider is actually a live person or a walking dead man who has come to exact his vengeance.

* In ''[[30 Days of Night]]'', a creepy human arrives in Barrow to pave the way for the vampires (stealing and destroying satellite phones, killing sled dogs and trashing the only helicopter), letting Sheriff Oleson know that his day is about to get much worse, but not specifying precisely how.

 

== Literature ==

* From ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'' "The Desolation has come. Oh, God...it has come. And I have failed." quoth Talanel'Elin the Lost Herald after stumbling into Kholinar and immediately before collapsing. Although [[Cliff Hanger|he might not be dead.]]

 

* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Neverwhere]]'' introduced Door this way. Richard thinks, "Oh, a bleeding and wounded girl; I'd better help her." His [[Rich Bitch|girlfriend]] thinks, "I'm going to be late for my meeting and she's probably drunk."

 

== Video Games ==

* In the opening cinematic for the original ''Descent: [[Free Space]]'' game, the sole survivor of a patrol wing arrives outside a space station and starts screaming about 'death black' ships coming after him. Before he can calm down, the Shivans have already arrived. In the sequel, the sole survivor of Kappa wing, which disappeared [[Brick Joke|a dozen or so missions earlier]], shouts down the radio, warning to get out of the nebula. He's destroyed shortly thereafter, and the threat to which he refers is made plain some sorties later.

* In ''[[Prey]]'', a ''Coast to Coast AM'' listener calls Art Bell and frantically tries to explain the proof he collected about regular alien abductions since 1995. Before he can calm down, the aliens abduct him.

 

* In the slasher parody "KITTEN II" in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', a dying soldier staggers into a building and warns the people inside about the monsters after him. Not many seconds after that all but one of them have been slaughtered by a, uh, kitten.

* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20141227133240/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib070.html their watches all announce, and Mac arrives with news, that the town in under attack.] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110820082249/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib071.html Dara and Caspian lead the charge to find out what it is,] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131025070218/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib072.html it's bad], and [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608165730/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib073.html fortunately Dara can] [[You Are in Command Now|take command]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* More of a Heck's Comin' With Me: on ''[[Ben 10]]'', a young camper is found frightened and babbling on the road after fleeing an alien mushroom-monster in "Camp Fear".

* This is pretty much the entire plot of the short film ''The Chubbchubbs''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Herald]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Diabolical Plots]]