Posthumous Narration: Difference between revisions

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== Narrating the events leading up to their death ==

* The narrator of the film ''[[American Beauty]]'', who comes right out and tells us that we're going to see him die at some point.

* ''[[Sunset Boulevard]]'' actually ''starts'' with William Holden's death; he tells us his story in [[Flash Back]].

* ''[[In Bruges]]'', possibly. It's intentionally not left very clear whether the main character lives or dies, last we see him his is in critical condition begging in narration to live, while everything goes black...

* Interesting variation in the film ''[[Casino]]''. Joe Pesci's character narrates much of the film - not aware that his character is going to get whacked - and the second his character ''does'', the narration gags violently and ends - leaving the audience wondering just who the hell he was talking to.

** Also subverted: {{spoiler|The main character is shown dying in a car bomb at the start of the film, but it is later discovered that he escaped with his life.}}

* Another interesting variation in the movie ''[[Fallen]]''; the narrator isn't dead, but he ''is'' [[Not Himself]].

* Tie-in novel ''[[Halo]]: The Flood'' features this, mainly as a way for the reader to get information about a battle [[Undead Author|that no one actually survived]].

* Subverted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' 2-part season finale "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday": Rose Tyler begins each part saying "This is the story of how I died"...only it turns out she was merely trapped in a parallel universe while being declared dead in her own. Since she is separated from the Doctor forever though, this could have [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|more than one meaning]]...

* Played straight in the final episode of ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'', in a section called "River Song's Story" - River Song sums up the events of her life [[Timey-Wimey Ball|in the order she experiences them, as opposed to the order the viewers saw them]], up to and including her death. Justified in that her consciousness was subsequently saved in a computer, and it's that version of her narrating the story, post-[[Doctor Who~~/NS~~/Recap/S4 E9 Forest of the Dead|"Forest of the Dead"]]. We see her telling the end of the story at the end of that episode.

* Played straight in the final episode of ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'', in a section called "River Song's Story" - River Song sums up the events of her life [[Timey-Wimey Ball|in the order she experiences them, as opposed to the order the viewers saw them]], up to and including her death. Justified in that her consciousness was subsequently saved in a computer, and it's that version of her narrating the story, post-[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S4/E09 Forest of the Dead|"Forest of the Dead"]]. We see her telling the end of the story at the end of that episode.

* ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]''. "September 21st, 1945... That was the night I died."

* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': {{spoiler|X-9}} in the Tale of X-9 Film-noir episode.

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* The brazilian novel ''The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas'' (also known in English as ''Epitaph of a Small Winner'') by [[Machado de Assis]], which the protagonist opens by dedicating "to the first worm who eats my corpse". (and [[Follow the Leader|in the trend]] set by ''[[Pride and Prejudice And Zombies]]'', received the version ''[[Everything's Deader with Zombies|Undead Memoirs of Brás Cubas]]'')

* Also from Brazil, the movie ''Redentor'' - though you don't know the protagonist is dead in the first scene, [[How We Got Here|only when the narrative eventually reaches that scene]]. Considering his ghost emerges from his body shortly later, it avoids the "no explanation given" part.

* In ''[[The Book Of Skulls]]'' by [[Robert Silverberg]], two of the four narrators are dead by the end of the story, yet they still narrate the events leading up to their death, leaving the reader wondering who it is to whom they were actually talking.

* Both Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson's characters from ''[[The Bucket List]]''.

* Danny Devito's character from ''[[L.A. Confidential]]''.

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** Similarly, the ''[[American Dad]]'' episode "Star Trek" (nothing to do with the [[Star Trek|show]], for once) starts in the [[Noir]] style with Steve lying facedown in a pool of cherry jello. Steve narrates how he became an accomplished children's book writer by writing a book making fun of Roger. He gets everything he wants, including a giant mansion and a pool of jello. There's also a movie that is going to be filmed based on his book. Then it turns out that the person in the pool was actually an actor who was supposed to be playing Steve in the movie accidentally killed by Roger (he wanted to kill Steve). The episode ends with Stan helping Steve dump the body in a lake. Steve admits this was "kind of a screw to the audience" and apologizes for it.

* A Russian book "We were executed in 1942" is narrated from the point of Soviet soldiers [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|who were executed in 1942]].

* In Nick Perumov's books, '''most''' of the narrating charachters die later in the book.

* At the beginning of ''[[Bokurano]]'' one of the characters is monologuing, presumably having seen the events of the series already. The character is {{spoiler|Waku, who died in the second episode.}}

* ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' is narrated from Walter Huff/Neff's [[Apocalyptic Log]].

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* Simon, the [[Sacrificial Lamb]] in ''[[Gear]]'' gets a brief monologue after he dies. Interestingly, the comic shows far more of his personality here than it did when he was alive.

* In ''[[The Grey Zone]]'' the girl who survived the gas chamber and was executed narrates the results of the Auschwitz uprising.

* In ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'', the ending monologue is given by {{spoiler|Spock}} after his death. Of course, what the audience doesn't know is that he's [[Only Mostly Dead]].

* The song "Passage" by [[Vienna Teng]] is told from the point of view of a young woman killed in a car accident as she describes moments from the lives of her loved ones as they move on.

* In the ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' DLC Honest Hearts, Jed Masterson also does the closing narration, even though he died at the very start of the tale.

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** After the [[Big Bad]] is defeated, she shows up in the form of the Sands of Time and leaves for another world. Given that she ''is'' the Sands, it makes sense that she was simply trapped inside the [[Big Bad]].

* In ''[[Age of Empires II]]'s'' Joan of Arc campaign, the main narrator is a French nobleman. In the last mission, where he can be controlled as a hero unit, he states the possibility that he could die in the battle, and if he is killed, he says "It is here... that my tale shall end." After the player wins the mission, he continues narrating regardless of whether he survives or dies, and refers to Joan's being canonized as a saint, which happened in 1920, long after he died.

* [[Eternal Darkness|"My name is Doctor Edward Roivas. I am a clinical psychologist. I am also dead."]]

* The ''[[Barenaked Ladies]]'' song "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel". Just think about that title for a minute.

* The song ''Long Black Veil'', originally by Lefty Frizzell, has the singer telling how he came to be hanged, and why a woman secretly mourns for him.

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* In ''Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World'', Musa's roommate Abdallah died in a ferry accident during his pilgrimage to Mecca, and narrates during scene transitions.

* In a Poem Within A Book example, "The Legion's Pride", recited by a soldier in ''[[Lord Darcy|A Study In Sorcery]]'', is couched as a posthumous declaration by another [[Alternate History|Anglo-French]] soldier, who'd died during a peacekeeping mission to avert conflict between rival German baronies.

* In ''[[Windaria]]'', the story begins at Alan's funeral and is told by him after his soul has left his body.

* In [[Tangled]], Flynn Rider starts out narrating the film with "This is the story of how I died." {{spoiler|He did. But he got better.}}

* Augustus Hill in ''[[Oz]]'' does his [[Lemony Narrator|odd narrations]] throughout the series. {{spoiler|He's killed in the Season 5 finale.}}