There is one who remembers the way to your door:
Life you may evade, but Death you shall not.
You shall not deny the Stranger.
Life you may evade, but Death you shall not.
You shall not deny the Stranger.
—T. S. Eliot, Choruses From The Rock
Character Death is a major event in stories. No, no... it is a really big deal. Really. Except when it isn't.
Obviously, this trope will lead to Spoiler Central, so, due to the nature of these tropes, the spoilers are unmarked to avoid having to highlight them constantly.
This is the inverse of Birth Tropes. Also see Indexitis, Injury Tropes, Breaking and Destruction Tropes. This index is often (though not always) related to Violence Tropes, which has quite a bit of overlap.
Tropes
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Subcategories and Trope Indexes
- Afterlife Tropes: Tropes about what happens to people after they die.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: Someone thinks they have died and gone to an afterlife.
- Rebirth and Reincarnation Tropes: Tropes about reincarnation (the endless cycle of being born into, living and dying in one life after another).
- Resurrection Tropes: Tropes about dying and then returning back to full life.
- Tropes of the Soul: Tropes about the soul or spirit that is believed to continue existing after the death of one's physical body, thus allowing entrance to the afterlife.
- Undead Index: Beings that have died and are supposed to stay dead, but now they're (poorly) trying to act like they're alive again.
- Big Trope Hunting: Tropes about chasing down and killing other living creatures, whether for food or sport.
- Choosing Death: Tropes about suicide, the act of killing oneself.
- Heroic Sacrifices: Ending one's own life to save other people for the greater good.
- Dead Body Index: Tropes about decaying, rotting corpses.
- Disposing of a Body: Hiding a corpse, especially as a means of covering up a murder.
- Skeletal Tropes: Bones are always an iconic symbol of death.
- Disaster Tropes: Tropes about major catastrophes (both natural and artificial) that can result in a lot of deaths.
- Apocalyptic Index: Whenever the world as we know it is ending, by necessity this means that (almost) everyone on the planet will die.
- Funeral Tropes: Tropes about giving proper respect for the deceased.
- Statues, Monuments and Memorials: Anything built or created to memorialize someone or something that's gone now.
- Grief Tropes: Tropes about mourning losses, usually of people who have died, but not necessarily.
- Last Words: There are many ways to express your final thoughts at the end of life.
- Meat of the Index: The flesh of dead animals, especially when eaten as food.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibalism, especially (but not limited to) the consumption of dead human beings.
- Murder Tropes: Tropes about homicide, which is when people (intentionally) kill other people.
- Execution Tropes: Tropes about killing captive people (especially, but not limited to, capital punishment for condemned criminals in prison).
- Genocide Tropes: Tropes about the systematic, targeted mass murder of large groups of people.
- Murder in the Family: Tropes about the act of killing one's own kin.
- This Index Is Expendable: Various types of Stock Characters who have a high chance of dying in the story.
- This Index Will Kill You: Various things that are able to cause death.
- This Index Will Live Forever: Cheating death so that one may live forever (or at least indefinitely).
- Immortality: Various ways that a character is unaffected by death.
- Will and Inheritance Tropes: Private property that dead people have left behind for their living heirs to claim.
Tropes A-C
- Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: A character who unintentionally caused a child's death in the past carries the burden into the present.
- Accidental Murder: When someone unintentionally kills another person.
- Accidental Suicide: Unintentionally killing yourself.
- Accident, Not Murder: Circumstances cause a freak accident to appear to be a murder.
- Acquitted Too Late: A person wrongly convicted of a crime is sentenced to death and is killed before their name is cleared.
- Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Character is killed off because of the actor playing them leaving.
- The Afterafterlife: You go from life to afterlife, but what comes after that?
- Afterlife Antechamber: The afterlife shown on-screen is actually a pathway to the real afterlife, which isn't shown.
- Afterlife Express: Dead souls are taken into the afterlife by a vehicle, usually a train.
- Afterlife Welcome: Someone is greeted on their deathbed by those already in the afterlife.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: A stomach wound leads to a long, painful death.
- Alas, Poor Scrappy: A character's detractors feel sorry for the character after they are killed off.
- Alas, Poor Villain: A villain's demise is portrayed as sympathetic.
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Lamenting the deceased while holding their skull.
- All Are Equal in Death: Everyone is treated or shown as equal in death, regardless of how they were in life.
- All Deaths Final: A setting where not even science or magic can bring back the dead.
- Almost Dead Guy: Characters get information from a dying person just before they pass away.
- Ammunition Conservation: Characters use as little ammunition as possible when dispatching enemies.
- Ancestor Veneration: The veneration, exaltation, and/or outright worship of one's deceased ancestors.
- And Show It to You: Killing someone by removing their heart and showing it to them.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Everyone's glad that this person has died.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: A twin dies and their surviving sibling grieves their passing.
- Another Man's Terror: Having a better understanding of another person's death by experiencing the circumstances of their demise firsthand.
- Antagonist in Mourning: The bad guy feels sorry for the hero's death.
- Ankle Drag: A character is dragged to their unfortunate end by their ankles.
- Any Last Words?: A character about to be killed is asked if they have any last words. They use the opportunity to turn the tables on the person who was about to kill them.
- Anyone Can Die: A story shows that death can happen to anyone, no matter how powerful or important that character is.
- Artifact of Death: A magical Artifact of Doom that is capable of killing people.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: A character dies without actually dying, often becoming a spirit.
- As Long as There Is Evil: The villain can't really be killed because he'll keep coming back as long as evil exists.
- Assassination Attempt: An attempt is made at taking an important person's life.
- Assassin Outclassin': An assassination attempt is thwarted.
- Asshole Victim: A person who got killed had it coming because they were very unpleasant and unsympathetic, even though that's not actually the reason they were killed.
- Ate His Gun: Someone commits suicide by firing a gun after putting it in their mouth.
- Attack on the Heart: Someone kills someone else by shooting, stabbing, or otherwise injuring them in the heart.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: A living character attends their own funeral, whether they've been faking their demise or were simply mistaken for being deceased.
- Back for the Dead: A character who hasn't been seen in a while returns only to get killed.
- Back from the Dead: A deceased character is resurrected back into the world of the living.
- Backup from Otherworld: The dead assist the living during a fight.
- Backup Twin: A deceased character is replaced by revealing that they have a surviving twin.
- Balancing Death's Books: Saving someone's life by offering Death your own in exchange.
- Barefoot Suicide: A character removes their shoes before killing themselves.
- Barred from the Afterlife: A deceased person who can't enter Heaven or Hell.
- Bath Suicide: A person kills themselves while bathing. Can overlap with Deadly Bath.
- Bequeathed Power: A person gives their powers to a chosen successor before they die.
- Bested by the Inexperienced: A person is killed by someone less experienced in combat than they are.
- "Better if Not Born" Plot: A suicidal person is shown what life would be like if they didn't exist... only for everyone to be doing just fine or better without their presence.
- Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: An innocent person is incriminated because they started holding the murder weapon right after the victim's death.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: A person commits suicide so the enemy can't hurt them on their own terms.
- Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: The strongest of the group gives their life to the cause.
- Big Sleep: Someone dies with their eyes closed.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: A new life is born or introduced shortly before or after another person dies.
- Bitter Almonds: Cyanide poisoning results in the victim smelling like bitter almonds.
- Black Cap of Death: The judge wears a black hat to show they intend to give a death sentence.
- Black Comedy Pet Death: The death of a pet is played for Black Comedy.
- The Black Death: The bubonic plague and its horrifying presence in 14th century Europe.
- Black Dude Dies First: In a work of the horror genre, the first victim is a black man.
- Black Spot: It is indicated that a person is marked for death by a mundane or cryptic thing.
- Bleed 'Em and Weep: Someone cries after killing someone.
- Blood from Every Orifice: Someone bleeds from their eyes, nose, mouth, and/or ears.
- Blood from the Mouth: A character is indicated to be dying because they're bleeding from the mouth.
- Bloody Hallucinations of Guilt: Guilt over another's death has a character seeing blood where there isn't any.
- Bloody Horror: Horror works revolve around bloody and violent deaths.
- Bludgeoned to Death: A person smashes someone else on the head over and over until they die.
- Board to Death: Villain kills people at a meeting.
- Bodyguard Betrayal: A person is betrayed by the person who is supposed to protect them.
- Body of the Week: Every episode of a show involves studying a corpse and/or figuring out how the person died.
- Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: A show's season ends on a cliffhanger where it's hard to tell who survived and who didn't.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The story ends with a character at the mercy of several people ready to kill them.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Two characters bond over the fact that they both have missing relatives.
- Bond One-Liner: A character taunts their victim after killing them.
- Boom, Headshot!: Killing an enemy by shooting them in the head.
- Born from a Dead Woman: A child is born after the mother has already died.
- Borrowin' Samedi: An expy of Baron Samedi, the Voudou god of death.
- Broken Faceplate: Someone's death is emphasized by having their helmet or mask shattered.
- Bungled Suicide: A person tries to commit suicide, but fails.
- Burial at Sea: A dead body is disposed by being tossed into the ocean.
- Burial in Space: A dead body is disposed by launching it into the vacuum of outer space.
- Buried Alive: A living person, usually unconscious and mistaken for dead, gets dumped into a grave. Should they fail to escape in time, they'll die of asphyxiation and become real corpses.
- Buried in a Pile of Corpses: Someone hides beneath a bunch of dead bodies.
- Burn the Witch!: A person accused of witchcraft gets burned at the stake.
- Burp of Finality: If a person is eaten, the creature who ate them burping means they're dead.
- Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: Someone has difficulty in honoring the deceased's last requests.
- Bury Your Gays: When the token gay characters end up getting killed.
- Bus Crash: A character who was phased out of a show is killed off before they have a chance to return.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Butterflies used to symbolize death and/or rebirth.
- Cain and Abel: A sibling becomes dead set on killing the other.
- Came Back Strong: A resurrected person is more powerful than they were before they died.
- Came Back Wrong: A resurrection goes wrong, causing the revived person to have a nasty side effect to come with their rebirth.
- The Can Kicked Him: Someone is killed in a bathroom.
- Car Cushion: Someone lands on a car after falling from a great height.
- Carpe Diem: The reasoning that the brevity of life means you have the right to do whatever you want as long as you're alive.
- Carpet-Rolled Corpse: Hiding a corpse by rolling it up in a carpet.
- Cartwright Curse: The character's love interests always get killed.
- Casualty in the Ring: Professional fighter dies in the ring.
- Ceiling Corpse: Someone finds a corpse on the ceiling.
- Celebrity Casualty: A still-living Real Life person is killed off in a work of fiction.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: There's a spiritual bureaucracy dedicated to sorting out where the souls of the deceased are supposed to go.
- Cement Shoes: Drowning someone by casting their feet into cement.
- Censored Child Death: Children are killed offscreen, or the camera obscured this when it happened.
- Cessation of Existence: The idea that there is no afterlife and once you die, that's it.
- Chalk Outline: The crime scene has the silhouette of a dead body drawn on the ground.
- Character Death: A character dies.
- The Character Died with Him: A character is killed off after their actor passed away in real life.
- Character Outlives Actor: A character is established to still be alive, though no longer given major appearances, after their actor has passed away.
- Characters Dropping Like Flies: Lots of named characters die throughout the course of the series.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: A character survives a near death experience, only to die in different but equal cruel and unusual circumstances a short time later.
- Chess with Death: Challenging the Grim Reaper in a game or contest so that you may have a chance of cheating death.
- Chronically Killed Actor: An actor always plays characters who get killed.
- Chunky Salsa Rule: When video games go for realism by having certain injuries befalling the player character be as fatal as it is in real life.
- El Cid Ploy: A deception where people are convinced that a dead person is still alive, commonly by having someone else impersonate the deceased.
- Circling Vultures: Vultures surround someone when they're about to die.
- Civilization Destroyer: A being powerful enough to wipe out entire civilizations.
- Climactic Battle Resurrection: Someone comes back from the dead in time for the final battle.
- C-List Fodder: Casualties are established by killing off minor characters.
- Coins for the Dead: Coins are left for the dead so they can use them to pay in the afterlife.
- Cold Equation: Choosing to kill someone so that others may live.
- Collateral Damage: Often a euphemistic term referring to (allegedly unintentional) civilian casualties of war.
- Comfort the Dying: A character dies with someone else soothing them.
- Coming and Going: Sex and death are shown in the same story with no direct correlation.
- Conspicuously Public Assassination: When the assassination is done in view of many witnesses.
- Contractual Immortality: A character can't die as long as their actor is still obligated to play them.
- Convenient Terminal Illness: Someone makes the decision to sacrifice themselves on the grounds that they're dying anyway.
- Conversation Casualty: Killing someone while talking to them.
- Cooked to Death: Death by cooking device.
- Cop Killer: Someone who has murdered a police officer.
- Cop Killer Manhunt: If you kill a cop, expect the rest of the police to be chasing after you with a vengeance.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: A murder is dubiously covered up by claiming that the death happened because of accident, suicide, or natural causes.
- The Corpse Stops Here: Someone is accused of murder just for being near the body.
- Coup de Grâce: The final blow that kills, often done to finish off a defeated opponent at the end of a fight.
- Cradle of Loneliness: Cradling a keepsake of the person you're mourning.
- Cradle To Grave Character: The story is about a character's entire life from birth to death.
- Cradling Your Kill: The corpse is cradled by the killer.
- Creepy Mortician: Morticians are portrayed as being disturbing or strange.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Dying in a way that's very painful, undignified, or unpleasant.
- Crusading Widow: The death of their spouse motivates a vengeful character.
- Cryonics Failure: A cryogenically frozen person dies because the freezing process didn't work properly.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Character dooms themselves by messing with what they really should've known better than to mess with.
- Cut the Safety Rope: A character sacrifices themselves by disconnecting what could've carried them to safety.
Tropes D
- Damaged Soul: The resurrected has gone insane as a side effect of their revival.
- Danger — Thin Ice: Walking on thin ice brings risk of falling in and drowning or freezing to death.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: The villain needs a machine to stay alive.
- The Darkness Before Death: A dying character's vision fails.
- Dateless Grave: Tombstones do not show dates of birth or death. Often used for minor characters or to avoid possible continuity errors.
- Dead All Along: A character is revealed to have been dead since the story's beginning.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Character visits an alternate reality where their counterpart has died.
- Dead Animal Warning: Showing someone you mean business by delivering them dead animals.
- Dead Artists Are Better: When an artist dies, their death increases the value and uniqueness of their work.
- Deader than Dead: A character known to cheat death is killed in a way that it's now impossible for them to ever be resurrected again.
- Dead Foot Leadfoot: A driver gets killed and their foot is still pressing on the pedal somehow. Usually caused by falling asleep at the wheel.
- The Dead Guy Did It: The dead person is responsible for some or all of a mystery.
- Dead Guy Junior: Someone is named after a person who died before their birth.
- Dead Guy on Display: Displaying the corpse of someone you killed.
- Dead Guy Puppet: Working a person's corpse like a puppet.
- Dead-Hand Shot: Showing a shot of a dead person's hand to show that they've died.
- Dead Hat Shot: Showing that a person has died by showing a shot of their discarded hat.
- The Dead Have Names: The dead are named to show their significance.
- Deadline News: A news anchor dies on the air, commonly killed by whatever disaster they're reporting.
- Deadly Bath: Someone dies while taking a bath. Can overlap with Bath Suicide.
- Deadly Closing Credits: The scene cuts to black/closing credits immediately after a life-threatening situation, leaving the viewers to come to their own conclusions as to whether the character(s) really died or not.
- Deadly Deferred Conversation: Someone promises to tell someone else about something, only for one or both of them to die later.
- Deadly Distant Finale: The work ends with a flash forward to the main character's later years where they die.
- Deadly Euphemism: Using a better phrase and/or term to refer to death, dying, or killing someone.
- Deadly Game: A game in which losers are killed.
- Deadly Gas: A gas that has lethal effects due to either toxicity or suffocation.
- Deadly Hazing: Hazing results in death.
- Deadly Hug: A hug turns out to be fatal, usually causing strangulation, decapitation, or Marshmallow Hell.
- Deadly Nosebleed: A character bleeds from their nose to show they're dying. Not as common as Blood from the Mouth.
- Deadly Prank: A seemingly harmless prank goes fatally wrong.
- Deadly Road Trip: Ending up in peril while on vacation.
- Deadly Rotary Fan: A rotary fan kills someone.
- Deadly Scratch: A seemingly-minor injury proves unexpectedly dangerous, possibly even fatal.
- Dead Man Honking: A dead driver's corpse falls forward and honks the car horn.
- Dead Man's Trigger Finger: Someone armed with a gun involuntarily fires once they're killed.
- Dead Man's Switch: Character arranges it so their death causes bad things to happen. May or may not be a supernatural being.
- Dead Man Writing: Someone leaves a posthumous message.
- Dead Man's Chest: Hiding a body by stuffing it in a trunk.
- Dead Partner: Someone has a partner die in the line of duty.
- Dead Person Conversation: Communicating with the deceased. Usually a witch or psychic.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Using the identity of a deceased person as an alias.
- Dead Serious: Someone proves they're not fucking around anymore by killing someone important.
- Dead Sidekick: Hero is haunted by the death of their ward.
- Dead Star Walking: Character is killed after being set up as the protagonist.
- Dead to Begin With: Story starts with the main character already dead and goes on in the afterlife.
- Deathly Unmasking: A Dramatic Unmask that occurs just before or after death.
- Death-Activated Superpower: A person gains powers after dying.
- Death Amnesia: The resurrected have no memory of their death.
- Death and the Maiden: The Grim Reaper falls in love.
- Death as Comedy: Someone's death is played for Black Comedy.
- Death as Game Mechanic: When dying is used as a mechanic in the game that does more than just end or restart the game.
- Deathbed Promotion: A soldier at or near the point of death is honored by being formally elevated in rank.
- Death by Adaptation: A character still alive in the original work is killed off in the adaptation, or a character who dies later in the original work is killed off sooner in the adaptation.
- Death by Ambulance: Someone is killed by an ambulance.
- Death by Cameo: An actor makes a cameo appearance where they're killed or seen as a corpse.
- Death by Childbirth: A woman dies giving birth.
- Death by De-aging: Becoming younger and younger until it kills/erases them.
- Death by Depower: Losing powers means losing what's keeping someone alive.
- Death by Despair: Depression exacerbates illness to the point of fatality.
- Death by Disfigurement: A beautiful person dies shortly after being deformed in some way.
- Death by Falling Over: Someone dies after losing their balance.
- Death by Flashback: We learn a character's backstory just before they die.
- Death by Genre Savviness: Someone's knowledge of how things happen in works of fiction similar to their present situation fails to keep them from danger.
- Death by Gluttony: Someone dies from overeating.
- Death by Irony: The cause of death is ironic.
- Death by Looking Up: Character about to be squashed looks upward long enough to react to what's about to crush them.
- Death by Materialism: Someone dies because they're too greedy to leave alone the item of value that they covet.
- Death by Mocking: A person is killed in retaliation for mocking their killer.
- Death by Music Video: A music video where the band members are killed, sometimes to tell a story or make a point.
- Death by Newbery Medal: A work aimed at children has someone die for the sake of pathos.
- Death by Origin Story: The hero's backstory involves someone close to them dying. In the case of undead heroes, their own death.
- Death by Pragmatism: Character dies in spite of making the sensible and logical decision in solving the problem.
- Death by Racism: A racist gets killed for being racist.
- Death by Recognition: Someone gets killed immediately after recognizing their killer.
- Death by Secret Identity: A person who's found out the superhero's secret identity gets killed before he can do anything with the knowledge.
- Death by Transceiver: Someone hears or sees another person's death through a communications system, such as a phone or school PA system.
- Death by Woman Scorned: Killing an adulterous spouse is treated as okay.
- Death Equals Emotion: An emotionless person shows emotion when they die.
- Death Equals Redemption: A villain is forgiven for their misdeeds after their death.
- Death Faked for You: A person has their death faked by someone else.
- Death Flight: Someone is executed by being dropped from above.
- Death in the Clouds: A murder happens on an airplane.
- A Death in the Limelight: A minor character dies at the end of their focus episode.
- Death Is a Loser: The Grim Reaper is a loser.
- Death Is a Sad Thing: Children learn about death for the first time and are saddened by it.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Video games where it's possible to keep dying and respawning indefinitely as long as the player doesn't call it quits.
- Death Is Cheap: When it's ridiculously easy for dead people to come back to life more than once.
- Death Is Dramatic: Important characters get dramatic deaths.
- Death Is Gray: Fading to gray upon death.
- Death Is Not Permanent: A video game gives an in-universe reason for the player character to respawn every time they die.
- Death Is Such an Odd Thing: A character expresses their confused feelings on someone they disliked suddenly passing away.
- Death Is the Only Option: A situation where the only way to win is to let yourself get killed.
- Death March: Prisoners are forced to walk in fatal conditions, with death often the intended outcome.
- Death Means Humanity: A non-human being has its personhood recognized upon death.
- Death Montage: A montage of a character being repeatedly killed.
- Death Notification: Breaking the bad news of a person's death to that person's bereaved ones. Usually done by a cop, hospital worker, or a relative.
- Death of a Child: When fiction openly depicts children dying.
- The Death of Death: The one dying is Death itself.
- Death of Personality: A living person is regarded as dead just because they've lost their self.
- Death of the Hypotenuse: A person has two love interests and one of them dies.
- Death of the Old Gods: The idea that the gods of ancient mythology aren't around anymore because they're dead.
- Death Row: Prisoners who are selected to eventually be executed.
- Death Seeker: Character actually wants to get killed.
- Death's Hourglass: A physical or personal manifestation of a person's remaining lifespan.
- Death Song: Someone sings before they die.
- Death Takes a Holiday: The Grim Reaper stops making people die for whatever reason.
- Death Wail: Reacting to a loved one's death by screaming.
- Deathly Dies Irae: Musical motif signifying the presence of death.
- Decapitated Army: The underlings will see no reason to continue fighting if you've killed their leader.
- Decapitation Presentation: Holding up a dead person's head to prove you've killed them. Common with serial killers, Vikings, executioners, and headhunters.
- Decapitation Required: Cutting off the enemy's head is the only way to kill it. Commonly seen in zombie fiction.
- Decapitation Strike: A planned attempt to kill or incapacitate multiple leaders at once.
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Pinning the blame on a dead person.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: The only good parents in the work are deceased ones. Common in Disney films.
- Departure Means Death: It's impossible for someone to leave a certain area without dying.
- Defiant to the End: Prisoner fearlessly shows contempt and ridicule toward their captors even when they're about to be killed.
- Denying the Dead Parent's Sins: Someone refuses to believe that their dead parents had a dark past.
- Desecrating the Dead: Defiling a corpse.
- Desert Skull: An animal's skull found in the desert, usually a bovine.
- Destination Host Unreachable: The resurrected for some reason cannot be with their loved ones anymore.
- Devoured by the Horde: A character is Eaten Alive and/or torn apart by multiple parties.
- Dice Roll Death: Death caused by bad luck or random chance.
- Did Not Die That Way: Discovering that you've been lied to about how a loved one died.
- Did You Die?: Someone is asked whether or not they survived a dangerous event even though it's obvious they lived if they're around to tell the story. Small children often ask this.
- Died During Production: When the real-life death of a creator results in the cancellation or postponement of their work, or otherwise causes serious complications with its development.
- Died Happily Ever After: A dead character is seen as happy right as they drift off to the heavens.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Someone (usually a family member or a love interest) cradles a person in their arms as they die.
- Died on Their Birthday: A character dies on their own birthday.
- Died Standing Up: A person still stands after they've been killed.
- Die Laughing: Someone literally laughs themselves to death. This has happened in real life, as well.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: A character that dies one way in original work ends up dying a different way in an alternate continuity.
- Dies Wide Open: Someone dies with their eyes open.
- Dig Your Own Grave: Before being killed, the victim is forced to dig their own grave.
- Disappears into Light: When a character dies, they turn into light.
- Disconnected by Death: Someone is killed while trying to make an important phone call.
- Discovering Your Own Dead Body: Whether through time travel, visiting an alternate reality where they died, or returning from the afterlife as a ghost, a character comes across their own corpse.
- The Disembodied: Losing your body without actually dying.
- Disintegration Chamber: A science fiction method of executing people by putting them in some kind of chamber where they are zapped into nonexistence.
- Disney Death: A character turns out to still be alive after initially appearing to die.
- Disney Villain Death: Villain ends up falling to their death.
- Disposable Intern: The purpose of an intern is for the company to have someone they can risk losing.
- Disposable Pilot: Passengers of a vehicle are imperiled when the driver gets killed. Especially bad when no one else has a license or is otherwise unable to drive.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Audience sympathy for a casualty victim is ruled out by making the victim a prostitute.
- Disposing of a Body: The killer tries to avoid getting in trouble by getting rid of their victim's corpse.
- Distracted from Death: One character dies while the other is distracted, the other not yet noticing their friend is dead.
- Divine Misfile: Oops, wrong afterlife!
- Divorce Requires Death: A person (usually the bride) ends their marriage by killing their spouse.
- The Dog Bites Back: Someone gets killed by a person they had been abusing and tormenting.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Spot didn't die, we just sent him to a wonderful farm where he'll be very happy.
- Don't Fear The Reaper: The Grim Reaper is not such a bad guy.
- Doom as Test Prize: A competition where the winner's reward is to be killed.
- Doomed Appointment: Someone is killed before someone they asked to meet with them is able to do so.
- Doomed by Canon: The prequel can't prevent a character's death without contradicting the events of the series' other installments.
- Doomed Contrarian: The one person who disagrees gets killed.
- Doomed Predecessor: Finding the corpse of a previous adventurer in a cave.
- Doom Magnet: A person who always brings death and disaster to other people.
- Do with Him as You Will: The hero leaves the villain at the mercy of the people the villain has wronged.
- Dragged Off to Hell: A person is carried off to Hell against their wishes.
- Dressing to Die: A person wants to look their best when they die, so they dress before facing their end.
- Driven to Suicide: A person ends up committing suicide.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Titillating the audience with nude corpses. Vampires are a common theme.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: A major character is killed in a sudden and contrived manner.
- Drowning Unwanted Pets: A person drowns pets, usually puppies or kittens, that they can't take care of.
- Due to the Dead: Burying the dead is considered respectful, while desecrating the remains is disgraceful.
- Duel to the Death: Two opponents are chosen to fight each other until one has killed the other.
- Dwindling Party: The cast lowers in numbers because of deaths.
- Dying Alone: Dying with no one else to mourn your passing is sad.
- Dying as Yourself: A person dies shortly after being freed of the corruption that took over them.
- Dying Candle: Death indicated by a candle going out.
- Dying Curse: A person's last words is to vow that harm will befall the people they loathe.
- Dying Deal Upgrade: A dying character is given new powers and allowed to continue living in exchange for servitude.
- Dying Declaration of Hate: A character confesses their hatred of the person near them as they die.
- Dying Declaration of Love: A character confesses their love to someone as they die.
- Dying Dream: It's revealed that the story's events were all a hallucination the protagonist is experiencing as they die.
- Dying for Symbolism: Dying is used for symbolism.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: A character ensures that they die doing something cool.
- Dying Race: A species nearing extinction.
- Dying Smirk: A person who is about to die scoffs and smirks, grins, smiles spitefully or laughs ironically, showing off to their opponents that they still have the upper hand somehow.
- Dying to Be Replaced: A character is killed off so someone else can take their place.
- Dying Truce: Enemies decide to stop fighting when one of them is near death.
- Dying Vocal Change: A character's voice transforms as they die.
- The Dying Walk: Someone walks away from whatever they were doing before they die.
Tropes E-K
- Eaten Alive: A person is killed by being devoured.
- Eating the Enemy: Defeating the enemy by eating them.
- Electrified Bathtub: Someone is killed when they get immersed in water that is then electrified.
- Empathy Doll Shot: A shot of a child's toy on the ground is shown to indicate that children have died in the area.
- Empty Chair Memorial: Honoring someone's memory by leaving the chair they used to sit in empty.
- Empty Bedroom Grieving: A person's death and/or disappearance is magnified by their abandoned bedroom.
- Empty Piles of Clothing: A person is killed in a way that their clothes are all that's left.
- Ending Memorial Service: The story ends with a funeral.
- Enemies with Death: A person is hated by the Grim Reaper.
- Enemy to All Living Things: This character's powers/aura hurt everything that breathes.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The story ends with everyone dead.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Nobody likes the god of death.
- Everybody Lives: The story ends with no one dying.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: An entire group dies except one survivor.
- Everything Fades: Video game enemies disappear after they're defeated.
- Excessive Mourning: Someone mourns another person's death to the point that they become a problem.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: A person is last seen being chased by a creature that will probably kill them.
- Explosive Decompression: A sudden shift in pressure makes you blow up.
- Explosive Stupidity: Someone blows themselves up by mishandling explosives.
- Eye Remember: The dead's memories can be harvested from their eyes.
- Face Death with Despair: A character dreads imminent death.
- Face Death with Dignity: A character chooses to remain calm and collected upon learning they're going to die.
- Facepalm Of Doom: Grabbing someone by the face and blasting/crushing them at point-blank range.
- Fading Away: A character dies by fading away.
- Fake Assassination: Pretending to have someone murdered.
- Fake Kill Scare: Freaking people out by pretending to kill someone else.
- Faking the Dead: A person only pretends to be dead.
- False Widow: Lying about having a spouse by claiming they're dead.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: When children's media shows someone dying in an unexpectedly gruesome way. Often combined with Family-Unfriendly Violence.
- The Famine: Mass deaths by starvation resulting from a severe food shortage, often caused by drought-induced crop failures.
- Fast-Killing Radiation: Nuclear radiation killing people faster than what is possible in real life.
- Fatal Family Photo: Death happens after showing photo of relatives.
- Fatal Forced March: Death by unavoidable foot-journey.
- Fatal MacGuffin: A MacGuffin object which kills anyone who dares to touch or use it.
- Fatal Method Acting: A performer dies suddenly during their performance.
- Fatal Reward: A person's promised reward for doing as they've been asked turns out to be death.
- Faux Death: A person goes through a death-like state to recover.
- Fed to Pigs: Bodies are eliminated by feeding them to pigs.
- Fictionalized Death Account: A work of fiction changes how a real person died.
- Field of Blades: Swords stuck in the ground to represent the casualties of a war.
- Final Exchange: Replying to another person's last words before they die.
- Final Girl: A woman who survives the events of the story while everyone else dies.
- Finally Found the Body: After it's assumed for a long time that a person may have survived their apparent death, it's discovered that they really did die after all.
- Final Solution: Genocidal massacres committed in an attempt to exterminate an entire group of people.
- Finger in the Mail: Sending someone dismembered body parts of their loved one to show you've killed them.
- Finish Him!: A fighter is forced to kill their opponent.
- First-Episode Resurrection: The story begins with the main character being brought back to life.
- First Law of Resurrection: A character that's been killed off will come back as long as the writer intends to bring them back.
- Flatline: Monitor line going flat means the patient is done for.
- Flatline Plotline: Temporary death caused by slowing down heart rate.
- Fold-Spindle Mutilation: Killing someone by forcing them through an opening they can't fit in.
- Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Mourning someone because you could've had a great life with them.
- Forced Miscarriage: A pregnant character is forced to miscarry without their consent.
- Foreseeing My Death: Someone foresees their own demise.
- Forgot to Feed the Monster: The villain attempts to summon minions or a beast, only to find that they died because he neglected to feed them.
- Fossil Revival: Dead creatures are revived by reanimating their fossils.
- Friendly Target: Those close to the hero end up targeted by the villain.
- Fright Deathtrap: Literally scaring the victim to death.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Wacky antics happen during a person's funeral.
- Funeral Cut: The scene cuts to a funeral or something tied to one in order to set the gravity or what's happened or to make a Black Comedy gag.
- Game of Chicken: Two vehicles drive toward each other and the first to turn away from the ensuing collision loses.
- Gas Chamber: A sealed room where poison gas is sprayed to kill anyone inside.
- Gasoline Dousing: Someone gets gasoline poured on them before being set ablaze.
- Gay Guy Dies First: A gay man is the first murder victim.
- Gayngst-Induced Suicide: A gay person commits suicide over feeling ashamed of their sexual orientation.
- Get It Over With: A person dares their killer to get on with killing them.
- Ghostly Death Reveal: An offscreen death is revealed by the character's appearance as a ghost later on.
- Ghost Reunion Ending: The dead return in the ending as ghosts.
- Giant Corpse World: The setting takes place in a giant dead body.
- Glorious Death: A character has a favorite way to die.
- Go into the Light: While dying, there will be a light to walk into in order to enter the afterlife.
- Good Night, Sweet Prince: Saying "Goodnight, sweet prince" in response to a man dying.
- A Good Way to Die: Character dies the way they wanted to die.
- Go Out with a Smile: A person dies smiling.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When a person gets killed in a gruesome manner, the gory details aren't shown on-screen.
- Grave Humor: Tombstones with humorous inscriptions.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Visiting the grave of a loved one.
- Grave Robbing: Stealing things from dead people.
- Great Way to Go: Commenting that a cause of death is how you would like to die.
- Grief-Induced Split: A couple breaks up after a tragedy, usually a death.
- Grief Song: A musical piece about someone mourning the death of a loved one.
- The Grim Reaper: Death is personified in many Western cultures as a skeleton wearing a black hooded cloak and armed with a scythe, "reaping" the souls of the dead.
- Ground by Gears: Getting killed by gears crushing you.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Killing someone by cutting their stomach open.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Killing someone by cutting the victim in half.
- Hammer Hilt: Killing someone with the hilt of a sword or similar bladed weapon.
- Hand Sliding Down the Glass: A dying person's hand slides down a window pane.
- Hanging Around: Suspending someone by their neck with a noose to the point of death.
- Hanging Up on the Grim Reaper: When the Grim Reaper shows up to claim someone, the person persuades Death to let them live just a little bit longer.
- Happier Home Movie: Watching home movies of or having pleasant dreams about the departed to reflect on the good times you had with them.
- Happily Failed Suicide: A failed attempt to commit suicide causes the character to rekindle their will to live.
- Hats Off to the Dead: Respecting the dead by removing your hat.
- Have a Nice Death: When the player character dies, the video games plays their demise for laughs.
- Head Crushing: Killing someone by crushing their head.
- Headgear Headstone: A character's Nicehat is used to mark their final resting place.
- He Had a Name: Villain dismisses someone they killed as an inconsequential casualty. Hero emphasizes their anger by pointing out that their fallen friend had a name.
- He Knows Too Much: Killing someone because they've learned about something they can't be allowed to make public knowledge.
- Hellish Copter: Helicopter goes crashing down.
- Helpless Kicking: Someone kicking their legs as they're being Eaten Alive killed or carried off to their doom.
- Helpless Window Death: Someone dies behind a window while the protagonist can do nothing but watch.
- Hereditary Suicide: Suicide runs in families.
- Her Heart Will Go On: When a person's love interest dies, they don't let their death keep them from finding someone else to love.
- The Hero Dies: The work's hero dies.
- The Hero Doesn't Kill the Villainess: Female villains aren't killed by the hero, either because they survive, the hero spares them or someone else kills them. Their male counterparts aren't so lucky.
- Hero Killer: The villain has successfully killed at least one hero who attempted to defeat them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Someone allows themselves to get killed in order to save others.
- Hesitant Sacrifice: When having to give their own life for the greater good, the person in question gets emotional about having to die.
- He's Dead, Jim: There are easy signs to determine whether or not a person is dead.
- He's Just Hiding: Fans refuse to accept that a character is dead.
- High-Voltage Death: Death by electrocution.
- His Name Is...: A character dies before they can reveal crucial information.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Someone is killed by what was supposed to be helping them.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Media portrays heart attack-induced deaths as dramatic.
- Honorable Warrior's Death: A warrior attempts to die in battle or by using some method considered worthy of a warrior in their culture.
- Horror Hates a Rulebreaker: The moment you break unspoken rules, the supernatural will kill you.
- Hospital Surprise: Character finds out they're in a hospital after going through a life-threatening situation.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Character gets angry about a person dying because they didn't want them to die.
- How Would You Like to Die?: Character is offered multiple choices on how they will die.
- Human Head on the Wall: Mounting the head of someone you killed on the wall.
- Humanity's Wake: The story takes place after humanity has gone extinct.
- Hunting "Accident": Bringing someone on a hunting trip and getting away with killing them by claiming they were mistaken for the animal being hunted.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: A suicidal person begs others to kill them because they can't do it themselves.
- Identifying the Body: A relative is asked to identify a body as confirmation of the deceased's identity.
- I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: When the guilty party claims (honestly or not) that their killing was accidental.
- I Die Free: Someone is content with dying because in death, they're no longer enslaved.
- If I Can't Have You…: Killing someone you're attracted to just because they refuse to return your affections or have gone with someone else.
- If We Get Through This…: Characters agree to do something if they survive their current predicament.
- If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: People claiming other people's stuff in the event that the person might die.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Hero blames themselves for not being able to prevent a loved one's death.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Character comments that they feel cold as they're dying.
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: A dying person gives an important object to someone else before they die.
- I'm Melting!: Character dies by melting.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Death by being impaled upon something.
- Immortal Hero: The heroes rarely die.
- Implied Death Threat: Making an indirect threat to kill someone.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Showing older people dying is okay, but the work completely avoids having children get killed.
- Incurable Cough of Death: When a person is constantly coughing, it means they're about to die.
- Inertial Impalement: Victim is stabbed by moving into a stationary blade.
- Inferred Survival: A character's death is deliberately left ambiguous so that the writers can later establish that the character somehow survived.
- Informal Eulogy: Only having a brief sentence to say about the deceased.
- Inhuman Human: The resurrected's soul is fine, but the body is not human.
- In Memoriam: The work features a dedication to someone who died before the work was released.
- Inspirational Martyr: By dying, a person rallies more to their cause.
- Instant Death Bullet: Shooting one bullet is enough to kill someone.
- Instant Death Stab
- Instant Fish Kill: Large amounts of fish immediately die when something happens to the water around them.
- Instant Gravestone: When someone dies, they turn into a tombstone on the spot.
- Interrogating the Dead: Getting information by interrogating dead people.
- Interrupted Suicide: A character is prevented from committing suicide.
- In the Back: Stabbing or shooting someone from behind.
- Inverse Dialogue Death Rule: A dying, important character gets several lines of dialogue before kicking it.
- Involuntary Battle to the Death: Two friends are forced into a fight to the death.
- Involuntary Suicide Mechanism: A person is wired so that they die when someone tries to get them to reveal confidential information.
- Ironic Last Words: The last thing a person says carries some form of irony.
- It Always Rains at Funerals: It rains during a funeral service.
- It Is Not Your Time: A dead person is allowed to come to life again because the afterlife isn't ready for them yet.
- It's Always Sunny at Funerals: Funeral takes place during incongruously pleasant weather.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: A person insists to be left to die on the grounds that the person trying to save them would only be hindered in doing so.
- I Wished You Were Dead: A character who wishes for another to die feels guilty for their wish when the death actually happens.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: The ghost's wardrobe matches what they wore when they died.
- Joggers Find Death: Joggers are guaranteed to find corpses or become corpses themselves.
- Join or Die: If you don't agree to join this person's side, they'll kill you.
- Joker Immunity: The villain always comes back to fight the hero again, even when they were killed in the last fight.
- Judgement of the Dead: A judge appears to evaluate the dead person's life before deciding their ultimate fate.
- Jumping on a Grenade: Person sacrifices themselves by deliberately jumping onto a grenade.
- Just Desserts: Villain gets their comeuppance by being eaten alive.
- Karmic Death: A bad person dies in a way that serves as a fitting punishment for their wrongdoings.
- Killed by Request: An actor asks for the character they play to be killed off so they don't have to play the role anymore.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Someone is killed before they can finish their sentence.
- Killed Off for Real: A character is permanently killed off in a setting where resurrections are possible.
- Killed Offscreen: A character is established as having been killed after the last time they were shown on-screen.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Someone is killed to prevent them from exposing the existence of supernatural beings.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: A murderer is killed by someone else.
- Killer Finale: The final installment of a work kills off at least one main character.
- Killer Outfit: Someone is killed by their own wardrobe.
- Kill Him Already!: Hero's ally demands he kill the villain already.
- Killing in Self-Defense: It's okay to kill someone if they were going to kill you first.
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: Getting out of a creature that swallowed you whole by stabbing your way out of their stomach.
- Kill It with Fire: Death by fire or burning heat.
- Kill It with Ice: Death by ice or freezing cold.
- Kill One, Others Get Stronger: Killing one member of a group makes the surviving members more powerful.
- Kill on Sight: Orders are given for a person or group to be killed the instant they're spotted.
- Kill Steal: Killing something just when somebody else was going to do the same.
- Kill the Cutie: A sweet, lovable character is killed off.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Someone is put in a situation where they have to kill someone near and dear to them.
- Kill the Poor: Attempting to eliminate poverty by killing the destitute.
- Kill Us Both: Hero trying to keep the villain down insists that the only way is for both him and the villain to be killed.
- King in the Mountain: A legendary figure is believed to be in hibernation rather than dead.
- King on His Deathbed: Story begins with a ruler dying.
- The Kingslayer: Someone who kills a king or other person in position of leadership.
- Kiss of Death: A kiss that causes death.
- Klingon Promotion: Someone gains a position or title by killing the last person who possessed it.
- Knee Fold Fall of Defeat: Fatally wounded character falls to his knees then dies landing face first on the ground.
Tropes L-O
- Last Breath Bullet: Villain thought killed turns out to have enough life left in them to do one bad deed before dying for real.
- Last Day to Live: Character is informed they don't have much time left, but in reality they're in perfect health.
- The Last Dance: Character decides that if they're going to die, they may as well go down fighting.
- Last Disrespects: A funeral service where the attendees aren't very respectful to the deceased.
- Last Grasp at Life: Dying person reaches out in an attempt to grab something to save them.
- Last Kiss: Lovers exchange one more kiss before one or both of them die.
- Last of His Kind: The last surviving member of a near-extinct species.
- Last Request: Dying person asks for one last request before they die.
- Last Stand: Someone kills as many enemies as they can before they die.
- Last Survivor Suicide: Someone kills themselves over being upset at being the last one left alive.
- Last Wish Marriage: A dying character opts to get married while they still live.
- Leave Behind a Pistol: Leaving a pistol in hopes that the person left with it will use it to commit suicide.
- Leave No Survivors: The killer refuses to leave anyone in their path alive.
- Leave No Witnesses: Avoiding getting caught for a crime by murdering everyone who's seen you do it.
- Left for Dead: A person turns out to be alive after it was assumed they were left to die.
- Legacy Immortality: A hero thought killed continues living by way of other people taking up the identity after the previous person meets their end.
- Legally Dead: Someone is legally declared deceased on the basis that they've gone missing and no one's heard from them in a long time.
- Leitmotif upon Death: A character's death triggers their Leitmotif being played to make their death sadder.
- Let Them Die Happy: Lying to a dying loved one so that they're happy in their final moments.
- Libation for the Dead: Pouring a drink on the ground to honor the deceased.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: A life motif is juxtaposed against a death motif in some way.
- Life Will Kill You: Dying in a non-dramatic way.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Someone is found dead after the lights go off and come back on.
- Like You Were Dying: A character radically changes their behavior because they're dying.
- Like You Would Really Do It: Because of the character's importance, the audience refuses to believe that the character will actually die, which ruins the suspense of teasing that they might die.
- Literally Shattered Lives: A person frozen solid or Taken for Granite is killed when they break into pieces.
- Little Dead Riding Hood: Girl clad in red is at risk of dying.
- The Living Dead: A living person pretends to be a corpse.
- Living on Borrowed Time: Character uses artificial means to prolong their life.
- Load-Bearing Hero: Hero has to hold up a weight to prevent it from crushing them and others to death.
- Lonely Funeral: Very few people attend the deceased's funeral.
- Long-Dead Badass: Characters talk about an awesome warrior or hero who is long dead.
- Look Both Ways: Someone gets killed by crossing the street without looking both ways.
- Losing the Team Spirit: Team falls into depression over someone's death.
- Losing Your Head: Non-fatal decapitations.
- Lost Pet Grievance: A character feels upset about the death of their beloved pet.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Someone explodes into bloody giblets everywhere when they die.
- Lunatic Loophole: Only crazy people survive.
- Made of Plasticine: Someone is ridiculously easy to kill by tearing apart.
- Main Character Final Boss: The main protagonist also plays the role of final boss and in some cases ends up dead as a result.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: A murder is made to look like an accidental death.
- Make Sure He's Dead: When there's a chance that someone may have survived their apparent death, the villain decides to make sure their victim is dead for sure.
- Make Them Rot: A person's touch causes decay.
- Man in the Machine: A cyborg whose mechanical parts may as well be glorified life support systems.
- Marked to Die: Someone has a marking on them to indicate that they'll get killed.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: If a woman dies giving birth, the child will be blamed for causing the mother's death.
- Matter of Life and Death: Trying to reason with those obstructing you on the grounds that they'll be indirectly responsible for lives being lost if they don't get out of your way.
- Mauve Shirt: A character who's expected to be another expendable soldier becomes significant enough that they're safe form getting killed.
- Meaningful Funeral: Character's funeral brings out things about them and their mourners that wouldn't have come up otherwise.
- Memorial Character: A character in a work is based on or named for a real person who died, as a way of immortalizing that person.
- Memorial for the Antagonist: Offering a funeral service for the deceased villain out of respect or honor, despite their atrocities.
- Memorial Photo: The deceased has a photo of them when they were alive shown during the funeral service.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: The work portrays male death and suffering as less important than female death and suffering.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Being the hero's mentor means that you're going to die.
- Mercy Kill: Killing someone because the alternative would be to let them suffer.
- Microwave the Dog: A pet is killed in the microwave.
- Miles to Go Before I Sleep: Character refuses to die until they've accomplished their important mission.
- A Million Is a Statistic: The death of a single identified person is treated as more important than those of countless unidentified people.
- Mind-Reformat Death: When a character, AI or human, dies because of an electronic plot device erasing, replacing, changing, or overwriting their minds.
- Misplaced Sorrow: Character is upset about someone dying for selfish reasons.
- Missing Man Formation: A ceremonial incomplete formation done to honor a dead teammate.
- Mistaken Death Confirmation: A character's death is confirmed by examination of the body or sure-fire evidence, but this turns out to be wrong.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: Someone thinks they have died and gone to an afterlife.
- Mistaken for Dying: Someone is thought to be dying when they're in perfect health or only suffering from a minor ailment.
- Mocking the Mourner: A character uses another character's loss as a means to deride or harangue them.
- A Molten Date with Death: Death by submergence or exposure to lava.
- Moment of Silence: Scene becomes quiet when a character dies.
- Mono no Aware: Nothing good can last forever.
- Monster from Beyond the Veil: The resurrected becomes a monster, usually a zombie.
- Monster Misogyny: Movie monsters tend to only kill female victims.
- Monster Munch: Character only exists to be killed by the Monster of the Week.
- The Mourning After: After the love interest dies, the surviving member of the couple refuses to find a new love because they consider it disrespectful to their deceased lover.
- Mourning a Dead Robot: A robot dies or is destroyed, and is mourned by its organic counterparts.
- Mourning an Object: An inanimate object is destroyed, goes missing, or stops working, and is treated by the characters as though it has died.
- The Morality/Mortality Equation: Whether or not your loved ones die depends on how evil or good you are.
- More Expendable Than You: In a situation where a member of the group must give their life to the cause, it's agreed that one of them is too important to sacrifice.
- More Hero than Thou: Characters argue over which of them is worthy of doing the Heroic Sacrifice.
- Mortality Grey Area: A character is considered to be neither alive nor dead, or both at once.
- Mortality Phobia: Fear of death motivates them to go to crazy extremes to prevent it.
- Mortal Wound Reveal: Someone dies after it turns out they've been mortally wounded.
- Moving Beyond Bereavement: A character arc in which the death of a loved one must eventually be accepted.
- Multiple Gunshot Death: Someone is killed from getting shot multiple times.
- murder.com: A video of someone getting killed is uploaded on the Internet.
- Murder by Inaction: Killing someone indirectly by refusing to save their life.
- Murder by Cremation: Killing someone by burning them inside an oven.
- Murder by Mistake: When someone ends up killing the wrong person, instead of their intended victim.
- Murder by Suicide: Killing someone indirectly by forcing them to kill themselves.
- Murderous Mask: A mask that kills the wearer.
- Murder-Suicide: Someone kills another person before killing themselves.
- Mutual Kill: Two opponents kill each other at the same time.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Villain lets themselves die so their plan may continue.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: While dying or almost dying, a person sees flashbacks of their entire life.
- Near-Death Experience: Character recovers from almost dying.
- Neck Snap: Killing someone by twisting and breaking their neck hard enough to sever their spinal cord.
- Necro Cam: A Flashback-Montage Realization about how a character died.
- Necro Non Sequitur: Character dies suddenly for no logical reason.
- Negate Your Own Sacrifice: You can risk sacrificing yourself if you can't really get killed.
- Never Found the Body: A supposedly dead person is speculated to have survived their apparent death because their corpse was never found.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Character is upset about a loved one's death because they never had the change to say goodbye before their demise.
- Never One Murder: If there's a murder mystery to solve, it's rare for there to only be one victim.
- Never Say "Die": The work avoids directly mentioning death.
- Never Say Goodbye: Refusing to let another person say goodbye to keep departing from being more painful than it already is.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Person never stoops to saying negative things about the deceased.
- Never Suicide: Covering up a murder by forging evidence the death was a suicide.
- Night Swim Equals Death: Character swimming at night gets killed.
- Nobody Can Die: No matter the stakes, no one in this work will ever be killed off.
- No Body Left Behind: Dying without leaving a corpse.
- No Dead Body Poops: When fiction glosses over people soiling themselves when they die.
- No Longer with Us: A common euphemism for death turns out to be meant literally.
- No One Could Survive That!: Character is shown to survive an event immediately after doubts are cast on their survival.
- Noose Catch: A villain dies by falling and snagging onto something that breaks their neck.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: Resorting to cannibalism to prevent starvation.
- Nostalgia Heaven: The afterlife is a place that meant something special to the dead.
- Not Afraid to Die: Character is okay with dying, but not necessarily because they want to die.
- Not Enough to Bury: All that's left of the person who got killed are bits and pieces.
- Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Person mourning someone they thought died unknowingly interrupts the person without realizing they're actually alive.
- Not Quite Dead: Character thought to have died turns out to have managed to survive their fatal injuries.
- Not Quite Saved Enough: Right when the hero thinks they've won, something happens from out of the blue to render their efforts pointless.
- Not So Invincible After All: Someone thought to be invincible is killed when it turns out they actually are quite vulnerable.
- Not The Illness That Killed Them: A terminally ill person dies from something else.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: "Dead" person comes back to save the day.
- The Nothing After Death: The afterlife is shown to be nothing but an empty void.
- Nothing Left to Do but Die: Immortal character kills themselves out of boredom.
- Obfuscating Postmortem Wounds: Additional wounds are inflicted on a corpse to mask the true cause of death.
- Obi-Wan Moment: Veteran character embraces their imminent end gracefully.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: Trying to convince people that a corpse is still alive by moving it about.
- Offing the Mouth: Killing someone for making snarky comments.
- Offing the Offspring: Killing your own children.
- Off with His Head!: Killing someone by decapitation.
- Oh, and X Dies: The author or narrator informs the audience that a character will die.
- Ominously Cut Tether: A character's safety line is found, without them attached anymore.
- Ominous Hair Loss: Encroaching baldness is a sign of approaching death... or worse.
- One Last Smoke: Character smokes one last time before death.
- One Last Song: This song is the last thing you'll hear before you die.
- One Twin Must Die: The older members of a family want to kill one of a pair of twins to prevent a curse.
- One-Way Trip: Character goes through with a plan even though it's likely doing so will kill them.
- Only Evil Can Die: No one dies except the antagonists/bad guys/villains.
- Only Killable at Home: You can die anywhere, but unless you die in your home, you'll be back.
- The One Where Everyone Dies: Episode of an ongoing series where all or most of the characters have died by the end, but the deaths are then undone.
- Only Mostly Dead: Hero is thought to be dead, but turns out to have gone into a death-like state to recover.
- Opening a Can of Clones: It's difficult to take a story seriously if everyone's been replaced by an expendable duplicate at some point.
- Ordered to Die: A person in authority commands their underling to kill themselves.
- Our Hero Is Dead: Work ends on a cliffhanger where the protagonist appears to die.
- Out of Continues: Character who has died repeatedly ends up dying permanently.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Someone outlives their children.
- Out with a Bang: Someone dies after having sex.
Tropes P-S
- Painless Death for a Price: Someone on death's doorstep is offered a Mercy Kill in exchange for something valuable.
- Parting-Words Regret: Someone feels guilty about the last things they said to a loved one before they died.
- Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Death: The weather gets gloomy when someone dies.
- Passed in Their Sleep: Person dies in their sleep.
- Peaceful in Death: Dead person is shown to be at peace.
- Permadeath: In some video games, the death of the Player Character is permanent; when they die once, it's an instant Game Over with no retries.
- Personal Effects Reveal: Finding out more about a person by going through their belongings after they die.
- Phone Call from the Dead: Receiving a phone call from a dead person.
- Pietà Plagiarism: A pose where a dead person is carried in the arms of someone grieving them.
- Player Death Is Dramatic: When the Player Character in a video game gets killed, the Game Over screen makes a big spectacle out of it.
- Player Punch: Killing someone to make the audience feel upset or angered.
- Playing Possum: Someone temporarily fakes being a dead body, usually to escape a pursuing enemy or predator.
- Plea of Personal Necessity: A villain pleads for the hero not to kill them because they still need them.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Dying character begs a loved one not to leave them.
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: Character gives a person they wronged the offer to kill them so they can be satisfied.
- Please Wake Up: Someone believes a dead person to merely be sleeping.
- Plotline Death: Characters in a video game die permanently if the death happens in a cutscene.
- The Plot Reaper: Character dies so they won't stand in the way of the story.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The character dying in the beginning is the reason the story's events happen at all.
- Poking Dead Things with a Stick: Finding a dead body or creature and poking it with a stick.
- "Pop!" Goes the Human: Person dies from swelling up until they explode into a grisly mess.
- Population: X, and Counting: A sign of the town's population has the number of people go down as soon as someone dies.
- Posthumous Character: A character has already died when the audience first hears of them.
- Posthumous Collaboration: The creator dies before their work could be finished, but other people do their best to complete the work using whatever material the creator managed to make before they died.
- Posthumous Credit: The work credits someone involved with production who died before the work was released.
- Posthumous Narration: Story is narrated by a character who has already died.
- Posthumous Sibling: A character's older sibling died before they were born.
- Posthumous Villain Victory: Even after the villain dies their goal is ultimately achieved.
- Post-Mortem Comeback: Villain turns out to have prepared a duplicate of themselves to take their place in the event that they die.
- Post-Mortem Conversion: Claiming that a dead person is on your side.
- The Power of Legacy: Lying about a dead person so that people will remember them fondly.
- Precautionary Corpse Disposal: A setting or situation where anyone who dies will become a monster, or otherwise dangerous.
- Premature Eulogy: A eulogy is given for a person who is still alive.
- Prematurely Marked Grave: A grave is prepared for someone in anticipation that they'll get killed.
- Pre-Mortem Catchphrase: A character dies saying their catchphrase.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: A character taunts their victim before killing them.
- Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: Before making their big sacrifice, the hero bids farewell to his loved ones.
- Pretty Spry for a Dead Guy: Someone thinks a dead person has come back. They're actually hallucinating or being deceived by an imposter.
- Preserve Your Gays: Gay characters repeatedly almost dying.
- Prestige Peril: Gaining a lofty position has the downside that any screw-up means you'll get killed.
- Primal Fear: Death is one thing often regarded as something everyone fears.
- Prisoner's Last Meal: The last meal a prisoner on Death Row eats before their execution.
- The Problem with Fighting Death: Screw over the Grim Reaper, and he'll ensure that you suffer for it.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Mind control is used to make a person kill themselves.
- Psychic Glimpse of Death: Reading a dying person's mind causes you to experience their death.
- Psychopomp: A deity or spirit whose job is to cause the death of all mortal beings, and/or to help bring their souls over to the afterlife when their time comes.
- Puff of Logic: Tell something why they shouldn't be able to live, and they instantly die on the spot (or fade from existence).
- Pull Yourself Down the Spear: Pulling yourself down what you're impaled on to attack the one wielding the weapon used to impale you.
- Pummeling the Corpse: Killer continues beating up the corpse after they're already dead.
- Quieting the Unquiet Dead: Helping The Undead pass on.
- Rapid Aging: Someone keeps rapidly getting older. In some cases, it results in the person dying because they've become so old.
- Rasputinian Death: Character survives multiple fatal events before finally dying.
- Really Dead Montage: A montage is shown to prove that a killed off character isn't coming back.
- Redemption Equals Death: Villain dies after reforming.
- Red Shirt: The character who exists only to get killed so that there can be a casualty without killing off any of the important characters.
- Red Shirt Army: An entire army of nameless characters get killed.
- Reduced to Dust: After death, dust is all that remains of a person.
- Refusing Paradise: Dead person chooses resurrection over going to a peaceful afterlife.
- Regularly Scheduled Evil: Monster or villain always shows up to kill people at a specific time.
- Released to Elsewhere: Someone's death is covered up by claiming that they've simply been relocated or moved to another place.
- Relieving the Reaper: Someone temporarily takes over Death's job.
- Remember the Dead: You only exist in the afterlife so long as there are people who remember you.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Everyone thinks a person has died, and the person has to make it clear that they're still living.
- Rerouted from Heaven: Character who was supposed to go to Heaven instead ends up in Hell.
- Rescued from the Underworld: Entering the afterlife to bring a dead person back.
- Reset-Button Suicide Mission: Sacrificing yourself while aware that it will be undone.
- Respawn Point: Killed person always revives in one specific place.
- Restrained Revenge: A person knows they can't kill the person who's wronged them, so they simply deliver a less severe punishment rather than forgive them.
- Resurrected Murderer: Somebody who caused deaths doesn't stay dead.
- Resurrection/Death Loop: A character is doomed to die, be brought back from the death and die all over again - repeatedly.
- Resurrection Gambit: Someone plans their own death and subsequent resurrection.
- Resurrection Sickness: Person suffers ailments upon being brought back to life.
- Retirony: Someone dies when they were close to retiring from their career.
- Revival Loophole: Death is foretold, but not the dead person's immediate resurrection.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: A traitor gets killed as reward for their treason.
- Rise from Your Grave: Undead person claws their way out of their grave.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The game master of an RPG gets fed up and kills everyone in the game.
- Robbing the Dead: Stealing valuables from a dead person.
- Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: A Rube Goldberg Device is used to kill someone.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The seriousness of death is shown by killing off a minor character.
- Sacrificial Lion: The stakes are shown by killing off an important character.
- Say Your Prayers: Someone prays when realizing they're about to get killed.
- Scamming the Bereaved: A type of con where the hustler sells something to a person in mourning, claiming their deceased loved one started the purchase for them but died before they could complete it.
- The Scourge of God: Monster starts by killing guiltier victims first.
- Second Law of Metafictional Thermodynamics: Works are likely to have more deaths if the author is less emotionally stable.
- Secretly Dying: A person's days are numbered, but no one finds out until after they die.
- Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: The search for a missing person ends with the discovery that the person in question has died.
- Seen-It-All Suicide: Character commits suicide because they think they've experienced everything they can.
- Self-Destructive Charge: Character moves to attack even while they're dying.
- Self-Disposing Villain: Villain gets themselves killed after the hero thwarts their plan.
- Self-Made Orphan: A person who has killed their own parents.
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: A character plans to sacrifice themselves.
- Senseless Sacrifice: The Heroic Sacrifice does jack squat.
- Serendipitous Survival: Avoiding death because of random chance.
- Serial-Killer Killer: Someone who murders killers and only killers.
- Severed Head Sports: Playing a ball game with a severed head being used for the ball.
- Sex Signals Death: Characters having sex is an indication that they'll die. Usually leads to a heart attack or hyperventilating due to increased stress on the body.
- Shapeshifter Swan Song: Shape-shifter takes on various forms as they die.
- Shared Life Energy: Someone is saved from dying when another person shares their life energy with them.
- Shinigami: A Japanese spirit that personifies death.
- Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: Someone is shot for holding a mundane object mistaken for a weapon.
- Shoot the Builder: Kill someone so they cannot recreate their work for someone else.
- Shoot the Messenger: Villain reacts to bad news by killing the messenger.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Story ends with the protagonist getting killed and their efforts turning out to be pointless.
- Shot at Dawn: Executing someone with a firing squad.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Creating a shrine to honor the deceased.
- Sibling Murder: The successful killing of one's brother or sister.
- Sickbed Slaying: Killing someone while they're sick in bed.
- Silent Credits: End credits of a sad episode (which may be sad because of a death happening in it) have no music.
- Silent Scapegoat: Character voluntarily takes the blame without telling anyone to save others.
- Sinister Deer Skull: A creepy looking deer skull is a great indicator of malevolence.
- Slain in Their Sleep: Killing someone while they're sleeping.
- Slashed Throat: Killing someone by slashing their throat.
- Slashers Prefer Blondes: Blonde characters tend to get killed off in horror genre works.
- Sketchy Successor: After the leader dies, their replacement fails to live up to their legacy.
- Smells of Death: Dying or recently deceased characters give off a particular smell.
- Smokestack Drop: Falling to your death down a smokestack or chimney.
- Smoldering Shoes: A person's shoes are all that remain after they're obliterated.
- Sniping the Cockpit: Stopping a vehicle by killing the driver.
- Snow Means Death: Dying in the snow.
- Snuff Film: A recorded film of someone being murdered.
- Sole Surviving Scientist: In an apocalyptic setting, there's one scientist left who is holed up somewhere and trying to help humanity recover from the end of civilization.
- Sole Survivor: A person is the only one who survived an event where others were killed.
- Someone Has to Die: It's mandatory for someone to die so others may live.
- Someone to Remember Him By: A dead man's widow or bereaved girlfriend turns out to be pregnant with his child.
- Sorrowful Stutter: A grieving character is unable to speak about their departed loved one without getting choked up.
- Sorry That I'm Dying: Apologizing for your own death.
- Sorting Algorithm of Deadness: The odds of a dead character coming back to life.
- Sorting Algorithm of Mortality: The odds of a character getting killed off.
- Soulless Shell: The body is revived, but the soul is gone. May or may not be a zombie.
- Sound-Only Death: We only hear the violence.
- Spared by the Adaptation: A character who died in the original work remains alive in the adaptation.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Person is so tactless that they'll insult the deceased.
- Spiteful Suicide: A character, usually a villain, commits suicide to spite others.
- Spiteful Will: A dead person's will allows them to posthumously insult their hated peers.
- Spit Out a Shoe: A character eaten alive has one of their belongings spat out to signify that they are done for.
- Spontaneous Human Combustion: A person dies by bursting into flames or blowing up for no explained reason.
- Squashed Flat: Character is flattened after being crushed by something. Doesn't necessarily have to be fatal.
- Staking the Loved One: Having to kill a loved one after they're turned into a monster.
- Stars Are Souls: The appearance or disappearance of a star represents the death of a character.
- Starts with a Suicide: Story starts with a character committing or attempting suicide.
- Starts with Their Funeral: Work begins with a funeral before explaining how the person died.
- Staying Alive: Character keeps coming back no matter how many times they get killed.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: Dying person requests a loved one to stay with them in their final moments.
- Stellification: A character becomes a star or constellation after death.
- Stripped to the Bone: Person is killed in a way that their skeleton is all that's left.
- Stupid Sacrifice: Character sacrifices themselves even though they didn't have to.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Surviving the first installment means the character will end up dead in the sequel.
- Suicidal Lemmings: Lemmings off themselves by way of jumping off of cliffs.
- Suicidal Sadistic Choice: A Sadistic Choice where one of the options is death.
- Suicide as Comedy: When someone killing themselves is used for dark humor.
- Suicide Attack: Someone simultaneously kills themselves and other people at once.
- Suicide by Assassin: Hiring someone to kill you.
- Suicide by Cop: Committing suicide by provoking someone into killing you.
- Suicide by Pills: A character intentionally overdosing on medication in pill form to kill themselves.
- Suicide by Sea: Committing suicide by walking into a body of water and deliberately drowning.
- Suicide Dare: Telling people to commit suicide.
- Suicide for Others' Happiness: Someone kills themselves to make someone they care about happy.
- Suicide Is Painless: A person commits suicide happily.
- Suicide Is Shameful: Suicide is regarded as cowardly and dishonorable.
- Suicide, Not Accident: A suicide is arranged to look like an accident.
- Suicide, Not Murder: A suicide is initially mistaken for murder.
- Suicide Pact: Two or more characters agree to kill themselves.
- Super Drowning Skills: A character drowns the instant they hit the water.
- Superhero Movie Villains Die: Film adaptations of comic books have a villain subjected to Death by Adaptation.
- Supernaturally Marked Grave: After someone dies, they disappear and the ground where their corpse was changes to signify their death.
- Super-Power Meltdown: Over-exterting one's super powers result in exploding.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Someone dies unexpectedly.
- Survivor Guilt: The one person left alive feels bad that they didn't die with the others who were killed or that the others weren't the ones who survived.
- Suspect Existence Failure: A person suspected of being responsible for a murder ends up becoming another victim of the real culprit.
- Symbolic Serene Submersion: A dead body is shown floating beneath the water, in a symbolic kind of way.
Tropes T-Z
- Tag Team Suicide: Two people kill themselves because a failure to communicate causes them both to think the other has died.
- Take a Moment to Catch Your Death: Character dies right when they think they're in the clear.
- Take Care of the Kids: Dying person asks someone to look after their children.
- Taken for Granite: Someone dies by being turned to stone.
- Taken Off Life Support: Someone is taken off life support when it's determined that they can't recover from their injuries.
- Taking the Bullet: Shielding someone with your own body.
- Taking You with Me: Someone about to be killed makes it so that their killer dies with them.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: Talking a character out of killing themselves.
- Talking the Monster to Death: Defeating the enemy simply by talking to them.
- Talking to the Dead: Talking to the dead while visiting their graves.
- Targeted to Hurt the Hero: A character who is hurt or killed off to torment another character who cares about them.
- Tears of Blood: A person's death is signified by crying tears of blood.
- Technicolor Death: A character's death has them become a light show.
- Teenage Death Songs: A song about dead or dying teenagers.
- Terminal Transformation: A transformation that directly results in the transformee's death.
- Terminally Ill Criminal: A character commits a serious crime after learning they have a fatal disease.
- Thanatos Gambit: A character's scheme involves their own death.
- That Poor Plant: A plant withers and shrivels after a toxic substance is poured into it.
- That Was the Last Entry: A diary stops abruptly to indicate the author has died.
- The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): The seriousness of a threat is established by having someone who knows how to deal with it getting killed by it.
- These Hands Have Killed: Someone feels terrible about having to take a life.
- They Died Because of You: Hero is grief-stricken by the realization that they are indirectly responsible for a person's death.
- They Killed Kenny Again: A character repeatedly dies and gets resurrected multiple times to the point of absurdity.
- They Knew the Risks: There's no need to be sad about this person's death. They knew there was a chance they'd get killed when they took the job.
- This Bear Was Framed: Framing an intimidating predator for the murder.
- This Is Not My Life to Take: Refusing to kill someone because another person is more deserving of ending their life.
- This Was His True Form: A shape-shifter reverts to their true form upon death.
- Threads of Fate: Powerful and supernatural threads that can represent or influence fate and destiny, cutting one often directly ends a person's life.
- Throw 'Em to the Wolves: Hero kills villain by leaving them at the mercy of someone more ruthless.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Someone is killed by being thrown out of a spaceship's airlock.
- Time-Delayed Death: Injured character ends up inexplicably dying a bit after the accident.
- To Absent Friends: Proposing a toast to a fallen friend.
- Together in Death: Two lovers may have died, but at least now they'll be together for eternity in the afterlife.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Show announces that a major character will be killed off.
- Tontine: A group of people reach an agreement that a collection of valuables will go to the last surviving member of them.
- Too Cool to Live: Character dies because they're more awesome than the hero.
- Too Dumb to Live: Character's stupidity causes them to get themselves killed.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: A kindhearted, innocent character dies in a Crapsack World.
- Too Happy to Live: Story having a happy beginning means that an unfortunate death is guaranteed to happen later.
- Too Injured to Save: A character whose wounds are too serious to recover from and does not have much time left.
- Too Powerful to Live: A villain who is too powerful is killed as soon as they show up to maintain the story's conflict.
- Torn Apart by the Mob: Death at the hands (feet, etc.) of an angry mob.
- Torso with a View: Someone is killed by having a hole shot through their chest.
- Touch of Death: A single touch causes death.
- Tragic Aids Story: Someone dies tragically from AIDS.
- Tragic Bromance: Two heroes are friends. One dies.
- Tragic Keepsake: A bereaved person holds onto an item that's all they have to remember their dead loved one.
- Tragic One-Shot Character: A one-shot character is killed and their death affects the main character.
- Tragic Stillbirth: Parents are saddened by their child being stillborn.
- Transflormation: A person dies by being turned into a plant.
- Traumatic C-Section: Pregnant woman has the fetus crudely cut or ripped out of her womb.
- Trial by Friendly Fire: The only way to kill the enemy is by shooting through your friend.
- Tricked to Death: A lie or trick that results in death.
- Turbine Blender: Someone is cut to pieces by a jet engine or propeller.
- Uncertain Doom: A character is last seen in a situation where they might have been killed, but it's not clear whether or not they survived.
- Undignified Death: Character's death is ridiculous and embarrassing.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Someone is surprised to learn they got an inheritance from someone they never met in person.
- Unexpected Successor: After a person dies, their legacy is continued by someone who wasn't expected to be deemed worthy.
- Unexplained Recovery: A character comes back alive with no explanation for their survival even though it was clear that they got killed the last time they appeared.
- Unintentional Final Message: A living character receives a message that a dead character composed before they knew they were about to die
- Unwanted Revival: A resurrected person isn't happy that they've been brought back to life.
- Vasquez Always Dies: When a masculine female and a more feminine female are the heroines, the masculine female ends up killed while the girly female lives.
- Vertical Kidnapping: Someone is killed when their killer scoops them up while hanging from the ceiling.
- Video Wills: Someone leaves a final video message before they die.
- Viking Funeral: A dead person is cast away in a boat with their possessions while it is set on fire.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Dying villain decides to help the hero before they die.
- Villain Killer: A character who successfully kills a significant number of villains over the course of the story.
- Vorpal Pillow: Killing someone by smothering them with a pillow.
- Waking Up at the Morgue: A person who has died or been mistaken for dead after passing out finds themselves in a place where dead bodies are kept after they resurrect or regain consciousness.
- Walking Wasteland: A character who spreads death and destruction everywhere they go.
- Wall Slump: A killed person hits against the wall before their corpse slinks down.
- Wax Museum Morgue: The "statues" at a wax museum are actually preserved corpses.
- We All Die Someday: Casually pointing out that everyone dies eventually.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Character is killed off not long after the audience is introduced to them.
- We Will Have Euthanasia in the Future: In a futuristic setting, it is considered okay to kill people if they are suffering from an illness.
- Weapon Tombstone: Someone's grave is marked by a weapon.
- Wedding/Death Juxtaposition: The happiness of a wedding in close narrative proximity to the sadness of a death.
- Went to the Great X in the Sky: A common euphemism referring to death is to say that the dead person has gone to "the great (insert afterlife place appropriate to the deceased's personality, interests, or habits) in the sky".
- What a Drag: Torturing or killing someone by dragging them around.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Characters express sorrow at lives wasted, particularly those of their enemies.
- What Is One Man's Life In Comparison?: Someone is asked to give their life for the greater good.
- Where There's a Will, There's a Sticky Note: Character who fears that their death is imminent writes their will on whatever they can find.
- White Shirt of Death: Person dressed in white dies a very gory death.
- Whodunnit to Me?: Someone who survives or is resurrected after an attempt to do them in tries to figure out who their murderer or would-be murderer was.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: An unsympathetic person has been murdered, but identifying the culprit is difficult because everyone who knew the victim hated them enough to want to kill them.
- Why Couldn't You Save Them?: Someone is angry at the hero because they were unable to save a loved one.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: When trying to get rid of their enemies, the villain never takes the easy way out.
- Why Won't You Die?: Someone exasperatedly asks why the person they're trying to kill keeps surviving every attempt at their life.
- Widowed at the Wedding: The bride or groom is killed immediately after the wedding.
- Widow's Weeds: Woman wears certain clothes when they are in mourning.
- The Wild Hunt: Otherwordly beings show up to hunt the living or punish hunters.
- Winds Are Ghosts: Wind associated with the spirits of the deceased.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: After a character dies, their soul flies off as an angel.
- With My Dying Breath, I Summon You: When the villain dies, their last words are to summon a last opponent for the hero.
- Wring Every Last Drop out of Him: A character is on the brink of death, but takes a while to actually die.
- Wood Chipper of Doom: A running wood chipper or a similar machine is used as a method of murder and/or gory body disposal.
- Yet Another Stupid Death: A video game features game over screens where the player is chastised for dying because of a dumb decision.
- You Are Worth Hell: Estranged lovers are reunited in Hell.
- You Are Already Dead: A character suffers a lethal blow but there's a noticeable delay in their death.
- You Have Failed Me: Villain kills minion as punishment for screwing up royally or too often.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Villain kills minions after they've done what he ordered them to do.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: When you kill someone, you have to take up their title or responsibility.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Character is going to die and they know it.
- Your Head A-Splode: A person is killed when their head explodes.
- You See, I'm Dying: Character reveals that they are dying.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Sacrificing yourself to hold back an enemy.
- You Should Have Died Instead: A person who's loved one has died wishes that it was a person they hated who died instead.
- Zipping Up the Bodybag: A character is proven to be dead for real by showing their corpse being zipped up in a body bag.
