History Main / DeadToBeginWith

* ''Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath'' (released in the States as ''Stairway to Heaven''), where David Niven plays a World War II pilot who strikes up a romance with a female radio operator after a near-death experience, which becomes complicated when he is approached by an agent of Heaven who informs him he was supposed to have died.

* Twist ending of ''Film/TheOthers''. They thought their house was haunted, but they were the ''haunters''. Their rage at discovering they are dead causes the hauntees to flee the house. Sounds comedic, but is a clever ending to a morbid film.

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou'', where the three main characters never died in the first place, instead being directly transported to the Reaper's Game via special pins that detect people with latent PsychicPowers.

** Subverted in '''VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou'', where the three main characters never died in the first place, instead being directly transported to the Reaper's Game via special pins that detect people with latent PsychicPowers.

* The first story and starting point of ''Manga/HiganbanaNoSakuYoruNi'' has the weak-willed Marie Moriya bullied by her classmates and raped by her homeroom teacher on a daily basis. After meeting a yōkai (the titular Higanbana), she tries to rebel against her teacher; it fails. Horribly. She is strangled to death and reduced to a pitiful sobbing ghost. However, when meeting again with her murderer and receiving a [[BreakingSpeech harsh lecture]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from him]], she finally manages to kill him and become the yōkai Mesomeso.

* The very first line from Misao Minakami, the {{Deuteragonist}} of ''Anime/AsuraCryin'', is that she is dead and a ghost. [[spoiler:The truth however turns out to be a bit more complicated]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' you start off dead, and are playing "The Reapers Game" to come back to life. Initially, the developers make this look like a case of NeverSayDie, making it that much more shocking.

* ''Theatre/JacobMarleysChristmasCarol'' starts just after Marley dies, quoting the original story's description verbatim.

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' has Emily, the witch.

* Frank in ''Film/GhostTown''.

[[folder:Theater]]

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the player character died some time before the start of the game, but because they are marked with the Dark Ring, they come back to life every time they are killed.

Not to be confused with PosthumousCharacter, which is a character who is dead when the story begins and is shown only in flashbacks. Or with YouAreAlreadyDead. Also not to be confused with MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning, where an established character's death brings about a whole new set of machinations.

* ''Film/DefendingYourLife'' takes place in [[AfterlifeAntechamber Judgment City]], where [[Creator/AlbertBrooks the protagonist]] and the other deceased are assessed to determine if they are ready to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or if they need to [[{{Reincarnation}} go back and try again.]]

Compare DeadAllAlong and FirstEpisodeResurrection. Characters who are Dead to Begin With may be susceptible to GhostAmnesia. Also related toYouCantKillWhatIsAlreadyDead, for the self-explanatory reason.

Compare DeadAllAlong and FirstEpisodeResurrection. Characters who are Dead to Begin With may be susceptible to GhostAmnesia. Also related toYouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead, for the self-explanatory reason.

Compare DeadAllAlong and FirstEpisodeResurrection. Characters who are Dead to Begin With may be susceptible to GhostAmnesia. Not to be confused with PosthumousCharacter, which is a character who is dead when the story begins and is shown only in flashbacks. Or with YouAreAlreadyDead.

Not to be confused with MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning, where an established character's death brings about a whole new set of machinations.

-->Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

* The titular character in ''LightNovel/RyuugajouNananaNoMaizoukin'' is a ghost of a killed girl.

* Variant in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': The [[Discworld/WeeFreeMen Nac mac Feegle]] believe that ''this'' world is their Valhalla, thus explaining their riotous behaviour as they've already got to paradise[[note]]They still feel bad about Feegles who die, because it means they have to go back to the "World of the Living" for a while[[/note]]. In ''Discworld/ReaperMan'', Windle Poons' storyline concerns his posthumous experiences as a zombie.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', Lucifer reveals "one last minor detail" to Dante. It turns out Dante never did recover from being stabbed in the back during the Crusades. He had been dead the whole time and didn't even know it.