History Main / DeathsHourglass

Clocks and watches can fill this function, but are relatively recent. Older, more poetically symbolic designs are [[DyingCandle a burning candle]], a withering flower, and a running hourglass. The latter frequently appears as an attribute of {{the Grim Reaper}}, the personification of Death as a scythe-wielding skeleton.

* ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'':

** ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'' has a tree whose falling leaves symbolize the time the same princess has left to live.

* When characters (well, the ones called "Players") in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' receive a mission, they get numerical timers superimposed on their hands. If one pair doesn't complete the mission in time, they all get erased. (You, on the other [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]], can TakeYourTime.) At the end of the game, you find out that [[spoiler:the Conductor ''also'' has a timer on his hand, albeit a longer one, and it runs out before he can finish.]]

The lifetime of a character has a physical manifestation, an object from which it's ticking, flowing or trickling ominously away. What discerns a Death's Hourglass from other "impending doom in 5,4,3" devices is that it is long-term and personal: It's a part of the character's life for more than a few action-filled hours, long enough to have an impact on the whole mood, usually by making it more tragic. Maybe everybody has one, maybe only one character has, but one Death's Hourglass only measures one person's time.

* '''Jump to Action:''' The other's message is the opposite - [[RaceAgainstTheClock A deadline, the character has to win the game]], defeat the villain, break the curse, or else... It urges the character to do something.

* In ''Manga/{{Alice 19th}}'', Frey's mentor Eric dies after literal bells ring twelve times.

** Everyone has a time at which they are destined to die. It's only visible to those with a Shinigami's eyes...and even in that case, such a person ''cannot'' see their own numbers. [[note]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow This is one reason why]] in the companion novel ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'' Beyond Birthday is so fucked up. [[/note]] However, using a death note allows you to kill people before their time and indirectly extend lives.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1427753654031301100
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

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

* Rosette's watch in ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' shows how much of her soul she has left from her DealWithTheDevil. The more Chrono [[CastFromHitPoints uses her soul to power himself]], the less the watch's face glows. (It looks almost like a glow-y pie chart.)
* In ''Manga/{{Alice 19th}}'', Frey's mentor Eric dies after literal bells ring twelve times.
* The infected survivors in Manga/KingOfThorn are all given thick bracelets with a small bar/screen on them before becoming [[HumanPopsicle Human Popsicles.]] The bar is normally white, but as the Medusa Virus inside them gets worse, it steadily turns black. Once the bar is totally black, the infectee doesn't have much longer before they petrify.
* Illegal contractors in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' have a clock face on their chest, measuring how many times the can use their chain's power before they are pulled down into the abyss.
* ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'': How many days before [[RobotGirl Mahoro]] completely shuts down is shown at the end of each episode. (Parodied in ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster''.)

* During the FinalBattle of the Kyoto Arc in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Yumi keeps looking at her pocketwatch, and worrying about the time it will take Shishio to finish Kenshin off. This is because more than 15 minutes of strenuous activity will cause Shishio to overheat, seeing as he has lost the ability to control his own body temperature thanks to [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat being doused with oil and set on fire]]. He ''does'' last a little bit longer than that, but not by much.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'', the time remaining before Shrek's "ogre day" is up and he fades away is measured by a giant hourglass in Rumpelstiltskin's throne room.

* ''Film/{{Looper}}'': In 2044, when a mob hitman's contract runs out, his future self (from the year 2074) is sent back to him to be killed. The hitman doesn't find out about this until he retrieves his payment from the body - gold bars instead of the usual silver. He now knows that he has exactly 30 years left to live.

* This is a major theme in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'': Soran, the villain, who lost his family to the Borg, strongly believes that "time is the fire in which we burn", and seeks to escape from its confines by entering the Nexus, while Picard comes to the conclusion that time is instead a friend that guides us along through our lives.
* The main selling point of ''Film/InTime'' is a mixture of both types of this trope. Everyone is given a year to live after they reach 25, but you can add or subtract time from your clock. Also, it's used for currency, so your year can be up sooner than you think.

* From the ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheLamp'' series by P.B. Kerr, in one of the books titled ''The Blue Djinn of Babylon'', the titular Blue Djinn measures her remaining lifespan by means of an extremely large hour glass.
* Dragons in Raymond Feist's ''[[Literature/TheRiftwarCycle Midkemia]]'' novels instinctively know the exact moment of their death for their entire lives.

* Thomas Mann's version of ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus'' has the Devil ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation probably]]) taunt the damned character with this concept. In their conversation an earlier book ''Melancholia'' is credited as the [[TropeCodifier trope codifier]].
* In the fairy tale "Literature/GodfatherDeath", Death shows his godson a cave full of candles which measure the lives of all mortals. The taller the candle, the longer the person lives, and when the candle has burnt down and goes out, they die. The godson then asks for his own candle, and to his terror Death shows him a tiny stump that is just about to go out.

* At the end of each chapter in ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', there's a brief moment where Mao announces how long it'll be before Almaz completes his transformation into a demon.
* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' has the Grim Ripper wearing an hourglass pendant while rocking out on his steel-stringed scythe.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'', while he frequently asserts to have no say in the matter, everyone has a set appointment with [[GrimReaper Jack.]] However, if something (always supernatural) stops one from dying at the appointed time their biological clock stops and they just "[[WhoWantsToLiveForever persist]]".

* In The 24th Pegasus's [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/389502/numbers Numbers]], Fluttershy starts [[StatOVision seeing numbers ticking down over various ponies' heads]] after having her life saved in the nick of time by another pony. She quickly figures out that they indicate how much time they have left to live - and Rainbow Dash's number is very low, only a few hours away, meaning she will have to work fast to figure out what is going to kill her friend and stop it from happening.

* And the ShoutOut to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' scene in ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'':

* ''Film/LogansRun'' had a "life clock" crystal embedded in the palm of each citizens in the dystopian domed city. The crystal blinks ominously when the wearer reaches the age at which (s)he will be terminated (21 in the book, 30 in the movie).
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' had one in the form of the clock with 13 numbers. Sarah had 13 hours in order to get through the labyrinth, get to the castle, and get her baby brother or else he'd be turned into a goblin. (Jareth wasn't above cheating - he ''fast-forwarded'' it in one scene.) Understandably if she failed she'd probably be sent home to try to explain what happened to her brother...
* In ''Film/InTime'', everyone has a personal death clock. However, time is used as currency, and thus can be extended. The poor race against the clock every day, while the world's richest people are effectively immortal.

* ''Film/MinorityReport'' has the [=PreCrime=] officers' watches, which count the time remaining until a murder predicted by the [[{{Seers}} Precogs]] will occur if the officers do not act to stop it. Additionally, the ball system is a more abstract version: red balls (murder born of passion) mean the victim is going to be dead no later than 30 minutes, while brown balls (premeditated murder) can take as long as four days to come true.

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

* In the Literature/LeftBehind book ''Kingdom Come'': While lacking the actual timepiece, citizens of the Millennial Kingdom know that "naturals" who stay unbelievers by the time they reach 100 will instantly die and go to Hell. The only way for "naturals" to avoid this fate is to [[ReligionIsRight accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.]] [[LaResistance The Other Light faction]] sees GodIsEvil because of this and has prepared for that contingency by having their teachings passed down to the next generation of its converts so that the generation that [[FinalBattle gets to confront God and Jesus by the end of the Millennium]] will be "assured victory" when [[SealedEvilInACan Satan is released]]. [[CurbStompBattle Unfortunately for them,]] [[YouCantFightFate it didn't go as they hoped.]]

* ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'':
** In the intro to ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'', Jaffar approaches the Princess, raises his arms, and suddenly an hourglass appears.
--->"Marry Jaffar... or die within the hour."
** ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'' has a tree whose falling leaves symbolize the time the same princess has left to live.
* When characters (well, the ones called "Players") in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' receive a mission, they get numerical timers superimposed on their hands. If one pair doesn't complete the mission in time, they all get erased. (You, on the other [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]], can TakeYourTime.) At the end of the game, you find out that [[spoiler:the Conductor ''also'' has a timer on his hand, albeit a longer one, and it runs out before he can finish.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' has the titular hourglass, protecting Link from the temple's curse. But only as long as its sun-ray-charged sands keep falling. Once the hourglass runs out, Link's life force is drained, which usually results in a GameOver when you're stuck too deep in the temple. Also, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', there's the on-screen clock, aided by the fact that the Moon is coming down slowly and it's visible from almost everywhere in the game's world. The on-screen clock eventually changes into a countdown in the game's last six minutes.

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' has this when you go back in time to prevent a person's death. Unique in that it only applies when Sissel goes back in time, and it only lasts four minutes, though you can increase the time left through actions that delay the death or eliminate it altogether (the ultimate goal) by preventing the death. In game it serves as a time limit to solve the puzzle.
* If you get killed in ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'', Death shows up and explains [[DontFearTheReaper he's already filled his quota for the day]]. If you click the hourglass next to him, he'll send you on a quest to recover a bunch of them.
* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' gives you the Death Clock. It's a number that appears above a person's head and shows how many more days they are destined to live. Thwart a significant event involving some demons, and the number on the death clock goes up, or at least changes. It only actually shows single-digit numbers; anyone with longer than 10 days has no number at all. And much to the main characters' concern, ''nobody'' in the lockdown has longer than 6 days left...
* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' has the Nicaea site and its death videos, which is an inversion of the prequel's Death Clock -- it shows the manner of death and their location, but ''when'' it happens is not revealed, leaving the most accurate estimate to be "any time today". The subject of the death video also doesn't get to see their own death, leaving the player and their companions to try and avert it themselves.
* VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors and its sequel are pretty much built on this trope. "Players" have to solve puzzles and escape before their 9 hour time limit is up. To make matters worse, there are also smaller time limits imposed in the various "games" that they must play and win in order to survive.
* ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'' has a subtle one. In the manor level, if you look closely at any of the clocks they are counting down.

** The OnTheNextPreviewshows how much time is left before the Holy Grail appears. Since [[spoiler:Irisviel]] is the conduit for the grail and the manifestation will obliterate her personality, this effectively acts as her Death's Hourglass.

* The OnTheNext preview of ''LightNovel/FateZero'' shows how much time is left before the Holy Grail appears. Since [[spoiler:Irisviel]] is the conduit for the grail and the manifestation will obliterate her personality, this effectively acts as her Death's Hourglass.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'': Every dog has a clock representing their lives (in heaven): it's suggested these are countdown clocks, though it's never actually said. When Charlie returns to life, he is immortal as long as his clock keeps working, which is similar but not identical to the trope.
** There's also the fact that interfering with the natural progression of his life in such a manner gets him [[BarredFromTheAfterlife banned from returning to Heaven]] when he finally dies.

* In Creator/FritzLang's 1921 silent film ''Der müde Tod'' (literally "Weary Death", but officially called ''Destiny'' in English), Death has a candle representing each person and when the candle burns out the person dies. Whether this is an example of the fatalistic variety is ambiguous; Death gives the main character - a woman who has lost her lover and asks Death to return him to her - a chance to save three lives whose candles are about to go out, but in every case the protagonist fails, suggesting that perhaps it's impossible to defeat Death or Fate.
** The image of a lighted candle representing a person's life and life-span is certainly a common one in German-speaking countries; there is even the colloquial expression ''jemandem das Lebenslicht auspusten'' "to blow out someone's life-light".
*** In English as well - one euphemism for death is to ''snuff it'', referring to snuffing out a candle.
** An interesting aspect of Fritz Lang's movie is that the length of the candle indicates life expectancy, not the the foreordained length of life; people may die before their candle is burned down entirely. In one of the earlier scenes a candle over a yard long suddenly goes out. As it does, a baby (i. e. the soul of the recently deceased baby) materializes in Death's hands.

* OlderThanFeudalism: From Greek myth, there are the Moirai, the Fate sisters, who measure out people's lifespans on their threads.

* The hourglasses mentioned in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' reappear in ''Webcomic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow'', with Mandy's playing a pivotal role in the backstory. [[spoiler: All the strange happenings in the show occurred because Mandy's hourglass had emptied, and therefore was supposed to have been reaped long ago, but Grim couldn't bring himself to do it. This rendered her effectively immortal, since the only thing that could kill her now was Grim himself. All that became moot when Mandy grew up and married Grim.]]

* One ''[[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' story has Shampoo slowly [[InvoluntaryTransformation being turned into a cat]] while a bell slowly tolls. She must get Ranma to kiss her before it finishes or she'll be [[ModeLock stuck as a cat forever]].
** In another story, Akane's body is reduced to a living, but motionless doll by the power of the Kinjakan. If they can't restore her with pure Jusenkyo water before her eyes close completely, [[FinalDeath she dies]]. [[spoiler: They do, but Ranma was ''just barely'' able to get the water up to her through equal amounts of skill and miracles]].
* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', there is a clock tower in Athena's Sanctuary that measures time with bright blue flames blazing over the symbols of the Twelve Zodiac Houses. It is ignited twice. The first time is when the [[FiveManBand Bronze Saints]] invade the Sanctuary and must save Athena's life before all the flames wink out. The second time is when the Gold and Bronze Saints must ''[[YouShallNotPass prevent]]'' Hades' Specters [[HoldTheLine from invading]] Athena's Sanctuary for twelve hours, which is the maximum time on Earth allotted to the [[BackFromTheDead newly-risen dead]].

*** Similar to the Kingdom Hearts example below, Eidolons and bosses will cast Doom on the party leader either immediately, or if the battle drags on for a long time. Only difference; the Doom Counter cannot be stopped with magic - the only way to extend it is to change the battle settings.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' has the Phantom, who casts 'doom' on each on your party members one at a time, which consists of a glowing number appearing over their head and Big Ben itself counting down. When it reaches 0 they are KO'd. Permanently. Fortunately you can use any stop spell to delay the countdown.

* '''Fatalistic:''' [[YourDaysAreNumbered It counts down the time to the hour]], [[ForDoomTheBellTolls the bell tolls]] for Alice and it's over. [[TheFatalist Nothing to do about it]], there's the end, ''[[CharacterDeath exit Alice]]''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' has the Monado's ability to [[CombatClairvoyance show its wielder the future]], typically presenting Shulk with dire visions of himself or his friends dying. As a form of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, this is also a key feature in battle, where the Monado can show the player that an enemy is about to inflict catastrophic damage. From there, the player is given a few moments to change the future by redirecting the enemy's aggro, buffing an ally, debuffing the enemy, or killing the enemy and [[ScrewDestiny screwing destiny]] outright.

* Spoofed in ''Series/TheITCrowd''. Moss finds a similar website and calculate's Roy's death. He tries not to see it, but accidentally does and reads that it's in ''the next few days''. Hilarity ensues as Roy starts freaking out. Then when the specified time finally comes, Roy watches the clock, and as it reaches the exact second, he starts feeling extreme pain. [[spoiler: Turns out it was actually his extremely vibrant cell phone; Richmond was just trying to call him to find out how the funeral was going, leading him to burst into laughter in the middle of a funeral. It is implied that the website simply wasn't as reliable as Moss thought]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'', while he frequently asserts to have no say in the matter, everyone has a set appointment with [[GrimReaper Jack.]] However, if something (always supernatural) stops one from dying at the appointed time their biological clock stops and they just "[[WhoWantsToLiveForever persist]].

* Based on their well-documented tendency to wander off for it, house cats seem to be able to sense when their final days are approching.

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

** Also, Shaka keeps a Buddhist rosary with [[OneHundredAndEight 108 beads]]. Each time a Specter is killed, a bead turns dark. He uses this to thoroughly freak out the Specters that arrive at the House of Virgo.

* ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'' provides the [[http://www.pbfcomics.com/32/ page image]].

* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' had the Fate sisters, and their threads of life, which they cut when a person's time to die comes. However, even they couldn't foresee [[spoiler:Hercules sacrificing his own life to rescue Meg's soul would give him his godhood back, thereby making his thread impossible to cut.]]

* In ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', Jafar uses the "Sands of Time" to discover the one person (Aladdin) who can retrieve the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Later, he imprisons Jasmine in the lower half of a giant hourglass, where she is in danger of suffocation due to the sand falling on her.
* The flower in the glass with its dropping petals from Disney's ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' shows how long the Beast has before the curse becomes unbreakable, blooming until his 21st year.

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

** The Discworld's "lifetimers" aren't just clocks. If a person's hourglass is broken, they immediately die or go catatonic, and Death doesn't normally control the flow of timers. He is merely supposed to help a timer's owner pass on when the sand runs out. (Fiddling with timers is usually a bad idea, as several characters discover the hard way. The only being who can fiddle with these hourglasses without dire consequences is Azrael, the Death of Universes, who only appears in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'') Even Death has an hourglass, but it has no sand and cannot be damaged.

** In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', Vimes is having a near-Death experience, which means of course Death is having a near-Vimes experience. Fortunately, Death is quite casual about the meeting and lets Vimes continue uninterrupted.
** As the Discworld/{{Hogfather}}, Death was able to reverse the flow of sand in the Match Girl's hourglass.

** He does something similar for a young girl in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' by sacrificing the sand in his own glass (not the one above; he's been given a new one as a "retirement present", making him human). It is explicitly stated that this is a ''mortal'' ability - many do it all the time, without even realizing. Death, under normal circumstances, cannot truly extend someone's life. [[spoiler:Miss Flitworth does the same for Death near the end, giving him enough time to take down the new Death.]]
** In ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', he doesn't give Mort more time, he turns the hourglass over. He doubles his lifespan, at the cost that now Mort knows exactly how long he has to live, although Death specifically noted that he's not a fan of math and that Mort ''doesn't'' know how much longer he has to live. However, in ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' the text says "He'd turned over the hourglass. After that it was all a matter of maths. And the Duty."

* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'', after Ku is near-mortally wounded in an encounter with [[BigBad Shriek]], the Voice of the Forest wisp summons a field of white flowers, similar to those that revived Ori in the first game, as a temporary life support measure while Ori [[FetchQuest fetches the other wisps]] [[DismantledMacGuffin to reform Seir, the light of the Spirit Willow]]. Over the course of the story's final act, the flowers slowly disappear, representing the time remaining before [[TheCorruption the Decay]] completely consumes Niwen, though [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the player is not timed against it]]. Just as [[DarkestHour the last of the flowers fade]], [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExsistence Ori merges with Seir to become a new Spirit Tree seedling]], restoring the light to Niwen and reviving Ku.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' has the Monado's ability to [[CombatClairvoiyance show its wielder the future]], typically presenting Shulk with dire visions of himself or his friends dying. As a form of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, this is also a key feature in battle, where the Monado can show the player that an enemy is about to inflict catastrophic damage. From there, the player is given a few moments to change the future by redirecting the enemy's aggro, buffing an ally, debuffing the enemy, or killing the enemy and [[ScrewDestiny screwing destiny]] outright.

* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' had the Fate sisters, and their threads of life, which they cut when a person's time to die comes.

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