History Main / Retirony

* ''Film/{{Angel}}'': Before falling victim to the SerialKiller, Lana expresses a desire to move to Tahiti.

* The narrator of ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'' dies in October 1918, i.e. about a month before the Armistice.

** Relating to ''Titanic'', Ned Parfett was a newspaper boy who was photographed holding the headline "TITANIC DISASTER: GREAT LOSS OF LIFE," which became an iconic image of the disaster. He went on to serve in World War I, and was killed less than two weeks before the armistice.

* In ''Film/{{Spawn}}'', Al Simmons goes on one last mission before retiring with his wife to start a family. Take a wild guess what happens to him.

* The case of Q from the Film/JamesBond movies is irregular. In ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', the last time Q is seen onscreen in this film, Bond comments on his appointing an assistant (R, played by Creator/JohnCleese) and asking if he was planning to retire. Q's final lines are two words of advice. The actor who played Q for nearly four decades, Desmond Llewelyn, was sadly killed in a car accident after the film opened, forcing the filmmakers to retire the character outright. Cleese's R was promoted to Q for ''Film/DieAnotherDay''. After ''Die Another Day'', the franchise was rebooted for the Creator/DanielCraig films, so beginning with ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', the much younger Creator/BenWhishaw was cast as Q.

* An aversion happens in "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" by Music/KathyMattea. The song is about a truck driver named Charlie who is on his last haul before retiring to go be with his wife. The song seems like a setup for him to crash and never make it home, but amazingly (especially since it was a Country Music song,) he does.

* In August 2012, country music legend Music/GeorgeJones announced plans to retire after going on one final tour in 2013. On April 26, 2013, he died after having been hospitalized for over a week for a fever and irregular blood pressure.

* In ''Film/FortApache'' (John Ford's 1948 film, loosely based on Custer's Last Stand), Captain Sam Collingwood is trying to get moved from Fort Apache to an instructing position at West Point. When his wife finally gets the letter saying that his transfer went through, he is riding off with the regiment to confront the Apaches. Someone tells her to go, to run and tell him that he should come back, but she says "Sam isn't a coward", and then twists the knife by handing the letter back to the message-boy, saying "Keep it. For the captain's return."

* In a variation, towards the end of ''Franchise/StarWars I: Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon Jinn intends to train Anakin Skywalker, believing Obi-Wan Kenobi is ready to graduate to Jedi Knight status. Needless to say, Qui-Gon doesn't make it to the end of the movie, and Obi-Wan ends up being Anakin's trainer instead.
* Played straight in Legends sources for one of the pilots in the Film/ANewHope. TIE Fighter pilot DS-61-4, better known by his nickname "Dark Curse", was planning on retiring after his next combat. Said next battle was the Battle of Yavin, where he was shot down by Wedge Antilles.

* Played with in ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}''. In an interview, James Lovell remarks that Apollo 13 will be his third and final mission, planning to close an impressive career with finally walking on the Moon. Instead, his spacecraft blows up halfway to the Moon. Miraculously, he and his crew survive and return to Earth safely, though sadly, he never gets to walk on the Moon.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

-->'''[[Comicbook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]]:''' Focus, Gravity! No one is dying today!\\
'''Comicbook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}:''' Well, not me! I've got a brand new baby girl to come home to!\\

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20081025203134/http://www.captainsnes.com/2008/10/23/guest-halloween-special-6/ This]] ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES'' Halloween special.
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' parodies this trope, with [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0194.html Darth Maul]].

* ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic'':
-->One B-movie law got broken, however -- when elderly characters are [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=518 killed by villains]], it should be shortly ''before'' retirement, not immediately afterward. It’s more emotional that way. They say.

* In ''Webcomic/DragonMango'', [[http://dragon-mango.com/comic/chapter04/dm04-44.htm the soldiers are wearing a red shirt and one day from retirement respectively, so they don't expect to be around long.]]
* Depressingly ''inverted'' in [[http://explosm.net/comics/2998/ this]] ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' strip (which unsurprisingly is part of a "Depressing Comic Week"). The unlucky cop is killed on his ''first'' day on the force.

* Parodied in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/halloween-feast this comic]] from ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''. You'll have to click the votey (the big red button under the comic) to see it. That turkey was one day away from retirement.

* Played straight in ''Webcomic/SneakyGoblins'' with [[http://www.tolcraft.com/comic/page-74/ Allan the town guard]].
* [[http://onegianthand.com/post/180283428841/last-day-for-adultswimcomcomics Parodied in this ''One Giant Hand'' strip]], where a cop dies one day before retirement...because he put his pants on badly.

* [[https://www.buttersafe.com/2012/08/09/gunned-down/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Buttersafe}}'' strip provides the page image, with bonus terrible pun.

* Music/MichaelJackson ''was'' going to retire from music after one last run of shows. [[AuthorExistenceFailure But it didn't work out.]]

* Music/JimCroce, with a young child at home and little money coming in due to poor management, meant to get off the road and settle down with his family. Because a concert in Sherman, Texas was canceled, he opted to take one last "makeup gig" at the venue before the end of the tour. His plane crashed into a pecan tree, the only one seen for miles in an otherwise clear area, during a dense fog one hour after he played a show in Louisiana, [[AuthorExistenceFailure instantly killing Croce, his backing guitarist, and four others]].

* The American characters in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: World At War'' in the mission "Breaking Point": in the opening narration sequence, Sgt. Roebuck explains that "once we take Shuri Castle, we go home. All of us." By the end of the mission, either he or Polonsky is dead. The player hears the earlier statement repeated in his head as Polonsky/Roebuck hands him the fallen Marine's dog tags as if to further drive the point home.

* The ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' series was very fond of EnemyChatter like this too.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nuclear Throne}}'' has [[FishPeople Fish]], who was a cop. He literally had one day before retirement when the Big Badda Boom happened.

* ''VideoGame/{{Nuclear Throne}}'' has Fish, who was a cop. He literally had one day before retirement when the Big Badda Boom happened.

* [[https://www.buttersafe.com/2012/08/09/gunned-down/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Buttersafe}}'' strip, with bonus terrible pun.

* [[https://www.buttersafe.com/2012/08/09/gunned-down/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Buttersafe}]'' strip, with bonus terrible pun.

->'''[[BangBangBang KABAM]]'''

->[[TemptingFate Just 2 more sentences left on this page, just in time for my daughters wedding!]]