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Kreely Slaver: I'll DIE before I'll—
THOOOM!
Ennesby: "...finish my sentence," I think he was saying.

No matter what the medium or genre of a work of fiction is in, there are a few general rules that are usually in place. One of them is that if a character isn't a Red Shirt, it doesn't matter if they're in a situation of dire peril as long as they're speaking. Because as long as they're talking, nothing bad is going to happen to them. Oh sure, they can die after saying some notable Last Words or an important Final Speech, but dying in the middle of a sentence, especially if it's an ordinary, unimportant one? That's not going to happen, ri—GHAAAAACKKK!

...Let me step in for him. WRONG.

There are any number of reasons to kill a character, whether major, minor, or mookish, in the middle of a sentence. Firstly, in an Anyone Can Die story, it's a great way to show that not only can anyone die, but they can die at any time. (Which can make for great drama and suspense over the fates of your favorite characters). Secondly, it can be a great way for an Anti-Hero to show off his No-Nonsense Nemesis nature by killing an antagonist in the middle of some sort of threat, or as a more lethal version of Talk to the Fist. (Likewise, it can be a way to show a villain averting the classic Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? scenario). It can be a way of showing that a story is on the gritty and cynical end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Lastly, it could just be that the author doesn't care much for interminable Final Speeches, and chooses to subvert that trope.

One thing is for sure: when this trope happens, you know that this is for real. If the story was a light, not too serious sort before, it's just gotten a whole lot darker and more serious after this.

See also Deadline News when this happens on the other side of a TV screen (though not necessarily in the middle of a sentence).

If a character is killed mid-word, there's a good chance of it being a Curse Cut Short. The Almost Dead Guy will invariably die mid-sentence, and there's a good chance of the sentence beginning "His Name Is...".

If this is a sci-fi story and the scientist figures out how to destroy the alien monster, expect him to die halfway through his explanation, just as he's about to say that it can only be destroyed by—

Compare Collapsed Mid-Speech and Sedgwick Speech. Contrast Talking Is a Free AcBLAM!

As this is a Death Trope, unmarked spoilers abouBZZZZZZT!


Example sub—

Other examp—

    open/close all folders 

    Adverti— 
  • Several safety ads use this trope.
  • A downplayed example (in that nobody is physically killed) occurs in the US Army's "Cyber" commercial, involving an "unstoppable" hacker getting disconnected in the middle of his speech:
    Hacker: I can shut down your power grids. I-I can paralyze your infrastructure. I can a-access the personal data of everyone in America. I am the enemy with no face. And I can't, be, sto-*BZZT*
    VO: For every would-be cyber attack, there's a team of US Army cyber-warriors, who will not be defeated.

    Anime & Man— 
  • During the Marley arc of Attack on Titan, Griez, a Marleyan soldier and one of the biggest examples of Marley's racism toward Eldians, goes on a fairly extended and disgusting rant about Sasha, who recently died, right in front of her own parents and the guy she loved. Thankfully, this vileness is cut short by Yelena, who blows his brains out as he's spewing out a final insult toward Sasha.
    Griez: I'll put it in a way that even you can understand. That tramp was the filthy daughter of d—! (BOOM!)
  • Black Lagoon:
  • Bleach: Subverted repeatedly. There are many occasions when you'd think this has just happened, but it usually turns out to be a trick using a character's power, or that the character being "killed" is Not Quite Dead.
    • This happens with Giriko. He boasts so much about his power that Kenpachi gets fed up and just bisects him.
    • When the Sternritter first invade Soul Society, they slash or blast several Soul Reapers while they were in the middle of introducing themselves or calling their attacks.
    • Kenpachi does this again to Berenice from the Sternritter group, whom he gives an Impromptu Tracheotomy to specifically because she wouldn't stop talking about her powers instead of fighting him. He even gets to cynically lampshade the trope:
      "The second one went on about having something against me and explained her powers forever. I could hardly hear her 'cause of the other guy's roaring. She was annoying, so I just tore out her throat."
    • Shaz Domino also incessantly brags about his powers before Ichigo blasts him away.
  • Code Geass has this happening to Monica Krushevsky/Kruszewski of the Knights of the Round. Shortly after Suzaku kills one of her fellow Knights (Bit Character Dorothea Ernst), she tries to get a bead on him, only for him and the Lancelot Albion to fly right in front of her Florence. She eats a point-blank shot from the V.A.R.I.S. Rifle before she can finish saying the traitor's name.
    Monica: A 9th Generation Knightmare Frame...? It's Suzaku Kururu—! (BOOM!)
  • In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Ballad of Fallen Angels", Spike Spiegel shoots a Red Dragon mook who takes Faye hostage, right as the mook tells him to put down his gun and step away, which kicks off the church shootout between him, the Red Dragon, and his Evil Counterpart Vicious.
  • D.Gray-Man: Tyki almost does this to Tokusa by chopping both his arms off while Tokusa was ranting about how he loves "serving the lord" to Allen. Justified in that the job of killing the foes was already done and he was in all right to feel perfectly safe when Tyki literally appeared out of nowhere.
  • Death Note has L getting the trademark heart attack almost finishing the word "shinigami"; as well as Matt being shot and killed by Takada's bodyguards for his part in kidnapping her right in the middle of listing the reasons why they won't shoot him.
  • In Dragon Ball, King Piccolo kills Chiaotzu while he's wishing on the Dragon Balls for Piccolo to disappear—thus it's a case of being killed so they can't finish their sentencenote .
  • Elfen Lied: Kouta's sister Kanae is split in half by Lucy as she tearfully begs Kouta not to hate her for telling him that she saw Lucy kill people. Shirakawa suffers the same fate when she is about to warn Kouta about Lucy, and Kakuzawa loses his head bargaining with Lucy.
  • Fairy Tail: God Serena tells Acnologia how excited he is to finally find/see him before he kills him in one swipe from his hand before he could finish his sentence.
  • In Fate/Apocrypha: As Celenike is issuing a Command Spell order to her Servant Astolfo to kill Sieg, who Celenike despises for developing a bond with Astolfo, in as sadistic a manner as possible to both make Astolfo betray his code of justice and break him, Mordred decapitates her before she can finish the order.
    Celenike: Now, Rider! Go forth and KILL THAT FILTHY HOMUNC—! [gets decapitated]
    Mordred: Shut up.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • In the manga, Commander of the Drachman army after the annihilation of his forces. Kimblee even lampshades it in a disturbing way.
    • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), there's Yoki, the soldier Sloth kills and one of Greed's men.
    • Also, when Al first met Greed, his regenerative powers were revealed this way.
      Greed: I mean, if you really wanna hurt me, you're gonna have to do something kind of like—
      [Gets his head bashed off with a hammer]
    • Lust kills Number 48 before he can tell Ed what's going on in Lab 5.
  • Golden Kamuy has a particularly severe example in the death of Wilk/Nopperabo, who is sniped by Ogata right as he is about to tell Sugimoto the key to the location of the Ainu gold. Given that this is literally the principal mystery of the series and the driving force behind the entire plot, with hindsight it is rather tragically hilarious how straight this trope was played, to the point of being slightly on-the-nose. But then again, what is Golden Kamuy if not really over-the-top?
  • In Hunter × Hunter, Cheetu attempts to challenge Zeno, and when Zeno realizes Cheetu won't leave him alone for any reason, Zeno just tells Cheetu to look behind him. As he explains that he's not falling for it, down comes Zeno's son Silva, whose landing squashes Cheetu like a bug.
  • Regius tries to say something to Zest after he's impaled by Due's claws in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, but he doesn't get any further than "Zest, I... I..." before succumbing to his wounds.
  • Pretty much every Druggie (Clotho, Orga, Auel, Sting, etc) death in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED happens mid-sentence/mid-psychotic laugh.
  • Frequently happened in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans for anyone killed by Mikazuki, be it a Double Tap, or having a gigantic two handed mace thrown right in the face. Including one who he headshots in the middle of thanking Mikazuki for killing him so he can die with honor.
  • Naruto:
    • Done with a Filler Villain who activates his Collapsing Lair and is crushed under a rock in the middle of his Evil Laugh.
    • Tayuya was also killed in this way: she was in the middle of thinking she would use her genjutsu when Temari's huge attack instantly leveled the area and crushed her under a tree.
    • Zetsu's clone of Kisame was decapitated in the middle of Calling His Attack.
    • Sasori dies this way. After being stabbed in the heart capsule by poisoned swords handled by his Mother and Father puppets, he continues to talk to a wounded Sakura and a severely weakened Chiyo, though he is immobilized. He then grudgingly congratulates Sakura on defeating him and gives her a parting gift: Information gathered by a spy he was supposed to meet at Tenchi Bridge. He is stopped mid-sentence while lamenting he won't be able to meet his subordinate when the poison and the damage to his heart finally catches up to him, and he dies.
  • One Piece:
    • In the 9th OVA, a retelling of the Drum Kingdom Saga that adds Robin and Franky, they do this to Dr. Hiriluk.
    • Spandine, under orders from the Five Elders, shoots Professor Clover in the head before Clover can say the name of the Ancient Kingdom. That name is such forbidden knowledge that anyone who knows of it is to be executed immediately—which means it's fortunate for Spandine he and his assassin squad didn't hear it, as they would've had to die too.note 
    • Kozuki Oden's death turns this, somehow, into a truly epic Moment of Awesome. After surviving his own execution by standing in boiling oil for an hour, while holding his nine samurai above his head, he begins to say his catchphrase: "I am Oden, and I was born-" before Orochi shoots him in the head. The audience, so impressed with his sheer strength and willpower, finishes the line out of respect: "-to boil!"
  • One-Punch Man:
    • The monster Kamakyuri attempts an ambush by crashing down through the ceiling of Saitama's apartment. He begins to introduce himself, but is killed instantly by an irritated Saitama (who can win every battle with a single punch), who demands he pay for the damage.
    • Saitama does this a lot because he gets quickly bored by Motive Rants, Explaining Your Power to the Enemy, etcetera. It's even part of the Establishing Series Moment in the very first chapter/episode.
  • Peter Pan no Bouken: This almost happens to Wendy when she tries to reason with the fully Face Heel Turned Princess Luna. Ironically, that's what makes Luna snap back to her senses, and Wendy survives anyway.
  • Rebuild World: Wataba, an Overzealous Underling of the Slum Lord Shijima, tries to go And Your Little Dog, Too! on Akira by threatening Shizuka who’s essentially Akira’s Parental Substitute mother. Before Wataba can finish, Akira shoots him dead, proceeding to drag his corpse through the streets to Make an Example of Them.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • This happens to Wiseman in Sailor Moon R. Interestingly, he is only cut off after his physical form is destroyed, hinting at his true form "Doom Phantom" being the shadowy spirit witnessed for about a second during the battle, which apparently resides inside the Dark Crystal as he is cut off the moment the Dark Crystal is destroyed. Another note is, he doesn't even get to finish the word "Phantom" before he is blasted to oblivion. (This is in the original dub many might not be too familiar with)
    • In the next season, Kaorinite is in the middle of speaking affectionately to Doctor Tomoe when she is killed by Mistress 9 with a lightning attack.
  • In Soul Eater, Mosquito is killed mid-sentence by Noah.
  • SPY×FAMILY: During the cruise arc, while Yor is fighting a Carnival of Killers by herself, two of them try to introduce themselves in a dramatic fashion before engaging her. Unfortunately for them, Yor does not believe that Talking Is a Free Action, and promptly disposes of them, the second not even finishing his introduction:
    "I am the King of Chak-" (cut to next panel with him lying on the floor and a hole in his head)

    Comed— 

    Comic Boo— 
  • Deadpool:
    • Being both Combat Pragmatist and having Medium Awareness, Deadpool has pulled this more than once on his enemies and targets.
    • And had it pulled on him in turn; the difference comes in whether the attacker unknowingly intends to actually kill him, or they are aware of Deadpool's Healing Factor and simply want to shut him up while he regenerates.
    • Played for Laughs at the end of Thunderbolts (2012) #18 when he asks someone to shoot him so he doesn't have to endure a 16 hour road trip in a van with no radio.
  • Empowered: The death of Mindf**k. "I love you, Theresa. I'll always love y—"
  • The Eternals: In Eternals (2021), Phastos decides to face Thanos rather than risk more innocent deaths while Thanos hunts him down. He steps into the open and shouts "Thanos! You want me? Here I—" ...at which point Thanos arrives, crushes his skull and kills him.
  • Family: In the climax Talia kills Silver by dropping a helicopter on his head while he's in the middle of screaming "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU A—"
  • The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: In issue #1, Indy's former student Charlie Dunne is explaining to Indy what he has learned about the legendary treasure the Ikons of Ikammanen when he is killed by a knife thrown through the window of Indy's office.
  • The Golden Age: Miss America is killed by Robotman in her attempt to expose Dynaman as being Adolf Hitler in Daniel Dunbar's body.
  • Horizon: When the guards who escorted Finn back to his cell see he has a gun, one of them manages to get out "Oh shi-" before Finn blows his brains out.
  • ''Pitt': This happens to a biker in the first issue that attacks the title character:
    My old man always said... finish what you star— unf!
  • Red Robin: Scarab tries to kill Tim Drake mid sentence, right as he's about to name the corrupt cops who hired her during a press conference for a Wayne Foundation charity. Unknown to Scarab it's actually a shapeshifted Miss Martian giving Tim's speech who she shoots and Red Robin attacks her right as she fires which causes her aim to be off. Later when the real Tim walks out of the hospital on crutches pretending to be recovering from his injury he finishes that sentence to the gathered paparazzi and reporters.
  • Samurai Grandpa: In the first Flashback of the comic, we see a young Ojichan with his sword drawn against an enemy. The enemy says this.
    Enemy: Stay your sword, Samurai. You do not want this fi—*decapitated by Ojichan*
  • The Star Wars: One of the Imperials is killed by Luke before he could finish his words.
    "But...they said...the Jedi were ex—!" *Luke bisects him)
  • Supergirl:
    • In Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, an alternate Supergirl fades into oblivion as shouting she has to warn her counterpart about...
      Supergirl: Oh no! I'm too late! The timeline where I go back in time never happened! I'm fading from existence! Now I'll never be able to tell myself that the Principal is secretly— <POOF>
    • In Red Daughter of Krypton, a crime-lord gets gunned down as pleading with her mistreated and pissed-off dancer for mercy:
      Crimelord: N-now, Suchin, let's not be hasty...! If I ever hurt any of you girls, it was only because—
    • Bizarrogirl: Bizarro Lex Luthor is explaining to Supergirl and her twin where the current threat came from when a giant critter turns up all of sudden and chomps on him.
      Supergirl: What happened to Bizarro World, Lex? And what is the Godship?
      Bizarro Lex Luthor: Godship am Big Bad. And it came because of me. Me was trying to find worstest way to hurt Bizarro #1, my worstest enemy, so me sent signal into core of the planet, hoping to find someone to come out and help. But signal went opposite direction into space and it attracted—-
    • In The Killers of Krypton, Supergirl has just scared an alien into confessing everything he knows about Rogol Zaar, but he is blasted to ashes by one of his own allies right when he is about to spill the beans:
      Alien: Okay, Okay, Okay. I'll spill my guts! Just don't use his axe on me! Please! What do you wanna-
      He is struck by an energy beam
    • Death & the Family: A doctor is smothered by Insect Queen's bugs as he is breaking up with his girlfriend over the cell phone.
      Unnamed Doctor: "Do you get it, Emma!? That's it! We're over— Mmmph-!"
    • In Supergirl Adventures Girl Of Steel: Kara is talking from Argo to her friend Pala (who is on Krypton) via video conference when Krypton starts shaking. Pala shrieks, and the connection is suddenly lost.
  • Superman: In Superman: Earth One, Tyrell's ship blows up while he is mocking Superman.
  • Swamp Thing: In issue #53, Alec manages to croak out most of "I love..." to Abby before his apparent death.
  • The Transformers (IDW):
  • V for Vendetta: In the first chapter, a Fingerman grabs what he thinks is V's hand, only for him to be left holding a prosthetic hand as V fights the other secret policemen and escapes with Evey. The Fingerman then says, "I've got his hand. What should I do with his—" and explodes in the same panel.
  • What If?: In What If? Dark Reign, Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, does this to Osborn. Best part of the book.
  • X-Factor: Jaime Madrox aka "Multiple Man" comments on how nobody ever commits suicide mid-sentence, then later mentions that he might. Later, one of his dupes (duplicates) blows himself up mid-sentence.
  • Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection: The illustrated novel is presented as being the recovered journal of a survivor dealing with the initial stages of the Zombie Apocalypse. It ends with the journal suddenly trailing off mid-sentence, and slight spatters of blood on the side of the page.

    Fairy T- 
  • Alexander Afanasyev's "Kolobok": When a female fox tries to eat the titular sentient bread bun, Kolobok distracts her by singing a song as rolling away. However, the fox praises its singing and asks it to come closer so she can hear it better. Kolobok returns, starts singing again, and is eaten before beginning the third stanza.

    Fan W— 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In this Godzilla MonsterVerse fanfiction, one of Monarch's Ospreys gets vaporized by Keizer Ghidorah's Gravity Beam when its pilot is in the middle of speaking.
  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: From Hunt's End:
    “But you haven’t even heard yet what I’m offering,” she said as she stepped towards him. “You want me gone, I don’t want to be here-”
    Her vision went black as her [speaking] golem died.
  • Equestria: Across the Multiverse: In the Ninja Six's world, traitorous daimyo Gladstone's forces have just been utterly defeated by the Multiverse Alliance. Gladstone tries to sneak away, but one of his minions recognizes his master and blurts that out. Amelia (a giant pony) then smirks and casually crushes him.
    Gladstone: (to the loudmouth) "I. Hate. Y—" *STOMP!*
  • In Everqueen, Khaine is killed by Khorne and Slaanesh as he boasts he is the true god of War.
  • In Supergirl story Hellsister Trilogy, Darkseid murders Brainiac while the latter is speaking.
    Brainiac's metallic hand was already raised. "The decision for leader is mine," said the robotic being. "But you are correct. We do not need two—"
    That was as far as Brainiac got.
    A blinding bolt of light shot through his chair and body, melting a great hole in his midsection.
  • Hivefled: Orphaner Dualscar: "So then the seadweller says-"
  • Katzenjammer: While Starscream was already going to kill him for making fun of his drinking-induced voice box glitch, Tidearrow's choice of last words results in him getting his head blown up before he can finish talking.
    Tidearrow: You know, for all that everyone says about you and Megatron, you give lousy - (is shot)
  • Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami: Light writes Mikami's name in the death note just as he is about to expose him as Kira to L and Soichiro. Hilariously enough, even though Mikami manages to say most of Light's full name before dying, L and Soichiro still do not put together who it is.
    "I'll tell you! It's Light Yaga…." Then he died.
    "What! He just died and he never told us the name! Now we'll never know who it was!" L raged and punched in a wall.
  • Luffy's Renewed Adventure: Gasparde. When he finds out Shuraiya knows his Weaksauce Weakness of flour and notices his attentiveness towards his long-lost sister, Gasparde tries to kill her. Luffy blocks the blow, and Gasparde has enough time to say "Interfering little-" before Shuraiya splashes his head with flour and decapitates him.
  • Miscalculation: Jack Slash has just started to shake off the dizziness from Riley's trigger and remark, "That's more like—" when Riley turns him to mincemeat.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide:
    • Kluge got killed by a clone of Kaworu right when he was shouting: "Kill—"
    • Soon after, in a less dramatic version, the heavily injured Gendo quietly bleeds out before he can finish explaining something to Rei: "I made it so..."
  • In The Night Unfurls, Kyril and his apprentice hunters do this often so as to draw first blood and get the upper hand as quick as possible. Having firearms certainly helps a lot.
  • During the climax of Old West, Sheriff Rango blows to smithereens the head of Ramirez Arvenga who doesn't believe the chameleon can actually do it.
    Rango: I got enough reason to shoot you after what you did to Beans. Remember: it only takes one bullet...
    Ramirez Arvenga: You won't do it! You don't have the stomach for— [ gets the head shot]
    Rango: Try me.
  • Opening Dangerous Gates: Gin Ichimaru kills a demon who was mouthing off at him, saying he doesn't tolerate rudeness.
    Demon: Enough! Pleasantries and names don't matter anymore, soon enough, you're all gonna be dead! We're here to— (skewered)
  • In The Parselmouth of Gryffindor, Nicolas Flamel, while attending the Frost Fair, is killed by a wordless Killing Curse of Barty Crouch's in the middle of a conversation with the Grangers.
  • Red Fire, Red Planet: Lieutenant Tiyerissel ch'Kreem and Operations Specialist, First Class Bikog Bu-Tal-Rek, courtesy of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey that decloaks in front of their shuttle.
    ch'Kreem: Take evasive action! Shields— (BoP fires, shuttle explodes)
  • RWBY: Epic of Remnant: Hassan of the Cursed Arm attacks and kills a racist. The man's last words are, "S-someone help, White Fa-"
  • Stars Above, a Lucky Star/Puella Magi Madoka Magica crossover, this happens to Tsukasa in the 2013 timeline, setting up Kagami's Start of Darkness, and then to Kazumi, to reinforce the fact that Anyone Can Die... and most eventually do.
  • Test of Humanity, a Portal 2 fan fiction has GLaDOS doing this. She tries to call Wheatley a "stupid moron" for getting stuck in an exhaust pipe and causing too much pressure to build up but the lab explodes before she can.
    "You stupid mor-"
  • Played for drama in Thundercracker's Glory when Thundercracker gets ahold of his sister's journal. The last entry ends mid-sentence, indicating she was writing in said journal right before the Autobot attack that claimed her life.
  • Time Lords and Terror, a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Doctor Who crossover, has this done to the Doctor of all people.
    "Oh, that's nf-ot fair."
  • Aerith tries to tell Cloud that "All is forgiven" when he's nearly mind controlled into killing her in episode 25 of Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged, only for Sephiroth to run her through before she can finish the last word.
  • In "Happy Souls", this is how Nashandra meets her end.
    "Brave Undead, you have proven yourself to me. Now, be one with the d-" "LIGHTNING!!!"

    Films — Anima— 
  • The Joker when he dies in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker after being shot.
    The Joker: That's not funny, that's not— [keels over]
  • Snatcher's last words in The Boxtrolls: "Aromic, oakey, with an undertone of— [BOOM!]
  • Coco:
    • The bell that crushed de la Cruz to death came down as he was singing "Remember Me".
    • In Miguel's case, it's "Discovering Yourself Cursed Mid-Sentence":
      Miguel: It's not what it looks like! De la Cruz is my... [guard walks through him]
      Groundskeeper: There's nobody here.
  • Defied in The Incredibles when Syndrome stops Mr. Incredible's attack during his bragging.
    Syndrome: You sly dog... you got me monologuing!
  • In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash is taunting Barry Allen/The Flash when Thomas Wayne/Batman suddenly shoots him in the head.
    Eobard: Ah ah ah. As long as I can siphon off the Speed Force, you can't escape this timeline. I'm afraid there just isn't enough Speed Force to go around- [Bang]
  • In Monsters vs. Aliens, when Galaxhar's ship counts down to self destruct, nothing happens. It then ponders this aloud only to blow up in the middle of speaking.
    Ship AI: Hmm. Nothing happened. Maybe my count wa—BOOM
  • In My Little Pony: The Movie (2017):
    Celestia: Luna, quick! Go south, beyond the badlands! Seek help from the queen of the hippo— [gets crystallized by an Obsidian Stone]
  • In Disney's Peter Pan, Captain Hook shoots one of his own men mid-song. (The singing was getting annoying.)
    Skylight: ...But live every minute / For all that is in it / The life of a pirate is shooooort / Oh, the life— BLAM!
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: After his fight with the giant in the opening scene, Puss is encouraged by the villagers to sing one more song, leading to:
    Puss in Boots: I call this one "The Legend Will Never D—" [gets crushed by a bell]
  • Lord Farquaad in Shrek gets Eaten Alive in mid-sentence:
    Farquaad: I am king! I will have order! I will have perfection! I will have— [gets eaten by the Dragon]
  • Superman: Red Son: While Superman is holding her, Svetlana dies of illness mid-sentence.

    Multiple Med— 

    Musi— 
  • "Run, Joey, Run," a Murder Ballad by David Geddes where an angry father, enraged that a boy he disapproves of did something to his daughter, goes to kill Joey but shoots his daughter instead. "Daddy please don't, it wasn't his fault/He means so much to me/Daddy please don't/We're gon... na get... mar... ried... ." (Earlier verses in the song complete the sentence, "... just you wait and see!")
  • "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by The Beatles. ("But as the words are leaving his lips/A noise comes from behind...")
  • Vaughn Monroe's '50s novelty hit "In the Middle of the House" ends this way, with the narrator run over by a locomotive.
  • Dream Theater's song "Pull Me Under'' ends like this.
  • Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut": The line that goes "And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind the wall" has a gunshot going off after "I'll tell you", suggesting that whoever was trying to say this line was shot. Possibly done to obscure its reference to the main character in The Wall.
  • Assemblage 23's "30kft" ends with the singer's phone call cutting out.
  • "Harrowdown Hill" by Thom Yorke, about the suicide of Dr. David Kelly:
    I feel me slipping in and out of consciousness
    I feel me-
  • Dave Matthews Band's "When the World Ends" (a song about lovers during the apocalypse) cuts off abruptly with Dave and the band still in mid-chorus, at least implying this trope if not playing it straight.
  • Dave's brother in Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst":
    Just promise me you'll tell this story when you make it big
    And if I die before your album drop I hope—
  • "Apokalypse Wann Anders" by Farin Urlaub. He's sitting with his girlfriend in their garden and wait for said apocalypse. Just when the morning has come and he thinks to live for another day...
    Dann sitzen wir im Garten und wir warten auf den Weltuntergang
    Ich bin so froh, dass es dich gibt, denn-
  • Opera singer Maria Callas used to give La Traviata a Nightmare Fuel ending. Violetta has the Incurable Cough of Death and, realistically, feels much better just before the end — she's supposed to say "O gioia!" (Oh joy) and drop dead. Callas would cut off her own line, say "O gioi—" and die with her eyes wide open.
  • St. Mary's Trumpet Call (Polish: "Hejnał Mariacki") is a traditional anthem played hourly from the highest tower of Saint Mary's Church in the Polish city of Kraków. The melody famously stops abruptly, as if cut off mid-note. As per a popular modern legend, the anthem was played by a sentry during the 1241 Mongol invasion of Poland to warn of approaching enemy troops. City gates were closed in time, but the trumpeter was instantly killed when a Mongol arrow pierced his throat. The modern version of the melody ostensibly ends mid-note to honour his death.
  • Happens a couple of times in Monty Python songs. In "I've Got Two Legs" Terry Gilliam sings about his legs but is shot mid-lyric. In "Never be Rude to an Arab" the singer is blown up after using too many racial slurs.

    Myths & Religi- 
  • The Thebaid: One of the mercenaries tries to surrender for Tydeus, only for a javelin to fly into his mouth and cut out his tongue. He bleeds to death from the mouth and falls to the ground.

    Podca— 
  • The Magnus Archives: It's eventually revealed that Gertrude Robinson went out this way courtesy of Elias Bouchard.
    Gertrude: You might have noticed I'm rather busy, so either shoot me, or
  • On the Threshold: Played With Dr. Powell's narration suddenly cuts off mid-sentence, but he resumes it to say that he's just nearly had a heart attack which he only noticed and prevented due to his medical training.

    Poetr— 
  • The Slithergadee, by Shel Silverstein:
    The Slithergadee has crawled out of the sea.
    He may catch all the others but he won't catch me.
    No you won't catch me, old Slithergadee,
    You may catch all the others, but you wo—
    • I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor, also by Shel Silverstein, ends with the lines:
    "Oh, heck, it's up to my neck.
    Oh, dread, it's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff..."

    Radi— 
  • The War of the Worlds (1938) features a radio reporter on the air, describing the Martian death ray that's burning everyone to charcoal, as "coming this way, about twenty yards from my ri—"

    Rolepl— 

    Tabletop Gam— 
  • Dungeons & Dragons 3.5: In the supplement Complete Mage, a line relating to a prestige class is from a vampire loudly dismissing the power of an enemy mage and being killed before he can finish.
    "Bah! Face one 'holier than thou' spellcaster, you've faced them all! This so-called scourge doesn't worry me at—"
    Count Lucius Darvold, vampire lord, twice deceased.
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • Commissars are usually presented as this, as it's their job to maintain morale and discipline by shooting any trooper who shows signs of cowardice, heresy, or pointing out that the battle plan sucks grox bal-*BLAM*.
    • The flavor text of a Tyranid unit that is basically a mine full of acid reads, more or less, as:
    An Imperial Guard (to another who has found the thing) "No!. Don't touch th..!"
    • Only War: A lot of flavor text, especially in sections describing the foes fought by the Guard, consists of a character rallying troops or dismissing a particular threat but being killed by some enemy soldier or alien horror before finishing their sentence.

    Theat— 
  • The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples strikes again, since this is how Hotspur dies in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I:
    ...O, I could prophesy,
    But that the earth, and the cold hand of death,
    Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust
    And food for—
    • Prince Hal finishes his sentence:
    For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!
  • In the musical Les Misérables:
    • Eponine and Marius sing "A Little Fall of Rain" as Eponine lies in Marius's arms, dying of a gunshot wound. She dies before they can finish the last note.
      "And rain will make the flowers..."
    • Gavroche also dies one word short of the end of his song.
      "So don't you kick a dog because he's just a pup"
      "So you better run for cover when the pup grows..."
  • In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Pirelli suffers a similar fate, Judge Turpin narrowly avoids it in the first act when Anthony bursts in, and Mrs. Lovett gets hers near the end.
  • Sometimes during the final scene of Miss Saigon, Kim dies in Chris' arms before she can finish the line, "How in one night have we come so far. . .?"
  • Orin in Little Shop of Horrors.
    Orin: Are you satisfied? I—laughed—myself—to—
    Seymour: Death? (Orin dies)
  • In The Fantasticks, in the Rape Ballet, Henry meets his death in mid-battle-cry:
    "God for Harry, England, and Saint Geo—ouch!"
  • Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder kicks the bucket via poison right before the last word of his bombastic song "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun".
  • Judas from Jesus Christ Superstar dies while accusing God of causing him to commit suicide. In the film version, he physically lets go of the tree branch mid-sentence.
    "You have murdered me! Murdered me, murdered me, MURDER—"
  • In the final scene of West Side Story, as Tony lies mortally wounded in Maria's arms, she begins hopefully singing one last reprise of "Somewhere" sans orchestral accompaniment, and Tony begins to sing along with her, only to expire after the third-to-last line, "Someday..." Maria's voice also falls silent after singing the following word, "Somehow..." The orchestra steps in to complete the musical phrase with a wordless "Somewhere."
  • In Machinal, just before the protagonist dies offstage in the electric chair, she lets out a strangled cry: "Somebody! Somebod—"

    Toy— 
  • Several examples in BIONICLE:
    Mutran: Amazing. If I could tap this energy, I could — Wait! Yes! I see it now — It's so absurdly simple. I can control this storm! All I have to do is — YAARRGHH!

    Bitil: What do I gain by saving them? When I make it out of here, Teridax will see that I am his most trusted lieutenant! He'll see—
    Narrator: No he won't.

    Web Anima— 
  • Bento Banana: Broclotron makes an one-liner as he's about to attack Bento Banana, only to get bashed in the head with a baseball bat mid-sentence by Plumpy.
    Broclotron: "Choo, choo, all aboard the pain train. Next stop, Bento Banana-" *whacked in the head by Plumpy*
  • Girl-chan in Paradise: Kenstar defeats Galacticamaru's pencil-wielding artist captain by breaking his pencil; The artist begins a retort with "Heh, heh, heh. Well-"; Mid-word, Kenstar sucker punches him, breaks his back, then tears his arm off.
  • SMG4 series:
    • SMG4 is shot by Dr. Eggman during his Overly Long Gag at the end of Cooking with Bowser and Mario 2!.
    • Sonic in The Wacky Wario Bros.: The Winning Ticket. He returns in Ssenmodnar 7 and Sonic the Derphog.
      Sonic: Ha ha! You're too slo— (gets hit by a train)
      Train: CHOO CHOO, MOTHERFUCKER!
    • SMG3 in his chronologically final appearance in Spells n' Wiztards. Every future blooper that features him will be implied to have taken place before Spells n' Wiztards.
      SMG3: No! NO! NOOO!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
      Voice: (in unison when SMG3 screams) KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
  • In Homestar Runner, Strong Bad receives an email from someone named Trevor, who says "I am a vampire and"—and his message ends right there. After mocking him for leaving his sentence unfinished, Strong Bad suddenly comes to the conclusion that someone put a stake through his heart while he was writing.
  • ASDF Movie:
    • In the second one:
      Dad: What are you up to, son?
      I Like Trains Kid: I like trains.
      Dad: Ha ha ha, yes you do.
      [next skit]
      YKWG Guy: Hey! You know who's gay? Y—*run over by train*
    • In the third one:
      Die Potato Guy: Die, potato!
      Potato: Noooooooooooo--
      I Like Trains Kid: I like trains.
      Die Potato Guy: OH NO NO NO WAI—*run over by train*
    • In the fourth one:
      Guy: *fwoom* It worked! My time machine wo—*stomp*
      Dinosaur: I am a stegosaurus!
    • In the tenth one, a William Telling seems to go through without a hitch... and the guy whose head the apple was on gets about halfway through his victory "Yay!" before the tree behind him falls on him.
      • Also from number ten:
      Boy: I wish I could fly!
      Genie: *snaps fingers* Your wish is granted!
      Boy: Yaaaa—*slams into ceiling*
    • One deleted scenes collection employs this trope with this guy hanging on a ledge:
      Guy: Save me, Super Guy!
      Super Guy: No.
      Guy: (now falling) You're a diiiiiiiiiiiii—*splat*
  • Eddsworld’s WTFUTURE scene with a guy commanding SuperGuy to help save him from Future Edd’s laser.
    Guy: Oh no! A giant laser! Help me super guy! Nothing to fear! With my powers, I can stop anything in the world, just as long as it isn’t a las-AAAGH!*KILLED BY LASER**
  • The Demented Cartoon Movie has multiple scenes ends with a character being blown up in mid-sentence, often along with the world.
  • Red vs. Blue:
    • This happens to South Dakota after being caught and held at gunpoint by Washington.
      Delta: It is highly probable that she will turn on us again soon, and in her current physical state, she will only hamper our progress.
      Washington: What are you suggesting?
      Delta: ...That we do not allow her to hamper our progress.
      Washington: Okay. (readies pistol)
      South Dakota: Oh come on, Wash. What're ya gonna do, sh—
      (BANG!)
      Washington: [To South] Yes. [To Delta, pistol aim relaxed] Good suggestion.
      Delta: You're welcome.
    • Also, every time someone gets shot, it seems their last words are inevitably "SON OF A--"
    • This trope was also played with in the last episode of the Blood Gulch Chronicles, when Captain Flowers deliberately delayed revealing an (apparently) important piece of information about the Reds to Tucker. When asked why he was doing this, he remarked that he seemed to be dramatically pausing for some- *BLAM* Hrrrk... Blaaah...
    • Agent Wyoming beats up Tex and mocks her by saying, "Oh, Poor Tex. Never could understand when she was—" Tucker suddenly stabs him in the back, and finishes his sentence for him, "Beaten!?"
  • This happens in one skit from The Lazer Collection:
    Boy: Excuse me, do you have the time?
    Office Worker: Sure, it's errm, half past-
    Watch: *Lazers the worker as the face cries, "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"*
  • In Space Tree, an escape hatch in a slave room has a button that, when activated, juts out a spike. It leads to the president's office, where space president Freely McWheely is monologuing about an idea to kill anyone that sees his true form, saying, "That sounds like a pretty good eye&mdash" before being impaled by a spike coming from the other end of the escape hatch.
  • DEATH BATTLE!:
    • Starscream. "You haven't won. I'm invincible! My Spark lives. You can never defeat Star—" GULP Spark eaten by Rainbow Dash. Yes, a My Little Pony character just defeated a giant robot. The Spark may be indestructible, but it counts as a kill.
    • Saba lets out a cry of "SON OF A BI-" right before the Tigerzord blows up with him in it.
    • Dan Hibiki: "Oh, maaaaaaaaaa-" and then he explodes due to a jukebox capsule opening inside him.
    • Scout: "Oh come on, give me a bre—" and then the Pulse Bomb that Tracer stuck to him explodes.
    • Captain Marvel: in her first fight "No fair... I can still-"... and then 18 crushes her head underfoot.
    • The Deep: "Isn't it obvious, asshole? You! There's no way us, The Seven, the heroes are gonna let you walk aw-" and then A-Train reduces him to a red smear.
    • Church: "Son of a bi-" and then Caboose's ricocheting sniper round, which had already killed Tex, Tucker and Donut, hits him in the head.
    • Goku Black (or in this case, his past self): “Mortals, sinners, prepare for divine-“ Cue Reverse-Flash turning him into Ludicrous Gibs.
    • Rocket Raccoon: "MotherFU-!" After being run through with a jury-rigged rocket, having his bracelet destroyed by Stitch to keep him from teleporting and realising he's on a collision course with his own Orbital Weapons Stash.
  • In Volume 6 of Sonic Shorts, Sonic reaches the infamous barrel in act 2 of Carnival Night Zone and doesn't know how to make it move, he tries everything until there are only 10 seconds left on the timer, he picks up a guide telling him that he only needed to press up and down, he gets so furious but is killed because time has run out.
    Sonic: What?! all I had to do was move up and down?! UP AND DOWN?! WHAT THE FU—![Time Over]
  • In Awesome Gaiden the Strategy Guide bursts into the room to aid the player against the insane challenge of the tutorial level of Ninja Gaiden:
    Strategy Guide: Hey you bitch! I'm the Strategy Guide! You can't mess with me!
    Player: Thank God you're here!
    Strategy Guide: Don't worry, pal. I'll sa— [stabbed]
    [Ryu glares at player]
    Player: Oh God...
  • RWBY:
    • The ultimate fate of Roman Torchwick. It's pretty ironic since he was ranting about how good he is at staying alive to Ruby Rose, only to immediately be eaten by a griffon.
    Roman: As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and SURVIVE- (is swallowed whole by a Grimm as Ruby looks on in shock)
    • Later in the series during the Volume 8 premiere "Divide", both Atlesian councilmen Sleet and Camilla barge into an Atlas medical facility to confront General James Ironwood about his draconian actions during Salem's attack such as declaring martial law. When Sleet accuses Ironwood of losing his mind, Ironwood suddenly shoots him dead mid-sentence, making it clear that he is in charge now and is not brooking any dissent among his subordinates.
  • In Pokémon Bloody Edition, Green, a Pokémon Jr. ranger is telling Professor Oak to stop killing people before she gets her head blown off:
    Green: Hi I'm a Pokémon Jr. ranger and I've heard that you've been killing people. You need to stop this because... (Cue her head being blasted off from Oak's gun)
  • Babushka: the Movie:
    • QuarterJade/Jodi is killed in the middle of saying "What the f–" by Valkyrae when she returns to the launch pad and sees the bodies of Rae and Sykkuno's previous victims.note 
    • Sykkuno exploits the version where the person who's doing the talking suddenly kills someone not expecting anything to happen until the talk is over. After finding BrookeAB he walks and talks with her for a few seconds, playing up feigned innocence and earnestness. After the two walk to an isolated spot on the map, Sykkuno suddenly kills her, having never quite finished the thought he was using to lure her away.

    Webcomi— 
  • The Order of the Stick:
    • When Belkar kills the Chimaera at the very beginning.
      Trigak: You may have won this round, Order of the Stick, but we swear our revenge on you! When you least expect—! GAK! GAK! GAK!
    • Xykon does this to a group of mercenary ogres who are complaining about not being paid very early in the comic's run, (and then he zombifies their corpses so he can still get some use out of them), perhaps giving the first hint that he's not a harmless cliché storm of a villain, despite appearances.
    • This is also how Roy Greenhilt dies, mid-pondering in freefall.
    • And in Cliffport, "I'm getting too old for—"
    • Haley gets petrified mid-sentence by Zz'dtri. (She actually finishes her sentence when she gets turned back.)
  • Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures: Inverted by Dark Pegasus, who incinerates Hannah without breaking stride in his own villainous monologue.
    Dark Pegasus: If you are going to destroy something... do it mid-dialogue. They always expect you to finish talking first.
  • Mike from It's Walky!, in the middle of a "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner.
  • Zorgon Gola from Sluggy Freelance.
    • Another one, a bit older and not quite mid sentence. More like mid speech.
      First Officer Brenas: Thank you captain. Troops, I'll be brief. (gets eaten whole by alien)
  • There are several ones in Goblins. For example, the deaths of Seth Brainwrath, Young And Beautiful (the fortune teller) and Saral Caine.
  • Count Dooku in Darths & Droids: "Non! Wait! Anakin, Ah am your f—"
  • In Something*Positive, Aubrey's favourite TV show host in her childhood died of a heart attack mid-joke on live TV. The only part which traumatised her was the fact that she's spent twenty-five years wondering what the rest of the joke was going to be.
  • In Girl Genius Malek is skewered through the chest from behind while talking to Violetta.
  • In El Goonish Shive, at least a couple people are killed this way during Damien's attack on the facility where Grace and her brothers were created. One of them is killed mid-scream.
  • Unsounded:
    • Stockyard kills Toby while the two of them are having a conversation filled with veiled threats:
      Toby: This silver job? This is him cashin' in—
    • Arctrit gets killed while trying to talk his latest victim into letting him live.
      "Y-You'll never be what you're after! Doncha for honest think ya must got some other purpose? Lemme help ya find-"

    Web Origin— 

    Web Vid— 
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
    • Gohan gets his neck snapped by a kick from Recoome before he can complete his sentence about how Goku will kick Recoome's ass despite Gohan losing the fight. Though he's still alive, and recovers soon afterwards.
    • Freeza kills one of his minions mid-sentence as a distraction from an extremely awkward conversation. Unfortunately, that sentence was warning Freeza that Vegeta was on the loose.
    • Doctor Gero is decapitated by his own rogue androids. Then....
      Doctor Gero: [to Krillin] By the way, do you have any more of those Senzu B— [CRUNCH]
  • In The Gamers, Newmoon tries to do this to the bandit king repeatedly, but is thwarted by the DM.
  • From Duane and BrandO, we have Bubble Man from their Mega Man 2 rap.
    Bubble Man: The name's Bubble Man and I got somethin' to say—
    Mega Man (Duane): DEAD. I'm not fuckin' with you.
  • "At least... at least I'll go out with a- *bang*."
  • The Joker Blogs: The priest officiating at Harleen Quinzel's wedding, who the Joker shoots before he can finish the "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace" bit.
  • Deadpool did this to The Comedian in one I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC skit after The Comedian made the mistake of only describing how the skit worked as "We basically just fight over our movies".
  • Zombie Boy/Bonz gets shot in the head by Yami Bakura with an invisible gun in episode 37 of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series.
  • From Death Note: The Abridged Series (kpts4tv):
    L: Light is Kira and Misa is the Second—
    Souichiro: The second? The Second what? ...Oh my God, she's the Second Coming!

    Western Anima— 
  • Amphibia: In the season 2 finale "True Colors", Marcy is stabbed by King Andrias while she's telling Anne some important information.
    Marcy: I-I just need to— [gets stabbed by King Andrias]
    [Beat]
    King Andrias: Now look what you made me do...
  • Animaniacs (2020): Pepé Le Pew is erased from existence whilst in the middle of begging for his life.
    Pepé Le Pew: No, no! Please, mon cheri! Do not erase me! The void, she is cold and dark and—
  • Archer:
    • A defector is explaining that Barry is the new KGB head and has a master plan when Cyril shoots him in the head.
    • Later in the same episode, Jakov is partway through his debriefing and about to give a personal message to Archer when the entire room goes up in flames.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara does this to some poor Fire Nation soldier in the middle of bragging to his friends in "The Southern Raiders", though it's doubtful he actually died unless he couldn't swim.
  • Parodied in the Family Guy episode "The Fat Guy Strangler" when Patrick tries to strangle Peter as he is saying "Nothing left to do but finish this sen—"
  • The Parrot in Hey Arnold! is eaten by the monitor lizard in mid-word, even.
  • Korgoth of Barbaria does a hilarious overkill version of this to a Giant Mook. In the middle of the mook making a weird and overly long threat to Korgoth, Korgoth suddenly decides he's been listening long enough, so he interrupts the mook by ripping about half the skin off the mook's body, tossing alcohol in the wound, and then setting the mook on fire.
  • Averted/parodied in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. In the episode The Ending of the End, Part 2, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow have been defeated, and Chrysalis is in the middle of a "We will return" speech before Pinkie Pie drops a giant cupcake on them using Discord's chaos magic, seemingly crushing them. Moments later they crawl out of the cupcake unharmed (hardly surprising as Twilight survived much heavier stuff falling on her in Season 1, and Chrysalis survived a long fall in her first appearance), only to be turned to stone for all eternity.
  • A Disney Death example from Phineas and Ferb:
    Phineas: All right, Candace! Way to— [crash]
  • In an episode of ReBoot, Megabyte has captured part of Mainframe and offered the inhabitants the choice of working for him or being deleted. A Binome in a TNG-era starfleet uniform stands up and begins giving Picard's speech from First Contact but is disintegrated mid-word. The next scene shows the binomes working for Megabyte.
  • Samurai Jack: Scaramouche barely gets a chance to explain why he brought old information to Aku about Jack not having the sword.
    "Oh, but Master, I—" [Boom!]
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Mr. Plow", Arnie Pie says "Tell my wife I love—" before his helicopter crashes.
    • In "Homer's Enemy", Frank Grimes has finally gone nuts over no-one else calling Homer on his reckless behavior, He approaches electric wires and says, "I don't even need safety gloves, BECAUSE I'M HOMER SIMP—" Then he touches the wires and guess what happens.
    • In the "Treehouse of Horror XVI" segment "Survival of the Fattest", Mr. Burns is hunting down some of Springfield's men. As Burns shoots Krusty the Clown, Krusty tries to tell a joke:
      Krusty: Dying is just like golf, except in golf— [he gets shot some more]
    • In the Dr. Seuss-themed segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXIV", "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!", this happens to the Fat in the Hat (Homer) when Maggie stabs him with his umbrella as he's creeping in on the kids.
      The Fat: I'm staying forever, you're all stuck with that, 'cause I'm your new daddy, the Fat in the—[stab]
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: Squidward in invokes this during his story to Spongebob in "Graveyard Shift".
    Squidward: But most people call him the Ha— [chokes] ...because that's all they have time to say before he... GETS THEM!
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks:
    • In "Crisis Point", the holographic Ransom is killed just before he can tell Boimler about Freeman's allergy.
    • In "Old Friends, New Planets", Locarno dies cursing the Ferengi for putting a paywall on a bomb after this prevents him from deactivating the device.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Happens quite a few times.
  • Steven Universe:
    • In "Steven the Sword Fighter", Pearl gets stabbed in the stomach but is actually fine due to her gem being unharmed. Only her physical body was damaged (which doesn't make it any less painful, but she can recover from such injuries). Before she can finish telling Steven "Steven, it's okay. I'm gonna be just—", she ends up "poofing" back into her gem to recover.
    • Also occurs when Peridot gets captured in "Catch and Release", attempting to warn the Crystal Gems of their impending doom, stating "I'm the only one who knows about the—!", right before she gets poofed. Upon re-forming back in the temple, she actually finishes her sentence, not immediately noticing what happened, saying "...the Cluster, you insufferable, half-formed traitor mega-clods!"
  • In Winx Club, after having revealed his group's true goals, the sick and already dying Duman is killed by Nabu while Duman is rambling that he wants to live.

    Real Li— 
  • Did not happen to General John Sedgwick, but everyone likes to quote it that way because it would be funnier and/or more ironic. (Mind you, those were almost his last words — he said only one more sentence before being shot.)
    "Relax. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—"
  • The last words heard from the Space Shuttle Columbia: "Roger, uh, bu—"
    • Comparatively, the last known words spoken on Challenger was, apparently, "Uh-oh."
  • Peter the Great of Russia had decided in advance to name his heir on his deathbed. Unfortunately, his last words were "I leave everything to..."
  • Texas International Airlines Flight 655 was cruising at around 2500 feet, at night in near zero visibility, when the copilot became concerned about terrain (they had diverted from their normal course in the hope of avoiding a storm). He consulted the charts, and was startled at what he saw. He started to tell the captain that "Minimum en route altitude here is forty-four hun—" when they hit a mountain.
  • According to Karla Homolka's testimony, Paul Bernardo began strangling Kristen French while she was in the middle of a sentence.
  • Kevin Cosgrove, while on the phone with 911 dispatchers, was cut off when the South Tower collapsed around him, cutting mid-scream: “We’re overlooking the Financial Center. Three of us. Two broken windows. Oh god! Oh-“
  • The last words from the American submarine USS Thresher, in communication with a surface ship just before sinking, were "...exceeding test depth...".
  • Frederick III of Germany was dying of throat cancer and could not speak in his last days. He started writing, "Victoria, me, the children..." before lapsing into unconsciousness and dying.
  • William Travis, one of the defendants of the Álamo, was said to have been killed so early in battle his last words were "Here come the Mexic—!".
  • The crew of Air India Flight 182 were discussing customs when their plane was destroyed by a bomb in the cargo compartment. The last words on the CVR, from the flight engineer, were "Custom seals. Wo bar seal karane ke liyenote . For their arrival - customs. Bar…"
  • Saddam Hussein at his hanging: "I swear there is no god but God and Muhammad..."
  • BOAC Flight 781 broke up in flight while the captain was in the middle of a radio transmission: "George How Jig, did you get my ..." (the callsign of the other aircraft, G-ALHJ).
  • Happened to the crew of a news helicopter in a mid-air collision over Phoenix.
  • The RMS Titanic's last transmission, sent by senior radio operator Jack Phillips, was SOS SOS CQD MGY SOS SOS CQD MGY SOS SOS CQD MG-
  • Bernard Fall was a historian and a war correspondent, specializing on Indochina. He was killed in 1967, when he stepped on a land mine. He was dictating into a tape recorder which captured his last words: "We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad―meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—"
  • Possibly the case for Marshal Ney; depending on the author, his last words were either: "Soldiers, aim for the heart!" or "I protest against my condemnation. My honour..."
  • Albert Parsons, one of four men hanged in the aftermath of the Haymarket Affair, was in the process of uttering what would've been his Final Speech when the trapdoor opened underneath him and the other three.
  • Alexander the Great's half-sister Cynane was a capable warrior and commander herself, and a contender to be Alexander's successor. Perdiccas sent an army led by her childhood friend Alcetas to confront her, they met for negotiations, and Alcetas stabbed her while she was giving a speech. This caused Alcetas' troops to mutiny.

Phew... I can't believe we made it through tha—URK!


Alternative Title(s): Shot Mid Sentence

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"Shut up."

Mordred decapitates Celenike before she could order Astolfo to kill Sieg.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (11 votes)

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Main / OffWithHisHead

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