Prepare to Die
A very common Stock Phrase, usually said by a villain as he's about to fight the hero. It can also be said by the hero if It's Personal.
Other words can be substituted for "die" depending on the situation and the rating level of the work in question. One common variation is "Prepare to be destroyed!"
Surprisingly, nobody explores exactly how you prepare to die. Perhaps you're supposed to do it by borrowing large sums of money and unloading long term stocks. Traditionally, you did it by making peace with God, hence this line's occasional substitutes, "Say Your Prayers!" or "Prepare to meet your maker!" Still, the person who says it usually never gives them enough time to prepare.
When done against a hero, expect the Big Damn Heroes to swing in at any moment. Sometimes it's the Big Damn Villains instead. A Thwarted Coup De Grace is sure to follow.
Compare I'm Your Worst Nightmare. Contrast Ineffectual Death Threats. Also, contrast Don't Make Me Destroy You, where the character is actually trying to put off the impending death (Or, at least, he is claiming that).
Contrast You Have No Chance to Survive, where the character telegraphs his death threats well in advance.
Other phrases that mean the same thing include "and now you die" and "time to die."
Anime & Manga
Roy Mustang: No need to say anything more, Envy. The first thing I'm gonna incinerate is your tongue.
"Now tell me, for what purpose did you choose to slaughter all of my people!? Depending on your answer, I'LL SEND YOU TO JOIN GOD!! NO, you don't deserve to stand by God alongside my fallen brothers! YOUR ONLY SOLACE FROM MY WRATH WILL BE DAMNATION!"
- First episode of Basilisk.
- Dragon Ball Z
Gogeta: I am neither Goku nor Vegeta, I am the one who will destroy you!
- Claymore gives us Teresa of the Faint Smile, who goes against the ironclad rule of not being allowed to kill humans.
Teresa: Damn your existences, for they are lower than that of a yoma. I will kill each and every one of you.
- Ryoga often enters a scene yelling, "Ranma, prepare to die!"
- The Soul Eater anime has Medusa do this to Chrona right before Maka's Big Damn Heroes moment.
- In Suzumiya Haruhi (Melancholy to be specific), Kyon is about to be killed by Ryouko Asakura - before Yuki steps through just in time to stop Ryouko in her tracks.
- In FAKE, this is combined with Big Damn Heroes and Crowning Moment of Funny:
Dee: "Say yer prayers, dickhead!"
- As seen in the pic, Kenshiro often uses this as his way of declaring that a particular villain's actions are unforgivable.
- A variation used sometimes in Inuyasha: "Wash your neck!" (The translation notes explained, as in preparation for execution.)
- The Big O: "I will reset the world in my own image with my own will. But before I do that, I'll eliminate everyone who doesn't deserve to exist in my new world. And that includes you filthy scum!" It's not entirely clear whether he was talking about the poor people or the Union, but either way, it was just a little uncalled for.
Comics
- The Japanese version of the Punisher in 5 Ronin, in true Inigo Montoya-fashion
You are soldiers of the Daimyo. You razed the house of Akagi. There is nothing more to be said.
- Secret Six plays with the trope a bit. Scandal is about to run wild through a group of security guards employed by a Complete Monster slaver. She says that they have thirty seconds left to live—enough to pray or make one last phone call. The guards look to each other... and some do start praying or leaving phone messages, having realized that they had it coming.
Fanfiction
Film
Inigo Montoya: Hello. My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to die.
Jimmy: Prepare to die!
Dalton: You are such an asshole.
- Strange considering this is the film that brought us the infamous line, "But Johnny, you could get injured!"
- The rather cheesy 1990 comedy Spaced Invaders shows no mercy:
(sarcastically) "Prepare to die, Earth scum. Prepare to die, Earth scum." I'm gonna make sure they carve that on your tombstone!
"You punched me in the boob! Prepare to die, obviously!"
Leon: Wake up! Time to die!
- Blade Runner also has a slight subversion, with the Stock Phrase as part of Roy Batty's Famous Last Words:
Roy Batty: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.
- Emperor Palpatine in the climactic scene of Return of the Jedi: "And now, young Skywalker, you will die."
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice has Horvath say "And now, young Dave, I will kill you. Yes, right here in this dreadful bathroom. Quite un-stylish, but you know, these things happen."
- Among the hammiest examples is Jeremy Irons spitting clear across the set to say "Now is your time to die!!" in the |Dungeons and Dragons movie.
- From Goldfinger, as James Bond is about to be cut in two with a laser (lengthwise):
Bond: You expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: (laughing) No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!
- Bond talks Goldfinger into shutting off the laser.
- Galaxy Quest When the Thermians are showing a smuggled tape off Sarris' ship to the 'crew' of the Protector:
Thermian: I have told you all I know. If you have any mercy within you please . . . let me die.
Sarris: When I grow tired of the noises you make, you shall DIE!
- Lost In Space When Dr. Smith is transformed into a self-proclaimed god and begins to eat the older Will Robinson:
Smith: Time to die . . . son.
- At the end of The Pebble and the Penguin,Drake yells out "Say you prayers, Hubie! just right before being crushed by the very boulder he was going to use to kill Hubie.
- Sark says this to Tron before their final battle (specifically, he says "Prepare to terminate!").
- The Crow: When Eric Draven faces down Top Dollar's entire gang at the club, just before the biggest shootout of the movie.
Eric: You're all going to die.
- Invasion U.S.A.: Chuck Norris's character said "It's time to die..." to the Big Bad in the past, before kicking him into unconsciousness. This caused the Big Bad to have nightmares and to wake up screaming every night. When the final showdown occurs, Chuck's character just says "It's time...". And then he blasts the BigBad out of the top story window with a rocket launcher.
- Beauty and the Beast has an interesting aversion, as Gaston originally said "Time to die!" in the rooftop duel, but was changed to "Belle is mine!" due to it being too harsh for a kids' film. This is what it would have sounded like.
- Shrek 2: "Pray for mercy from... Puss in Boots!"
- Flight of Dragons:
Bryagh: Puny scum of Carolinus! Prepare to die!
Literature
- The Princess Bride, near the end. Inigo Montoya says this to the six-fingered man, as shown in the page quote.
Live Action TV
- In an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the Enterprise is confronted by a powerful alien vessel that announces its intention to destroy our heroes, and goes on to say -- "we assume you have a deity... or deities," and politely offers to give the Enterprise crew time to make "whatever preparations" they deem necessary. An unusually explicit example of this trope, where the opponent says "prepare to die" and clearly actually means it. And they're all the scarier for that.
- In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Where Silence Has Lease, the Enterprise-D encounters a similar situation, but the alien claims that between a third to half of the ship's crew will be killed as part of the alien's experiments about death. Picard tries a Take That and starts the self-destruct sequence. Subverted in that the alien's experiments related to monitoring how humans reacted to the imminent threat of death without actually intending to kill them. Double-subverted in that the biggest threat to the ship and the crew in this context was Captain Picard himself, since he threatened to kill the entire crew, as opposed to letting the alien choose which of them would survive.
- The ending reveals that it's actually a TRIPLE subversion: Picard knew that the alien was actually interested in how humans react to the threat of imminent death, and calls the alien out on it, and gets the alien to confirm he was right by appearing to him.
- In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Where Silence Has Lease, the Enterprise-D encounters a similar situation, but the alien claims that between a third to half of the ship's crew will be killed as part of the alien's experiments about death. Picard tries a Take That and starts the self-destruct sequence. Subverted in that the alien's experiments related to monitoring how humans reacted to the imminent threat of death without actually intending to kill them. Double-subverted in that the biggest threat to the ship and the crew in this context was Captain Picard himself, since he threatened to kill the entire crew, as opposed to letting the alien choose which of them would survive.
- Power Rangers often uses the more family-friendly "Prepare to be destroyed!"
Music
- Tenacious D's Beelzeboss.
Satan: Yes you are fucked, shit out of luck,
Now I'm complete and my cock you will suck!
This world will be mine, and you're first in line
You brought me the Pick and now you shall both die!
Other
- In many LARP rule sets, the phrase activates a "slay" that hits For Massive Damage.
Video Games
- Hector from Fire Emblem uses this line when fighting Wire, the leader of the group of Black Fang assassins that attack him in the first chapter of Hector's story.
- In Dark Souls, this is literally the tagline of the game. And you will die. A lot. And then, you will die again. Whether it's from a booby trap, a fire-breathing dragon or a sword-wielding wolf, there are so many ways for the game to kick your ass at every turn.
- While not a terrible a offender as it's successor, Demon's Souls manages to kill the player so many times that will make the casual, inexperienced gamer to die an infinite amount of times. Then again, both games are "love letters" of sorts to Nintendo Hard old school arcade games.
- "All your base are belong to us. You are on your way to destruction. You have no chance to survive make your time."
- In the .hack// video games for PlayStation 2 there's a weapon called "Prepare to Die"
- In Star Control, the Ur-Quan give you a little time to prepare for death.
Kohr-Ah: Make whatever rituals are necessary for your species.
- READY! TO DIE
- In Ascendancy, whenever you declare war on another species, the option you choose is labelled "We declare war on you. Prepare to die."
- BlazBlue
- Neff from Altered Beast: "Welcome to your doom!"
- Said verbatim by Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series as one of his many taunts: You will die!
- You DARE bring light to my lair?! YOU MUST DIE!! -disco fingers-
- In The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Malefor says the line directly before his final showdown with Spyro and Cynder. What makes this note worthy is his general all around character makes it come off as truly threatening. It also helps that reguardless of whether or not he wins, the Destroyer might finish them off with the world anyway, so he has a pretty good reason for telling them this.
- What makes it more effective is the simple fact that Malefor says this during the only time in the entire trilogy that he gets angry due to Cynder breaking free of his control thanks to the Power of Love.
- I am SPARTAN-B312. You killed my teammates. Prepare to Die.
- Note that Noble Six (SPARTAN-B312) does not say this out loud, but it is the title of a sub-level/section of the level "The Pillar of Autumn."
- Magneto needs to work on his grammar. From the X-Men arcade game: "Hahahahaha! X-Men, welcome to DIE!
- One of the infested terran's quotes in StarCraft. Considering their role of suicide bomber, it's not exactly an empty threat.
- From the sequel, we have this gem:
Tal'Darim Executor: Make peace with your gods, defilers. You will now answer for your crimes!
- My name is Guybrush Threepwood. Prepare to die!
- One of Lyude's possible pre-finisher quotes. "You won't live to see the light of day!"
- In the original Kirby Super Star, Meta Knight actually said this to Kirby before their duel.
Meta Knight: Kirby, this is it! Prepare to Die!
- It was replaced by "This is the end! Kirby! Come meet your doom!" in Kirby Super Star Ultra.
- Sir Ano does this in one of the Oaklore quests in Dragon Fable.
Sir Ano: My name is Sir Ano de Berg'rac. You're planning to kidnap my princess. Prepare to die.
Frank Horrigan: Your ride's over, mutie. Time to die.
- The Fallout games in general will have little one-liners like this for the players that want to skip the conversation and get right to the shooting.
- In Fallout: New Vegas, if you see Caesar on his invitation after accumulating a bad rep with the Legion, he'll tell you that it's all a trap and he's going to have you killed on the spot. Shortly after:
- "Mother...time to go!"
- In Dragon Age when playing as a human noble, you eventually run into Arl Howe, the man responsible for betraying and killing your family at the beginning of the game. He's now the ruler of Denerim and acting as The Dragon to the game's Big Bad. When you try to call for blood rights against him, he laughs in your face about how he's framed your family as traitors to the country, meaning you no longer have any right to vengeance against him. Among several dialogue options, one is to tell him: "I'm going to enjoy slitting your throat." And in the game's next mission you do.
- One of the dialogue options for confronting Ser Alrik in Dragon Age II's "Dissent" quest: "Die!"
- The Shin Megami Tensei series brings us Alice: "Would you please die for me?"
- The bosses of Einhander are a pretty mean lot; most of them say things such as "I'll send you to Hell", or "Welcome! Here you will find only your grave.", with a later one even using this trope almost by the letter. All in German, though.
- Pokémon of all series uses them...but of course, Never Say "Die" is nearly always in place, so. It's pretty common in the Ranger games particularly, with things like (major spoilers ahead):
Kincaid: This will be your final lesson. Fufufufu...Drapion! Show them no mercy!
- And soon after...
"This will be your final resting place! And for the Pokémon onboard, too!"
"Any last words?" "OK, so those are your last words then." "...That's it. It's all over. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's all over for you too."
- And for a non-Ranger example, we've got Ghetsis from Black and White:
"And since you now know the truth...you must be eliminated!"
Webcomics
- In DMFA, Dan uses the "I'm going to destroy you!" variation.
- In Prepare to Die the phrase is used as a pun for the comic's title and once in the comic itself.
- Bob and George "My name is Mega Man! You killed my dog! Prepare to die!"
- Horndog - Bob learns that Leonard had drunken sex with Bob's girlfriend, Charlene:
I wanna run your head through a meat grinder.
Web Original
- In RWBY Coco tells a grimm "You destroyed my favorite clothing store. Prepare to die".
Western Animation
- Said word for word in Avatar: The Last Airbender, from Ozai to Aang:
"You're weak -- just like the rest of your people! They did not deserve to exist in this world -- in my world! Prepare to join them! Prepare to DIE!!!"
- This is notable as usually this line is a source of Narm. When Ozai said it though, it was terrifying. The fact that it's in a show advertised for kids, makes it that much more notable.
- Fact that Ozai waited until he had a very good claim to actually winning didn't hurt, though.
- Ben 10 Alien Force: "My name is Kevin Ethan Levin. You Killed My Father. Prepare to die."
- Emperor Zurg often says this to Buzz Lightyear. It's practically one of his Catchphrases.
- "Not today, Zurg!"
- Shouted by Flarigan in Aqua Teen Hunger Force during one of the first episodes after Frylock destroys the former's "Rainbow Machine". However, he quickly changes his tune after Frylock launches him into the air.
- From the Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy movie.
Rolf: Rold has had enough of your plat-doodle, elder one. PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A MERCILESS THRASHING!!!
- Transformers Generation 1 has several examples. Galvatron says, "Prepare, Autobots, to DIE IN DARKNESS!" at the beginning of Five Faces of Death Part 5, and Cyclonus says, "Autobots, prepare to die!" in The Rebirth part 2.
- Inverted with Springer in Transformers: The Movie.
"I've got better things to do tonight than die!"
- From Dan Vs. when Elise under the effects of a Mind Control Device:
Elise: Prepare to be terminated.
Dan: How does one prepare to be terminated?