Final Destination

Death

Death is an entity in the Final Destination franchise of films and acts as the main antagonist of the movies. Created with the intention of making a horror film with an unseen killer, Death appears in imagery throughout the films, like shadows, gusts of cold wind or shapes in smoke, but it never has a solid form. Instead, the entity manipulates probability and fate to murder its victims in unexpected ways, making each kill look like a freak accident. So far, only two people have escaped Death, displaying its efficiency and dedication to the craft of murder. Feats will be taken from the five main films, as well as the comic book, Final Destination: Spring Break.

Death’s Design

Before a fatal accident, one person typically starts seeing symbols of death. (source)
The person then experiences a vision of the future, typically involving themselves and others dying horribly in an accident. (source) (Vision often includes self and others dying horribly: https://gfycat.com/informalinbornafricanclawedfrog.)
If this vision is used to survive, Death will hunt down the survivors. (source)
The deaths of the survivors follow a specific order, known as Death’s design. (source) (The order of deaths often mirrors the order of intended deaths in the initial catastrophe.)
Death’s order is so specific that it may prevent people from killing themselves. (source) (Prevents two different victims from hanging themselves or shooting themselves before their turn: https://gfycat.com/angelicsamefeline.)
Death enjoys killing its victims in ironic or unexpected ways. (source) (Examples of unexpected ways: https://gfycat.com/daringhonoredgavial.)
Death has a weird fascination with the song ‘Rocky Mountain High’ by John Denver. (source) (Allegedly due to the film’s writer hearing the song after the musician’s plane crash.)

Accidents

Caused the Volée Airlines Flight 180 plane crash, resulting in an estimated 287 deaths. (source) (Cause explained in newscast transcript: https://pastebin.com/SnPyvTWa.)
Caused the Route 23 highway pile-up, resulting in an estimated 18 deaths. (source) (Triggered by a log truck’s chains breaking and scattering its cargo.)
Caused the Devil’s Flight roller coaster malfunction, resulting in an estimated 7 deaths. (source) (Triggered by a faulty hydraulic line disconnecting passenger restraints.)
Caused the McKinley Speedway pile-up, resulting in an estimated 52 deaths. (source) (Triggered by a gas cap falling off, spilling gasoline, and a screwdriver puncturing a racecar’s tire, causing sparks.)
Caused the North Bay Bridge collapse, resulting in an estimated 86 deaths. (source) (Reportedly caused by high winds and irresponsible construction practices.)
Caused the Hotel Grand Tzolk explosion, resulting in an estimated 679 deaths. (source) (Cause unknown.)
Manipulates water to make a man slip, causing him to hang himself in the shower. (source) (Death intentionally covers this up by removing water from the floor to trick authorities into ruling it a suicide: https://gfycat.com/blissfullinearanchovy.)
Causes a bus to hit a woman out of nowhere. (source)
Causes a chain reaction leading to a woman’s death by cracking a mug to drip alcohol, which causes her computer to explode, igniting her house, and then causes her to stab herself with a knife block. (source) (Involves alcohol dripping, computer explosion (https://gfycat.com/comfortablepartialfairybluebird), and a knife block (https://gfycat.com/smallsmoothbird).)
Causes a train to run over scrap metal in a way that throws it to decapitate a man. (source)
Follows survivors to Europe and kills a man with falling architecture. (source)
Causes a man to be impaled through the eye by a fire escape after escaping an apartment fire. (source)
Crushes a young man with a sheet of glass after distracting a crane operator. (source)
Decapitates a woman with a moving elevator after her head gets stuck in the door. (source)
Causes a woman’s death when an airbag pushes her head into a pipe fragment after a car crash, which then causes her to drop a cigarette, igniting gasoline and exploding her van. (source)
Slices a man into chunks with a wire fence after he is sent flying by a van explosion. (source)
Destroys two victims simultaneously in a fiery hospital explosion. (source)
Causes a grill to explode on a kid. (source)
Immolates twins inside two malfunctioning tanning beds. (source)
Destroys a man’s head with an engine fan dislodging itself in a car crash. (source)
Crushes a man’s head with a broken weightlifting machine in a gym. (source)
Shoots a woman in the back of the head with a nail gun after she falls backwards. (source)
Crushes an attempted murderer with a large farming vehicle. (source)
Causes a terrible subway accident that kills survivors, despite them receiving a premonition. (source) (Survivors are unable to stop the train despite the premonition.)
Directs a tire into a woman moments after a raceway catastrophe. (source) (Occurs while her husband completely under reacts.)
Causes a racist to get caught on his tow truck, dragged on the road while on fire until the truck explodes. (source)
Causes a workshop accident where a flying air tank hits a man into a chain link fence, dicing him. (source)
Sucks out a man’s organs via a pool pressure system after he dives to the bottom of a pool. (source)
Kills three almost-survivors with an out-of-control semi-truck barreling through the cafe they are meeting at. (source)
Manipulates a fan to blow chalk dust, disorienting a gymnast and causing her to land incorrectly. (source)
Ruins a man’s acupuncture session before crushing his head with a buddha statue. (source) (Leads to crushing his head with a buddha statue: https://gfycat.com/insignificantfoolhardyhectorsdolphin.)
Causes a man to accidentally bring his coworker’s head onto a hook while trying to save his coworker’s life. (source)
Causes a machine shop accident where a wrench falls into a spinning machine and flies into a man’s face. (source)
Causes a plane crash that kills survivors who escaped their initial catastrophe, this time with no vision to warn them. (source) (Occurs without a warning vision: https://gfycat.com/harmlessdelectableaustraliankelpie.)
Crushes a man with falling landing gear after he believes himself safe. (source)
Kills a man with the engine of the boat he was on, instead of the obvious parasailing target. (source) (From Final Destination: Spring Break. Qualifier: ^2.)
Sends a diver through water into a glass boat bottom, rather than simply rupturing an oxygen tank to drown him. (source) (From Final Destination: Spring Break. Involves an oxygen tank rupture (https://imgur.com/a/bb9z4Be). Qualifier: ^3.)
Induces a heart attack in a forklift driver to impale someone on a forklift blade through a thin wall, collapsing the jet bridge and killing two others. (source) (From Final Destination: Spring Break. Causes heart attack in forklift driver (https://imgur.com/a/FIs7Y3z). Also collapses jet bridge, killing two others. Qualifier: ^3.)
Burns a man to death in a fireworks display after he runs through smoke seeking safety. (source) (From Final Destination: Spring Break. Man runs through smoke looking for safety (https://imgur.com/a/fM4xgcl). Qualifier: ^4.)
Causes a freak storm (probably influenced by Death’s power) leading to one of two people hiding in coffins being trapped under debris and suffocated. (source) (From Final Destination: Spring Break. Other person hides in coffin. Qualifier: ^5.)

How to Survive

Saving another person’s life can skip that person in Death’s order, but it does not save the life of the rescuer. (source) (Does not save the rescuer: https://gfycat.com/entiretallchipmunk.)
Murdering someone grants the murderer the victim’s remaining lifespan; however, if the victim had little time left, Death will still pursue the killer quickly. (source) (If victim had little time left, Death will still come for the killer: https://gfycat.com/aptamusingdeinonychus.)
Sticking together and looking out for others can help survivors, as shown by various examples. (This strategy does not always work, and Death might even exploit cooperation, as seen in the elevator kill from Final Destination 2: https://gfycat.com/dizzysolidcobra.)
A man saves another man from a train collision. (source) (Example of sticking together.)
A man pushes another man out of the way of falling construction materials. (source) (Example of sticking together.)
Two people save a woman from a malfunctioning car wash. (source) (Example of sticking together.)
‘New life’ (birth or involvement in birth/spiritual rebirth) can potentially repel Death’s influence. (source) (This concept is not extensively explored in the films.)
A woman postponed her death for a year by isolating herself in a padded cell, only to be killed in an explosion shortly after leaving to help new victims. (source) (Shows isolation can postpone death, but not indefinitely once interaction resumes: https://gfycat.com/coolgenerouscobra.)
Death’s influence can still reach a man who attempts to prep his own cabin, indicating a difference from a clinical isolation environment. (source) (Highlights difference between a clinical mental hospital environment and a personally prepared cabin: https://gfycat.com/queasyappropriatebobolink.)
A woman escaped Death permanently by stopping her heart in a lake and being resuscitated, after which Death no longer targeted her or the next person in its order. (source) (Controversially, the Final Destination 3 intro suggests she and the next person died offscreen in a wood chipper accident, which some fans consider non-canon (https://imgur.com/a/ql1tcGA).)

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