History Main / ComfortTheDying

* At the climax of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:Madoka ascends to become the goddess of hope and {{Psychopomp}} for magical girls. What follows is a beautiful montage of magical girls across all time and space succumbing to despair, with their [[SoulJar soul gems]] fully corrupted, only for Madoka to appear in front of them, smiling and cradling their soul gems as they pass away happily]].

** In the 75th games, the tributes are stuck on an island full of timed traps. During an attack by crazed monkey-mutts, an older woman known only as "The female Morphling" sacrificed herself for Peeta. In return, Peeta brought her to the beach and held her until she died, making her GoOutWithASmile.

But it's not all bad. Sometimes, someone will be around to provide comfort in your last moments. In works, this character is usually a loved one of a kind, such as one of the hero's TrueCompanions. Otherwise, it's a NiceGuy who just happens to be there, or it could even be a PetTheDog moment for a morally ambiguous character. The important part is, this character is here, and they take the time to make the dying feel comfortable and happy before they pass.

* ''Series/{{House}}'': In the season 6 episode "Lockdown", the hospital is locked down when a baby goes missing from the maternity ward. Dr. House ends up trapped in a room with an elderly man with only a few hours left to live. With nothing else to do, [[DrJerk curmudgeonly loner]] House bonds with the man and helps him say his goodbyes to his daughter by leaving a voice message.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* From the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4999 SCP-4999]] seems to exist to do this, seeking out lonely, dying subjects and staying until they pass.

* CradlingYourKill: A killer gives comfort to their victim.

* Music/TearsForFears: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsJFRf6av3M Last Days on Earth]]", the narrator reassures his ailing loved one that he'll be by their side until they pass away.

* An animated short video ''WebVideo/TroisPetitsChats'' has a feline father visit his ailing daughter in a hospital. She's in quarantine and begins a horrifying coughing fit. When no one comes to check on her, the father defies the quarantine and enters the room to give what comfort he can. Almost immediately, his skin begins to fracture like porcelain, a sign that he has contracted the virulent malady. Viewable on Website/YouTube here:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZsIxEnN0k0]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E13Epilogue Epilogue]]", Terry (from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' fame) confronts a now aged Amanda Waller [[spoiler: about how he's Bruce's biological son]]. As she explains herself, she relates to him a story in which the Royal Flush Gang reformed (last seen in "Wild Cards") with new members save Ace who had given the others powers. However she had developed an aneurysm from her psychic powers and her death could potentially cause her power to level Gotham from the feedback. Amanda had given Bruce a device that could kill Ace before this happened. But when Bruce got to her, he simply talked with her, knowing that she was simply a scared girl afraid of her impending death. Thus he stayed with and comforted her to the very end of her life, letting her pass on peacefully and nullifying the threat without violence. This can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHHsdE_oQg here]].

* Music/TearsForFears: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsJFRf6av3M Last Days on Earth]]", the narrator reassures his loved one (who has an unspecified illness) that he'll be by their side until they pass away.

'Til the last days on Earth''

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn'': In one scene Dr. Goldblum is mortally wounded and trying to tell the heroes about Poison Ivy and Floronic Man's plot. Harley [[PetTheDog holds Goldblum's hand and tells him when he gets to Heaven he should talk to her grandmother, as she thinks he'll like her.]]

* WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn: Midway through the movie when [[spoiler: Dr.Goldblum]] is mortally wounded, Harley [[PetTheDog cradles his body and tells him to talk to her dead Grandma, Fran, once he gets to Heaven as she thinks he'll like him]]. Its both [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] and [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]], as before then she was mainly acting [[{{Jerkass}} as obnoxious as possible]], but this scene shows she has a nice streak as well.

* In the revolutionary-themed TabletopRPG ''TabletopGame/{{Comrades}}'', there is a special mechanic called "Cradle a Dying Comrade", when a PlayerCharacter attempts to comfort another who is dying due to loss of all HitPoints. The comforting player makes a single die roll, modified by their RelationshipValues with the dying one, and on a good roll, the latter may [[ThePowerOfFriendship miraculously survive]], or at least leave the former with some FamousLastWords that will inspire their fellow revolutionaries later on (i.e. giving them bonuses on rolls done in memory of their late comrade).

The exact opposite is DyingAlone, which is the painful alternative that makes this trope so powerful by contrast. Related and overlapping tropes are GoOutWithASmile, YouAreNotAlone, and DiedLaughing. This may come from a moment of DeliriousMisidentification.

[[/folders]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn: Midway through the movie when [[spoiler: Dr.Goldblum]] is mortally wounded, Harley [[PetTheDog cradles his body and tells him to talk to her dead Grandma, Fran, once he gets to Heaven as she thinks he'll like him]]. Its both [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] and [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]], as before then she was mainly acting [[{{Jerkass}} as obnoxious as possible]], but this scene shows she has a nice streak as well.

* The young furlings of ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'' have only two days' time in which to retrieve medicinal herbs for the dying {{moe}} Michelle. Their adult mentor, Cornelius, cannot accompany them, since he dares not leave Michelle unattended. As the furlings journey forth, Cornelius conducts an agonizing vigil at Michelle's bedside. Although the furlings return with the herbs at the eleventh hour, Michelle remains unresponsive. It's a DisneyDeath, however.

* In ''Film/BigFish'', the "climax" of the film is Will telling his dying father, a lover and teller of tall tales of his life, a tall tale of his own in which Will helps his father escape the hospital and chased by the law enforcement but helped by all the characters from his father's tales until they reach the lake from his youth and becomes the titular fish. Needless to say, his father is more the pleased to leave the mortal coil on that ending.

** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Tony Stark, a.k.a. ComicBook/IronMan, is suffering from the CastFromHitPoints effect of the [[{{Superweapon}} Infinity Gauntlet]], which he has just used to utterly disintegrate a GalacticConqueror and his armies. In his final moments, his best friend, his protégé, and his wife are the ones to comfort him as he struggles to stay alive, but it's [[HopeSpot a battle Tony is losing]], and they all know it, as the toll of the Infinity Gauntlet had [[ChekhovsBoomerang already been established]] as nearly too much for [[TheBigGuy Hulk]] at peak condition, whereas Tony used it after a prolonged skirmish that left him running on fumes. With Tony's stubbornness serving only to prolong his pain, he finally passes, peacefully, when his wife tells him that they'll be okay thanks to his HeroicSacrifice.

* ''Literature/DoctorSleep'': After finally overcomming his alcoholism, Dan Torrance finds work in a hospice, where he uses his psychic powers to provide comfort to dying patients. This is what acquires the nickname "Doctor Sleep."

* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' ''Burial At Sea Episode 2'', Elizabeth gives Fontaine the code for a trigger phase for his sleeper agent which in turn would kickstart the plot of the first ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' game. Of course not long after he kills her with a wrench (Though nearly doesn't get the code because he brains her ''before'' asking what it said as he can't read it. She remains conscious long enough to tell him). However he keeps his word to let the Little Sister he had held captive, Sally, go. As Elizabeth dies (though contently since she knows Jack, the protagonist of the first game, will stop Fontaine and Andrew Ryan, avenge her and save the other Little Sisters), Sally stays with Elizabeth and comforts her with a song in her final moments.

* An animated short video ''WebVideo/TroisPetitsChats'' has a feline father visit his ailing daughter in a hospital. She's in quarantine, and begins a horrifying coughing fit. When no one comes to check on her, the father defies the quarantine and enters the room to give what comfort he can. Almost immediately, his skin begins to fracture like porcelain, a sign that he has contracted the virulent malady. Viewable on Website/YouTube here:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZsIxEnN0k0]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E13Epilogue Epilogue]]", Terry (from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' fame) confronts a now aged Amanda Waller [[spoiler: about how he's Bruce's biological son]]. As she explains herself, she relates to him a story in which the Royal Flush Gang reformed (last seen in "Wild Cards") with new members save Ace who had given the others powers. However she had developed an aneurysm from her psychic powers and her death could potentially cause her power to level Gotham from the feedback. Amanda had given Bruce a device that could kill Ace before this happened. But when Bruce got to her, he simply talked with her, knowing that she was simply a scared girl afraid of her impeding death. Thus he stayed with and comforted her to the very end of her life, letting her pass on peacefully and nullifying the threat without violence. This can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHHsdE_oQg here]].

** In the season 1 episode "Histories," when it becomes clear that the patient of the week is going to die because her diagnosis, rabies, is untreatable, Foreman decides to go out immediately after needing to get the rabies vaccine himself (she had bitten him earlier in the episode), in order to see if he can find the mysterious James that she keeps talking about so that she won't [[DyingAlone die alone]]. This winds up being for naught, as her discovers that both James (her son) and her husband, Paul, had died two years prior in a car crash. He comforts her the best he can afterward by pretending to be Paul and "forgiving" her for the car crash (she had been the driver).