History Main / DyingAlone

** OMG,[[spoiler: his daughter]] at the funeral. TearJerker indeed.
** For this troper, it was seeing [[spoiler: Alex Louis Armstrong]] reduced to tears that caused me to follow suit.

* [[spoiler: Jun Ushiro]] in the {{Bokurano}} TV series. Fitting, as [[spoiler: his's is the last fight of the series, all of the other pilots are dead, and his sister Kana is at home since he and Youko saved her from being the last in the list.]]
** Also in the anime, [[spoiler: the aforementioned Youko Machi dies alone and [[SnowMeansDeath in the snow]], in front of her brother Koyemshi's lifeless body.]]
* In ''CowboyBebop'', after [[spoiler:spending most of the series being there for other people -- both friends, foes and bounties -- as they died, Spike]] dies alone.
** Well, AloneinaCrowd, really. There's actually ''tons'' of people there, just no loved ones.

Conversely, [[StayWithMeUntilIDie characters may go to great efforts to ensure that a dying character is not alone]]. [[ThePowerOfFriendship Particularly]] [[{{Nakama}} friends]] -- a YouAreNotAlone moment of particular poignancy -- but TheRival, the WorthyOpponent, the FriendlyEnemy [[CradlingTheirKill may all be willing to stay with the dying Hero]], and he would do the same for them. Indifferent people don't count, but even a stranger willing to respond to PleaseDontLeaveMe can help.

Conversely, [[StayWithMeUntilIDie characters may go to great efforts to ensure that a dying character is not alone]]. [[ThePowerOfFriendship Particularly]] [[{{Nakama}} friends]] -- a YouAreNotAlone moment of particular poignancy -- but TheRival, the WorthyOpponent, the FriendlyEnemy [[CradlingTheirKill may all be willing to stay with the dying Hero]], and he would do the same for them. Indifferent people don't count, but even a stranger willing to respond to PleaseDontLeaveMe can help.

They may do this even if the dying person is apparently unaware of them. Similarly, the [[{{Nakama}} closest friend]] in a group of people may [[AFriendInNeed insist on being the one]] to deliver a MercyKill. If death takes a long time, UnbrokenVigil may result. Falling asleep by a deathbed is not always considered failure. Dying characters may try to force the issue if the other character is clearly on the verge of collapse.

When a character is DyingAsYourself, it may allow the others to prevent this.

When a character dies alone, MeaningfulFuneral, ToAbsentFriends, and FamedInStory may ensue, to ironically point out that the character actually had friends, or underscore the value of his HeroicSacrifice. On the other hand, [[TragicFuneral a funeral with no mourners]] [[DueToTheDead reinforces the loneliness]].

* The British television medical drama ''Casualty'' had one scene like this, where a man is going to die the second they lift his wrecked car away from him - and there's no way to prevent it. He knows this, and realises that he has no one to all. No one who will miss his passing. No one to be with him. He asks the amublance driver to hold his hand - and she does, while he looks at her and says quietly.
-->: "...It's funny... this is the last hand I'm ever going to hold."
** And the ambulance driver's name? ''Comfort''.

* Illyria not only stays with [[spoiler: Wesley]] as he dies in the [[AngelTheSeries Angel series finale]], but takes on the appearance of his beloved, deceased [[spoiler:Fred (whose body she stole)]]. Considering she's a hellgod, it makes for a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* "In the end, you die in your own arms," are Livia Soprano's comforting words to her visiting grandson during one episode of ''TheSopranos''.

* Solid Snake in the ''MetalGearSolid'' series lets nobody die alone, if he can help it. One of the biggest TearJerker in the series occurs, right after he fatally shots [[spoiler:Sniper Wolf]] and stays for company, until he performs the requested mercy kill.
** A very similar scene occurs in [=MGS3=] after the final fight against [[spoiler:The Boss]]. But unlike Solid Snake in the first game, Naked Snake did not fight an enemy, but [[spoiler:his best friend]].
** Poor [[TheWoobie Otacon]] goes through this no less then three times, and he expects to do it again a few months after the end of [=MGS4=] for [[spoiler:[[AlmostDeadGuy Snake]]]].
** And in a particularly nasty instance, Snake holds [[spoiler:his mother]] '''and''' [[spoiler:his father]] as they die within a few days of each other. Both times less then an hour of learning they are still alive.

* In ''Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords'', you can force [[spoiler: Visas]] to kill herself during an important boss fight. As she lies dying, she begs you to stay with her. From there, you can either stay by her side and assure her that her sacrifice meant something, and give her a genuinely soothing passing, tell her in indifference that it was a waste, or if you're a real prick, you can just walk off, leaving her on the floor to die [[WhatTheHellPlayer as she begs you to come back.]]

* This happens in RedDeadRedemption to [[spoiler: John Marston who faces down FBI agent Edgar Ross and an entire Army of U.S. soldiers who are under orders to kill John at his own home. Ross betrays John because he believed that despite taking down his former partners in crime, John, as a former outlaw (albeit TheAtoner) is ultimately irredeemable and no better than his former comrades. Despite killing dozens of U.S soldiers and having the chance to run to safety John ultimately decides that his criminal past will follow him and his family as long as he lives and that the sins of the Father must be laid to rest. John defiantly confronts Ross and his posse and guns down as many of them as he can before they ultimately gun him down, Ross ends up killing John and denying him the right to live in peace with his family but John dies happy knowing that his family will be safe now that Ross's feud with him is over. John's son and wife ultimately find his body and bury him on a hill overseeing their would-be family ranch.]] Tragic since you really come to love this character and sympathize with his situation, and after all the people he has shown compassion to and helped he truly deserved a better end.

* In the 'epilogue' episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Batman does this with [[spoiler:Royal Flush Gang member, Ace,]] who was dying specifically because of her powers. Quite the tear jerker.
* In ''MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'', Pete leaves Mickey to this fate, rubbing it in that he's alone. this being {{Disney}}, [[HappilyEverAfter everything works out]].

* In LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Memory'', Miles tells Elli Quinn that Taura will die soon and asks her to get him the news so that he can be with her.

* In Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony", Captain Holly Short dies alone, but is only dead briefly (Hey, the author is the first person to point out (Through Artemis) that time-related words are flexible in a time field). Soon though, Artemis finds a way to use the chaotic nature of the time distortion around them to fix it.

* In ''Charlotte's Web'', Charlotte is too weak, after making her egg sac, to make the trip from the Fair back to the farm. Wilbur takes her eggs back with him, helping to raise her children the next spring.

* In Suzanne Collins's ''TheHungerGames'', Katniss stays with Rue and sings her a song for her LastRequest.

Conversely, characters may go to great efforts to ensure that a dying character is not alone. [[ThePowerOfFriendship Particularly]] [[{{Nakama}} friends]] -- a YouAreNotAlone moment of particular poignancy -- but TheRival, the WorthyOpponent, the FriendlyEnemy [[CradlingTheirKill may all be willing to stay with the dying Hero]], and he would do the same for them. Indifferent people don't count, but even a stranger willing to respond to PleaseDontLeaveMe can help.

** Poor [[The Woobie Otacon]] goes through this no less then three times, and he expects to do it again a few months after the end of [=MGS4=] for [[spoiler:[[AlmostDeadGuy Snake]]]].

* Inverted in ''The Parfume'', where Madame Gaillard, who runs a boarding house collects money so she could die alone in her own home, instead of a public hospital. However, she doesn't die soon enough, in the French Revolution her money becomes worthless, and she dies in the way she was trying to avoid in her whole life.

* In ''Blood Diamond'', [[spoiler: Leonardo [=DiCaprio=]'s character receives a severe bullet wound while escaping mercenaries in Sierra Leone, and tells the two people with him to move on and leave him there. He calls his love interest with a satellite phone and tells her "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be".]]

** Well, [[AloneinaCrowd]], really. There's actually ''tons'' of people there, just no loved ones.

* Anyone who has worked in a hospital or hospice can testify to the fact that many people actually ''want'' to die alone. They may want to face the mystery of death on their own, or (more commonly) they might want to spare their families the anguish of witnessing the death. Some will ask the family to leave the room "for a minute" (if they're able to communicate at that point), while others will simply struggle to remain alive until the family leaves for the night. Unfortunately, this often causes unnecessary guilt among survivors who buy into this trope and who punish themselves for "selfishly" not having been there.

** Because everyone present assumed Kirk was killed when he first encountered the Nexus Ribbon, for decades all Kirk's friends believed he ''had'' died alone?until Picard found him alive in the Nexus.

* This happens in Red Dead Redemption to [[spoiler: John Marston who faces down Edgar Ross an FBI agent and an entire Army of U.S. soldiers who are under orders to kill John at his own home. Ross betrays John because he wanted to be a glory hog who felt that a lowly "criminal" like John shouldn't get credit for bringing order to the Wild West which was achieved through the destruction of several criminal gangs that John personally took down himself under blackmail from Ross who had kidnapped his family. Despite killing dozens of U.S soldiers and having the chance to run to safety John ultimately decides that his criminal past will follow him and his family as long as he lives and that the sins of the Father must be laid to rest. John defiantly confronts Ross and his posse and guns down as many of them as he can before they ultimately gun him down, Ross ends up killing John and denying him the right to live in peace with his family but John dies happy knowing that his family will be safe now that Ross's feud with him is over. John's son and wife ultimately find his body and bury him on a hill overseeing their would-be family ranch.]] Tragic since you really come to love this character and sympathize with his situation, and after all the people he has shown compassion to and helped he truly deserved a better end.