History Main / ToAbsentFriends

[[caption-width-right:600:''[[TrueCompanions To Superman]].''[[labelnote:note]][[Characters/DCAUSuperman Superman]] [[NotQuiteDead didn't really die]]; just transported to someplace, but still.]][[/labelnote]]

* Seen on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' animated series, "Hereafter", when [[spoiler:Superman apparently]] dies. After the MeaningfulFuneral, the League gathers on the Watchtower, laughing and having [[FrothyMugsOfWater orange juice]], while wearing black armbands and sharing stories about their comrade. Then they raise their toast [[TrueCompanions in honor of Superman]]. [[RandomEventsPlot Then Lobo shows up.]]

[[caption-width-right:600:''[[TrueCompanions To Superman]].''[[labelnote:note]][[Characters/DCAUSuperman Superman]] [[NotQuiteDead didn't really die]]; just transported to someplace, but still.]][[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:600:''[[TrueCompanions To Superman]].''[[labelnote:note]]Superman [[NotQuiteDead didn't really die]]; just transported to someplace, but still.]][[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:600:''[[TrueCompanions "To Superman"]].''[[labelnote:note]]Superman [[NotQuiteDead didn't really die]]; just transported to someplace, but still.]][[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:600:''[[TrueCompanions To Superman]].''[[labelnote:note]]Superman [[NotQuiteDead didn't really die]]; just transported to someplace, but still.]][[/labelnote]]

Suitable for a BittersweetEnding or a DownerEnding, but can happen anywhere in a story--even as a FramingDevice at the very beginning of a work that StartsWithTheirFuneral. Remembering the [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]] may [[HeroicResolve inspire characters to fight on]], lest it have been a SenselessSacrifice.

* Seen on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' animated series, "Hereafter", when [[spoiler:Superman apparently]] dies. After the MeaningfulFuneral, the League gathers on the Watchtower, laughing and drinking [[FrothyMugsOfWater orange juice]], while wearing black armbands and sharing stories about their comrade. [[RandomEventsPlot Then Lobo shows up.]]

* Seen on the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' animated series, "Hereafter", when [[spoiler:Superman apparently]] dies. After the MeaningfulFuneral, the League gathers on the Watchtower, laughing and drinking, uh, [[FrothyMugsOfWater orange juice]], while wearing black armbands and sharing stories. [[RandomEventsPlot Then Lobo shows up.]]

'''DeathTrope. Spoilers follow.'''

An actual wake is possible, as the bereaved can talk and drink without a ceremony to go through. Or they may meet somewhere, and talk about what {{a true hero}} their friend had been. (They may not even intend to grieve, but they end up doing so.) A bar is likely, because the wake often involves alcohol--so often that it generally does not appear only if it is impossible. Expect the dead to be toasted and honored. (DrowningMySorrows may convert into this if the drinker bumps into another friend.) Sometimes the drink is poured on the ground as a LibationForTheDead. Sometimes the absent friends are represented by [[EmptyChairMemorial empty chairs]].

An actual wake is possible, as the bereaved can talk and drink without a ceremony to go through. Or they may meet somewhere, and talk about what [[ATrueHero a true hero]] their friend had been. (They may not even intend to grieve, but they end up doing so.) A bar is likely, because the wake often involves alcohol--so often that it generally does not appear only if it is impossible. Expect the dead to be toasted and honored. (DrowningMySorrows may convert into this if the drinker bumps into another friend.) Sometimes the drink is poured on the ground as a LibationForTheDead. Sometimes the absent friends are represented by [[EmptyChairMemorial empty chairs]].

Two or more characters gather to grieve for a dead comrade, without a formalized structure. They reminiscence about the fallen, how much he will be missed--or has been missed.

An actual wake is possible, as the bereaved can talk and drink without a ceremony to go through. Or they may meet somewhere, and talk. (They may not even intend to grieve, but they end up doing so.) A bar is likely, because the wake often involves alcohol--so often that it generally does not appear only if it is impossible. Expect the dead to be toasted. (DrowningMySorrows may convert into this if the drinker bumps into another friend.) Sometimes the drink is poured on the ground as a LibationForTheDead. Sometimes the absent friends are represented by [[EmptyChairMemorial empty chairs]].

Suitable for a BittersweetEnding or a DownerEnding, but can happen anywhere in a story--even as a FramingDevice at the very beginning of a work that StartsWithTheirFuneral. Remembering the sacrifice may inspire characters to fight on, lest it have been a SenselessSacrifice.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E07OnceMoreUntoTheBreach Once More Unto the Breach]]" Martok despised Kor for decades because Kor struck him from an officer candidate list. If not for his heroic actions as a civilian laborer on a General's ship during battle, he never would have become a General as he had received a [[FieldPromotion battlefield commission]] for his actions. By the Dominion War Kor was beginning to suffer from [[ScatterbrainedSenior cognitive issues]] due to his age. Kor sacrifices himself to save Martok's task force from the Jem'Hadar, finally earning Martok's response. Martok then offers a toast to Kor, with Worf and all the bridge crew taking part in drinking to Kor's memory.

--->'''O'Brien:''' The war changed us... pulled us apart... I want my friends in my life, because [[Foreshadowing someday]] we're going to wake up and we're going to find that someone is missing from this circle. On that day, we're going to mourn, and we shouldn't have to mourn alone.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E07OnceMoreUntoTheBreach Once More Unto the Breach]]" Martok despised Kor for decades because Kor struck him from an officer candidate list. If not for his heroic actions as a civilian laborer on a General's ship during battle, he never would have become a General as he had received a [[FieldPromotion battlefield commission]] for his actions. By the Dominion War Kor his beginning to suffer [[ScatterbrainedSenior cognitive issues]] due to his age. Kor sacrifices himself to save Martok's task force from the Jem'Hadar, finally earning Martok's response. Martok then offers a toast to Kor, with Worf and all the bridge crew taking part in drinking to Kor.
--->'''Martok''': To Kor, Dahar Master, a noble warrior to the end.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E07OnceMoreUntoTheBreach Once More Unto the Breach]]" Martok despised Kor for decades because Kor struck him from an officer candidate list. If not for his heroic actions as a civilian laborer on a General's ship during battle, he never would have become a General as he had received a [[FieldPromotion battlefield commission]] for his actions. By the Dominion War Kor his beginning to suffer [[ScatterbrainedSenior cognitive issues]] due to his age. Kor sacrifices himself to save Martok's task force from the Jem'Hadar, finally earning Martok's response. Martok then offers a toast to Kor, with Worf and all the bridge crew taking part in drinking to Kor.[[Note]] Especially poignant since Kor was the first Klingon to appear in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and his last appearance on a ''Star Trek'' production before his death. [[/note]]

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E07OnceMoreUntoTheBreach Once More Unto the Breach]]" Martok despised Kor for decades because Kor struck him from an officer candidate list. If not for his heroic actions as a civilian laborer on a General's ship during battle, he never would have become a General as he had received a [[FieldPromotion battlefield commission]] for his actions. By the Dominion War Kor his beginning to suffer [[ScatterbrainedSenior cognitive issues]] due to his age. Kor sacrifices himself to save Martok's task force from the Jem'Hadar, finally earning Martok's response. Martok then offers a toast to Kor, with Worf and all the bridge crew taking part in drinking to Kor.[[Note: Especially poignant since Kor was the first Klingon to appear in the franchise and his last appearance on a ''Star Trek'' production before his death. [[/note]]

--->'''O'Brien:''' The war changed us... pulled us apart... I want my friends in my life, because someday we're going to wake up and we're going to find that someone is missing from this circle. On that day, we're going to mourn, and we shouldn't have to mourn alone.

* There is a set of eighty silver goblets that have been reserved for this purpose. Upon each of them is engraved the name of one of the men who flew on the Doolittle Bombing Raid of 1942. With it is a bottle of 1896 (The year of James Doolittle's birth) brandy. This bottle [[{{Tontine}} was intended to be opened by the last two survivors]] of that mission to toast those that have gone before them. With only four men left, all of whom were in their mid-nineties and in failing health, they decided to open the bottle together in 2013.

* In Santa Rosa, at the Charles Schultz Museum [[http://www.schulzmuseum.org]] there is a table still set for him at the adjacent Warm Puppy cafe. People are welcome to sit there, and share his favorite space.

* The focus of the first half of volume ten (appropriately titled the Wake) of ''Comicbook/TheSandman''. Also invoked in "Season of Mists".

* In ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', the army of Asgard (led by Thor and Balder) invade the underworld domain of Hela to free mortal souls imprisoned there. With the hordes of Hel in hot pursuit, it becomes clear that someone must stay behind to delay Hela's forces long enough for Thor's army to escape. Skurge the Executioner [[MoreHeroThanThou settles whether he or Thor]] will say YouShallNotPass (by knocking out Thor), and Skurge asks Balder to remember him with a toast when he and Thor return to Asgard. Later, when Thor and Skurge meet in Hel, Skurge asks if he and Balder had that drink, and Thor is grieved to have to tell him that crises have kept them too busy to do so. They later do.
* This trope is the title to Chapter II in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', showing the funeral of the Comedian and how his attending colleagues remember him. Many of the flashbacks turn out to be important to the plot and the events surrounding his death. It is specifically a quote of the Music/ElvisCostello song listed below.
* [[ComicBook/TheFlash The Rogues]] do this after one of their own is killed. They then have a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge "Rogue's Wake."]]
* The epilogue to ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' shows Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman catching up on current events in a gaudy superhero themed restaurant called "Planet Krypton". At one point they toast their comrades who have passed on, with various drinking vessels evoking Green Lantern, The Flash, and Captain Marvel.
* At the end of ''Nexus: Alien Justice'', Horatio, Sundra, and Judah toast: "To absent friends and those still here. To justice, and home-brewed beer!" Something of a subversion, in that at least two of the friends they're toasting, Dave and GQ, are alive and well, just absent, and then GQ pops right back in just at that moment anyway.
* Played with in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim''. Wallace toasts the trope name not because anyone is dead but because Scott's friends stood him up.

* In ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' Jimmy and Richard, both WW1 veterans, share a toast "To the lost".

* In the TV miniseries version of ''Series/TheStand'' Nadine toasts "To new acquaintances," and Harold replies "And absent friends." It's just after the end of the world, so that description includes a lot of people.