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1[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/final_first_hug.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"I know now why you cry... but it's something I can never do."]]
3
4->''"Trunks... from the time you were a little baby, I've never once hugged you because I always wanted to make you a tougher man. I'll hug you now."''
5-->-- '''[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Vegeta]]''', ''Anime/DragonBallZKai''
6
7Some characters (and some real people) consider the very natural act of a father showing his love for his children to be un-manly and anathema. They so habitually maintain their [[TheStoic stoic]] badass attitudes they never tell their children they love them or hug them, not till their dying hour.
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9Heroes or antiheroes who enact this trope have lived their entire lives true to the notion that emotion is weakness, still loving their children but never even ''saying'' so.
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11Yet, at the moment of death, such a father might find that his pride seems immaterial and insignificant compared to the crying child before him. Deciding that it's not worth it to go to his grave honorably with regret for it, he dissolves into the long overdue personification of love for the first and last time before facing the final journey.
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13The source of many TearJerker endings. Doing this means usually also to GoOutWithASmile. See also LastKiss, RealMenHateAffection, FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen, and BigDamnHug.
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15----
16!!Examples:
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18[[foldercontrol]]
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20[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
21* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
22** In the manga, Goten and Goku didn't bond as much as they did in the anime. The anime has additional {{filler}} scenes and Goten actually {{averted}} the AngstWhatAngst trope. In the manga, the first time Goten and Goku had a serious conversation was after Goku revealed that he had failed to protect [[CoolBigBro Gohan]] from getting killed by [[BigBad Majin Buu]] and had a BrokenPedestal moment, believing that all the great stories he heard about his father was InformedAttribute and he actually [[WhatTheHellHero called him out]]. However, after seeing him go [[SuperMode Super Saiyan 3]], he finally [[RebuiltPedestal realised that his father really is as strong]] as everyone told him and started showing respect again and once Goku's time on [[ButNowIMustGo Earth is up]], he tries to ask for a hug and Goku happily complies. This is an AvertedTrope in the anime, due to the aforementioned filler scenes.
23** One of Vegeta's most emotional scenes, made especially poignant by the voice actors' performances in multiple languages, was the scene where he must get his son Trunks to escape from the incoming monster Buu. The invariably proud Warrior Prince softens with sincerity and hugs his son before [[HeroicSacrifice giving his life to save his family's. (Of course, he also knocks him unconscious to prevent the boy from following.)]] His lines from ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' also provide the page quote of this trope.
24* [[spoiler:Ross Igorl]] and his estranged son [[spoiler:Alan]] (also Laura, not strictly his child, but a war orphan the good guys have adopted) in ''Anime/{{Dancougar}}''.
25* When [[BigBad Raoh]] of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', broken-and-defeated by Kenshiro, holds the younger warrior's face for the first and final time [[GracefulLoser like a big brother]]:
26--> '''Raoh:''' Come, let me see the face of the man who has defeated Raoh... You are magnificent, my little brother.\
27'''Kenshiro:''' Big brother...
28* Happens during the apocalyptic season 1 finale of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': [[spoiler:Christina and Lichtendahl die in each other's arms when the Ptolemaios is destroyed.]]
29* Arika and her mother Lena do this in ''Anime/MyOtome''. It's a TearJerker in that this is the first time they met since separated when Arika was only a baby. Tragic in that [[spoiler:Arika had to MercyKill Lena to stop Schwartz and get the Otomes' powers back.]]
30* [[AbusiveParents Teru's father]] in ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed'' had just risked his life to save his son from the Doberman assassins and ends up dying from his wounds. But before he dies, he tells his son he was sorry for mistreating him and that he loves him.
31* Played with in a disturbing way in ''Manga/SoulEater''. [[ManipulativeBastard Medusa]] is an AbusiveMom to Crona for the entirety of the series... [[spoiler:until she suddenly becomes incredibly kind to Crona, hugging [[AmbiguousGender him/her]] for the first time and prompting Crona to freak out and kill her.]] Of course, this was all part of Medusa's plan, and [[spoiler:she dies not only revealing her ThanatosGambit to Crona, but [[DyingDeclarationOfLove saying that she loves him/her]].]]
32* ''Manga/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai'': [[spoiler:Baran]] dies after hugging [[spoiler:his son Dai]].
33* Fate gave one to Alicia ([[spoiler:the dead girl she was cloned from]]) before escaping a LotusEaterMachine near the end of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. It's also notable for being one of the few times that [[StoicWoobie Fate]] cries.
34* ''Anime/HelloWorld'': In the original timeline, Naomi and Ruri never progressed to physical affection before the fateful lightning strike. Near the end, [[spoiler:as Ruri prepares to undergo conversion to return to the 2027 simulation,]] she embraces older Naomi, thanks him and bids him farewell. He breaks down crying afterwards.
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37[[folder:Fan Works]]
38* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3665921/51/Black-Flames-Dance-In-The-Wind-Rise-of-Naruto Black Flames Dance In The Wind: Rise of Naruto]] has Kiba hugging his sister, Hana, and telling her he loved her, something he hadnt't done since he was eight before he later commits suicide.
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41[[folder:Film]]
42* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': The Terminator may not be able to cry, but his love for his "adoptive son" John is more than affirmed with his one and only embrace for him.
43* Perhaps not a hug, but the tone of this trope is certainly there in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' when Darth Vader asks Luke to remove his helmet so he can look at his son through his own eyes 'just one time'. Since they'd been enemies on the opposite sides of the war and all, and Luke's father was in the process of showing us that RedemptionEqualsDeath, it's understandable why this was the first and final display of affection.
44* Near the end of ''Film/RogueOne'', [[spoiler:Jyn and Cassian embrace each other for the first time near moments before the explosion caused by the Death Star kills them off]].
45* In the 2007 ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf|2007}}'' movie, [[spoiler:it is revealed the the dragon Beowulf fights to the mutual death is actually his own son, by way of the same creature that was mother to Grendel. After the climax of the movie, wherein the dragon has mortally wounded Beowulf, and he has torn out the dragon's heart, they both crashland on the beach. There, the dragon's form melts away into the waves, revealing a shiny, golden humanoid. It's not quite a hug, but Beowulf looks his son in the eyes and lays a hand on his shoulder before his corpse washes away]].
46* ''Film/TronLegacy'': The reintegration between [[BigGood Flynn]] and [[BigBad Clu]] looks a lot like this, with Flynn wrapping his arms around his "[[TheStarscream wayward son]]" even as Clu is being absorbed back into his body.
47* ''Film/TheManFromNowhere'' has [[spoiler:Cha Tae-Sik]] hug [[spoiler:So-Mi]] at the very end. Subverted, however, because while [[spoiler:Cha Tae-Sik]] isn't dying or in any danger, he still has to leave [[spoiler:So-Mi]] to spend time in jail, possibly for a long time.
48* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
49** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', [[spoiler:Yondu rescues Peter as Ego's planet collapses due to Ego's death. Sadly, there is only one spare spacesuit left, which Yondu uses to protect Peter from the vacuum of space, leaving him exposed. Peter is horrified and tearfully screams in denial while desperately trying to tear off the spacesuit so he can save Yondu, having only realized at that moment that Yondu was the dad he had always wanted. Yondu spends his final moments reassuringly patting his son's head, his first and last open display of paternal affection.]]
50** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': [[spoiler:Tony Stark largely keeps himself emotionally distant from Peter Parker notably rebuffing a hug from him in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', although they've still nurtured a strong mentor/protege bond creeping on ParentalSubstitute over the course of the films. When Thanos's BadassFingersnap culls half the universe's population at the end of the movie, Peter is one of the victims, and all Tony can do is hold the terrified, crying boy as tight as he can as he disintegrates.]]
51** Finally, in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler:once Peter has been brought back to life by Bruce, Tony, holding in the ManlyTears, embraces him before they take part in the BigBadassBattleSequence. (It's worth mentioning that, as is the case for everyone who's been brought back in the MassResurrection, Peter [[DeathAmnesia doesn't clearly recall]] his actual dying moments.) The battle ends with Tony making a HeroicSacrifice.]]
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54[[folder:Literature]]
55* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader,'' Lucy thinks Reepicheep (a talking mouse) looks very cuddly, but she knows it would be a dreadful insult for her to treat him like a cute little pet. She finally gives him a hug at the end when [[spoiler:he sails off to Aslan's country]].
56* In ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi,'' it's not ''explicity'' stated whether Yu Ziyuan has ever hugged her children before, but given [[IronLady her]] [[AlphaBitch entire]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], the chances are low. She only hugs her son [[spoiler:when sending him away from the attack on Lotus Pier, which she then dies in]]. It's a sweet moment[[spoiler:...until she [[KickTheDog pivots]] into giving a DyingDeclarationOfHate to Wei Wuxian that blames him for the attack, further deepening the considerable psychological scars she had been inflicting on him and her son their whole lives.]]
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59[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
60* Sam and Dean in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' would die for each other, have killed for each other, would sell their soul for each other but when do the fans finally get to see them hug? When [[spoiler:Sam's just been stabbed in the back and dies in Dean's arms.]] Oh Kripke, you {{Magnificent bastard}}! [[Film/{{Patton}} I watched your show!]]
61* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
62** In episode "Anasazi", Mulder visits his estranged father, who gives him a big hug shortly before he is killed in his own bathroom. Earlier in the season, he had noticeably declined to hug his son. Probably not the first hug ''ever'', but likely the first in a long while.
63** In season 8, Mulder only gets to see his son William for two days before having to leave to go into hiding. Originally intending just to be a long absence, this turns out to be the only time he ever got to see William.
64* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Jack's father is hard on him believing this will mold Jack into a great doctor. Their "final first hug" occurs [[spoiler:in the finale, after they are both dead.]]
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67[[folder:Video Games]]
68* [[spoiler:Big Boss]] of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' hugs [[spoiler:his cloned son for the first and final time as he dies in front of the grave of The Boss, his adoptive mother and teacher. Notable since Solid Snake and Big Boss were enemies in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games, ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''.]]
69* In ''VideoGame/Halo4'' [[spoiler:In a variation, the first time that Cortana manages to physically touch John-117 (by making a HardLight body for herself following the detonation of the Havok nuke) is what is assumed to be the final time they see each other ever again.]]
70-->[[spoiler:'''Cortana''': [[TearJerker I've waited to do that for so long...]]]]
71* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
72** A non-fatal example: [[spoiler:the player character gets a hug from Toriel, the friendly creature that saved their life and was acting like a mother to them, if she is still alive after the battle with her.]] However, she told the player character not to return, explaining why this is a last hug. [[spoiler:They can meet again later on, subverting the trope, but she is not expecting this at the time.]]
73** Finally, there is the moment with [[spoiler:Asriel]], whom the player can hug after defeating [[spoiler:him in the TrueFinalBoss battle]]. This comes with one extreme Tearjerker line... "[[spoiler:I don't want to let go.]]" because [[spoiler:he'll revert back to a flower form and be alone again.]]
74* The ending of ''VideoGame/Klonoa2LunateasVeil'' has Klonoa and Lolo having a big, long hug before the former is forced to leave Lunatea.
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77[[folder:Web Animation]]
78* Happens towards the end of ''WebAnimation/TheLifeOfDeath'': Death can't hug anything normally, as anything he touches would die, so, when the Doe he befriends is too weak to keep up with her herd, she gives Death one, dying in his arms.
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81[[folder:Western Animation]]
82* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode [[Recap/SouthParkS10E8MakeLoveNotWarcraft "Make Love, Not Warcraft"]]. Within the game, Stan's father's character is killed in combat, and the two avatars play out a tearful Final First Hug. Meanwhile, Stan and his father are both alive and well in front of separate computers. (Not to mention that {{Death Is Cheap}} in the video game, and Randy can revive his character with only minor inconvenience.)
83* One the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Pulling Double Booty", Stan reveals that withholds from telling Hayley "I love you" specifically to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this should she ever be on her deathbed.
84* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' "The Light Cloud", [[spoiler:Finn hugs his mother Minerva in virtual reality (she only exists as a VirtualGhost uploaded into Founders' Island's computer network). Sadly, he is doing this as he is sailing away from the Island, and Minerva's signal can't go too far from it. As the signal fades and his virtual mother vanishes in his arms, Finn whispers "Goodbye" and sheds a SingleTear.]]
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