Line #106 Main/NotEnoughToBury


1	%%
2	%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=13qdhjkz
3	%%
4	%%
5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1579869916024131600
11	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
12	%%
13	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor_manhattan.png]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:350:[[CameBackStrong He got better]]. [[PhysicalGod A LOT better]].]]
15	%%
16	->''"They're goin' to bury what's left of ya in a soup can!"''
17	-->-- '''The Demoman''', ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''
18
19	This is not ''quite'' NeverFoundTheBody -- it's found, all right. More specifically, bits and pieces are found. Usually refers to a very violent death, as either only a few measly fragments of a body are found, or it's been so destroyed you need a mop to clean it up and a bucket (not a body bag) to carry it in.
20
21	The inevitable result of TurbineBlender, frequent result of LudicrousGibs, and often a consequence of the ChunkySalsaRule. Note that this doesn't preclude what's left of the person being buried, although [[BuryingASubstitute sometimes alternate arrangements may be made]].
22
23	This is sometimes used to trick the audience or characters into believing that someone is dead who is still alive, as they never found the ''rest'' of the body. The character may later show up with a prosthesis in the place of the missing body part, or a new outfit or weapon, if all that was found was their mangled accessories.
24
25	This is often used for those who die in explosions or burning buildings. Albeit it is typically used implausibly since, with the exception of nuclear explosions, neither usually possesses the power to completely atomize a human body.
26
27	!!As this is a {{Death Trope\|s}}, unmarked spoilers abound. ''Beware!''
28	----
29	!!Examples:
30
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': In the first chapter, a woman runs up to the returning RedshirtArmy and begs them to tell her where her son is. The commanding officer gives her a small bundle which turns out to contain a severed hand -- that's all that was left of him after the Titans got him. Apparently this is very, very common for the Survey Corps ([[EatenAlive if they can even find body parts]]).
35	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': More than a few people leave no body behind after the protagonists are finished with them.
36	** Most of Grimmjow's [[EliteMooks Fracciones]] leave no corpse behind after Hitsugaya's unit kills them in various ways.
37	** Zommari's body becomes dust in the wind after Byakuya defeats him.
38	** [[spoiler:Ulquiorra crumbles to dust after his body becomes critically injured at the hands of a [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Hollowfied Ichigo]], leaving the latter unsatisfied at the fight's conclusion once he comes to his senses.]]
39	** After Soifon hits Ggio Vega in the same spot twice with Suzumebachi, his body disintegrates completely after a few seconds.
40	** Baraggan's body [[MakeThemRot ages to nothing under the effect of his own ability]] once [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hachi turns it against him]].
41	** Tousen explodes into a puddle of blood after Hisagi defeats him. It's strongly implied, however, that this was Aizen's doing as part of his promise to kill Tousen without mercy if he ever forgave his enemies.
42	** Yamamoto incinerates Driscoll Berci as payback for [[spoiler:killing Sasakibe]]. We are treated to the sight of his skin and flesh burning off of his bones, before even those are burned to ash.
43	** [[spoiler:Yhwach makes sure to utterly eradicate Yamamoto's corpse after mutilating him, ensuring he cannot be resurrected by Orihime or anyone else. The only thing left of him after this are the shattered fragments of Ryujin Jakka.]]
44	** Once Renji whips out his true Bankai against Mask De Masculine, his Zaga Teppo technique burns the Sternritter from the inside out, leaving him to slowly crumble to ash.
45	** Mayuri kills Pernida by [[spoiler:preventing the latter from eating Nemu's brain, which prevents it from controlling her overwhelming capability for cell regeneration and turns it into a mass of cancerous tissue that eventually explodes]].
46	* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
47	** In [[Manga/DragonBall the original series]], King Piccolo's body explodes after Goku's final attack, leaving no recognizable remains.
48	** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
49	*** Both Cell and Majin Buu die this way, from ki attacks that result in total bodily disintegration. Both have [[FromASingleCell fantastic regenerative abilities]], so if there was enough left to bury, a burial would be unnecessary.
50	*** In the Cell Arc, Goku goes out this way [[DeathIsCheap the second time]], getting caught in the epicenter of an EarthShatteringKaboom. Unlike the other notable examples in this series, this wasn't wholly necessary to kill him, but a byproduct of him moving an EarthShatteringKaboom [[HeroicSacrifice off of Earth]].
51	* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': A declaration that Kenshiro often makes to evildoers is that not so much as a hair of them will remain in the world. Due to the way the series' titular Hokuto Shinken works, it's not an idle threat either; sometimes people don't merely explode so much as ''disintegrate'' when he hits them, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B4DzhNO9sc the Colonel of Godland]].
52	* ''Anime/FZeroGPLegend'': [[spoiler:Captain Falcon's HeroicSacrifice results in both him and Black Shadow being vaporized by an explosion. All that remains of the former is his helmet, while literally nothing is left of the latter]].
53	* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'':
54	** When Vanilla Ice kills Muhammed Avdol in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', only Avdol's arms remain, both of which are promptly eaten by Ice's Stand.
55	** When Killer Queen from ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' [[HavingABlast blows someone up]], he can make their body disintegrate into absolutely nothing (without even affecting the surrounding area). Its user, Yoshikage Kira, is a SerialKiller who finds it useful to [[DisposingOfABody leave no evidence]].
56	* In Episode 12 of the 2003 anime adaptation of ''Literature/KinosJourney'', Kino travels to a county that achieved peace with its neighbor by competing to slaughter the indigenous tribes in the reason. The curator of the museum, who came up with the plan, reveals her FreudianExcuse to Kino- her husband and children's death- and that this trope applied to her husband.
57	-->"One year, they brought my husband's legs home to me... because they couldn't find the rest of him."
58	* ''Anime/LupinIIIPartII'': Invoked by Zenigata in episode 75 when he laments [[spoiler:the (seeming) demise of Lupin in a fiery explosion]]. He puts up a brief fight with a dog over a scrap of bone, before concluding that it doesn't belong to [[spoiler:his late FriendlyEnemy]].
59	* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''
60	** Endeavor claims that his eldest son Toya burned to death in 2000-degree Celsius flames, and the only part of him left after the fire was a piece of his lower jawbone. [[spoiler:In reality, Toya survived with horrific burn scars and became the villain Dabi, who sought vengeance against Endeavor.]]
61	** Tomura Shigaraki's Decay Quirk can cause those it affects to rot away until there's nothing left. The hands he wears on his villain costume are all that is left of his family, who died when his Quirk first awakened.
62	* In the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' anime at least one of Orochimaru's test subjects dissolved into nothing. Based on his expression at the time, Orochimaru had seen it enough for it to be a common occurrence.
63	* [[MorphWeapon Dominators]] in ''Anime/PsychoPass'', when in Eliminator (lethal) mode, thoroughly destroys whatever they hit. A person hit in the body by one will pretty much be reduced to a puddle of blood with maybe one limb left intact. [[DisintegratorRay Decomposer mode]], which is designed for use against machines, won't even leave ''blood''.
64	* ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'': Coins (apparently all that's left of him) are put in Scott's casket. It's actually foreshadowing the fact that Scott is actually still alive, as Scott in previous iterations has always left a body behind after being killed.
65	* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Hiei's [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Dragon of the Darkness Flame]] technique disintegrates [[spoiler:Zeru]]. All that's left of him is a shadow on the wall.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Comic Books]]
69	* ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'': Partway through the story "Sky Tiger", the main character is given command of a fighter squadron. His predecessor died when his fighter dived into the ground from fifteen thousand feet. In the words of the squadron's adjutant, there wasn't enough left to fill a jam jar.
70	* A plot point in Creator/KevinSmith's ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' run. The "Quiver" story arc revealed that after being killed back in the '90s, Oliver had secretly been resurrected by a guilt-ridden [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]]. However, because Ollie died in an explosion that had reduced his body to mere atoms, Parallax was forced to use lingering particles that had landed on Superman's costume to reconstitute his old friend's physical form.
71	-->'''Hal Jordan:''' Be thankful it wasn't ComicBook/{{Batman}} you exploded all over. Try combing that overly meticulous guy's costume for any human detritus.
72	* ''ComicBook/TheOtherSideOfDoomsday'': Subverted. When a mysterious beam hits Linda Danvers, Iris West, and Jean Loring, it looks like they have been reduced to three little mounds of soot. However, it is revealed that they were teleported into another dimension, and the soot were residuals of the teleportation beam.
73	* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' issue #169, Tommy Turtle, who was possessed by the last remaining nanites of the A.D.A.M. AI, resisted control just long enough to [[HeroicSacrifice get himself vaporized by Dr. Eggman's latest weapon]]. His ashes were scattered by the wind before Sonic could get to him.
74	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
75	** ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s villain Lesla-Lar gets vaporized when she gets shot with a disintegrator raygun.
76	** In ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', an energy beast's body disintegrates when it is exposed to harmful energies.
77	** In ''ComicBook/ReignOfDoomsday'', Doomslayer rips apart Eradicator, whose energy body is dissolved into nothingness.
78	** Subverted in ''ComicBook/WhoIsSuperwoman''. When her {{Magitek}} super-suit gets shredded, the ensuing explosion utterly obliterates Lucy Lane's body. All that is left of Superwoman is tiny scraps of flesh and hair scattered over the ground. However, [[spoiler:her cells had been altered with DNA alien and imbued with magic when she was turned into Superwoman, which lets her unconsciously regenerate her entire body from those little flesh bits]].
79	--->'''Codename: Assassin:''' We've gone over the area six times, sir. We've found tiny bits of flesh and hair that match her DNA, but... Nothing substantial.\
80	'''General Lane:''' Of course not. If Supergirl disrupted the field, the suit would've overcompensated. It would've practically vaporized her.
81	** ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor'': When Supergirl punches Mind-Bomber's head, he loses control of his powers and is caught in his own explosion's blast. Supergirl X-Rays the place and reckons he has been disintegrated.
82	--->'''Supergirl:''' His telekinetic "blast" went out of control when I struck him...and he was caught in his own explosion! It looks like he's been...disintegrated!
83	** Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004''. Kara throws herself between Darkseid's blast and Superman, and is apparently reduced to smoking ashes. Though, it turns out that [[spoiler:Kara was teleported away and swapped with a pile of ashes to trick Darkseid into believing she had been killed]].
84	** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', General Zod and his criminal gang toss an unconscious Supergirl into the Fortress of Solitude's Disintegration Pit, expecting her to be burned to ashes by radioactive blazes.
85	--->'''General Zod:''' ''"We shall deposit her in the Disintegration Pit! Its radioactive Kryptonian fuel will complete the work begun by us! Supergirl shall be nothing more than a memory...and a handful of atomic ash."''
86	** ''ComicBook/ThePlagueOfTheAntibioticMan'': Subverted. Superman throws a volcano at Nam-Ek, expecting to weaken him. Though, Nam-Ek disappears without a trace. Superman analyzes the lava, finds traces of Kryptonite, and feeling horrified, he believes Nam-Ek lost his powers and was burned to ashes by a tide of molten rock. Later, though, he discovers that Nam-Ek was merely teleported away.
87	--->'''Superman:''' ''"Kryptonite is deadly to all Kryptonians! So-- while the lead in the magma kept the K from affecting me...the concentration of it...in the lava...was enough to destroy Nam-Ek...disintegrating him utterly!"''
88	** ''ComicBook/LetMyPeopleGrow'': Invoked when Brainiac declares there will be literally nothing left of Superman when he is done with him.
89	--->'''Brainiac:''' ''"I have no idea what you hoped to accomplish with that ridiculous maneuver, Superman-- and, regrettably, you're not going to be here long enough for me to find out! That first shot shrunk you to the size of a mosquito-- But the blast you're about to receive will reduce you to absolute nothingness!"''
90	** ''ComicBook/TheLeperFromKrypton'': Invoked. Superman is dying from an incurable, virulent disease and has only a few hours left. Since he does not want to risk spreading the disease, he builds a rocket and sets course for the hottest star in the universe, where he expects to be turned into a pile of ashes.
91	--->'''Superman:''' (thinking) ''Flambron, mightiest solar furnace in the universe, whose incandescent, neutronic flames match the searing heat of a thousand normal suns! In another second, I'll be a pinch of cosmic dust!''
92	** ''ComicBook/SupergirlsThreeSuperGirlfriends'': According to Brainiac 5, when his infamous ancestor was struck by his own shrinking ray as fighting Superman, he completely disappeared.
93	--->'''Brainaic 5:''' ''"Then he turned super-swiftly flung the saucer into the path of its own ray...! Then it popped out of existence... reduced in size to nothingness!"''
94	* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': Jon Osterman gets vaporised in an "intrinsic field" (Picture a nuclear explosion without the "BOOM"). He later [[BackFromTheDead reassembles]] [[SelfConstructedBeing himself on an atomic level]] and [[CameBackStrong becomes Dr. Manhattan]].
95	--> '''Dr. Manhattan''': ''"A token funeral service is being held. There's nothing to bury."''
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
99	* "Literature/TheSoldierAndDeath": The tsar's abandoned palace is haunted by a pack of devils who tear to pieces and eat whoever tries to stay the night, barely leaving anything except tiny bone shards.
100	-->''"But I tell you: a man walks in there alive in the evening, and in the morning the servants have to search the floor for the little bits of his bones."''
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Fan Works]]
104	* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Monster X inflicts this level of death on more than one of Alan Jonah's goons.
105	* ''Fanfic/LimitlessPotential'': Following the attack of a rogue mechaniloid, all that was found from [[spoiler:Chiyo's friend Fumiko]] was a few pieces of her charred clothes and nothing more.
106	* In ''Fanfic/MyLittlePonyVs'', this is what happens to [[spoiler:[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] after [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] is through with it, though this certainly wasn't her intention]].
107	* ''Fanfic/RiseOfTheMinisukas'': There only was a blood stain smeared across the streets after the horde of Minisukas was done with Sachiel.
108	* In the ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8835751/8/In-Strange-Waters In Strange Waters]]'', [[OriginalCharacter Lucius]], part of the Canadian school Vimy Ridge's tankery team, recounts an incident in which an artillery shell struck a Hummel's ammunition compartment, leading to the deaths of everyone inside and a ban on open-topped vehicles in sensha-do, among other things.
109	-->'''Lucius:''' We were told that... a piece of charred remain of someone's skin about 1.5cm across was the biggest human remain they found.
110	* ''Fanfic/HostageSituation'': All that's left of [[spoiler:Saint and his PoweredArmor, after he's killed by a very angry Purity,]] is a few scraps of metal and just enough DNA to positively identify.
111	--> By the subsequent PRT chatter, there literally hadn't been enough left to scrape into a shoebox.
112	* ''Fanfic/SlippingBetweenWorlds'': This is a common fate for those caught by car bombs in UsefulNotes/StrokeCountry. In general, the family is sent a tightly sealed coffin with whatever bits could be located, sand to make up the missing weight, and a gently worded message to a family member (usually one with military or law enforcement background) to discourage people from trying to sneak a peek, since there is nothing in the coffin that's identifiable as the remains of a loved one anyway. Denise Holtack bursts into hysterical laughter when she realizes that the family getting together to mourn around a coffin full of UsefulNotes/StrokeCountry concrete rubble that may or may not contain a few atoms of her deceased brother's carbonized blood is exactly the kind of [[DeadBabyComedy sick joke]] he would find hilarious.
113	* ''Fanfic/VowOfTheKing'': After Ichigo's battle with Mayuri, all that's left of the latter is a single burnt hand.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
117	* Tends to be seen a lot in war movies. In scenes showing the aftermath of some type of heavy bombardment, at least one casualty is likely to be found like this -- the trope will frequently be invoked word-for-word by the person who found him. May serve as a means of avoiding a teen-unfriendly rating while still conveying WarIsHell. Sadly TruthInTelevision.
118	* In ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'', the film based on the Batman series starring Adam West, several goons are dehydrated into dust, to later be rehydrated by the Penguin inside the Batcave. They attack the Dynamic Duo, but the Penguin handled the procedure incorrectly, making them very unstable. When hit, they instantly vanish into antimatter.
119	-->'''Robin:''' You mean... [[NeverSayDie they won't]] [[KilledOffForReal be coming back]]!?
120	* In ''Film/CabinFever'', Marcy is ''annihilated'' by a rabid dog, to the point where the only remains found later are bloodstains and a foot.
121	* Played for laughs in ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'' - Sir James Bond survives a mortar bombardment of his home but M doesn't. He visits M's widow carrying a small box containing all that's left of him.
122	-->'''Sir James''': ...Should it be given a Christian burial? Just how personal ''is'' a toupee?\
123	'''Lady Fiona''': It can only be regarded as an heirloom.
124	* This is the RunningGag when it comes to [[spoiler: Creator/SteveBuscemi]] roles in Creator/TheCoenBrothers movies. He has died in nearly every movie he has been in (''Film/BartonFink'', ''Film/{{Fargo}}'', and ''Film/TheBigLebowski'') with fewer and fewer pieces of himself remaining each time.
125	* In ''Film/TheCrimsonRivers'', this is said of the young victim of a traffic accident. All that was left to identify her was her index finger. Subverted in that [[spoiler:the finger actually came from another girl]]. She did get a grave, though.
126	* In ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' the title protagonist miraculously survives his laboratory being blown up with him inside, but is believed to have died and his love interest has a funeral ceremony for him where the only thing they could bury of him was an ear that was found in the explosion site.
127	* ''Film/TheFifthElement'': All that was left of the Supreme Being after her starship crashed was her right hand. [[BackFromTheDead That was enough to re-assemble her]].
128	* ''Film/InMyCountry'': One farmer testifies about how his three year-old-son was blown up by a landmine set by black guerrillas, and all that the family could bury was a small piece of his skull.
129	* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
130	** In ''Film/JurassicPark1993'', Ellie and Muldoon arrive at the scene of a ''T. rex'' attack. It's also [[spoiler:all Sattler finds of Mr. Arnold after his disappearance is his arm]].:
131	--->'''Muldoon:''' I think this was Gennaro.\
132	'''Ellie:''' ''[about fifteen feet away]'' I think this was too.
133	** Happens to Dieter Stark in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' -- after he's attacked by compies, Roland's team finds "only the parts they didn't like."
134	* Played for very ''dark'' laughs in ''Film/LakePlacid'', when Hector and Sheriff Hank find the remains of one of the crocodile's victims:
135	-->'''Hector:''' ''[holding up a decayed toe]'' Is this the man that was killed?\
136	'''[[DeadpanSnarker Hank]]:''' He seemed... taller.
137	* In ''Film/LicenceToKill'', Hawkins describes the aftermath of the first part of Bond's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, which ended with Bond knocking DirtyCop Ed Killifer into a SharkPool:
138	-->'''Hawkins:''' Local cops got a tip about a warehouse last night. Turned up 500 keys of Colombian pure, couple of stiffs, and a little bitty piece of what used to be Killifer.
139	* ''Film/MissionToMars'': The crew of the first human mission to the Red Planet gets attacked by a [[ItMakesSenseInContext killer sand tornado that rose from the Face on Mars]] and the only survivor manages to find and bury the body of the astronaut who got her face smashed-in by a flying rock, while he digs graves in the memory of the other two that got brutally [[CruelAndUnusualDeath sucked and torn to pieces]] by the vortex.
140	* Franchise/MonsterVerse: Naturally, this happens a lot with gigantic monsters. But special attention goes to Ghidorah in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', who goes out of his way to blast humans to unrecognizable ashes with his heads' Gravity Beams instead of causing accidental collateral. [[spoiler:Godzilla ultimately does this to Ghidorah as a requirement due to the latter's HealingFactor, vaporizing his entire body piece by piece, although TheStinger reveals there's still a (seemingly-)dead leftover head that was decapitated earlier in the film]].
141	* Happens at least once in ''Film/{{Predator}}'':
142	-->'''Dutch:''' Did you find Hawkins?\
143	'''Poncho:''' I... can't tell.
144	* Goodspeed lies about this in ''Film/TheRock'' to help Mason get his freedom, claiming he was "disintegrated" in an explosion.
145	* This was used in ''Film/{{Starfighter}}'', about a widow who was suing a government contractor after her husband, an Air Force test pilot, was killed flying a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. A lawyer tries to accuse her husband of taking drugs. She says there was no trace of drugs in his system. He points out that it was impossible to determine given the 'limited material' available for testing. She demands to know what he means, and is later shown saying in fury to a friend, "I buried his hands!"
146	* ''Film/TheTerminator'': Corporal Ferro is blown to bits by the HK Tank's plasma cannon fire.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Literature]]
150	* ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheVoiceOfTheCastle:'' While in the Heterodyne family crypt, Carson comments that ''all'' the Heterodynes are there, although in some cases they're a few bits of ash or scraps of armor.
151	* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': A quite literal example in the fourth book, where it's mentioned that [[spoiler:Commander Root]]'s funeral had to take place with an empty coffin because the explosion that killed [[spoiler:him]] left nothing behind.
152	* In ''Literature/TheDevilGame'', a {{Creepypasta}}, it's described that one may end up in the same room as the Devil if the summoning goes wrong. The summoner's fate is [[NothingIsScarier left to the imagination of the reader]], but it's said that how much of the body is found and in what state depends on the Devil's mood.
153	* ''Literature/{{Devolution}}'': When the Sasquatches kill people, they then tear the bodies apart in order to consume every last bit of meat possible, usually leaving nothing but bits of crushed bone behind.
154	* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
155	** It is said that if someone is affected by the blowfish poison, you don't need to hold a funeral -- just repaint the walls.
156	** Also from Discworld, some of the learning opportunities in the Unseen University have led to unfortunates being returned to the grieving parents as gloop in a bucket, with a note saying "we did ''warn'' him".
157	** In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', troll mob boss Crysophrase assures Vimes that some trolls who were foolish enough to [[TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive threaten his family]] against his orders were [[YouHaveFailedMe "dealt with"]], and asks if they've ever thought of adding a rockery to Ramkin Manor while gesturing to a box the narration describes as "not big enough to contain an ''entire'' troll".
158	** A few characters in ''Literature/RaisingSteam'' underestimate the power of experimental steam engines and end up as super-heated red mist, sometimes pattering down over a large new clearing in the forest.
159	* Subverted in the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt novel]] ''Vixen 03''. Loren Smith's father disappeared in an explosion years ago; the only fragments found were a boot and a thumb. However, [[spoiler: when Pitt discovers the wreck of a military transport aircraft codenamed [[TitleDrop Vixen 03]] sunk in a local lake, in the cargo bay he finds a skeleton strapped to the floor and missing a boot and a thumb.]]
160	* In ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles'', the GravityMaster protagonist is seen altering gravity in order to smash people a few times, and it's implied many more times.
161	-->"The learned gentlemen from the university have asked me if I relied on Einstein's General Theory of Relativity or if I used the simpler rules of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation on the evening in question when I accidentally took Sheriff Johnson's life. Shit. I don't know. [[AWizardDidIt I just got angry and squished the fucker]]. But I've gotten better at running things and I promise not to do it no more."
162	--->Jake Sullivan, ''Parole Hearing, Rockville State Penitentiary'' 1928
163	* In ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' given how the titular [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMCs]] pilot {{Hover Tank}}s with {{Plasma Cannon}}s and often fight in wars where nukes aren't off the table, it's once mentioned that many relatives of dead Slammers get a sealed casket full of 70 kilos of sand.
164	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
165	** In the third book, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', it's said that the largest piece of Peter Pettigrew that was ever found after he was killed by Sirius Black was his finger. [[spoiler:He was actually a traitor and cut off the finger to simultaneously fake his death and frame Black for his crimes.]]
166	** Invoked in the second book as well, where Snape comments that whoever faces [[IneptMage Neville Longbottom]] in a practice duel will likely be sent to the infirmary in a matchbox. (In the movie, it's Ron's malfunctioning wand that earns the quip.)
167	** Played with in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': Barty Crouch Jr. murders Barty Crouch Sr. and transfigures his corpse into a small bone...before burying the bone in the Forbidden Forest.
168	** In the seventh book, [[spoiler: "Mad-Eye" Moody's body was never recovered. It wasn't until Harry recovered his [[EyepatchOfPower eponymous magical eye]] that he got any sort of burial at all.]]
169	* Pulser darts, from the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels, don't so much tear through their victims as they do ''shred'' them. And then there's kinetic weapons, which vaporize anything in range into very small pieces. 'Small' as in 'subatomic'. Graphically illustrated after the fall of the Masadan theocracy; domestic violence rates skyrocketed, as abused wives frequently murdered their husbands. Some of them got... creative.
170	--> ''They never did find all of Elder Simonds.''
171	* Literature/HoratioHornblower loses his friend and comrade-in-arms William Bush this way, after seven books and almost fifteen years of war. In ''Lord Hornblower'', Bush leads a commando raid against a French army and is caught in the explosion of an ammunition barge. "A few rags and tatters of men" are found after the explosion, but nothing recognizable as an individual.
172	* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
173	** [[spoiler: Primrose Everdeen]] is at the centre of a bomb blast and nothing is left.
174	** Also happened with Katniss' father, who was killed in a mine explosion.
175	** An unnamed female tribute who dropped her district token, a wooden ball, at the beginning of her Games, triggering the landmines which surround the Cornucopia and are [[DeathTrap primed to go off]] if a tribute moves from their plate before the countdown finishes. According to Katniss, "they literally had to scrape bits of her off the ground."
176	* ''Literature/TheLovelyBones'': Susie Salmon's body is dismembered after she is killed, and her elbow is eventually found out by the authorities (which allows them to confirm that she is indeed dead). However, the rest of her remains are stored in a safe by her killer, George Harvey, and the safe is dumped into a sinkhole, so they will probably never be found.
177	* Creator/StephenKing's story "Literature/TheMangler" features a scene where one of the workers gets caught in the folder apparatus of the haunted laundry machine. The result is not described in the narration, but in the words of a traumatized witness, "they took her away in a basket".
178	* In the ''Literature/NurseryCrime'' novel ''The Fourth Bear'', the body of Henrietta "Goldilocks" Hatchett is found in grisly smithereens in an area of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne simulation theme park [=SommeWorld=] that very realistically simulates an artillery barrage.
179	* In Creator/DerekRobinson's black comedies of the Royal Air Force, after ''really'' bad crashes or flamers, it was often the case that bodies were not available for burial. A particularly egregious example happens in ''Literature/APieceOfCake'' where a grieving relative, innocent of the nature of his nephew's death (he burnt to death in a flamer from a mile up) wants to open the coffin to see poor Maurice's face one last time.... as only deep-fried fragments of the body were retrieved, the rest of the coffin was ballasted by sandbags, to approximate the weight of a full corpse. This is TruthInTelevision. Similar expedients were used for tank troopers killed in brew-ups or men killed in catastrophic explosions. This has been long-standing practice for a long time and may still happen today, although military authorities are naturally reticent.
180	* All that's left of [[PerilousOldFool Bluddbeak]] from the ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'' novel ''Triss'' after taking on a trio of adders is scattered feathers.
181	* In the ''Proud Immortal Demon Way'' timeline of ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'', Luo Binghe's plans for Yue Qingyuan's mortal remains are for a grisly PastVictimShowcase rather than a respectful burial, but after being shot with ten thousand poisoned arrows, there isn't enough left of Yue Qingyuan's body for that either. Luo Binghe instead displays Yue Qingyuan's sword Xuan Su, in several pieces itself, to a horrified Shen Qingqiu.
182	* Referenced in Heinlein's ''Literature/ToSailBeyondTheSunset'': Maureen says of her own apparent death that when a person her size is hit by a semi-truck, "they pick up the remains with blotting paper."
183	* ''Literature/ToShapeADragonsBreath'': [[spoiler:Birning Svenisson]], the would-be assassin of Jarl Joervarsson, is reduced to nothing but ash and a scorch mark on the grass from Kasaqua's [[KillItWithFire destroying breath]] after attacking her, Anequs, and the jarl.
184	* Happens to [[spoiler: Jesmin Ackbar]] in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]]'' when her X-Wing is disabled and crash-lands at full speed (it doesn't explode, it [[LudicrousGibs shreds instantly on impact]] from kinetic shock). A torpedo is therefore substituted for her corpse during her [[BurialAtSea burial]] [[RecycledInSpace in space]].
185	* In the Russian ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' parody, ''Literature/TheZwirmarillion'', this is what happened to Finrod. They buried "several of the largest pieces of him they could find".
186	[[/folder]]
187
188	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
189	* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', [[spoiler:Hector]] kills [[spoiler:Gus and Tyrus]] with a bomb strapped to his wheelchair. While [[spoiler:Gus]] is left [[FacialHorror (mostly)]] intact, [[spoiler:Hector (who was sitting right on top of the bomb)]] and [[spoiler:Tyrus (who was standing right next to Hector)]] are completely vaporized, with the only evidence of either of them being an unidentifiable severed leg.
190	* Implied in ''Series/{{Casualty}}'' after the death of [[spoiler:Paramedic Jeff Collier]] in a car explosion. His wife, ranting at colleagues who are celebrating [[spoiler:Jeff's]] life instead of mourning his death, mentions that he was blown to pieces and there was nothing to celebrate. Pan round to [[spoiler:Jamie Collier]] standing behind her, asking if it's true.
191	* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' three American soldiers in Afghanistan were blown up by a bomb and only pieces of their bodies were recovered. And if ''that'' wasn't enough, as they were being shipped back to the States to be officially identified, the plane that was carrying them crashed, damaging the remains to the point where most ways of identifying them would be useless. [[spoiler: The remains turn out to be those of only two of the soldiers since the third was instead captured by terrorists and held captive.]]
192	* ''Series/NYPDBlue'': the Medavoy subplot of one episode involved a Hasidic Jewish girl who had been killed and butchered and partially eaten by animals, leaving not much body left. At the end of the episode after they caught the guy that did it, Medavoy gave the girl's father some crime scene dirt which had some of her blood in it; in the Hassidem(sp) circle you have to bury the ''whole'' body, and Medavoy wanted to give the father as much of the remains as there were available.
193	* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': In [[Recap/PrimevalS1E3 Series 1 Episode 3]] a mosausar emerges through an anomaly into a suburban swimming pool where it [[SwallowedWhole gobbles up]] an unsuspecting lifeguard before returning to its own time. Later it re-emerges in a resevoir where it regurgitates a bolus of its recent meal. The bolus is a blob of gore composed of materials that the creature could not digest and is unrecognizable as human remains.
194	--> '''Claudia:''' Well, the DNA is conclusive. It's that boy from the swimming pool...or what's left of him.
195	* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', "Gone", [[ComicBook/LexLuthor Lex]] tells [[{{Franchise/Superman}} Clark]] that there is nothing left of [[PlatonicLifePartners Chloe]] after the huge explosion in ''Covenant''. [[spoiler:Of course, he is lying.]]
196	* In the Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries episode [[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark "The Devil in the Dark"]], the Horta uses a spray of acid to attack its targets. Not much is left beyond a few bits of acid-burned bones and a roughly human-shaped stain on the ground.
197	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The research scientist in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E15TallTales Tall Tales]]" after the alligator was done with him. Only two very mutilated limbs were under the blanket in the morgue.
198	* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}: Children of Earth'', the villains blow up Jack with a bomb inside his stomach. In the next episode, they only find small pieces of his body remaining, from which he [[FromASingleCell still manages to regenerate]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: he wakes up loooooong before he's done healing. He screams. A lot.]] [[NightmareFuel Shudder]].
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:Music]]
202	* ''TheCatCameBack'' states that "20 pieces of the man was all they ever found."[[note]]This is hilariously averted in [[WesternAnimation/TheCatCameBack the 1988 cartoon adaptation]]. The man still dies in an explosion, but his intact corpse crushes the cat and takes out [[CatsHaveNineLives all nine of its lives]], leaving the man's spirit to be haunted by nine cats.[[/note]]
203	* 'Ten Finger Johnny' has the eponymous character blowing himself to successively smaller and smaller bits.
204	* A popular campfire song ''Music/HeJumpedFrom40ThousandFeet (without a parachute)'' relates the grisly fate of someone who leapt from a plane without their parachute on. According to various verses, "They scraped him off the runway like a lump of strawberry jam" and "They put him in a matchbox and they sent him home to Mum". [[note]]Set ToTheTuneOf ''Music/JohnBrownsBody''[[/note]]
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
208	* In Literature/TheBible, Jezebel's body is devoured by a pack of feral dogs after she is defenestrated, leaving only her head and her two hands (as predicted by Elijah.)
209	* At least seven widely scattered places in Britain are claimed as the final resting place of King Arthur. In France and Denmark, similar myths exist concerning fabulous legendary heroes Roland and Holger Dansk.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
213	* {{Discussed\|Trope}} several times in the various ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' source books and quite a few ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' stories, and with good reason. A lot of people die in ways that preclude having something to bury, most often involving cockpit hits or reactor/ammo explosions, or sometimes [[NoKillLikeOverkill 'Mech-scale weapons being used on people]]. One particular instance in "Double Blind" has a mercenary unit trying to bury one of their fallen, only to examine the 'Mech and find little more than intermingled bits of charred bone and metal fragments in the ruined cockpit, intermixed and vaporized by [[BoomHeadshot a PPC shot to the 'Mech's head]]. They treat these remains as their comrade's ashes and spread them from the air.
214	* In ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' the companions of a [[SandWorm dhole]]'s victims can find enough to bury with a successful Luck roll. In the ''Shadows of Yog Sothoth'' adventure supplement, during the climax, the Keeper (referee) is advised not to let a certain symbol protect the characters, except possibly by allowing a piece of a body the size of the symbol to survive destruction.
215	* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the ''disintegrate'' spell does this. One of the reasons why this spell is used is because the game's most common resurrection spells require a more-or-less intact corpse, and ''disintegrate'' leaves nothing but dust. Of course, higher-level resurrection spells can still work on the dust (or even without the dust).
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder:Theatre]]
219	* The AwfulTruth of what happened to Michael Trojan in ''Theatre/{{Bandstand}}'', who was killed by a grenade dropped in a trench by his best friend.
220	-->'''Donny:''' There were no hands, Julia! No face, no hair to comb. It's not like the movies.
221	[[/folder]]
222
223	%%[[folder:Urban Legends]]
224	%%* The urban legend of the JATO car. Only fragments of the driver were found.
225	%%[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder:Video Games]]
228	* In ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'', this is the fate of [[spoiler: Doyle]], after encountering a German armored unit. Just as he and Hartsock's squad are about to continue moving through the city of St. Sauveur, a Panzer IV blasts him and he virtually disintegrates, leaving nothing but his weapon and uniform patch.
229	* ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'': Rituals that require a HumanSacrifice tend to involve destroying the body pretty thoroughly. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration Helpfully]], this means the ritual won't generate a Human Corpse card.
230	* Happens to the unlucky FBI agent who gets [[spoiler: thrown in a ore-grinder]] in ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth''.
231	* Something between this and NeverFoundTheBody happens in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. After the rest of the party has been wiped out, Crono tries to confront Lavos on his own but is completely obliterated by Lavos's attack, with his body ''visibly'' disintegrating in the energy blast. However, this is a TimeTravel story, and using the titular Chrono Trigger, a life-sized doll of Crono, and a bit of time travel, the party manages to go back in time, freeze time, and swap out Crono for the doll, allowing him to survive. Interestingly, this is the first time in the entire plot that the party actually manages to meaningfully change history - [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong but it won't be the last.]]
232	* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', the Wizard's Disintegrate skill allows him/her to fire a beam of magical energy that can completely vaporize enemies it hits.
233	* Several deaths in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' series end in this.
234	** The culprit of case 2 in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[spoiler:Peko Pekoyama]], is reduced to this after being stabbed repeatedly by samurai robots, leaving nothing but blood splatter behind. It's lampshaded when the one person who was close to the deceased wants to hold a funeral, "even though there's nothing left of" the person.
235	** The victim of Case 5 in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', [[spoiler:Kokichi Oma]], is found in this kind of state due to having been ''crushed by a hydraulic press'' - all our heroes find is a huge blood splatter coming out of the press. The press was also broken by the culprit, so the other remaining parts of the body go mercifully unseen.
236	* In ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'', you can sometimes find a lost helmet that once belonged to another dwarf, which points to a location where they might be found. When you get there, all you find is discarded body armor and several pieces of materials strewn about. Your dwarf will sometimes lament over the loss of a fellow dwarf and might sometimes say they'll take their lost gear home as a way of paying their last respects.
237	* In the second installment of the ''VideoGame/FearEffect'' series, one of Hana's brutal deaths results in this. She's in an elevator shaft, and after a look of stunned fear and a cutoff shriek, her body gets obliterated by the elevator, leaving a bloody smear on the wall. Any remaining bits of her would have likely fit into a small baggy.
238	* This is the unfortunate fate of Molly Schultz in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' after she runs in front of a jet turbine and gets [[TurbineBlender reduced to nothing more than a hand and a chunky red mess]].
239	* At the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'', Paz is blown to bits by a bomb hidden inside of her, with the resulting explosion also knocking Snake's helicopter out of the air. This is further highlighted in the intro to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', where the doctor overseeing Snake's recovery from this incident mentions that fragments of human bone and teeth had to be surgically removed from his body -- fragments belonging to Paz, no doubt.
240	* When a player is killed in ''VideoGame/MutantFootballLeague'', the killer gets to make a snappy remark to the camera. Relevant to this trope:
241	-->They won't carry that guy off in a stretcher, they'll carry him off in a sponge.
242	* In ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'', this is the fate of a zombie that gets blown up by a Potato Mine or Primal Potato Mine. Their body instantly vanishes and all that's left is their head dropping to the ground. In the original game, Potato Mines [[NoBodyLeftBehind completely disintegrated the body, head and all]].
243	* In ''VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderground'', your player character is planning a stunt that will put you on the map: a [=McTwist=] over a helicopter hovering between two high-rises. Eric, concerned, remarks that if you miss your Ollie they'll have to send you home in a coffee can.
244	* ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'': [[spoiler:Upon being defeated for a second time in the Greed layer, [[MirrorBoss V2]] falls to their death from such a height they ''explode'' into [[LudicrousGibs a puddle of blood]] upon landing, leaving only their [[GrapplingHookPistol Whiplash arm]] behind (which V1 promptly takes for themself). V2 is ''absolutely'' not coming back after that, [[HesJustHiding no matter what the fandom says]].]]
245	* Both enemy aliens and your own soldiers in ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}'' can be "overkilled" if enough damage is done by the killing shot, [[DisadvantageousDisintegration totally destroying the body and any equipment it might have been carrying.]] Obviously, this is most noticeable when using explosives.
246	[[/folder]]
247
248	[[folder:Web Animation]]
249	* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': Since it's a {{gorn}} show, this happens ''very'' often. All played for [[BloodyHilarious dark laughs]], of course.
250	[[/folder]]
251
252	[[folder:Webcomics]]
253	* ''Webcomic/CodeNameHunter'' has an investigator look over a cursed set of drums. The next morning, all that's left is a pile of ash.
254	* Subverted in ''[[Webcomic/RoomiesItsWalkyJoyceAndWalky It's Walky!]]'' After a hard landing in a danger zone, the SEMME team can only find Allen's ear. However, he turns up in a later arc, unharmed, [[UnexplainedRecovery with no explanation]]. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed he's a MobileSuitHuman.]]
255	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' : [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-02-14 "In our business we're lucky if there's enough to put in a casket."]]
256	* ''Webcomic/TwistedTropes'': A peasant complains to [[Series/GameOfThrones Daenerys]] that her dragons have eaten his son and there's nothing to bury. Ser Jorah the Nauseated gives him a cart of poop and a skull as an apology.
257	* Discussed in-universe in [[http://wondermark.com/624/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{Wondermark}}'' strip.
258	[[/folder]]
259
260	[[folder:Web Original]]
261	* PlayedForLaughs in WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged after Chiaotzu's SuicideAttack against Nappa fails.
262	--> '''Goku''': Wait, where's Chiaotzu?
263	--> '''Krillin''': Oh he's here...and there...and there...
264	[[/folder]]
265	[[folder:Websites]]
266	* From [[https://outofcontextdnd.tumblr.com/ Out of Context D&D Quotes]]:
267	-->'''GM:''' The valkyries are going to need a bucket and a mop to take you to Valhalla.
268	[[/folder]]
269
270	[[folder:Western Animation]]
271	* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', when Dinobot makes his stand against the Predacons and calls for Maximal backup, Rattrap half-jokes: "Dinobot versus six Preds ... there won't be enough of him left to make a ''toaster!''" They do actually find Dinobot in one piece, though the damage he took is still fatal.
272	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
273	** In the pilot, Professor Farnsworth hires the protagonists as his new delivery crew and gives them their career chips, which he pours from an envelope labeled "Contents of Space Wasp Stomach".
274	** A background joke continues this theme with one half of a phone conversation:
275	--->'''Farnsworth:''' Oh, how awful. Did he at least die painlessly? ''[beat]'' To shreds, you say? Tsk tsk tsk. Well, how's his wife holding up? ''[beat]'' To shreds, you say...
276	* This was sometimes what happened to [[PosthumousCharacter Manfredi and Johnson]], ThoseTwoGuys often mentioned on ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' (although they never die the same way twice). On one occasion they were eaten by flying piranha and what was left was buried with a teaspoon. In another, their remains fit in a manila envelope.
277	* A humorous G-rated variant occurred in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' after Suzie becomes a doctor for toys.
278	-->'''Suzie:''' Which toy is the brokenest?\
279	'''Phil:''' Jelly Bear.\
280	'''Suzie:''' Where is he?\
281	'''Lil:''' ''[pointing in various directions]'' Over there and over there and over there.
282	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': The CreativeClosingCredits of the Season 1 finale show there's nothing left of [[Characters/{{Wakfu}} Nox]] but his armor, bandages and [[ReducedToDust a pile of dust]].
283	[[/folder]]
284

Context Main / NotEnoughToBury