->''They say, the tongues of dying men,''\\
''Enforce attention, like deep harmony:''\\
''Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain.''
-->-- ''Richard II'' by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Act II, Scene i.

Bob is dying. As his last hours on this earth approach, he calls for his daughter Alice to come to his bedside so he can give her an important message before he passes on. Once Alice arrives, there are multiple possibilities as to what Bob may tell her:

# A major character revelation, such as the fact that [[LukeIAmYourFather he's her long-lost father presumed dead all those years ago]].
# A piece of information vital to advancing the plot, like the location of [[MacGuffin the blueprints for the secret weapon he was developing for the government]].
# A secret from his long-dead past that he feels he needs to get off his chest. May overlap with either of the above two.

If the work is a comedy or Bob is a [[{{Jerkass}} right bastard]], he may take the opportunity to deliver a parting shot along the lines of "I never really liked you anyway!"

A LastRequest, related to the confession, may follow

Then, having spoken his last words on Earth, Bob will suffer from one last fit of his IncurableCoughOfDeath and give up the ghost.

Overlaps considerably with FamousLastWords and FinalSpeech. Differs from a FacingTheBulletsOneLiner in that the latter is generally spoken under duress, while this occurs in a (relatively) peaceful setting.

Avoid real life examples. Many celebrities have accumulated any number of myths and rumors of {{Deathbed Confession}}s. Like Darwin[[hottip:**:"Lady Hope" claimed to have heard a recantation of his theory of evolution. It is unconfirmed, and closer friends of his denied it.]]. And probably Hitler and Stalin. And probably JayLeno. [[UpToEleven Even though he isn't dead.]]

!!As this is a DeathTrope, the usual spoiler disclaimer applies:
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* [[spoiler: Kriem]] from ''TigerAndBunny'' gives one to [[spoiler: Barnaby]] before committing suicide by [[spoiler: cutting off her own life support]].
* [[spoiler: Nicole]] from ''RoseOfVersailles'' explains the truth of [[spoiler: Rosalie]]'s origins as she lays dying [[spoiler: after being hit by a carriage.]] For even more irony, iut turns out that [[spoiler: the woman who wnet in said carriage... was Rosalie's birth mom.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ballads]]
* In the ChildBallad ''Literature/SirAldingar'', Aldingar is mortally wounded by the mysterious champion, and confesses his MaliciousSlander before he dies.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Judge Fargo from ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' has a Deathbed Confession in which he tells Dredd that he was wrong to create the Justice System and that he felt that he had killed America.
* This happens in the first {{Killraven}} story from Marvel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''JudgeDredd'': After Judge Fargo is mortally wounded, he confesses to the title character that both Dredd and Rico were genetically engineered and are actually brothers (of a sort).
* ''StarWars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'': Just before he dies, Yoda tells Luke that he must confront Darth Vader before he can become a Jedi and that there is another Skywalker.
* In ''AugustRush'', as he's dying, Lyla's father confesses that [[spoiler:the son [[FakingTheDead she'd thought had died]] in utero was really alive, and he'd secretly given the child up for adoption so Lyla could continue her career as an esteemed musician. [[JerkAss WOW.]]]]
* A variant happens in ''Film/AlmostFamous'' (it's only a close call), as the plane goes through a thunderstorm. The new manager hit a man in Michigan, the former one embezzled some of the band's money, the guitarist and the singer slept with each other's wives, William confessed his love for Penny and [[TheQuietOne the drummer]] says his only line: [[ComingOutStory "Fuck it! I'm gay!"]]
* In Disney's version of ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', Milady de Winter tells Athos what she knows about the assassination plot against the King moments before her execution. While the information she shared was not about herself, it was symbolic in her bringing her soul clean and becoming the woman she was when married to Athos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Humor]]
* A man confesses on his deathbed to his wife / business partner that he embezzled their life savings / pension fund. His wife / partner replies, "It's OK, dear / pal, I already knew that. That's why I poisoned you."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eragon]]'', [[spoiler:Brom]] tells Eragon on his deathbed that he's [[spoiler: a former Dragon Rider]].
* The entirety of Edgar Alan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" was one of these.
* In a somewhat bitter example, in ''TheBelgariad'', Olban, dying in the series's major battle, confesses to his father Brand that he had once tried to assassinate King Belgarion. Brand [[IHaveNoSon disowns him on the spot]] and walks out.
* In ''Literature/OliverTwist'', [[spoiler: Old Sally]] tells [[spoiler: Mrs. Corney]] that she [[spoiler: stole some jewelery (namely, a locket and a ring) from Oliver's mother, Agnes Fleeming, right after she fell victim to DeathByChildbirth. Sally dies begging Mrs. Corney to give the jewels to Oliver; she instead gives them to his half-brother Edward aka Monks, who throws them to the Thames river.]]
* ''Literature/ElFilibusterismo'': Simoun [[ItWasHisSled reveals his past as Juan Crisostomo Ibarra]] and what happened in the 13 year TimeSkip between this book and its [[Literature/NoliMeTangere prequel]], to Padre Florentino as he dies from intentionally ingested poison.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Gridlock", The Face of Boe tells the Doctor "You Are Not Alone" [[spoiler: in reference to The Master still existing trillions of years into the future as Professor [[FunWithAcronyms Yana]]]].
* In HBO's ''Series/{{Rome}}'' Gaia confesses to Pullo on her deathbed that [[spoiler: she killed Eirene to be with him. Pullo is not amused and strangles her to death]].
* Mocked on ''{{Frasier}}'' when Martin pretends to give one regarding some stolen money he recovered on a bust, but "dies" mid-sentence -- Niles was recording a video for future generations.
* An old woman attempts this in'' DesperateHousewives,'' trying to reveal some dark secret to her grand-niece. But she gets interrupted by the girl's mother and the woman dies before ever getting to tell the truth.
* An episode of ''LawAndOrder'' begins with a mugging that leads to a shootout that ends with a deathbed confession to a murder. Fontana, who convicted someone of the crime, doesn't take it well.
* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' centered on a terminally ill man giving the detectives clues to crimes he committed before he became a ReformedCriminal. It's actually a ploy to get his estranged daughter to visit him one last time. The man killed his old partner because the partner murdered a woman and was about to kill a baby. Afterwards he and his wife adopted the baby girl but never told her the truth. The dying man does not really feel sorry for any of this until he discovers that an innocent man was convicted for the murder the partner committed and spent more than twenty years in jail as a result. He then makes a full confession to everything so the detetcives can use it to free the innocent man from jail.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': As you would expect given their tendencies for deceit and paranoia, the Cardassian people have an entire ritual devoted to this known as the ''Shri-tal''. A Cardassian near death will tell all of their closely-held secrets to a family member, so that those secrets may be used against their enemies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Saul Karath in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' uses his last words to undermine Carth's fragile trust in his companions by letting him know his HeterosexualLifePartner (if you're playing male) or LoveInterest (if playing female) is [[spoiler: Revan]]. Nastier because Saul was the one who broke Carth's ability to trust in the first place...
* [[spoiler:Soap]] in ''ModernWarfare 3'' reveals to Price that [[spoiler:Makarov knows Yuri]] before he dies.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Batman obtains one from a dying criminal that relates to his parents' murder near the beginning of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Chill of the Night". He does by posing as a priest performing the last rites, and the episode makes no effort to hide the questionable morality of such an act (it's an early clue that Batman's quest for vengeance is leading him toward a slippery slope).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* [[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-26572/phouka+The+Penitent+Man.htm The Penitent Man]] A ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and '[ThePretender'' crossover, this includes a very long example as well as this line:
--> “No wonder deathbed confessions get their own category on tv tropes,” Willow muttered.
[[/folder]]

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