-->''Only the dead have seen the end of war.''
--->--'''George Santayana''' (often misattributed to {{Plato}})

A dead character has a peaceful expression. Sometimes noble and dignified as well.

May follow GoOutWithASmile, ObiWanMoment, and BigSleep, but may also have died in visible misery and pain, with DiesWideOpen. May be part of ThisWasHisTrueForm, and result from DyingAsYourself.

The mundane (or MaybeMagicMaybeMundane) equivalent of DiedHappilyEverAfter... and it certainly can be TruthInTelevision. Not to be confused with DropDeadGorgeous, where the female body remains a sex object even when it's dead.

RealLife embalmers are paid good money to achieve this effect. The muscles in the face tend to constrict slightly during the embalming process, often resulting in the appearance of a faint smile on the corpse.

'''As a DeathTrope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

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!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* How the eponymous boxing legend dies in ''AshitaNoJoe''. He seems to be peaceful, knowing he has won the match despite it costing his life.
** That scene has inspired countless homage, from the tearjerkingly straight such as [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] to the ones played for laughs such as [[LuckyStar Animate Tenchou]].
* Grimmer in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', upon finally feeling emotion.
* [[MauveShirt Buccanneer]], [[AlasPoorVillain King]] [[DissonantSerenity Bradley]], and [[BigGood Hohenheim]] all go out like this as ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'' finally comes to a close. All three are smiling and lying on the ground very calmly and serenely.
* ''OnePiece'' seems to say that anyone with the Will of D tend to go out like this. Look at Ace and his parents all smiling and at peace.
* Babel from ''SaintSeiya''.
* Togame in ''{{Katanagatari}}'' after her DyingDeclarationOfLove.
* In ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', [[CreepyChild Maria]] is found this way in the fourth arc. Battler notes that the murderer apparently went out of their way to make her look that way, and it actually looks pretty squicky, since she's lying so peacefully in the lap of her mother, whose face was half-blown off, surrounded by adults whose faces were half-blown off.
* In {{Naruto}}, Chiyo's brother Ebizo laments that she's not pretending to be dead, but notes how peaceful she looks.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Shirley after giving Lelouch a DyingDeclarationOfLove and dying in his arms.
* Nuriko of ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' dies smiling. Another Suzaku warrior even comments how peaceful and beautiful he looks in death.
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[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* Although we don't see his face, the first Dove (of the superhero duo Hawk And Dove) is at peace in death, to the point of being one of the few dead characters that were immune to being raised as a zombie by the dark-emotion-powered Black Rings in BlackestNight. Considering he was an avatar of peace, this is appropriate.
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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Parodied in ''Film/ScaryMovie 3'': "My sweet sweet Brenda---She looks so peaceful..." (cut to Brenda with a horrified expression and hands like claws)
* When the BadAss Vampire Lord David finaly died in ''Film/TheLostBoys'' he mysteriously lost his wicked stubble and looked about ten years younger - A Lost Boy if you will. A lot of people has said that the perfect ending of that movie would be a shot of a "Missing Child"-Poster from 1950 with Innocent David on it.
* In ''Film/AmericanBeauty'', the peaceful face of Lester in his moment of death is not only the result of his growth through the entire film, it also pretty much encapsulates the ''theme'' (the spiritual joy of finding "beauty" in the seemingly banal or even supposedly ugly products of everyday life).
* In ''TheStormRiders'', a martial artist uses magic to allow his dead girlfriend to rest peacefully.
* The justification for the midpoint plot in {Brainstorm}; seeing the peaceful expression on a just-deceased colleague's face inspires ChristopherWalken to find out why "Why do you have to die to let go?"
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[[folder:Literature]]
* In JamesSwallow's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} novel ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Sanguinius]]'', when Rafen goes to [[DueToTheDead pay his respects to]] his dead mentor (and engage in TalkingToTheDead), he is struck by how peaceful he looks, unlike the contortion racking him, as he died FightingFromTheInside to warn Rafen.
* In the appendices of Creator/JRRTolkien's ''TheLordOfTheRings'', it is said that Aragorn's face upon succumbing to death struck all who saw it as peaceful and noble.
** Likewise with Boromir.
** But subverted with those in the Dead Marches.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TheRoadsMustRoll'', a man is murdered while trying to negiotiate with the striking workers. The main character is struck by the nobility of his expression, seeing him dead.
* DiscussedTrope in ''TheOutsiders''. The kid who dies "Didn't look peaceful. He just looked dead."
* In ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of the Island]]'', Ruby Gillis finally admits to Anne that she is dying and confesses it terrifies: all she will lose in life, and she has not readied herself for {{Heaven}}. But after she dies that night, her face shows that Death brought a wisdom that years of experience might have earned her.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Tywin Lannister appears to have a faint smile while lying in state, and his children note how inappropriate the expression seems on him.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', surprisingly enough for all those who first knew him through PopculturalOsmosis.
* In ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', when Paul is killed, his facial expression is described as "calm, as though almost glad the end had come."
* In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's ''The First Circle'', a character freezes to death in a cell, and when they took him out, he was smiling. (The readers know that he had come to the conclusion that he had done the right thing.)
* In ''Eragon'', Brom gets encased in a diamond tomb after he dies. Eragon comments that he looks so peaceful.
* In Teresa Frohock's ''Literature/MiserereAnAutumnTale'', Rachael notes, on Catarina's death that the woman doesn't look peaceful.
* In Angie Sage's ''[[Literature/SeptimusHeap Physik]]'', after Alice takes a bullet for Jenna.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Remus and Tonks are described as "pale and still and peaceful-looking" in death.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/StreetScene'', Rose says of her mother: "She looks so quiet and natural. You'd think she was asleep."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Videogames]]
* The Boss in ''MetalGearSolid3''. Hell, she was at peace with the idea that Snake would kill her for weeks and even comments that their fight together should be the best ten minutes of their lives.
* [[HauntingGround Daniella/The Maid]] screams when she is [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]], but then begins to smile as she dies, prompting Fiona to comment that she's smiling from ear to ear, and looks much more relaxed and peaceful (should you choose to examine her body).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. Shifu looks like he has died with a serene expression on his face and then he opens his eyes, saying that he's not dead ("You idiot") he's at peace.
* Discussed in WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish". Marge lets Homer sleep in on what he believes will be the last day of his life because he "looked so peaceful lying there". "There'll be plenty of time for that!"
[[/folder]]

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