History DueToTheDead / Literature

* A GoodIsNotNice version happens in ''The Mandarin Cypher'' after Literature/{{Quiller}} kills a Red Chinese agent. Their local contact asks for $2000 for DisposingOfABody with the proper rites. Quiller's handler coldly refuses this shakedown "as he was ''our'' enemy, not yours" so there won't be any funeral rites.

* A GoodIsNotNice version happens in ''The Mandarin Cypher'' after Literature/{{Quiller}} kills a Red Chinese agent. Their local contact asks for $2000 for DisposingOfTheBody with the proper rites. Quiller's handler coldly refuses this shakedown "as he was ''our'' enemy, not yours" so there won't be any rites.

** Princeps Septimus is laid to rest in a grand tomb created by his father near where he was killed in battle. As there was not much left for his remains, a marble statue lies on the coffin that contains what they could recover. Also laying there are his seven bodyguards who fell with him. His father, First Lord Gaius Sextus, creates it in one day with his own magical powers. It is filled with ever-burning fires, fresh water, fruit-filled trees, and the armor and weapons of the fallen.

** The Marat are seen to be barbarians by the human Alerans because they violate this idea and would eat their enemies' remains, some would even eat the people while still alive, to take the dead enemy's strength.

** The Canim people sing blood songs for those who have died. They also sing them to those who have taken the role of Hunter, the spies, assassins, and scouts of the Canim, as to the society they are now dead. This alleviates them from the bounds of honor and duty the living must follow. When two die in battle taking down a powerful enemy, their brother, a fellow Hunter, doesn't even morn them. The hero Tavi realizes there is nothing to morn, for they died doing their duty and their sacrifices will save thousands if not millions of lives.

** A nonhuman version occurs in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' when Gavin, a wolf, went up against [[spoiler: Angua's brother Ludwig, and died. Gaspode finds his corpse, and has a natural instinct overtake his magic TalkingAnimal behaviour]] and howls. The howl carries for miles, and all know.

** In ''Literature/MenAtArms'', we learn that dwarfs have to be buried with a very good quality weapon, to face ... whatever (dwarfs don't have much in the way of superstition, but there's no point taking chances). One dwarfish ghost insists that if it doesn't happen, he will wander the night in torment, despite Death trying to convince him he doesn't ''have'' to (Carrot makes sure he gets it).

** Even years after her death, Harry continues to visit and tend to the grave of [[spoiler:Kim Delaney]] as his refusal to listen to her and her refusal to tell him what she was caught up in lead to her getting in over her head. He feels partly responsible and will tend the grave.

*** In ''Literature/BattleGround2020'', Harry invokes/demands this of Mab for [[spoiler:Murphy, after the latter is killed by a panicked Rudolph, having just taken out a Jotun with a rocket launcher]]. Mab, normally not one to take demands well, immediately acquiesces, stating that [[spoiler:Murphy]] has fought by her side and shared her enemies and thus deserves it, and has [[spoiler: her]] laid in state, with several Winter Sidhe warriors as pallbearers. This, mark you, in the middle of a literally ''apocalyptic'' battle. Later, [[spoiler: she]] is also included in a coffin full of pictures of everyone who died defending Chicago, buried in Harry's grave, with a headstone saying 'They Defended Chicago'.

* ''Literature/FireAndBlood'': It's Targaryen tradition to cremate the bodies of their dead with dragonfire. Queen Rhaenyra does so to what's left of her half-nephew Maelor, despite the fact his father has tried to usurp her throne and kill her children, because he's still a Targaryen. Maelor's father shows Rhaenyra no such kindness.

** Despite [[spoiler:everything he did to Xiao Xingchen]], the nortorious murderer Xue Yang didn't desecrate his corpse and preserved it in a coffin, hinting that he truly did cherish the person and had some good in him beneath all that evil and murderous intent.

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', [[spoiler:Cedric]]'s ghost asks Harry to retrieve his corpse, and Harry does so.

** Later in the same book, he insists on [[spoiler:digging Dobby's grave by hand, rather than using magic]]. He and his friends also remove pieces of their own clothing to give to his corpse: [[spoiler:Harry himself gives Dobby his jacket, Dean gives Dobby his hat, and arguably the biggest clothes sacrifice of the three, Ron takes off his own shoes and socks, and gives them to Dobby]].
** This is something even Voldemort respects, allowing the school, besieged by his forces, time to mourn their dead.

* In ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'s Tiger'', Sharpe shoots the Tippoo Sultan in the head and then starts looting his dying body -- but decides not to take the man's jewel-encrusted sword, instead placing it in his hand.

** In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', the New Republic sometimes [[BurialInSpace shoots dead servicemen into stars]]. Survivors of Alderaan often shoot their dead into the asteroid field that is all that remains of their home planet. Corellians, during the planet's isolationist era, while unable to return home, would cremate their dead, pressing the ashes into diamonds. Which are then set into the walls of a building on Courscant, to recreate the star field as seen over their homeworld.

* In the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'', Stormwings are half-human, half-steel-feathered-bird immortals who thrive on fear and carnage. They'll circle over a site where they expect a battle will be, and after it's over, they mix the remains of the dead with their own filth and roll around in it. (A running theme in the books is how this isn't evil, it's just their nature, no matter how distasteful it is to humans. They were ''made'' to make war more horrific.) Most victorious commanders will retrieve their own dead for a decent burial but leave the enemies to the Stormwings. Kel of ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' generally disapproves of this and is careful to dispose of even the enemy dead respectfully, but in ''Lady Knight'', after winning a battle against [[spoiler:a necromancer who murders small children so he can [[PoweredByAForsakenChild use their souls to bring war machines to life]] and sell them to a militaristic king]], she lets the Stormwings have him and his men (saying that ''someone'' should get some good out of it). FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:In ''Wolf Speaker'', Daine learned that because it's so difficult for them to have children Stormwings value the young of every species. Aly even mentions Aunt Daine told her they like children when she sees Stormwings swooping down to rescue children about to be trampled in a mob in ''Trickster's Queen''. Leaving Blayce and his men to the Stormwings could be argued to be one of the more fitting ends for him]].

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': In ''The Galileo Affair'' Father Mazzare and Lieutenant Taggart find a body. Father Mazzare speaks a benediction over the body and Taggart joins in. Mazzare notes this with some pleasure, since Taggart is a Scots Presbyterian and more likely than not to denounce the Church of Rome as the Whore of Babylon, but also a fundamentally decent man who will not deny the dead what whoever speaks up considers the right words.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', when the Andalites recover [[spoiler:Rachel]]'s body, they wrapped it up in a soft cloth as a gesture of respect, before bringing it back for [[spoiler:Cassie and Naomi]] to identify. Compare to Visser Three, who [[spoiler:killed his enemy, Elfangor, by EATING HIM]].
** The death ritual Ax and his father go through counts as well. Ax's father asks if Elfangor died well, and Ax responds that he died in battle. Dad then asks if his killer is dead, and Ax takes the vow to avenge his death. ([[spoiler:Tobias]] could have gotten in on it too, as [[spoiler: Elfangor's son]], but you don't hear much of the vengeance vow by the time [[spoiler:that's revealed to Tobias]].)
* Creator/WilliamFaulkner's ''Literature/AsILayDying'' -- the entire plot.
* In ''At the Crossing-Places'' by Kevin Crossley-Holland, sequel to ''The Seeing Stone'', a Jewish moneylender is murdered on the manor of an English lord, ca. 1200. The priest and most of the others want to leave him for the dogs, but the protagonist (the squire to the manor's lord) gets someone to help him move the body inside a building, and when the lord gets home he has the man buried just ''outside'' their own cemetery. A while later the man's young daughter comes looking to find out whether he's dead or alive. The squire shows her his grave, expecting her to be comforted that they gave him a semblance of a Christian burial, but of course she's dismayed because he should have had a Jewish burial by his family.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novels, ''Deus Encarmine'' begins on, and ''Deus Sanguinius'' ends on, shrine worlds that the Blood Angels have dedicated to the graves of their dead. In between, Rafen goes to personally pay his respects to the dead [[spoiler:Koris]]; the chaplain permits it, because while he carries out the proper rites, he is aware that many wish to do such for their friends. [[spoiler:Rafen, TalkingToTheDead, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane has Koris's communicator fall to his hand]]. He uses it, though aware that using a dead man's equipment is forbidden except under the gravest of circumstances; when he confesses to this, his superiors are grave, even though they concede that it was the gravest of circumstances and they must put the question aside until those circumstances are dealt with.]] Later, he goes to the ship to personally write [[spoiler:Koris]]'s name in the Book of the Fallen, which is usually done by the Sanguinary Priests, but is sometimes done by {{f|ireForgedFriends}}riends -- and it's done in their own blood.

* At the end of the {{Literature/Bolo}}verse novel ''Bolo Brigade'' by William J. Keith, Bolo Freddy fires a salute over the destroyed hull of his companion Bolo, Ferdy.

* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', the Iron Snakes reclaim their brothers' gene seed and bring their bodies back as ashes to pour into the ocean; when a sea serpent rises from the waves after that rite, they hail it as a good omen, reclaiming the dead. Priad brings back accounts of their deeds, and commends them.
** Later, Khiron asks [[MortonsFork to be exposed to the sea serpents]]; if they ate him, his innocence would be proven, and they would mourn him with funeral songs and rites.
* Creator/CSLewis
** In ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', one damned woman grieved so excessively over her dead son -- keeping everything in his room the same, etc. -- that her husband and daughter revolted. She is convinced that this was merely proper mourning.
** In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', the Dwarf Nikabrik teams up with a Hag and a Werewolf to resurrect the White Witch. After all three of them are killed in the melee that follows, Peter orders that the latter two be thrown in a pit, but that Nikabrik's body be given to his own people for burial rites.
** In ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', Orual sets out to find her sacrificed sister's body, for a proper burial.

* In Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''Caves of Ice'', Cain has to tell the troopers they cannot return with the body of a fallen soldier but must destroy it. Even Cain seems {{di|rtyBusiness}}sturbed by the necessity; recording it, decades later, causes him to reflect sadly on the number of dead he knew, and whom no one else would remember as soon as he died.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'' Corwin discovers the murdered body of a former lover who had been killed for a gift he gave her. He stopped his urgent journey to give her a respectful burial. Her murderer he tossed into the trees for the birds.

* In Creator/DorothyGilman's ''Literature/TheClairvoyantCountess'', Madame Karitska lays flowers on Mazda Lorvale's grave.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'':

** In ''Academ's Fury'' those [[spoiler:who were Taken by the Vord Queen in Calderon]] are laid to rest in a cave and the cave sealed.

* In Creator/StephenHunt's ''Literature/TheCourtOfTheAir'', after a tortured and murdered steam man was thrown into the river, his body was retrieved and given funeral rites before King Steam. Steam men's true names can be pronounced at these rites, though otherwise they remain unknown except to the bearer and King Steam. Thereafter they are recalled in the hymns of their people. When Slowstack laments that the steammen will not believe how the Hexamachina chose him, Molly promises to [[FamedInStory tell his story in penny dreadfuls]] to make them.
** Commodore Black, lamenting his men's death on an island in the BackStory, recounts how difficult it was for him to bury them. (Though clearly it did not stop him.)
** In Hunt's other book ''The Kingdom Beneath the Waves'', a lashlite (a dragon-like humanoid) is exiled for dooming his clan to damnation by not giving them the proper last rites. He pleads that he couldn't, as lashlite death rites require the dead to be eaten by their clansfolk, leaving "nothing for the enemy". He was the last one left alive out of hundreds, so he couldn't possibly eat them all.

** The [[spoiler: liberated cameracondas]] keep enteral vigil over the body of the woman who saved them, perfectly preserving her corpse in their paralyzing glare.

* In Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's ''Literature/{{Darkover}}'' novel ''The Spell Sword'', Damon regrets the dead bodies left out on the road; Ellemir consoles him with a proverb to the effect that if they are in Heaven, they cannot be grieved by it, and if they are in Hell, they have too much else to grieve for.
* In C. S. Goto's ''Literature/DawnOfWar'' trilogy, Jonas characterizes the rite "Beacon Psykana" as an honor paid to the dead.
* In the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works:

** Sir Sé Trelawney visits Marie de Corwyn's grave annually, leaving a floral wreath behind. They were engaged to be married [[spoiler: when she was poisoned]].

* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

--->"Shouldn't be like this. If you was a human, they'd put you in a big boat out on the tide and set fire to it, an' everyone'd see. Shouldn't just be you an' me down here in the cold."

* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' novels:

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' the heroes burn the bandits they encounter without much ado. When Ward finds the dead bodies of the population of a whole village, apparently used for an evil blood sacrifice, he burns them too, but also speaks a prayer. [[spoiler: Which is shown to actually have a spiritual effect in-universe - the funeral pyre burns much faster than would be normal]]

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' this happens a few times:

** In ''Literature/TurnCoat'' [[spoiler:Warden Donald Morgan]] dies officially as a traitor to the White Council. No one can attend his funeral for the political implications. Those who knew him best and know he allowed himself to die with falsehoods smearing his name to protect the Council and people he cares for instead had a private wake where stories were told of him in a better light.

*** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'' Lea promises Harry [[spoiler:to give Susan a good and proper burial Harry believed she was worthy of and would even take Harry there when he was ready]]. As his narration remarks, even in Winter, the cold isn't always bitter, and not every day is cruel.

*** In ''Literature/BattleGround'', Harry invokes/demands this of Mab for [[spoiler: Murphy, after the latter is killed by a panicked Rudolph, having just taken out a Jotun with a rocket launcher]]. Mab, normally not one to take demands well, immediately acquiesces, stating that [[spoiler: Murphy]] has fought by her side and shared her enemies and thus deserves it, and has [[spoiler: her]] laid in state, with several Winter Sidhe warriors as pallbearers. This, mark you, in the middle of a literally ''apocalyptic'' battle. Later, [[spoiler: she]] is also included in a coffin full of pictures of everyone who died defending Chicago, buried in Harry's grave, with a headstone saying 'They Defended Chicago'.

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': The Fremen place the bodies of the dead into machines which render them down and recover their body's water, which is then added to the tribe's stockpiles. This is regarded as not only practical (since water is so scarce on Arrakis that to let the water in a corpse go to waste is pointlessly foolish) but also a way of honouring the fallen Fremen, since they get to continue to serve the tribe even in death. It is considered a particular honour to be allowed to take the water of a non-Fremen, and the Fremen often dishonour enemies by either slitting their throats (thus wasting their water) or otherwise not reclaiming it since it is their way of saying that a fallen foe's water is not worthy of being drunk by the Fremen. When Paul Atreides attends the funeral of Jamis, the Fremen are awed when he shows the highest level of respect for Jamis by "giving water to the dead." (crying at the funeral).
* In Creator/KarlMay's "Durchs Wilde Kurdistan" (''Through Wild Kurdistan'', the second volume of the ''Literature/OrientCycle''), a religious leader of zoroastric sect is killed and everybody helps in building a cairn, sort of, to bury him. This includes the very pious Muslim Hadschi Halef Omar, the servant, protector and friend of the protagonist.

** The week long mourning rites that the church goes through following the death of Archprelate Cluvonius.
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/EndlessBlue'', Mikhail concludes, after their crash landing, that they will have to bury the dead at sea: they cannot leave them about to rot where they must live. He finds it rather hard.
* In Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman's ''Fabiola'', there are several instances of this. First there's [[spoiler: Agnes's]] funeral after [[spoiler: her martyrdom]], in which [[spoiler: her best friend Emerentiana]] is seen heavily grieving. Later, [[spoiler: TheMole Torcuatus]] walks into the funeral of [[spoiler: Cecilia, a blind Christian girl who was tortured to death after his FaceHeelTurn; [[WhatHaveIBecome he's so shocked and remorseful]] that he immediately [[HeelFaceTurn returns to the side of good]]]]. And by the end, we see [[spoiler: the former Christian hunter Fulvius returning to Rome after years WalkingTheEarth, and the first thing he does is to heavily cry and pay his respects to Agnes's grave, since he ratted her out after she refused his marriage proposal and that's what caused her death in the first place]].
* ''Literature/FireAndBlood:'' It's Targaryen tradition to cremate the bodies of their dead with dragonfire. Queen Rhaenyra does so to what's left of her half-nephew Maelor, despite the fact his father has tried to usurp her throne and kill her children, because he's still a Targaryen. Maelor's father shows Rhaenyra no such kindness.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', Gaunt insists on a naalwood coffin for [[spoiler:Corbec]].

* In the second ''Literature/GreenRider'' book, Karigan learns of a ritual the original Riders used to honor their fallen while traveling through time. At the end of the book she restarts the tradition.
* In Creator/BenCounter's ''Literature/GreyKnights'', Alaric gets permission to go where [[spoiler: Ligeia]] died in order to say a prayer commending her soul to the Emperor.
** Earlier, his RousingSpeech said, "we may never be buried beneath Titan, so we will build our own memorial here."
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'':

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's short story, ''Holy'', a Terran trade diplomat finds himself tasked to complete the death rite of an alien chieftain he is traveling with, namely taking the contents of the man's bowels to the top of the highest mountain. While being pursued by hostile rival tribes. Without use of his technology.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''The Flight of the Eisenstein'', Garro finds that the bolter given to him had belonged to his dead comrade Pyr Rahl; he reflects on how the Death Guard pass on their effects from one man to the next, [[FamedInStory to remember the dead]]. Then he sees the belongings of his dead [[OldRetainer housecarl]] Kaleb, which no one else would want to claim. Though tempted to throw it all out and so be free, that would be ignoble; he goes through it instead.
** In another Literature/HorusHeresy novel, [[EvenEvilHasStandards Horus is actually somewhat disgusted]] when Fulgrim presents him with the severed head of Ferrus Manus.

** In Creator/DanAbnett's novel ''Horus Rising'', the planet Murder had trees on which the aliens threw dead bodies before they ate them. One Marine was so horrified by the desecration of the corpses that he blew up some trees.
* In Creator/SuzanneCollins's ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Katniss adorns [[spoiler: her ally Rue's corpse]] in wildflowers. Considering the blasé way the tributes' deaths are usually treated, this also serves as a TakeThat to the Capitol, humanizing the fallen competitor in the normally disconnected Games.

* Creator/JohnCWright has a few examples:
** In the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' series:
*** In ''Orphans of Chaos'', Quentin insists on burying bodies properly.
*** In ''Fugitives of Chaos'', Morpheus [[TalkingInYourDreams recounts]] how he has performed, over the eons, the rites for his knights who died in the war -- and how an enemy tried to incite his vassals to revolt, even though it would result in the death of Morpheus's son, with the promise that the son would receive full honors.
** In ''[[Literature/CountToTheEschaton Count To A Trillion]]'', this is the one element of religion that Menelaus admires. He reads a future without religion, and his only serious objection is how to conduct a proper funeral without someone to say something proper over the grave.
* In ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Johnny and the Dead]]'', the novel revolves about the plan to dig up a cemetery to replace it with a high-rise.

* In Creator/JohnHemry's ''[[Literature/PaulSinclair A Just Determination]]'', Herdez sharply tells Paul that they must investigate a sailor's death even though blame might fall on a friend of his; they owe it to the dead man. In ''Burden of Proof'', Paul calls it to mind to encourage him to investigate another death.

* In ''Literature/TheLastChancers'' novels, Colonel Schaeffer scrupulously pardons all the dead of his penal legion. Not only does it give their families succor, it frees their souls before the Golden Throne.

* In Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Literature/LittleFuzzy'', a human kills one of the Fuzzies and claims she was just an animal and attacked him. Then the other Fuzzies gather up her body, dig a grave, and gently bury her. A policeman who arrived in time to see the burial -- and took off his beret in respect until it was over -- takes this as evidence that the human should be arrested for murder.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TheLongWatch,'' Interplanetary Patrol Lieutenant John Dahlquist, after a superior attempts to recruit him into a coup attempt, [[RebelliousRebel instead]] makes a HeroicSacrifice by barricading himself in the nuclear armory and manually disabling all the nuclear weapons, taking a fatal dose of radiation in the process. He [[DyingAlone dies alone]], sitting by the door he barricaded. It takes handling gear and a robotic piloted ship to bring his corpse to Earth for a hero's funeral.
** Dalquist is referenced in a later story with a place of honor that everytime the roll call for the patrol is read, his name is always read as on duty.
* In ''Literature/TheLostFleet'':
** the bodies of dead sailors are [[BurialInSpace ejected into space]] on a course that will take them into the sun. The Alliance's religion is based around The Living Stars so this is symbolically returning them to the stars from whence they came.

* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Malleus'', Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} at the end recounts the funeral rites for all those who died at the climax -- varied, because of their varied cultures. They range from a vast library and institution dedicated to the name of one veteran inquisitor, to a single small headstone in a lonely, wind-swept mass grave for a Cadian Inquisitor. (It's a planet where ~90% of the population are in the military, and the graves are exhumed once the names are too weathered to read, to make room for more. Quite a depressing contrast.)
* ''Literature/TheMalloreon'': The main characters' friend Toth dies in the climactic confrontation, so afterwards, they magically transform [[MysticalCave the site]] into a beautiful tomb and inter him with [[FriendshipTrinket his favourite fishing pole]].
* In ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce'' the fallen Bridgeburners are entombed in the ruins of Moon's Spawn when it is send to die over the sea. It goes to show how much Anomander Rake and the other Tiste Andii came to respect them as comrades and friends.
* In Teresa Frohock's ''Literature/MiserereAnAutumnTale'', Rachael and the others make arrangements for Pete's burial.
** Later, Rachael talks of making a cairn for a dead woman, and then sending someone to retrieve her body. [[spoiler: She does this for the dead woman's brother, not for the woman's own sake.]]

* ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' by Rex Stout:

** In the novella "Cordially Invited To Meet Death", (published in the {{omnibus}} volume ''Black Orchids'') Wolfe sends a spray of extremely rare [[note]]only three plants exist[[/note]] black orchids to the funeral of a client whose murder he could not prevent.
* In Creator/ErinMorgenstern's ''Literature/TheNightCircus'',

** [[spoiler: Tara Burgess]]'s funeral has many mourners and many flowers.
* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', they make shrouds for campers who go on quests. They use them too: for the corpses on the pyre, if recovered, and in place of the corpse, if it could not be.

* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': In ''Defender of the Crown'', Reynard shows a defeated Calvarian army a measure of respect by laying their dead to rest according to their custom: The dead are laid out respectfully in concentric circles with their weapons planted in the dirt near their heads. Ironically, his own army sees this as a sign of deliberate disrespect, as the convention in the South is to burn the dead. Leaving corpses out in the open is something they only do to criminals. It's implied that Reynard knew the effect this would have, and is having his cake and eating it too.
** Later, he requests that Isengrim be treated in a similar fashion (in the same location no less), but one of his [[PraetorianGuard Graycloaks]] objects, because "a blood-guard should be laid to rest with his own sword", and Reynard was going to lay him to rest with the blade that ''killed him''. Reynard refuses to comply, stating: "He was no blood-guard." It's implied that he meant this as a compliment.
* In the first book of ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'', the only known truce between the Tsurani and Kingdom armies was during the Siege of Crydee. With all of the dead bodies piling up outside the walls, they need to dispose of the bodies before disease spreads. One squad of Kingdom soldiers goes outside the walls unarmed to erect funeral pyres. A few hours later, a squad of unarmed Tsurani soldiers leave their camp and help set up the pyres. After the bodies are burned, the soldiers exchanged salutes and returned to their own lines, at which point the battle resumed.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Literature/ShadowsInTheMoonlight", in [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy Olivia's dream]], the PhysicalGod, [[YouAreTooLate arriving too late]] to save his son, retrieves his body.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Sharpe}}'s Tiger'' Sharpe shoots the Tippoo Sultan in the head and then starts looting his dying body -- but decides not to take the man's jewel-encrusted sword, instead placing it in his hand.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':

** Ser Loras Tyrell tells Ser Jaime Lannister in ''A Storm of Swords'': [[spoiler:"I buried him [Lord Renly Baratheon] with mine own hands, in a place he showed me once when I was a squire at Storm's End. No one shall ever find him there to disturb his rest."]]
** ''A Dance with Dragons'' has [[spoiler: Stannis' army]] lost in the North as winter descends, and some of the men are driven to cannibalism. Even though it is clear to everyone that the cannibals had ''not'' actually killed the men (they were already dead from cold), and that they were literally starving to death themselves, this is considered such an abominable desecration that the cannibals are executed.
** Thoroughly averted in ''The Princess and the Queen,'' with the body of King Viserys, who is left to rot in his bedchamber for days, denied last rites and any sort funeral preparations so the Greens can secure his son's succession over his older sister.
* ''LiteratureSoThisIsEverAfter'': Lila and Sionna insist the princess, along with the Vile One, get the funeral rites the local culture prescripes (cremation on a pyre) after they die. Arek is all for it in the latter case, so the Vile One can't come {{back from the dead}} with his magic.

* In ''Literature/TheStand'' by Creator/StephenKing, Frannie Goldsmith buries her father, a victim of the superflu informally called "Captain Trips," in the garden he tended with utmost care in life. It's a painful ordeal in every way from physical to emotional.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'' novel ''In the Lion's Mouth'', Ravn promises Donovan that after they are done, she will personally escort him home, and arrange for a proper burial.
* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' gives us a number of different funeral customs.
** From the Literature/XWingSeries, the New Republic sometimes shoots dead servicemen into stars. Survivors of Alderaan often shoot their dead into the asteroid field that is all that remains of their home planet. Corellians, during the planet's isolationist era, while unable to return home, would cremate their dead, pressing the ashes into diamonds. Which are then set into the walls of a building on Courscant, to recreate the star field as seen over their homeworld.
** In ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: City of the Dead'', Necropolis and its people were cursed long ago and told that something terrible would befall them if they did not respect their dead. Consequently they bury bodies instead of incinerating them, and insist on burying anyone who dies on Necropolis, tombstone included. They have elaborate traditions built around these things, even though most half believe at best. A villain takes advantage of these traditions to make zombies; he's killed fighting the protagonists, and his assistant dies mysteriously.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson:

* In ''[[Literature/EddieLaCrosse The Sword-Edged Blonde]]'', the protagonist wants to test a theory that the king's son wasn't actually killed as alleged, and therefore wants to crack open the tomb. Objections are raised on the grounds that it wouldn't be proper, but King Phil agrees to it — and insists on being present, since then he'll know it was done respectfully. [[spoiler:Eddie was right; the bones, on inspection, aren't those of a human baby.]]
* In Creator/JasperFforde's Literature/ThursdayNext books, a wall carries the names of fallen Jurisfiction agents.

** In the Appendices, Tolkien recounts the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, which broke out after orcs killed Thrór, heir of Durin and desecrated his body. After the final battle of that war, the dwarves had to cremate their dead, being too numerous to bury them in the traditional stone tombs, and earth burials being unacceptable. As a consequence, to say of one's ancestor that "He was a burned dwarf" came to be a boast that he had fought and died in this battle.

** And Orcs don't respect their killed enemieseither; one reason why Saruman fails to beguile Théoden in the chapter "The Voice of Saruman" is that the King is irate about the mistreatment of doorwarden Hama's corpse in the Helm's Deep battle.
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' heroes like Tùrin Turambar are given great burial mounds. In "The Akallabêth" Númenórëans start to build great tombs for their dead after their decline and fall to pride. Their descendants in the kingdom of Cardolan (next to the Shire) reverted back to mounds: hence the Barrowdowns, and the Barrowwights.

* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' books, Stormwings are half-human, half-steel-feathered-bird immortals who thrive on fear and carnage. They'll circle over a site where they expect a battle will be, and after it's over, they mix the remains of the dead with their own filth and roll around in it. (A running theme in the books is how this isn't evil, it's just their nature, no matter how distasteful it is to humans. They were ''made'' to make war more horrific.) Most victorious commanders will retrieve their own dead for a decent burial but leave the enemies to the Stormwings. Kel of ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' generally disapproves of this and is careful to dispose of even the enemy dead respectfully, but in ''Lady Knight'', after winning a battle against [[spoiler:a necromancer who murders small children so he can [[PoweredByAForsakenChild use their souls to bring war machines to life]] and sell them to a militaristic king]], she lets the Stormwings have him and his men (saying that ''someone'' should get some good out of it).
** FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: In ''Wolf Speaker'' Daine learned that because it's so difficult for them to have children Stormwings value the young of every species. Aly even mentions Aunt Daine told her they like children when she sees Stormwings swooping down to rescue children about to be trampled in a mob in ''Trickster's Queen''. Leaving Blayce and his men to the Stormwings could be argued to be one of the more fitting ends for him]].

* In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novels, Uriel goes to pay his respects before [[DeadGuyOnDisplay his primarch, Roboute Guilliman in stasis]].

* ''Literature/TheUndertaker'': It is a point of personal honour for Barnaby Gold--who was an undertaker before becoming a {{Gunslinger}}--that he personally buries the bodies of every person he kills.

* In Creator/SeananMcGuire's ''Literature/VelveteenVs The Junior Super Patriots'', Aaron jollies Velma into attending Diva's funeral out of respect for the dead.

* In Stephen Hunt's ''The Court of the Air'', steam men decry that humans loot their bodies. Silver Onestack is regarded as an abomination because humans cobbled him together from three steam men, whose souls are therefore held captive. King Steam and the steam men, while not willing to kill him, refuse to help him, and Silver Onestack thinks it's cowardice on his part not to free them by dying.

* In Creator/StephenHunt's ''The Court of the Air'', after a tortured and murdered steam man was thrown into the river, his body was retrieved and given funeral rites before King Steam. Steam men's true names can be pronounced at these rites, though otherwise they remain unknown except to the bearer and King Steam. Thereafter they are recalled in the hymns of their people. When Slowstack laments that the steammen will not believe how the Hexamachina chose him, Molly promises to [[FamedInStory tell his story in penny dreadfuls]] to make them.

* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':

*** When Cordelia, in ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'', persuades a scientist, who considers himself above such superstition but feels haunted by the death of a colleague murdered in his laboratory, to gain mental peace by making an offering to the colleague anyway, and moves the surviving scientist to a new lab;
*** In "Literature/TheMountainsOfMourning", after Miles had an infant disinterred to confirm that she'd been murdered, he realizes he doesn't have anything with him to burn. He thinks: ''Peace to you, small lady, after our rude invasions. I will give you a better sacrifice, I swear by my word as Vorkosigan. And the smoke of that burning will rise and be seen from one end of these mountains to the other.'' [[spoiler:This tradition plays a part in the eventual punishment of the culprit.]]
*** When Miles burns an offering to his grandfather (with a bit of RageAgainstTheHeavens, as he's including his proof that he graduated the military academy, and yells "Are you happy now?");
*** An attempt to burn an offering to the same infant in ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' helps spark Miles's recovery from his life going off-kilter;
*** We hear in ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'' that prior to that book, Miles went with Duv Galeni to burn an offering at the site of the Solstice Massacre--where Duv's aunt died, and for which Miles's father was (mostly unjustly) blamed.
*** In ''Literature/GentlemanJoleAndTheRedQueen'' it was mentioned that at Aral Vorkosigan's funeral his widow Cordelia cut off all her waist-length hair "nearly to the root" to burn as an offering. No protests were made and no questions asked.
** In ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice'', Miles Vorkosigan insists on burying [[spoiler:Sergeant Bothari]]'s body in a grave he dug himself. He explains to his mother that [[spoiler:Bothari]] told him that "blood washes away sin," and he feels responsible for the death, so he literally works until his hands bleed. Cordelia's relative silence is interesting, given that [[spoiler:''she'' was the one who told Bothari that, in a very different context--to help him recover after he'd saved her life by killing his sadistic commander.]] This exchange also opened with Cordelia telling Miles that he could dig the hole in a few seconds with a plasma arc, something that Aral had told her when they dug the grave for her dead crewman, on the day they met.
** ''Literature/{{Cetaganda}}'' takes place during the funeral rites of the Empress Dowager of Cetaganda. Miles and Ivan were sent to pay proper respects.
** In ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', after some advice from Cordelia, Ekaterin gets Miles to agree to a small wedding: since she's a widow, they would have to wait for a large one.
** In ''Literature/CaptainVorpatrilsAlliance'', it is explained that Lady Alys burns an offering for her late husband every year on the anniversary of his death, on the exact spot where he died (she has enough pull to get traffic diverted for an hour or so at dawn). Even worse, her husband was shot in the head with a nerve disruptor, which burned his hair, meaning she is reliving the same scent over and over. After Ivan gets married, she passes on the chore to him, if he wants to continue the tradition. (He decides not to, as it is a [[BirthDeathJuxtaposition depressing way to start a birthday]].)

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':

* ''[[Literature/Babel2022 Babel]]'' by Creator/RebeccaFKuang: The day after the [[EvilColonialist British]] destroy a [[spoiler:secret [[LaResistance Hermes Society]]]] base, the main characters are horrified beyond words to see the British looting the ruins, leaving the dead in the rubble.

* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Malleus'', Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} at the end recounts the funeral rites for all those who died at the climax -- varied, because of their varied cultures.
** Ranging from a vast library and institution dedicated to the name of one veteran inquisitor, to a single small headstone in a lonely, wind-swept mass grave for a Cadian Inquisitor. (It's a planet where ~90% of the population are in the military, and the graves are exhumed once the names are too weathered to read, to make room for more. Quite a depressing contrast.)

* During the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Battle of Hogwarts]], Voldemort tries to make himself into the good guy by pausing the battle, supposedly so the heroes could collect their dead. Really, though, he's just waiting for Harry to come face him -- and then proceeds to desecrate Harry's corpse after killing him. [[spoiler:Except that Harry's ''still alive.'']] Also, several characters express disgust at the fact that Voldemort broke open Dumbledore's tomb to obtain the Elder Wand.

[[/folder]]

* ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'': At the end of ''Pilgrimage of the Sacred and Profane'', mercenary Granny Viper is murdered by an assassin after completing her last job, escorting a girl named Tae to safety. The next day, Tae drives a wagon carrying Granny Viper's coffin to the graveyard, with D escorting it, hat removed (despite him suffering ''greatly'' when exposed to sunlight). The lawyer who arranged the assassin expects the Bullow Brothers to kill D while he's vulnerable. Instead, they doff their hats and join the procession.

* In the medieval ChivalricRomance ''Sir Amadas'', Sir Amadas pays a dead man's debts so that he can be buried. A White Knight appears to help him. After Sir Amadas has married a princess, the knight reveals that he is the ghost of the dead man, come to aid him as a reward for his deed.

* In Creator/SuzanneCollins's ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Katniss adorns [[spoiler: her ally Rue's corpse]] in wildflowers. Considering the blasé way the tributes' deaths are usually treated, this also serves as a wicked TakeThat to the Capitol, humanizing the fallen competitor in the normally disconnected Games.
* In Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheIliad'', Patrocles's funeral -- and Hector's, once Achilles gave it up.
** Achilles abuses and mangles the corpse of Hector after killing him, in revenge for the death of his friend/lover Patroclus, making this OlderThanFeudalism. Achilles' attempt to mutilate Hector's corpse by dragging it behind his chariot three laps around the city was stopped by the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Gods]] themselves, who used their powers to keep the body untouched. They don't agree on much else, but proper treatment of the honorable dead is very high on their standards of behavior.

* The conflict of the last book of ''Literature/TheThebaid'' centers around the women of Argos trying to bury their husbands despite King Creon making that a capital crime. Just like in ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', the daughter of Oedipus rebels against Creon in order to bury her brother, but unlike in that play, Theseus and the army of Athens arrive to set Creon straight.

*** And Orcs don't respect their killed enemieseither; one reason why Saruman fails to beguile Théoden in the chapter "The Voice of Saruman" is that the King is irate about the mistreatment of doorwarden Hama's corpse in the Helm's Deep battle.

* In the Literature/{{Deryni}} works:

* In one of the early ''Literature/DonCamillo''-stories, the old schoolteacher Signora Christina dies, and asks with her dying breath to have her coffin draped in the flag of the old Italian monarchy. Several leading local political figures, both on the left and the republican right, protest this, until the Communist mayor Peppone declares that it's a good thing he is the mayor and not them, because he will make sure Signora Christina goes to her grave with her flag on the coffin, and personally kick the ass of anyone who tries to start anything over it. In the end, Peppone helps carry Signora Christina to her grave, flag and all, wearing the red scarf he wore as a Communist partisan. The narrator notes with pleasure that even in places where the living fight for any and no reason, the dead are still respected.

* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', the Fremen place the bodies of the dead into machines which render them down and recover their body's water, which is then added to the tribe's stockpiles. This is regarded as not only practical (since water is so scarce on Arrakis that to let the water in a corpse go to waste is pointlessly foolish) but also a way of honouring the fallen Fremen, since they get to continue to serve the tribe even in death. It is considered a particular honour to be allowed to take the water of a non-Fremen, and the Fremen often dishonour enemies by either slitting their throats (thus wasting their water) or otherwise not reclaiming it since it is their way of saying that a fallen foe's water is not worthy of being drunk by the Fremen. When Paul Atreides attends the funeral of Jamis, the Fremen are awed when he shows the highest level of respect for Jamis by "giving water to the dead." (A.K.A. crying at the funeral)
* In Creator/KarlMay's "Durchs Wilde Kurdistan" (''Through Wild Kurdistan'', the second volume of the Literature/OrientCycle), a religious leader of zoroastric sect is killed and everybody helps in building a cairn, sort of, to bury him. This includes the very pious Muslim Hadschi Halef Omar, the servant, protector and friend of the protagonist.

** Later in the same book, he insists on [[spoiler:digging Dobby's grave by hand, rather than using magic]]. [[spoiler: He and his friends also remove pieces of their own clothing to give to Dobby's corpse: Harry himself gives Dobby his jacket, Dean gives Dobby his hat, and arguably the biggest clothes sacrifice of the three, Ron takes off his own shoes and socks, and gives them to Dobby]].
** This is something even [[BigBad Voldemort]] respects, allowing the school, besieged by his forces, time to mourn their dead.
* In the first book of ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Lyra puts a gold coin bearing [[spoiler: Tony Makarios']] lost daemon's name into his mouth, treating him with the same respect that is traditionally given to Scholars at Jordan College. The body is then cremated by the gyptians.
** In the third book, Iorek goes to the magically preserved body of [[spoiler: Lee Scoresby]] to mourn his death by eating his heart.
* In Creator/{{Orson Scott Card}}'s short story, ''Holy'', a Terran trade diplomat finds himself tasked to complete the death rite of an alien chieftain he is traveling with, namely taking the contents of the man's bowels to the top of the highest mountain. While being pursued by hostile rival tribes. Without use of his technology.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', having no other options, they put [[spoiler:Boromir]]'s body in a boat and send it down a waterfall, as the river would keep the orcs from it.
** In the Appendices, Tolkien recounts the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, which broke out after orcs killed Thrór, heir of Durin and desecrated his body. After the final battle of that war, the dwarves had to cremate their dead, being too numerous to bury them in the traditional stone tombs, and earth burials being unacceptable. As a consequence, to say of one's ancestor that "He was a burned dwarf" came to be a boast that he had fought and died in this battle.
** It's made very clear that in the eyes of Men, Orcs do ''not'' merit Due to the Dead: at one point the characters encounter a battlefield where the victorious Rohirrim have piled the vanquished Orcs' bodies up and burned them, leaving an Orc's severed head on a spike. (It's interesting to compare this to Tolkien's depiction of the siege at Minas Tirith, where the bombarding of the fortress with severed ''human'' heads is portrayed in very emotive terms as a particularly horrifying and barbaric act.)
*** And Orcs don't practise Due to the Dead either; as well as the example cited above, one reason why Saruman fails to beguile Théoden in the chapter "The Voice of Saruman" is that the King is irate about the mistreatment of doorwarden Hama's corpse in the Helm's Deep battle.
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' heroes like Tùrin Turambar are given great burial mounds. In "The Akallabêth" Númenórëans start to build great tombs for their dead after their decline and fall to pride.
*** Their descendants in the kingdom of Cardolan (next to the Shire) reverted back to mounds: hence the Barrowdowns, and the Barrowwights.
* In ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' the bodies of dead sailors are [[BurialInSpace ejected into space]] on a course that will take them into the sun. The Alliance's religion is based around The Living Stars so this is symbolically returning them to the stars from whence they came.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/ShadowsInTheMoonlight", in [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy Olivia's dream]], the PhysicalGod, [[YouAreTooLate arriving too late]] to save his son, retrieves his body.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Sharpe}} Sharpe's Tiger]]'' Sharpe shoots the Tippoo Sultan in the head and then starts looting his dying body -- but decides not to take the man's jewel-encrusted sword, instead placing it in his hand.

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse gives us a number of different funeral customs.

* In Creator/TamoraPierce's Literature/TortallUniverse books, Stormwings are half-human, half-steel-feathered-bird immortals who thrive on fear and carnage. They'll circle over a site where they expect a battle will be, and after it's over, they mix the remains of the dead with their own filth and roll around in it. (A running theme in the books is how this isn't evil, it's just their nature, no matter how distasteful it is to humans. They were ''made'' to make war more horrific.) Most victorious commanders will retrieve their own dead for a decent burial but leave the enemies to the Stormwings. Kel of ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' generally disapproves of this and is careful to dispose of even the enemy dead respectfully, but in ''Lady Knight'', after winning a battle against [[spoiler:a necromancer who murders small children so he can [[PoweredByAForsakenChild use their souls to bring war machines to life]] and sell them to a militaristic king]], she lets the Stormwings have him and his men (saying that ''someone'' should get some good out of it).

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the siege of Gondor features heads, struck from the dead, being launched into the city via catapult to horrify the defenders.
** In ''Two Towers'' when Théoden throws off Saruman's enchanting voice, he cites the mutilation of Hama's corpse (along with the [[ChildrenAreInnocent dead children]]) as proof that Saruman does not deserve peace.
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', we have such examples as [[spoiler: Fingon]]'s body being beating into the ground even after he dies, and [[spoiler:Finduilas']] body being pinned to a tree for her rescuers to find. And after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, the bodies of the fallen Men and Elves are piled up into a hill as a monument to Morgoth's victory. There's also a thwarted example. After (narrowly) killing Fingolfin, Morgoth ordered his werewolves to tear apart his body and eat it, only for Thorondor to swoop in and carry Fingolfin's body away to where it could be properly honored.