History Main / BeatStillMyHeart

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Trafalgar Law is able to do this to people using his Devil Fruit ability. Granted, due to the nature of the power, this doesn't kill the person unless you then destroy the heart. He can even switch people's hearts around to pull a FreakyFridayFlip.

* During the Hunter Exam in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Killua must fight against a criminal who can crush limbs, and [[AxCrazy very much loves it]]. His response? [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Taking his heart out, still beating, and destroying it in front of his face]]. The criminal was alive, stumbling around, and begging Killua to give him his heart back until the moment it was crushed, at which point he [[NoOntologicalInertia fell down dead]], shocking everyone who was sure that it would be the other way around [[DissonantSerenity (except Gon in the 1999 anime). ]]

* In Volume 5 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure: Gold Experience'', Bruno Buccarati uses his Stand's ability to create zippers to remove his own heart and ''pick it apart'', just to stop it from beating and thereby alerting the enemy of his position. Earlier, during ''Stardust Crusaders'', Jotaro had his Stand grab his own heart and stop it for the very same reason.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

[[caption-width-right:250:''[[Music/AesopRock Today my heart beats only out of habit!]]'']]

* In the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'' issue, [[spoiler:the Shade's heart gets ripped out by the zombie Black Lantern Starman... then the heart promptly engulfs the zombie, trapping it in the Shade's shadow void.]]
%%* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Delirium.

* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsBountyHunters'' Issue #18, the bounty hunter [[spoiler:Beilert Valance]] has his heart removed, and placed in a vat onboard the ''Executor'', Darth Vader's starship.

* Attempted and failed by Lord Vladimir Smurfula in the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Smurphony Of The Night" when he tries to magically rip Empath's heart out of his chest, only to be [[HolyBurnsEvil repelled by Empath's holy symbol]].

--> '''Hotel Concierge:''' ''And would sir like his box of... ''heart''... polished?''
* In Chapter 24 of ''Fanfic/LuzBelosPrincessOfTheBoilingIsles'', Burner was forced to work for Nathaniel in exchange for his heart being returned to him.

* ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'': There is also a giant beating heart in the depths of a Strogg Factory, You have to destroy it before you can move on by increasing the electric shocks it receives to keep it beating until it beats so fast that it dies of a heart attack. To make it creepier, you can hear a distant scream from some unseen source as you do this.

%%* Happens in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. Twice.

* ''{{VideoGame/Which}}'': There is a still beating disembodied human heart in one of the rooms. It is one of the two body parts you can give the woman.

** In the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route, [[http://i.imgur.com/y1vK66r.png this]] is how [[spoiler: Gilgamesh]] kills [[spoiler: Ilya.]] In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynHRFInVHuY movie version]], it gets "upgraded" to AndShowItToYou.
* In ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'''s first route, Father Trifa kills [[spoiler:Lisa by ripping her still-beating heart clean out of her chest and then using it to open the [[GeometricMagic fourth Swastika]]]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' revolved around "Ricardio, the Heart Guy", who as the name suggests was a guy who happened to be a living heart. Turns out [[spoiler:he used to be the heart of the Ice King, brought to life by a spell gone awry. He makes a second appearance much later on, setting up a WombLevel-like lair and replacing his limbs with muscular arms and legs...[[AttackItsWeakPoint but still leaving his body exposed.]]]]
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', [[TheJuggernaut Rampage's]] [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Spark]] is treated by [[MagnificentBastard Megatron]] this way. Since his Spark is said to have mutated (and supposedly indestructible) Megatron cuts it in half with an Energon knife and keeps one half [[SoulJar in a spiked cage]] which he squeezes at will to keep Rampage under his control.
** ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' features Jetfire rescuing Inferno's spark after Inferno does a sun-dive. Good news for Inferno, but Jetfire holding Inferno's life essence casually in his hand is a bit weird.
%%** The second movie used it on two separate occasions.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', this is the [[KilledOffForReal final fate]] of [[spoiler: King Gorilla]] at the hands of [[spoiler: The Investors]].

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' parodies this, when Steve the Monkey, [[spoiler:while fighting a semi-sentient Gummy Bear, shoves his hand into its "chest" tears out a glob shaped like a heart, and ''eats it''.]]

* Music/AvengedSevenfold's song about murder, necrophilia, zombies, and love, "Little Piece of Heaven" includes this gem:
-->"Ripped her heart out right before her eyes/ Eyes over easy, eat it, eat it, eat it!"

* When the {{Mayincatec}} cut out the hearts of their sacrificial victims they will often be shown still beating.

* In the fifth ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' movie, [[spoiler:Araya does this to Touko. Her heart keeps beating until he crushes it.]]

* Also during one of the early episodes of ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', since a Methuselah can't be killed by just shooting it or cutting it, you have to do something to the heart. Abel Nightroad does it as a finishing move, and [[AndShowItToYou rips out the Methuselah's heart, holds it in his hand right in front of the Methuselah and crushes it while the other watches.]]

* In Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', the killer-protagonist imagines he [[TerribleTicking still hears]] the beating of his victim's heart.

* One of the "decorations" in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' ''1'' & ''2'' is a still-beating heart on a pedestal.

* 'The Heart of Darkness' from ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''. In the first game, it was nothing more than an [[OneUp extra life]]/healing-potion with creepy graphics and a nifty description: "Torn from the chest of the greatest vampire to have ever existed, Janos Audron, the Heart of Darkness restores vampiric un-life. Life is precious, Janos discovered, as it was torn -- throbbing and bleeding -- from his own body." In the later games, it becomes an important MacGuffin, since Janos Audron can be revived by putting the still-beating heart back into his chest. Raziel eventually [[spoiler:gets to watch his past self tear Janos' heart from his body, and later learns that Mortanius used the Heart of Darkness to resurrect Kain...by placing it inside him.]] Further hilariously touched on during the outtakes of the ''Soul Reaver 2'' voice sessions for mook dialogue for the scene for Janos: "Look at his black heart! How still it beats!... How it STILL beats!"

* [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ninja Gaiden on Xbox]] had an upside-down tower in what I'm assuming was Hell that had the walls of a floor covered with these. And they follow you closely.
* Part of the game mechanics in ''Obscure: The Aftermath'': each dispatched monster [[EverythingFades dissolves into black powder]], leaving behind a still-beating heart. A few scenes after this is introduced, the player is given a syringe with which fluid can be drawn from the heart to create a healing serum.

* In ''Shadow Warrior'', one of the 'weapons' you could acquire -- the final one, in fact -- was the still-beating heart of a type of demon. By squeezing the heart, you could summon a demon to fight for you. The demon in question is called a Ripper and is so named because if it kills you, it will rip out ''your'' heart.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Duane uses a bit of electricity to get two beats out of a long dead giant ogre's heart in order to close a valve on a monster running through it.

* [[ComicBook/TheSandman Delirium]].

* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'': Shade's heart is stolen by a squatter in his home after a battle. He embarks on [[IncrediblyLamePun a half-hearted rescue of it, and when he finally catches up to it, has a heart-to-heart talk with it]]. [[spoiler:And then steps on it when he decides he's better off heartless.]] It appears from time to time, still beating, moving under its own power, and even has internal monologues.

* 'The Heart of Darkness' from ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''. In the first game, it was nothing more than an [[OneUp extra life]]/healing-potion with creepy graphics and a nifty description: "Torn from the chest of the greatest vampire to have ever existed, Janos Audron, the Heart of Darkness restores vampiric un-life. Life is precious, Janos discovered, as it was torn -- throbbing and bleeding -- from his own body." In the later games, it becomes an important MacGuffin, since Janos Audron can be revived by putting the still-beating heart back into his chest. Raziel eventually [[spoiler:gets to watch his past self tear Janos' heart from his body, and later learns that Mortanius used the Heart of Darkness to resurrect Kain...by placing it inside him.]] Further hilariously touched on during the outtakes of the ''Soul Reaver 2'' voice sessions for mook dialogue for the scene for Janos: "Look at his black heart! How still it beats!....How it STILL beats!"
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'': Hectan's heart continues to beat after his body melts away.

* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsBountyHunters'' Issue #18, the bounty hunter [[spoiler:Beilert Valance]] has his heart removed, and placed in a vat inside the *Executor*, Darth Vader's starship.

* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'' discovers that his heart has been stolen by a squatter in his home after a battle. He embarks on a half-hearted rescue of it and when he finally catches up to it, has a heart-to-heart talk with it. [[spoiler:And then steps on it when he decides he's better off heartless]]. It appears from time to time, still beating, moving under its own power, and even has internal monologues.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' has a room just before the final boss fight with a giant, beating heart.

** The big {{McGuffin}} claimed by the BigBad of the ''Mists of Pandaria'' expansion was the still-beating heart of a long-dead [[EldritchAbomination Old God]].

* During the Hunter Exam in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Killua must fight against a criminal who can crush limbs, and [[AxCrazy very much loves it]]. His response? [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Taking his heart out, still beating, and destroying it in front of his face]]. The criminal was alive, stumbling around, and begging Killua to give him his heart back until the moment it was crushed, at which point he [[NoOntologicalInertia fell down dead]]. No one present seemed confused or even surprised by this, including the guy who's studying to be a doctor. Apparently, in their universe, this is normal cardiac behavior.

... Hey, what's that thump-thump noise?

* Dark Schneider, the title character of ''Manga/{{Bastard}}'', is also known as 'The Immortal', for very good reasons. When he tears his own heart out to save his adopted daughter/lover, Arshes Nei, we are treated to a double-dip into this trope. Not only does his heart continue to beat for a while outside his body, splattering blood all over her, but later, when he regenerates, he couldn't just regrow his heart inside his body, nooo... instead, his heart reforms in the air over his gaping chest-wound, and starts BEATING, before tendrils shoot out of the hole to grasp the newly-formed heart...

* On a lighter note, [[http://history.missouristate.edu/jchuchiak/aztecs40.gif Aztec sacrifices]] involved ripping out the heart while it was still beating. [[TruthInTelevision It happened]].

* Bond gets threatened with this in ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', as the villain orders TheDragon:
--> "When you remove Mr. Bond's heart, there should be just enough time for him to watch it stop beating."

** Anybody else notice [[GroinAttack where it landed]]? Granted, it had no actual force of impact, and so it probably didn't physically hurt the unlucky target, but smart money says that guard couldn't get it up again for weeks.

** Bonus points that the victim ''still'' manages to hold a philosophical conversation. Welcome to the Nasuverse!

* During the Hunter Exam in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Killua must fight against a criminal who can crush limbs, and [[AxCrazy very much loves it]]. His response? [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Taking his heart out, still beating, and destroying it in front of his face]].
** To drive the oddity of this example home: The criminal was alive, stumbling around, and begging Killua to give him his heart back until the moment it was crushed, at which point he [[NoOntologicalInertia fell down dead]]. No one present seemed confused or even surprised by this, including the guy who's studying to be a doctor. Apparently, in their universe, this is normal cardiac behavior.
** Hey, this is a world where [[FunctionalMagic Nen]] is regularly used by the characters. Who's to say that the criminal wasn't a Nen user or something?

* In a {{filler}} episode of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', a ninja disguised as Kabuto links his heart to Naruto's. Any damage to his heart also happens to Naruto's. The guy ''pulls his heart out of his chest, arteries intact'', and as such, it is still beating. The scene (which was essentially impossible to tone down in a way that doesn't make the scene incomprehensible) is why they put a {{Content Warning|s}} at the beginning of the episode.
** Near the end of the episode, [[spoiler:the ninja in question is revealed to be a ''female'' -- the same one that had tried killing Naruto and co. in the previous episode. From the context of said episode, she most likely ''died'' soon after using what her accomplices referred to as a dangerous technique, but considering that a later scene (if not the next one) shows that said accomplices had brought her to Orochimaru, known by fans to have some medical experience...]]
** In Shippuden, [[PsychoForHire Kakuzu]] tears the hearts out of his enemies and absorbs them into his own body to extend his life. In a modified GoryDiscretionShot one can see him holding a still-beating heart in his hand.

** See above ShoutOut by ''Literature/BridgeOfBirds''.

** Long before that, ''Film/FrankensteinConquersTheWorld'' had the immortal heart of FrankensteinsMonster shipped to Japan by the Nazis. Unfortunately, the lab the Japanese were examining it in was in ''Hiroshima''...

* In ''Literature/BridgeOfBirds'' by Barry Hughart removing one's heart is a key to invulnerability. Alas, the ritual renders the person heartless both literally and [[ImmortalityImmorality figuratively]]. Also, the heartless tend to long for the "cold" things (treasure) above all else.
** Also the usual fairy-tale choice of hiding places for the removed heart is lampshaded:

* In Lawrence Watt-Evans's ''The Obsidian Chronicles'' there exists a form of magic that allows a person to remove their heart from their body in order to protect it from harm and thus their lives. This proves to be an effective method of purging the human body of [[BodyHorror dragon venom]].
** Similar magic is also used by Ethshar wizards in ''Night of Madness'' -- the wizard removes and hides his heart. (We don't see the ritual or the removed heart, so whether the heart remains beating or not is a matter of speculation.) This magic is used as a protection against warlocks, who usually kill by telekinetically inducing a heart attack.

* In the ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "Power Hungry", a heart sitting on a lab table starts beating due to "residual energy" from the [[PowerIncontinence power incontinent]] [[ShockAndAwe electrokinetic]] who killed the owner.
** And in the [[MusicalEpisode musical]] [[NoirEpisode noir]] episode "Brown Betty", a "glass" heart is pulled out of several characters' chests, switched around, popped back in, etc., etc., and continues to beat throughout.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the Queen does this so that she has power over them and keeps the hearts in a special vault and it's revealed that this vault also exists in the real world. Her (far more evil) mother was also fond of this and also had a special vault for them [[spoiler: which apparently included her own]]. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath The most excruciating deaths seen on the shown is when someone's heart is crushed]] a move that not even Regina herself ''ever'' used...and was how her first TrueLove was killed by [[AbusiveParent Cora]].

** And in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the Handyman is a human grafted into a crude cyborg body, including a glass case on the front containing his still-beating heart. Three guesses as to where its weak point is...

** There is also a giant beating heart in the depths of a Strogg Factory in ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', You have to destroy it before you can move on by increasing the electric shocks it receives to keep it beating until it beats so fast that it dies of a heart attack. To make it creepier, you can hear a distant scream from some unseen source as you do this.

** If you examine the heart you get to see it beating. And it's nightmarish.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' (the original) has a heart separated from its owner, Tubba Blubba. The idea is that [[SoulJar he can't be defeated as long as his heart is hidden elsewhere]]. Like most things in the game, the heart has its own personality and has to be fought.
** And it has a lot more HP than its owner does.
* In ''Shadow Warrior'', one of the 'weapons' you could acquire -- the final one, in fact -- was the still-beating heart of a type of demon. By squeezing the heart, you could summon a demon to fight for you. Nifty.
** The demon in question is called a Ripper and is so named because if it kills you, it will rip out ''your'' heart.

* Happens in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. Twice.
** It's weird to say this, but one occurrence of this is actually the most beautiful and touching moment in the series.

* In ''Wizards And Warriors'' (the 2000 Heuristic Park title), the lich G'Ezzered Ra, at the end of the game, has had his still-beating heart ripped from his chest by his archnemesis Cet, and the lich is now chained to a wall for an eternity of agony.
** A female character can help him out [[spoiler:by finding the heart in the pyramid, burning it in the Urn of Black Flame, thus killing him and setting his spirit free. Doing so earns her the rank of Valkyrie.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', [[TheJuggernaut Rampage's]] [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Spark]] is treated by [[MagnificentBastard Megatron]] this way. Since his Spark is said to have mutated (and supposedly indestructible) Megatron cuts it in half with an Energon knife and keeps one half [[SoulJar in a spiked cage]] which he squeezes at will to keep Rampage under his control.
** And ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' features Jetfire rescuing Inferno's spark after Inferno does a sun-dive. Good news for Inferno, but Jetfire holding Inferno's life essence casually in his hand is a bit weird.
** The ''Transformers'' series seems to be quite fond of the trope. The second movie used it on two separate occasions.

* There's the classic Bill Cosby routine about him listening to a radio drama about a chicken heart that not only keeps beating...but grows...and grows...and grows. I forget if that was an actual episode he was remembering.
** ''Lights Out'', episode "The Chicken Heart".

* Kano's fatality in the first ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' is to rip out his opponent's still-beating heart. Jarek and Kobra both used this as one of their fatalities, as well. This is {{Hand Wave}}d by how they're also members of the Black Dragon, like Kano.

*** A non-Black Dragon example: Kotal Kahn from Mortal Kombat X has this as a fatality as well, with added squishing of the heart, dripping the blood in his mouth. [[{{Mayincatec}} Not surprising considering the civilizations he was based on.]]
** Almost every fighting game with fatalities has used a similar move at least once. ''VideoGame/MaceTheDarkAge'' gives it to the heroic priest. ''VideoGame/PrimalRage'' and ''VideoGame/WarGods'' have variants where the character eats the heart afterward.

** In Japan Frog Sashimi is served with the heart still beating (also considered a delicacy).
* On a lighter note, [[http://history.missouristate.edu/jchuchiak/aztecs40.gif Aztec sacrifices]] involved ripping out the heart while it was still beating. Yeah, [[TruthInTelevision it happened]].
** Debated. This may be a case of an UnreliableNarrator. The Spanish reported that this was how Aztec sacrifices were performed, but the method of removing the heart does not seem conducive to the kind of quick removal necessary (i.e. they went through the ribs, which would take some time to break). Furthermore, most Aztec artwork shows the sacrifices being decapitated, not having their hearts ripped out. So, many scholars now believe that the Aztecs beheaded their sacrifices, and removed the hearts much later.
* Nobel prize winner Dr. Alexis Carrel decided to take this trope to a new height. Taking tissue from a chicken heart, he kept it alive for ''over 20 years''. No one was able to completely replicate the experiment, and [[ScienceMarchesOn later advances in biology]] proved it impossible, as cells can divide only a certain number of times. How Dr. Carrel got his results is still a mystery.
** Normal cells can divide only a certain number of times. One of the defining features of cancer is that, well, the mechanism that limits the number of times a cell can divide got broken in the cancerous cells. This, incidentally, means that most cell lines used in cell biology labs come from cancers; most of which have outlived the person it killed...
** Especially notable in the case of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks Henrietta Lacks]], who is the originator of the [=HeLa=] cell line used across the globe.
* Not a heart, but a close neighbor: researchers have built a machine to keep human lungs alive outside the body, to keep them fresh much longer for transplant. You can find videos of the disembodied lungs under a glass dome, breathing.
** Not quite as creepy as it sounds, as lungs can't inflate and deflate under their own power even when they're inside the body. The machine makes them expand by altering the pressure surrounding the (passive) organs, which would work just as well for a couple of balloons as for lungs.
** They've done it with hearts too for the same reason. And they beat hard, strong, and fast within their chamber.