History Main / ConverseWithTheUnconscious

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', during the Battle City Finals, after Odion is knocked out, Marik's SuperpoweredEvilSide takes over, and during the last climactic duel between the Pharaoh and Yami Marik, the spirit of Marik's "good" side manifests in Odion's room to apologize for the way he has treated him up to this point and to say goodbye. In the very next episode Odion awakens, and staggers up to the battle platform to help Marik overcome his evil side, and Yugi wins the duel shortly afterward.

** Played straight in a chapter of the Gosaku Ota manga. Sayaka is unconscious and Boss by her talks to her, before finally leaving for battle, stating that dying like an hero is all what he can do for her.

* In ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End Of Evangelion]]'' Shinji took [[spoiler:Asuka]]'s descent into a coma badly (and that is a massive understatement). He talked to her to telling her that everything was going to Hell, everyone frightened him and she was the only one that could help him and he needed her, and he ''desperately'' pleaded her waking up... Up to that point the scene was touching and angsty, but then [[ADateWithRosiePalms it took a very disturbing turn]]. It's shown [[spoiler:during Instrumentality]] that somehow she knew what he did, and she was ''not'' happy.

* In the ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' manga, this happens in the ''Emerald'' arc between Gold and Silver, the latter of which is [[TakenForGranite petrified]] at the moment. Hilariously, the only reason Gold did so was because he assumed that Silver wouldn't be able to hear him, when in fact Silver was indeed conscious during the petrification.

* ''Manga/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' does this in the final episode. [[spoiler: Hikaru has just been hit with Athena's Astral Emission attack, which has been shown to instantly defeat any Angel. Cue Misaki crying out for Hikaru to get up, to keep fighting; then Hatoko starts, then Tamayo and Kotaro...followed by every single person in the audience (even Ogata in the control room) shouting Hikaru's name and calling for her to get back up. Hikaru not only gets back up, but continues fighting with just a tiny bit of her "life bar," sprouts a pair of wings and counters a second Astral Emission to win the fight.]]

* During the One Year Later timeskip, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} was deactivated while repairs were under way. During that time, the other ComicBook/TeenTitans used him as a sounding board, even ones who'd never met him in person.

* In issue #50 of ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', Mayday (Spider-Girl) sits at the bedside of her comatose friend Courtney Duran, even bringing up things she did as Spider-Girl earlier in the issue. Their mutual friend Moose arrives at the point, and Mayday and Moose are telling each other not to blame themselves for the accident that put Courtney in the coma, when Courtney awakes. It's not clear just how much of the conversation Courtney heard, though if her behavior in subsequent issues is any indication, she doesn't know that Mayday is Spider-Girl.

-->'''Peter:''' Jason?.... Jason I'm really, really, really sorry.\\

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': After Daniel rescues Kyoko she spends several weeks sleeping unconscious. Her daughter Asuka watches over her whenever she can, and often talks to Kyoko, telling her how she is feeling or what she has done lately (as in chapter 25 when she told her mother [[spoiler:Shinji said he loved her.]]

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': In chapter 10 while Shinji is [[UnbrokenVigil keeping watch over a comatose Asuka]], [[http://eva303.smackjeeves.com/comics/1703838/014/ her doctor advised him try and talking to her]] to give her some direction to go in.

* At the start of the ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'' fic ''FanFic/{{Eternity}}'' there are two shipgirls that still haven't answered the call to fight the Abyssals, Enterprise and Yamato, who in this story had [[GoingNative Gone Native]] after the WWII and became JDS Yonaga and USS Montana. Many tried to wake them up by talking to them, both from their old and new navies, but failed. Hiryuu in particular tried to get at least some kind of reaction from Enterprise by arranging that all Kidou Butai (that attacked Pearl Harbor) carrier shipgirls would have their shoreleave time together on her museum ship, but no luck.

* Subverted in ''Film/BigFish'': Will is sitting quietly with his unconscious father in the hospital, and the doctor tells him how annoying it is when people talk to unconscious patients, since they can't hear you anyway.

* This trope forms much of the basis of the Spanish-language film ''Hable con ella (Film/TalkToHer)'' by Pedro Almodóvar.

* Titus, the protagonist of M.T. Anderson's dystopian novel ''Literature/{{Feed}}'', does this at the end of the book, [[spoiler: to his girlfriend Violet, who's mental state has deteriorated to comatose and will never improve. Talk about DownerEnding.]]

* The events of the novel ''Literature/SeaFire'' left Literature/JamesBond's then girlfriend Fredericka von Grüsse in a very bad shape, and the next book ''Literature/{{COLD}}'' has him visiting her daily, and talking to her despite her comatose condition.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Battlefield", the Doctor cradles the apparently-killed-by-exploding-daemon body of [[spoiler: Brigadier, and later Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart]] bemoaning the pointlessness with the comment "you should have died in bed." Obviously he got better, gave the Doctor a tart retort "Really Doctor. Do you think I'd have been so stupid as to have stayed inside?" and went back to his gardening. As for his eventual fate (according to the expanded universe) - yeah, the Doctor was right. In bed. Aged roughly 125 (after being rejuvenated by accident, and becoming a lord in the Human Dreaming (kind of like Avalon in the Marvel Universe).

* In ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'', Alan puts peanuts in Bill's sandwich as a prank, not believing he is actually allergic to them, and as a result Bill winds up in a coma in the hospital. Alan makes a heartfelt apology to him while he is unconscious because he believes Bill won't be able to hear. (Of course, Bill hears everything.)

* Invoked by MagnificentBastard Series/{{House}} in a fifth season episode. The team is taking care of a man who is conscious, but has lost all motor function. Each team member spends time by his bedside, monitoring him, and when he finally regains function, House reveals that he had planted a recorder under the patient's pillow. He now has his team's private thoughts on tape!

* In ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', Gwen speaks to Arthur while he's unconscious after having been bitten by the Questing Beast, telling him she know he's going to be alright because he's going to be king. A few scenes later it turns out he heard everything she said (though admittedly his memory seems a little hazy).

** Sam is dreaming that he's driving down a road at night, unaware that he's actually in a coma. In the real world Dean shines a penlight in his eye, freaking out Dream!Sam when he's suddenly driving in broad daylight. The song playing on Dean's radio is also playing on his car radio.

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', ''Fever'', Chloe visits Clark when he is unconscious due to a [[KryptoniteFactor kryptonite]]-induced [[TitleDrop fever]]. She [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove confesses that she is in love with him]] and while he is still in love with [[SatelliteLoveInterest Lana Lang]], she hopes he will one day come back to her, because she thinks he is worth the wait. [[spoiler:Becomes a huge TearJerker when he mutter's Lana's name.]] Clark is unconscious throughout, and doesn't know that Chloe came by to visit.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In the TwoPartEpisode "Scorpion" Captain Janeway makes an EnemyMine alliance with the Borg over the objections of her NumberOne, Chakotay. She is later injured and has to be put in an induced coma to treat her injuries. Her last orders are to keep the alliance going, but Chakotay quickly finds a pretext to end it. Afterwards he goes to Sickbay to apologize to an unconscious Janeway, not only for disobeying her orders but for betraying a friend.

--->'''Mulder:'''I feel, Scully... that you believe... you're not ready to go. And you've always had the strength of your beliefs. I don't know if my being here... will help bring you back. But I'm here.

* At the end of the first season of ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'', Rebecca is at a pie contest with her friend Paula, but passes out just as the prizes are being awarded and is rushed to the hospital. It's cleared up pretty quickly that Rebecca's going to be fine -- she passed out due to an untreated UTI, but it gets taken care of at the hospital -- but before the doctor informs Paula (and us), we're treated to a scene where Paula sits next to Rebecca's bed, holding her hand and talking to her, telling her that they won the contest and begging her to be okay, before tearfully asking the doctor what's wrong with "my [[AffectionateNickname Cookie]]." In a dark comedy where Paula's tendency to [[ParentalSubstitute act like she's Rebecca's mother]] is PlayedForLaughs, it's surprisingly touching.

* Ianto gives a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3VyRerhKL4 heartmelting speech]] to an [[spoiler: unconscious Jack]] in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' radio play "The Dead Line". (Link contains spoilers)

* In the film ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'', an adorable little badger girl named Michelle is put into a coma by toxic fumes leaking into the forest, which kill her parents. Her Uncle Cornelius sings a song called "Please Wake Up" to Michelle as she's lying unconscious in bed. It's quite the TearJerker.

* This is the thrust of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' episode "Tales of Leo". After a severe smackdown by The Foot two episodes ago, Leonardo is unconscious and dying. The A-plot of the episode consists of his familiy's conversations with him about his childhood, told in the form of flashbacks.

%%* In the first episode of series 3 of ''Series/AshesToAshes''.

* During the ending of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'', X's Cyberelf ghost form appears after Zero falls in to the desert unconscious, explaining to Zero a brief summary of the short period before the game started, ending with X asking Zero to take care of the world and let him rest in peace for a little while. Just as X vanishes, Zero wakes up, revealing that he not only heard X, but he remembers him:

** Played straight in a chapter of the GosakuOta manga. Sayaka is unconscious and Boss by her talks to her, before finally leaving for battle, stating that dying like an hero is all what he can do for her.

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/DylanDog'': when Bloch had been shot and was comatose and not expected to survive the night, Groucho went to his bed... To unleash [[HurricaneOfPuns a long series of his awful jokes and puns]]. It's made clear that Bloch could hear him when [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments he wakes up (and survives) just to]] [[LamePunReaction scream that someone stops Groucho and takes him away]] ([[CrazyAwesome just as expected]]).

* In the ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' manga, this happens in the Emerald arc between [[spoiler: Gold and Silver, the latter of which is [[TakenForGranite petrified]] at the moment.]]
** [[spoiler: Hilariously, the only reason Gold did so was because he assumed that Silver wouldn't be able to hear him, when in fact Silver was indeed conscious during the petrification.]]

* Invoked in Film/TheForceAwakens, as Rey departs for the mysterious planet where Luke Skywalker is hiding, she bids a heartfelt farewell to Finn, hoping they will meet again when her Jedi training is complete.

** The {{OAV}} "The One To Carry On" performs a similar scene where Ryouga, conflicted between his need to help Akane and his desire for her to lose the Dojo (and thus break up with Ranma,) watches her sleep and speaks to her in his mind, trying to figure out his feelings. He decides that staying with her would only end up hurting both of them, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and leaves, only to find her again the next day]].

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/DylanDog'': when Bloch had been shot and was comatose and not expected to survive the night, Groucho went to his bed... To unleash [[HurricaneOfPuns a long series of his awful jokes and puns]]. It's made clear that Bloch could hear him when [[CrowningMomentOfFunny he wakes up (and survives) just to]] [[LamePunReaction scream that someone stops Groucho and takes him away]] ([[CrazyAwesome just as expected]]).

-->[''Neo does. And proceeds to own Smith in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome that proves that, yes, he is The One'']

* Cody speaks to the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'' while they're paralyzed from radioactive space dust. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming They appreciate it once they're all better.]]

* Happened in ''Film/K9''. Yup, he's talking to a dog.

* Parodied in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'', with various characters saying increasing...strange...things to their [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal comatose comrade.]]

* Happened in ''Film/{{K-9}}''. Yup, he's talking to a dog.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''; [=McGonagall=] catches Ron and Harry sneaking into the infirmary while the school is on lcokdown, and the best excuse they can come up with is they want to tell Hermione that the mandragoras are almost mature, meaning a cure can be made soon. [=McGonagall=] actually buys this and lets them in, even though it's technically pointless to talk to a petrified victim. (Subverted in that they ''really'' want to get the notes they saw her holding, a potential clue to the entrance of the notorious Chamber.)

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/DylanDog'': when Bloch had been shot and was comatose and not expected to survive the night, Groucho went to his bed... To unleash a long series of his aweful jokes and puns. It's made clear that Bloch could hear him when [[CrowningMomentOfFunny he wakes up (and survives) just to scream that someone stops Groucho and takes him away]].

** In ''[[Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid ViVid]]'' Vivio is shown to routinely talk to a sleeping Ixpellia.

* In ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End Of Evangelion]]'' Shinji took [[spoiler:Asuka]]'s descent into a coma badly (and that is a massive understatement). He talked to her to telling her that everything was going to Hell, everyone frightened him and she was the only one that could help him and he needed her, and he ''desperately'' pleaded her waking up... Up to that point the scene was touching and angsty, but then [[ADateWithRosiePalms it took a very disturbing turn]]. It's shown [[spoiler: during Instrumentality]] that somehow she knew what he did, and she was ''not'' happy.

* In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', [[spoiler: Maleficent talks to an unconcious Aurora when Prince Phillip's kiss fails to wake her up. However, when she kisses Aurora on the forehead, that was was the {{True Loves Kiss}} needed to break the spell]].

* ''Painfully'' subverted in the movie ''Film/UptownGirls'', when [[TheDitz Molly]] tells [[CreepyChild Ray]] to talk to her comatose dad because she heard it works. She spends the whole day talking to him and it seems to work alright, but [[spoiler: he dies the next morning.]]

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Battlefield", the Doctor cradles the apparently-killed-by-exploding-daemon body of [[spoiler: Brigadier, and later Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart]] bemoaning the pointlessness with the comment "you should have died in bed." Obviously he got better, gave the Doctor a tart retort "Really Doctor. Do you think I'd have been so stupid as to have stayed inside?" and went back to his gardening. As for his eventual fate (according to the expanded universe) - yeap the Doctor was right. In bed. Aged roughly 125 (after being rejuvenated by accident, and becoming a lord in the Human Dreaming (kind of like Avalon in the marvel Universe)).
** Happens again in New Who episode ''The Christmas Invasion'' where the newly regenerated Tenth has hit a bad case of regeneration sickness and Jackie Tyler is sitting with him, trying to get him to tell her what's wrong.
** ''Whenever'' the Doctor does this with a sleeping/unconscious Amy, she somehow manages to hear every word. It was a Time Lord mind meld ''once,'' but only once. It's unknown at this point if it's a side-effect of the [[spoiler: time cracks thing]] that makes her able to [[RippleEffectProofMemory remember parts of altered timelines]].

* Aeryn speaks to John while he's unconscious during ''Series/{{Farscape}}: The Peacekeeper Wars''. When he wakes up he gives no sign that he heard her, though in fairness she wasn't saying anything particularly suprising considering [[spoiler: they were already married with a child]] at the time.

* In ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'', Alan puts peanuts in Bill's sandwich as a prank, not believing he is actually allergic to them, and as a result Bill winds up in a coma in the hospital. Alan makes a heartfelt apology to him while he is unconcious because he believes Bill won't be able to hear. (Of course, Bill hears everything.)

* Given that Music/{{Ayreon}}'s ''The Human Equation'' is about a man in a coma [[spoiler: except that it's really a computer program]], it's not surprising that this trope shows up with Wife and Best Friend and [[spoiler: their affair]].

** In the original series, Arf, before going to help Nanoha, Yuuno and Chrono in the final battle, tells Fate, who is catatonic from a HeroicBSOD caused by [[spoiler:learning about her true origins as a clone of Alicia and that her mother hated her]], that after everything is over, she'll help her return to her old self and she can use her time however she wishes. After Arf leaves the infirmary, Fate wakes up and after thinking about how Arf has always been there for her and Nanoha's constantly reaching out to her, teleports into the Garden of Time to help them. In the last episode of the second season, Vita tells an unconscious Hayate that as her happiness is the Wolkenritter's happiness, [[spoiler:Reinforce promised to [[HeroicSacrifice leave]] [[GoOutWithASmile smiling]].]]

* Invoked by the GenreSavvy MagnificentBastard Series/{{House}} in a fifth season episode. The team is taking care of a man who is conscious, but has lost all motor function. Each team member spends time by his bedside, monitoring him, and when he finally regains function, House reveals that he had planted a recorder under the patient's pillow. He now has his team's private thoughts on tape!

* In ''Series/TheStrain'', episode 3x04, Eph has a one of these with, of all people, Quinlan. This being a [[GuillermoDelToro Guillermo del Toro]] show, we get close-ups of Eph picking bullets out of Quinlan instead of a mushy declaration of affection. And it's still kind of touching.

* This is the thrust of the ''[[TMNT2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003) episode "Tales of Leo". After a severe smackdown by The Foot two episodes ago, Leonardo is unconscious and dying. The A-plot of the episode consists of his familiy's conversations with him about his childhood, told in the form of flashbacks.

* In Lee Lightner's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} SpaceWolf novel ''Wolf's Honour'', Mikal feels heavily burdened by the role that fell on him when Berek was gravely wounded. He [[ConverseWithTheUnconscious sees the unconscious leader and asks why him]] -- and is enraged when he realizes that the skald, Morgrim, listened to him. Morgrim is able to reassure him.

* In the ''PokemonSpecial'' manga, this happens in the Emerald arc between [[spoiler: Gold and Silver, the latter of which is [[TakenForGranite petrified]] at the moment.]]