History Main / CradlingYourKill

* Invoked in one of ''Literature/TheWitcher's'' short stories, as a LastRequest of the killed. Subverted in that it is only to get the killer [[TakingYouWithMe close enough]].
** Also subverted in that Geralt wasn't foolish enough to grant the request and kept his distance.

* Avon does this with [[spoiler:Anna Grant]], in one of the sadder moments of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E8RumoursOfDeath Rumors of Death]]".

* Avon does this with [[spoiler:Anna Grant]], in one of the sadder moments of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E8RumorsOfDeath Rumors of Death]]".

* Downplayed with the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain, The Queen. During her first fight with Spider-Man, she easily defeats the hero with her [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]] while standing directly next to him, eventually causing him to black out from the pain. As he collapsed though, The Queen caught him in hug, due to him having impressed her during their fight, and comforts him by telling him not to find shame in his defeat before [[ForcefulKiss forcing a kiss on him]].

* In ''Film/{{Solo}}'', Han Solo holds Tobias Beckett as he is dying, after shooting him (first). Beckett was a mentor to Han, and Han was grieved that Beckett betrayed him and that he was forced to kill him.

* In the ''Series/OnceUponATime'' episode ''Swan Song'', [[spoiler:Emma [[DiedInYourArmsTonight cradles Hook]] after she stabs him to end the darkness and the Dark Ones.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheZombieHunters'', [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "Mercy" zombies]] approach sick, wounded or dying humans, and [[SuperPersistentPredator follow them]], [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou protecting them]] from other zombies, until they can no longer go on. Mercies deliver a single [[MercyKill bite to a vital artery]], then [[PietaPlagiarism hold the dying victim]], while gently stroking their hair and cooing softly. They'll even remain with their victims for hours [[ViralTransformation after they turn]]. It is incredibly disturbing, but, compared to the horrible deaths [[SuperPoweredMooks other breeds]] inflict, also [[oddly sweet]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Website materials]] state that some traumatized [[ActionSurvivor survivors]] seek them out as [[ICannotSelfTerminate a form of suicide]], hence the name.

* Downplayed in ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman''; ComicBook/JimmyOlsen cradles Superman after being forced to fight him because he was exposed to black Kryptonite. Superman is beaten, maybe unconscious, nothing more.

* In ''Webcomic/TheZombieHunters'', [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "Mercy" zombies]] approach sick, wounded or dying humans, and [[SuperPersistentPredator follow them]], [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou protecting them]] from other zombies, until they can no longer go on. Mercies deliver a single [[MercyKill bite to a vital artery]], then [[PietaPlagiarism hold the dying victim]], while gently stroking their hair and cooing softly. They'll even remain with their victims for hours [[ViralTransformation after they turn]]. It is incredibly disturbing, but, compared to the horrible deaths [[SuperPoweredMooks other breeds]] inflict, also oddly sweet. [[AllThereInTheManual Website materials]] state that some traumatized [[ActionSurvivor survivors]] seek them out as [[ICannotSelfTerminate a form of suicide]], hence the name.

* A form of this trope where the kill was [[AccidentalMurder accidental]] occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]". Superman, having [[PowerIncontinence lost control]] of his [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength strength]], crushes ComicBook/JimmyOlsen to death while hugging him. When he realizes what has happened, he cradles Jimmy's body and desperately apologizes. Luckily, as implied by the title, it's AllJustADream.

* Averted in Franchise/FateSeries entries ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. [[spoiler:At the end of [[Myth/ArthurianLegend the Battle of Camlann]], after Saber/Arturia strikes down Saber of Red/Mordred, Mordred uses her dying breath to ask her [[ItMakesSenseInContext "father"]] to [[FinalFirstHug hug]] her. Arturia refuses, although this was because [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Arturia believed showing emotion was unbecoming of a proper king]] and likely feeling too guilty to embrace her own "son" that she just killed (given that in ''Literature/FateZero'', Arturia doesn't say anything while Berserker/Lancelot apologizes to her after she is forced to kill him because she didn't want to make him feel any worse) rather than Arturia hating Mordred.]]

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' has a non-lethal variant where [[EnemyWithout Omokage]] Mei stuns Matsuri by kneeing him in the abdomen, then embraces him as he falls over limp onto her. When that fails to incapacitate him, she [[DeadyHug continues beating him while still hugging him]].

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' has a non-lethal variant where [[EnemyWithout Omokage]] Mei stuns Matsuri by kneeing him in the abdomen, then embraces him as he falls over limp onto her.

* In the first episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', Katrina does this to her boyfriend, Asimov, after she kills him once she realizes how sick he's actually become as a result of the [[PsychoSerum performance-enhancing drug]] he's been taking, and how their dream of running away to Mars is never going to happen. She then steers their ship [[SuicideByCop directly at the police blockade]].

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. [[spoiler:When Raiden defeats Armstrong by cutting open his chest and grabbing Armstrong's heart, the latter holds onto Raiden's shoulder as he delivers his FinalSpeech. Raiden puts his free hand on Armstrong's shoulder, initially showing that he reciprocates the respect Armstrong has for him. Raiden then immediately rips Armstrong's mechanical heart out and crushes it.]]

-->-- '''Mei Ren''''s FamousLastWords, ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund''

* The Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "The Muzzle of Nemesis" from the Franchise/EvilliousChronicles features the titular Nemesis cradling her lover in a flashback; she had been ordered to shoot him a year before the song takes place.

* Averted in Franchise/FateSeries entries ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. [[spoiler:At the end of [[Myth/ArthurianLegend the Battle of Camlann]], after Saber/Arturia strikes down Saber of Red/Mordred, Mordred uses her dying breath to ask her [[ItMakesSenseInContext "father"]] to [[FinalFirstHug hug]] her. Arturia refuses, although this was because [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Arturia believed showing emotion was unbecoming of a proper king]] and likely feeling too guilty to embrace her own "son" that she just killed (given that in ''Literature/FateZero'', Arturia doesn't say anything while Berserker/Lancelot apologizes to her after she is forced to kill him because she didn't want to make him feel any worse) rather than Arturia hating Mordred.]]
* Not so much cradling per se, but in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Kakashi does pick up Zabuza after killing him and carry him over to Haku's dead body as a sign of respect for (and last request from) his [[WorthyOpponent fallen foe.]]

* According to Myth/ClassicalMythology, Achilles regretted the killing of the Amazon Penthesilea in UsefulNotes/{{the Trojan War}} immediately after the deed. The geographer Pausanias describes a painting by Panaenus (5th century BCE) seen in the temple of Zeus at Olympia which showed Achilles supporting Penthesilea as she died.

* The ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story "Two Of A Kind" features a reformed Two-face planning to get married. However, he ends up having an affair with his fiance's twin sister, who [[MurderTheHypotenuse murders her sister when he tries to end the affair]]. After killing her in revenge, Two-face holds her body in his arms and waits for Batman to come and take him back to the asylum.
* At the end of ''ComicBook/InnocenceLost'', ComicBook/{{X 23}} cradles Sarah Kinney in her arms as the latter dies. And oh yeah, Sarah was Laura's ''mother'', and she was forced to kill her via the trigger scent just as they were escaping the installation where Laura was bred, trained and tortured for thirteen years.

* In ''I'm still alive'', a ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' fanfic, Jen accidentally shoots "Dottie Underwood" then holds her as she dies - while silently freaking out over seeing Dottie's real, childlike personality. What makes it even more creepy is that this is Jen's first (but definitely not last) murder.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5129090/12/I-m-Not-Going I'm Not Going]]'' Harry cradles Hermione after killing her in order to destroy the shard of Voldemort's soul which entered her body due to unknowingly wearing a [[SoulJar Horcrux]] for several weeks.

* In ''Fanfic/AHollowInEquestria'' Ulquiorra does this to [[spoiler:Nightmare Moon]] at the conclusion of their battle, to keep her body from falling to the ground. It's revealed soon after that [[spoiler: Twist was taken by Nightmare Moon to serve as a host body to facilitate her return]].

* Film/JamesBond comes close to doing this with Elektra King after he shoots her in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''.

* In ''Run All Night'', after [[spoiler:[[Creator/LiamNeeson Jimmy Conlon]] kills [[BigBad Shawn Maguire]] in a running gunfight across the train tracks, Jimmy lets Shawn bleed out in his arms.]]

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. After losing the CivilWar, [[DrivenToSuicide Scipio]] orders one of his own legionaries to kill him. The man slashes Scipio's throat, and then gently eases him to the ground.
* ''Series/TheTerror'' implies this with Captain Crozier and [[spoiler:Captain Fitzjames, after the former [[MercyKill helps the latter end his scurvy-induced suffering]].]] While the scene ends on a shot of [[spoiler:Fitzjames's]] [[DiesWideOpen empty, open-eyed expression after the poison takes its course]], we later see Crozier's shirt is bloodstained where [[spoiler:Fitzjames's]] bleeding face would have rested on Crozier's shoulder, implying that Crozier cradled him and wept.

* Many productions of ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'' end with Don José cradling Carmen's body after confessing to her murder.

* In the bonus chapter of ''Mystery Trackers 7: Blackrow's Secret'' Emily Lockwood holds her fiance Jeffrey Dean after accidentally shooting him with a real gun which was somehow exchanged for the prop firearm from the play both were in.

* ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'' has a good example, as Sarine [[http://www.errantstory.com/2009-06-12/4169 does this]] [[http://www.errantstory.com/2009-06-17/4218 at length]] with the remains of her oldest friend Sarna, whom she has just killed in a fight (not exactly a [[DueltotheDeath Duel to the Death]], but close enough) she really, ''really'' didn't want to have.

* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': It was an accident, but Dr. Horrible's death ray exploded in Captain Hammer's hands, making both of them somewhat culpable in Penny's death. Dr. Horrible carries her body to the emergency stretcher.

* In [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Star Wars Rebels]], ''Twin Suns'', Maul attacks Kenobi, but is struck down. Kenobi catches Maul as he collapses. Maul asks if the person Kenobi was guarding was TheChosenOne. Kenobi confirms this to which Maul's last words are "He will avenge us."

* An interesting version of this trope occurs in WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003, where Harry unwittingly causes Nano's "death" in S01 [=Ep05=]. Since Nano disappeared in a vat of molten liquid there was no body for Harry to cradle, but he found and picked up one of Nano's cracked masks that had escaped destruction. Holding it in his hands, Harry wept and talked to the mask as though it was Nano, apologising for what happened.

* In ''Film/HoodedAngels'', Hannah shoots Ellie just as Ellie was about to kill Wes: having realised that Ellie has descended into complete insanity and that she can no longer hold her in check. She then cradles Ellie's head in her lap as she dies.

* A particularly heartbreaking example happens in ''Anime/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'', in which the full extent of Chikane's {{plan}} was only revealed after Himeko killed her, thus fulfilling the sacrificial ritual to destroy {{Orochi}}. [[UnexplainedRecovery They got better]].

* A particularly heartbreaking example happens in ''Anime/KannazukiNoMiko'', in which the full extent of Chikane's {{plan}} was only revealed after Himeko killed her, thus fulfilling the sacrificial ritual to destroy {{Orochi}}. [[UnexplainedRecovery They got better]].

* Averted in Franchise/FateSeries entries ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. [[spoiler:At the end of [[Myth/KingArthur the Battle of Camlann]], after Saber/Arturia strikes down Saber of Red/Mordred, Mordred uses her dying breath to ask her [[ItMakesSenseInContext "father"]] to [[FinalFirstHug hug]] her. Arturia refuses, although this was because [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Arturia believed showing emotion was unbecoming of a proper king]] and likely feeling too guilty to embrace her own "son" that she just killed (given that in ''Literature/FateZero'', Arturia doesn't say anything while Berserker/Lancelot apologizes to her after she is forced to kill him because she didn't want to make him feel any worse) rather than Arturia hating Mordred.]]
* Not so much cradling per se, but in Manga/{{Naruto}} Kakashi does pick up Zabuza after killing him and carry him over to Haku's dead body as a sign of respect for (and last request from) his [[WorthyOpponent fallen foe.]]

There are, of course, much less merciful and worthy reasons for a killer to do this. A CombatSadomasochist may torment their victim by mockingly aping a PietaPlagiarism, using TermsOfEndangerment, or twisting the blade to keep them in pain. A StrawNihilist may hold their dying victim and tell them they envy them for achieving the [[CessationOfExistence "peace" of oblivion.]] And of course, a murderer going for stealth wants to keep the victim from crying out or audibly hitting the floor.