History Main / DiedInIgnorance

** In [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]], this happens to pretty much every character who dies. Since all of their memories of the last two years were wiped, all the victims and killers, aside from Mukuro, never found out they were friends, never found out they locked themselves in the school voluntarily, never found out about the Tragedy, and far more.
** Somehow, an even more [[HarsherInHindsight heart-breaking]] example occurs in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony''. Kaede, the first DecoyProtagonist of the series, dies in the first chapter, fully believing that she killed Rantaro, [[IAmAMonster repeatedly calling herself a monster.]] She dies a horrific ''[[WordofGod 8-hour]]'' execution in the process (if the clock behind her is to be believed). It is not until near the end of the game that we find out that it was in fact [[EvilAllAlong Tsumugi]] who killed Rantaro, and Kaede's shot put missed him. It is one of the first ''very'' hard pills to swallow for both the player and Shuichi, who becomes the most determined he has ever been from this reveal, [[{{Determinator}} stopping at nothing to make Kaede's final wish, that they will end the game and be friends, come true.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Gabriel/Hawk Moth dies to the EquivalentExchange of his wish without learning that his son Adrien was one of the superheroes who opposed him. (He had previously learned this two different times, but both times this led to the destruction of the world, leading to time travel being used to undo the events that led to this discovery.)

* ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'': Romeo commits suicide by ingesting poison believing that Juliet is dead, not knowing that Juliet was only FakingTheDead as part of a plan for the both of them to finally be together. When she uncovers this, she despairs with a [[CreatorThumbprint lengthy monologue]] and kisses Romeo hoping some of the poison will still be on his lips with the ambition to be TogetherInDeath. And when that doesn't work, she's DrivenToSuicide by stabbing herself with a dagger instead.

* ''Film/TheMist'': Used for one of the harshest [[DownerEnding Downer Endings]] in recent memory. After escaping the supermarket where they've been hiding and running out of gas, the main characters decide to [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled kill themselves rather than be eaten by monsters.]] David shoots the remaining survivors--including his eight-year-old son--and leaves his car to be taken...and is immediately met by a U.S. military convoy that's clearing the titular mist with flamethrowers. Turns out that the Army is winning against the otherworldly creatures and already working to restore peace--and David learns this literally ''seconds'' after he's killed everyone else in his car.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The devastating fate of Fry's dog Seymour occurs because of this. Fry accidentally falls and activates a cryogenic chamber, where he is trapped for 1000 years until the beginning of the series. This {{Prequel}} episode explores his life from before then, notably his close bond with his CanineCompanion Seymour. Seymour, and no one else for that matter, ever found out what happened to Fry. What really gets the tears going is the montage showing how Seymour waited for Fry to return, for ''years'', as the world carries on, the pizza place is shut down, and Seymour grows frailer and frailer until finally he dies from old age. [[UndyingLoyalty He never moved from his spot as he waited forever for his friend to return.]] However, because of the setup of a StableTimeLoop that was already in effect the very moment Fry got frozen, Seymour's fate is ultimately averted and he never dies the way that the audience sees him at the end of "Jurassic Bark".

* ''Film/KnivesOut'': Plays a significant role in the film. Harlan killed himself believing he was going to die in minutes from Marta accidentally poisoning him with a morphine overdose, to ensure she would not be the one murdering him, and therefore could still receive his inheritance. However, it is later revealed Ransom switched the bottles and took the antidote, meaning Marta really ''would'' have given Harlan the lethal dose of morphine had she read the labels. However, the bottles drop, and Marta, being an experienced nurse for Harlan, is able to subconsciously recognise the density of the correct medication without reading the label, only believing she had given him morphine when she read it. Unbeknownst to him, Harlan was not on the brink of death and would be alive and well had he not believed he was, rendering his death a SenselessSacrifice.

* Only ''just'' subverted for dramatic effect in ''Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet''. It twists the knife even deeper by having Juliet wake up and touch Romeo's face ''just'' as Romeo has consumed poison, believing Juliet to be dead. He visibly realises his mistake as he [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in her arms]].

* ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'': One of the most famous examples in history, Romeo commits suicide by ingesting poison believing that Juliet is dead, not knowing that Juliet was only FakingTheDead as part of a plan for the both of them to finally be together. When she uncovers this, she despairs with a [[CreatorThumbprint lengthy monologue]] and kisses Romeo hoping some of the poison will still be on his lips with the ambition to be TogetherInDeath.

* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'': Jess, Matt, and Emily can all be killed before any of the characters are told about the presence of wendigo on the mountain; although each might have had a chance to see that what killed them was supernatural, they have no way of knowing what it is. Emily is a slightly downplayed example, as she at least gets a good look at her attacker.

* ''Literature/{{Kindred}}'': Alice takes her own life, believing that Rufus has sold her remaining children. It's revealed that Rufus only sent the children to stay with his mother to temporarily scare and punish Alice, and meant to reveal the truth and bring them back eventually.

* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'': [[spoiler:In the final murder case, the NDA's chief, Yakou Furio, sacrifices his life to kill Dr. Huesca out of revenge for the death of his wife. Unfortunately, it's later revealed that the one actually responsible for his wife's death was Yomi Hellsmile. As Yuma and Vivia lament near the end of the chapter, the real tragedy was that Furio died before he could ever learn that]].
* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'': Jess, Matt, and Emily can all be killed before any of the characters are told about the presence of [[spoiler:wendigo]] on the mountain; although each might have had a chance to see that what killed them was supernatural, they have no way of knowing what it is. Emily is a slightly downplayed example, as she at least gets a good look at her attacker.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'': Princess Elle's parents refuse to disclose the location of the treasure of Storkolm before Fyda kills them.

* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'': [[spoiler:In the final murder case, the NDA's chief, Yakou Furio, sacrifices his life to kill Dr. Huesca out of revenge for the death of his wife. Unfortunately, it's later that the one actually responsible for his wife's death was Yomi Hellsmile. As Yuma and Vivia lament near the end of the chapter, the real tragedy was that Furio died before he could ever learn that]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'': Princess Elle's parents refuse to disclose the location of the treasure of Storkolm before Fyda kills them.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': While Raditz is otherwise a spineless DirtyCoward, after he's fatally wounded by Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, he dies with a smirk on his face, confident that his fellow Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa, will resurrect him with the Dragon Balls when they arrive on Earth. While Nappa expresses a passing interest in doing so, Vegeta overrules him immediately, and thus Raditz's soul remains damned to Hell forever.

* ''VideoGame/{{Jak 3}}'': Damas, Jak's mentor figure, dies after asking Jak to find his long lost son, Mar. After Damas passes a symbol of his house to Jak that Jak previously owned, Jak realizes he ''is'' Mar and thus Damas's son. Tragically, Damas dies before Jak can tell him the truth, and Count Veger, the villain responsible for their separation, takes the opportunity to gloat.

** Somehow, an even more [[HarsherInHindsight heart-breaking]] example occurs in VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony. Kaede, the first DecoyProtagonist of the series, dies in the first chapter, fully believing that she killed Rantaro, [[IAmAMonster repeatedly calling herself a monster.]] She dies a horrific ''[[WordofGod 8-hour]]'' execution in the process (if the clock behind her is to be believed). It is not until near the end of the game that we find out that it was in fact [[EvilAllAlong Tsumugi]] who killed Rantaro, and Kaede's shot put missed him. It is one of the first ''very'' hard pills to swallow for both the player and Shuichi, who becomes the most determined he has ever been from this reveal, [[{{Determinator}} stopping at nothing to make Kaede's final wish, that they will end the game and be friends, come true.]]
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' has an interesting take on this due to the use of [[WillingChanneler spirit channeling]] to engage in InterrogatingTheDead. In an attempt to solve Gregory Edgeworth's murder, investigators consulted [[PolicePsychic Misty Fey]] to channel Gregory's spirit to ask him who murdered him. Due to the fact that Gregory was unconscious when he was murdered, there was no way for him to actually know the one who murdered him was Manfred von Karma. Gregory ended up accusing courtroom bailiff Yanni Yogi, who Gregory ended up in a physical altercation prior to passing out with due to the latter having a panic attack from the ElevatorFailure both of them were caught up in.

* ''Anime/TokyoGhoul'': Ginshi Shirazu is mortally wounded creating an opening for Urie to kill their opponent. Though Urie and Saiko are by his side, Shirazu's so injured that he loses his ability to feel, see, or hear, so he has no idea his friends are beside him, trying to comfort him, causing him to believe he's [[DyingAlone dying alone]].

* ''Anime/TokyoGhoul'': Ginshi Shirazu is mortally wounded creating an opening for Urie to kill their opponent. Though Urie and Saiko are by his side, Shirazu's so injured that he loses his ability to feel, see, or hear, so he has no idea his friends are beside him, trying to comfort him, causing him to believe he dies alone.

Characters die all the time. They can be killed, sacrifice themselves for a greater cause, die of catastrophic injury or simply die of natural causes. But no matter how these characters die, dying before TheReveal will almost always make it more tragic.
This trope generally occurs when a character dies part-way through a story, before any mysteries have been unravelled. After the climactic revelation of a fundamental truth the characters were not aware of before, both the characters and the audience may look back on the departed one and curse the fact they died without ever finding out the truth. If a sacrifice or other tragic end occurred, it will end up being HarsherInHindsight, especially if it is realised [[AllForNothing the death never had to occur at all,]] or the character [[IAmAMonster died believing they were a monster.]] Even if the death was unpreventable, it nevertheless can evoke great sadness. The surviving characters' reactions to the death in this new context is [[DespairEventHorizon given prominence,]] and can end up [[BreakTheCutie breaking]] [[BreakTheBadass every]][[BreakTheComedian one]] through their [[HeroicBSoD despair]] at the unfairness of it all. If such circumstances were set up and revealed by a villain, this can be their MoralEventHorizon.

It should be noted that this trope can occur with villain characters as well. In these cases, it is far less likely to be sad, as the real facts of the situation usually benefits our protagonists. A villain may die believing they have won when in actuality they haven't, or, in rare cases, [[TheBadGuyWins the opposite.]] Additionally, for this trope to apply the death of the character must be related to the actual reveal; it is not enough for a character to die early on and then an unrelated reveal later. In other words, the fact the dead character never knew the truth must actually be meaningful in regards to their death.

It is almost exclusively PlayedForDrama, although sometimes it can be PlayedForLaughs if it is a completely ridiculous reveal. It can be subverted if the character does somehow find out the truth in the afterlife, [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist or even comes back to life]], but this can have the effect of negating the heartbreak experienced by the characters and audience, since such reactions mainly come from how the deceased will never know the whole story.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': After failing to defeat Kaido on battle, Oden and Toki give their lives to ensure the survival of the Akazaya Nine, Toki using her time travel powers to [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture fling them into the future]], to lead an uprising to defeat Kaido and overthrow the shogun Orochi twenty years hence. The two died not knowing it only got to that point because one of the Akazaya Nine was [[TheMole a spy]] for Orochi, and Toki accidentally undermined her own prophecy by sending said spy into the future to continue sabotaging the heroes' efforts.

* ''Fanfic/FrozenWight'': ArcVillain Adrian Dale was a former ice harvester who went mad after he [[OutlivingOnesOffspring outlived his daughter Emma]] thanks to her freezing to death when Elsa locked Arendelle in winter. This makes him deranged enough to try to kill Anna so that Elsa won't have any family left. By the end of his arc, Adrian ends up falling into a freezing lake after trying and failing to kill both sisters, and ultimately decides to let himself drown [[SpitefulSuicide instead of letting Elsa save him]]. After his death, Anna and Elsa find out why he went so mad, and towards the end of the story, find out that Emma's death ''wasn't'' Elsa's doing -- it was [[BigBad Daniel]] the [[OurWightsAreDifferent wight]], a former lover of Adrian's wife, who made her [[IllGirl sick]] by freezing her head (purely because he was [[UnbalancedByRivalsKid furious that his old love had married and had a child with someone else]], and Elsa's winter just jump-started her freezing to death. Adrian fell into insanity, tried to commit regicide, and actually ''did'' commit suicide, leaving his wife a widow, over something that [[MisplacedRetribution wasn't even the fault of his queen]], but of his wife's psychotic former boyfriend, and he never lived long enough to find this out!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'': Manolo is bitten and killed by a snake that was going to kill Maria; unbeknowst to him, the snake was set on him deliberately by Xibalba so he could win his bet on who would marry Maria. Since this movie has an afterlife, Manolo finds Xibalba and is essentially told the snake was set on him, [[AfterlifeAngst which he obviously doesn't take well]], thus making it his mission to find La Muerte and essentially tattle on Xibalba to her. Needless to say, when La Muerte finds out, [[SkywardScream she makes her anger at her husband clear.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': Both Hector and Imelda qualify. Hector died without knowing his true cause of death and that Ernesto betrayed him. Imelda lived the majority of her life believing Hector abandoned her and their daughter, thus leading to her hatred of music and setting the plot of the film in motion. Subverted later in the film as both Hector and Imelda in the afterlife discover the truth of what happened with help from Miguel, and they eventually [[TogetherInDeath reconcile.]]

* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'': Cecilia's abusive boyfriend, Adrian, uses an invisibility suit to turn Cecilia's sister, Emily, against her by sending her an insulting email from Cecilia's laptop. Cecilia discovers evidence proving the invisibility suit is real and is about to reveal this to Emily at a restaurant, but Adrian slashes Emily's throat with a knife before she can learn that Cecilia is innocent, and Cecilia is framed for her murder.

* ''Film/KnivesOut'': Plays a significant role in the film. Harlan killed himself believing he was going to die in minutes from Marta accidentally poisoning him with a morphine overdose, to ensure she would not be the one murdering him, and therefore could still receive his inheritance. However, it is later revealed Ransom switched the bottles and took the antidote, meaning Marta really ''would'' have given Harlan the lethal dose of morphine had she read the labels. However, the bottles drop, and Marta, being an experienced nurse for Harlan, is able to subconsciously recognise the density of the correct medication without reading the label, only believing she had given him morphine when she read it. Unbeknowst to him, Harlan was not on the brink of death and would be alive and well had he not believed he was, rendering his death a SenselessSacrifice.
* ''Film/PicnicAtHangingRock'': Sarah kills herself and never gets to know that her long lost brother has been around her somewhere close for quite a while. If they had found each other, her life could have changed for the better.

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': Towards the end of the novel, it is left ambiguous on whether Gatsby really believed that Daisy would call him, but he has some hope as he told the butler to let him know if anyone called. Nick believed he didn't, but he has proved himself to be an UnreliableNarrator throughout the novel, and therefore it is left up in the air.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Denethor goes mad, tries to kill his son and then commits suicide after he sees in his palantir that the enemy is about to receive reinforcements in the form of a large Umbar fleet about to arrive. Minutes after his death, the fleet arrives and reinforcements do land. Gondor reinforcements, led by Aragorn.

* ''Literature/TheTrial'': A rare example where TheReveal is never given to Josef K. or the reader. The first sentence immediately sets up that K. has been arrested, having no idea what crime he has committed or why he is on trial. In the beginning he makes attempts to find out, as anyone would, but, [[AmbiguousSituation in Kafka's]] [[{{Absurdism}} style]], settles with the absurd reality of it and attempts to find a defence, despite not knowing what is being defended. Overall, nothing is truly achieved and K. manages to lose his defence. The novel ends as absurdly as it began, with K. being taken away by two men in opera clothes and shot in the head. The last thought he has is his incredulity at being treated 'like a dog'. [[WorldOfSymbolism This is Kafka,]] [[DownerEnding after all.]]

** Half-Moon lived a long life, [[IWillWaitForYou waiting for Jay's Wing to return to her]], never knowing where he went or why, and died alone. Subverted in the afterlife, however, as she becomes aware that Jay's Wing is Jayfeather. [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast Due to timetravel shenanigans]], it is unclear whether the Jay's Wing in the past was always controlled by Jayfeather, although it is likely considering it is said [[StableTimeLoop Jayfeather led them to the mountains and overall is responsible for the existence of the clans.]]

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Howard's is an especially tragic case. His life and image was actively and maliciously being destroyed by Saul and Kim for fun. He managed to deduce that they were doing this to him, and goes to their apartment to confront them. He is shot in the head by Lalo [[KilledMidSentence mid-sentence]], without ever knowing what he was doing there or what Saul and Kim had gotten themselves into. Yet, despite everything they did to him, at the end [[GoodAllAlong Howard still tries to defuse the situation and protect Saul and Kim.]] An inversion also occurs: Howard dies knowing who ruined his life, but the façade is kept up by Saul and Kim even after his death, deciding to frame his death as a suicide. Due to them, everyone remembers him not as a great lawyer and friend, but a drug addict and sex maniac. This is only broken by Kim much later, when she tells Howard's estranged wife the truth of what happened.

* Niles Caulder spend the first two seasons of ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'' doing increasingly unethical things to try and prevent a fated battle between his young daughter Dorothy and the monstrous Candlemaker, who has vowed to battle her to determine the fate of all reality. Eventually, Niles' bad acts catch up with him and he dies just after Dorothy experiences her first period, triggering the start of the battle. Dorothy faces the Candlemaker alone... and wins, because she manages to out-think the Candlemaker and force him to surrender without violence. Niles destroyed the lives of multiple people to protect Dorothy, because it never occurred to him that Dorothy might be able to protect herself.

** Robert Baratheon died believing that the only good thing he ever had going for him was his betrothed, Lyanna, and that Rhaegar took her away from him. It turns out that Lyanna didn't even return his love and willingly ran off with Rhaegar. Robert also never knew his best friend had hidden Lyanna and Rhaegar's son from him, which was for the best given Robert vowed to wipe out all the Targaryens.

* ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'': One of the most famous examples in history, Romeo commits suicide by ingesting poison believing that Juliet is dead, not knowing that Juliet was only FakingTheDead as part of a plan for the both of them to finally be together. When she uncovers this, she despairs with a [[CreatorThumbprint lengthy monologue]], and kisses Romeo hoping some of the poison will still be on his lips with the ambition to be TogetherInDeath.
* Just barely subverted towards the end of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', not soon enough to prevent the tragedy. Star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria plan to leave the city together. As Maria prepares to meet Tony at Doc's in order to put their plan in motion, she is detained by the police for questioning about her brother's death, and thus sends Anita to tell Tony that she will be late. Unfortunately, Anita is intercepted by the Jets, who attempt to rape her in retaliation for the death of Riff, and she angrily declares that Maria isn't coming because Chino shot her dead. Despondent at the supposed loss of his love, Tony runs out and goads Chino into killing him... just before Maria shows up to [[DiedInYourArmsTonight hold him in her arms as he dies.]]

** Somehow, an even more [[HarsherInHindsight heart-breaking]] example occurs in VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony. Kaede, the first DecoyProtagonist of the series, dies in the first chapter, fully believing that she killed Rantaro, [[IAmAMonster repeatedly calling herself a monster.]] She dies a horrific ''[[WordofGod 8 hour]]'' execution in the process (if the clock behind her is to be believed). It is not until near the end of the game where we find out that it was in fact [[EvilAllAlong Tsumugi]] who killed Rantaro, and Kaede's shot put missed him. It is one of the first ''very'' hard pills to swallow for both the player and Shuichi, who becomes the most determined he has ever been from this reveal, [[{{Determinator}} stopping at nothing to make Kaede's final wish, that they will end the game and be friends, come true.]]
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' has an interesting take on this due to the use of [[WillingChanneler spirit channeling]] to engage in InterrogatingTheDead. In an attempt to solve Gregory Edgeworth's murder, investigators consulted [[PolicePsychic Misty Fey]] to channel Gregory's spirit to ask him who murdered him. Due to the fact that Gregory was unconscious when he was murdered, there was no way for him to actually know the one who murdered him was Manfred von Karma. Gregory ended up accusing courtroom baliff Yanni Yogi, who Gregory ended up in a physical altercation prior to passing out with due to the latter having a panic attack from the ElevatorFailure both of them were caught up in.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The devastating fate of Fry's dog, Seymour, occurs because of this. Fry accidentally falls and activates a cryogenic chamber, where he is trapped for 1000 years until the beginning of the series. This {{Prequel}} episode explore his life from before then, notably his close bond with his CanineCompanion Seymour. Seymour, and no one else for that matter, ever find out what happened to Fry. What really gets the tears going is the montage showing how Seymour waited for Fry to return, for ''years'', as the world carries on, the pizza place is shut down, and Seymour grows frailer and frailer, until finally he dies from old age. [[UndyingLoyalty He never moved from his spot as he waited forever for his friend to return.]] However, because of the set up of a StableTimeLoop that was already in effect the very moment Fry got frozen, Seymour's fate is ultimately averted and he never dies the way that the audience sees him at the end of "Jurassic Bark".
* ''WesternAnimation/SolarOpposites'': Tim attempts to kill Cherie at the end of season one before taking over the Wall. Unbeknownst to him, Cherie not only survives out in the backyard, but gives birth to Tim's daughter, which serves as her core motivation going forward for bringing justice to the Wall. By the time Cherie finally makes it back to the Wall, Tim is dying of lead poisoning and deliriously thinks Cherie is just a ghost haunting him for his past misdeeds. He succumbs to the poisoning not even registering that Cherie survived and without being told he has a daughter at all.

* A famous example from UsefulNotes/JohnAdams on his death bed. His last words were "UseFulNotes/ThomasJefferson survives". Unbeknowst to him, Jefferson died on the ''exact'' same day as Adams, a few hours earlier than him.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_Vatel François Vatel]] was a 17th century master of house for Prince Louis II, a French nobleman and relative of King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV. When the Prince hosted the King at an elaborate 2,000-person banquet, Vatel was in charge of organizing all the logistics and preparation for the food. The thing that finally broke him was a seafood delivery not arriving on the night of the banquet; he was so overcome with the stress and shame of it all that he [[{{Seppuku}} ran himself through with his sword]]. His body was found by a servant... who was coming with news that the seafood had arrived.

* ''Fanfic/FrozenWight'': ArcVillain Adrian Dale was a former ice harvester who went mad after he [[OutlivingOnesOffspring outlived his daughter Emma]] thanks to her freezing to death when Elsa locked Arendelle in winter. This makes him deranged enough to try to kill Anna so that Elsa won't have any family left. By the end of his arc, Adrian ends up falling into a freezing lake after trying and failing to kill both sisters, and ultimately decides to let himself drown [[SpitefulSuicide instead of letting Elsa save him]]. After his death, Anna and Elsa find out why he went so mad, and towards the end of the story, find out that Emma's death ''wasn't'' Elsa's doing- it was [[BigBad Daniel]] the [[OurWightsAreDifferent wight]], a former lover of Adrian's wife, who made her [[IllGirl sick]] by freezing her head (purely because he was [[UnbalancedByRivalsKid furious that his old love had married and had a child with someone else]], and Elsa's winter just jump-started her freezing to death. Adrian fell into insanity, tried to commit regicide, and actually ''did'' commit suicide, leaving his wife a widow, over something that [[MisplacedRetribution wasn't even the fault of his queen]], but of his wife's psychotic former boyfriend, and he never lived long enough to find this out!

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Vatel François Vatel]] was a 17th century master of house for Prince Louis II, a French nobleman and relative of King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV. When the Prince hosted the King at an elaborate 2,000-person banquet, Vatel was in charge of organizing all the logistics and preparation for the food. The thing that finally broke him was a seafood delivery not arriving on the night of the banquet; he was so overcome with the stress and shame of it all that he [[{{Seppuku}} ran himself through with his sword]]. His body was found by a servant... who was coming with news that the seafood had arrived.

* Towards the end of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria plan to leave the city together. As Maria prepares to meet Tony at Doc's in order to put their plan in motion, she is detained by the police for questioning about her brother's death, and thus sends Anita to tell Tony that she will be late. Unfortunately, Anita is intercepted by the Jets, who attempt to rape her in retaliation for the death of Riff, and she angrily declares that Maria isn't coming because Chino shot her dead. Despondent at the supposed loss of his love, Tony runs out and goads Chino into killing him... just before Maria shows up to find him dead.