History Main / DyingDream

!!Examples

* ''Manga/GetBackers'': Babylon City was more virtual than expected & Ginji was dead the whole time.
* In the third season of ''Anime/HellGirl'', Yuzuki has actually been dead the whole time and the past few years have been an illusion, which she only discovers when evidence of her "life" starts disappearing. Oh, and Ai tells her.

* During the Franchise/{{Batman}} ''Contagion'' storyline, Tim Drake has vivid hallucinations of his family while lying dying from the [[SyntheticPlague Clench]].

* Rob Zombie confirmed the ending of ''Film/HalloweenII2009's'' director's cut is this for Laurie.

* Rose's reunion with Jack in the ending of ''Film/Titanic1997'' is this.

** Most of "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E14Coda Coda]]" is an alien-induced DyingDream of Janeway's, in which she's trapped in a GroundhogDayLoop that inevitably ends in her death. It's eventually explained that she was teetering on the edge between life and death, and the alien needed her to die so he could consume her energy, so he created scenarios designed to [[YourMindMakesItReal make her think she was dead]] so she would die for real. When she realizes what's really going on, it gives her the power to fight off the alien.

* In some versions of ''Theatre/SwanLake'', Siegfried dreams of Odette and her transformation before meeting her. In one variation, this turns out to be foreshadowing a DyingDream that he has in the finale, helplessly watching Rothbart take Odette as he did in the prologue.

* One ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' fan theory to explain the second half of the game and the ending is called [[http://squallsdead.com "Squall's Dead"]]. It postulates that Squall was killed by the ice spear through the chest at the end of disk 1, and the rest of the game is his mind trying to come to terms with it and piece together what was really going on as his body falls to the ground. WordOfGod says that was never his intention, but he likes the idea and might even use it if they ever do a remake.
* Revealed in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', ''Wings of the Goddess'' : The Vana'diel you know ? Turns out to be a lie: the good guys never actually win the Crystal War, and the war is still ongoing. Oh, and this reality is trying to consume the ''dream'' you live in, because if it doesn't, it will disappear.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' - if you leave rescuing Liara until last, she will be so delirious that she will observe the unlikelihood of a human Spectre, of all things, coming across the galaxy for her personally and believe your entire rescue mission is one of these, until you can get her medical treatment.

* ''VideoGame/Pathologic2'': In the DLC Pathologic 2: The Marble Nest you play as Bachelor Daniil Dankovsky, who's an unplayable character in the main game (not counting the game's predecessor where he is playable). The DLC is a stand-alone story that takes place on the 10th day of the sand plague outbreak. You, as Daniil Dankovsky try to protect the last uninfected area of the town. At the same time death, quite literally, has an appointment with you in the evening. Talking with some of the children in town reveals that you are in actuality lying in bed, feverish and delirious after having contracted the sand plague yourself. In real life these children, Sticky, Sleepyhead and Shrew are taking care of you. Most dialogue options have you either ignore their claims or you can tell them that you're fine and that they're the delirious ones, not you. There are still a few options to ask for water or thank them for taking such good care of you. As the evening approaches so does your appointment with the personification of death.

* Serves as the final twist in the text-based adventure game ''VideoGame/{{Shade}}''. No, you're not about to leave your apartment for a trip to a rave in the desert; you've already wandered away from the rave in a drug-induced haze, and are dying of heatstroke and dehydration. '''Then''' it gets [[MindScrew really weird.]]

** One ending of ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' - a game that is truly as open to multiple interpretations as any novel or film - has a clip after the credits showing the protagonist in his crashed car, apparently dead - suggesting that the whole thing is a dying dream.
** Retroactive aversion, as ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' shows that he survived, just long enough to bring up Heather and then take a giant knife to the chest.

* ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' has the main characters work for a company that ''creates'' a DyingDream for clients on their deathbed that never fulfilled a last wish of life. However, the DyingDream is not much a dream, but a literal [[FakeMemories rewriting of the client's memories]] to give them their contractually-established happy ending they requested.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' Season Two, where Clementine is shot in the chest by Arvo and has a dream about the already deceased Lee, her caretaker and the protagonist from Season One. She doesn't die, though.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Saber's (a.k.a. Myth/KingArthur's) story in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': While dying after the Battle of Camlann, she makes a pact with the world to allow her to atone for her perceived failure as a king if she wins the Holy Grail. As a Heroic Spirit, she gets to participate in at least two Holy Grail Wars, returning to her moment of death whenever she fails to win a Holy Grail War. Of course, the events of this "dying dream" really did happen in the distant future, but during her time, it appeared to be nothing more than a dream. In the ending to her route, she and Shirou win the Holy Grail War, but her CharacterDevelopment and the [[JerkassGenie circumstances]] cause her to realize she can live with her mistakes, so she decides to return to Camlann for her final death. As she succumbs to her wounds, she tells Bedivere she had a "pleasant dream" for the first time in a long time and asks him if it's possible to continue dreaming where you left off if you fell asleep again (i.e. her time with Shirou made her feel free and [[IDieFree she wanted to feel that way again]], she won't be able to see Shirou again but she can in her dreams, her last moment with Shirou made her feel at peace, etc.). Bedivere answers yes and she passes away as she makes her BigSleep, with Bedivere asking her posthumously if she's having the continuation of her dream.
* ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' and ''VideoGame/FindingParadise'' uses this as its basic premise: The protagonists work for the Sigmund Corporation, a business that is hired to implant false memories into dying people, allowing them to die happy thinking they achieved all of their greatest desires and ambitions.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'':
** Shiki experiences a long Dying Dream in Ciel's True Ending, which serves as a foreshadowing of the Far Side of the Moon routes. Fortunately, he survives, in no small degree thanks to his actions within said dream.
** Also all of the 'sequel' ''Kagetsu Tohya''. This time around, it's not Shiki's Dying Dream, but Len's.
* At the end of ''VisualNovel/War13thDay'', Wildfire discovers this is what's happening to her.
* In ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', it's revealed that the entire world the story takes place in is a dream world constructed by Kyosuke. The Little Busters were all victims of a bus accident, and while most of them are dying, Kyosuke created the dream world for Riki and Rin, the only ones who will survive, as a way for them to become stronger and deal with everyone else's deaths. The dream world itself stems from a ripple effect based on the other Little Busters' desires for Riki and Rin to live.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/WhaleStarTheGyeongseongMermaid'': Dying of multiple gunshot wounds and caught by enemy guards, Haesu dies and dreams he is back in Yeonhaeju with Nokju and his family.
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