History Main / WeaponTombstone

* In ''FinalFantasyVII: AdventChildren'' Cloud uses his Buster Sword, which had previously belonged to Zack, as Zack's tombstone, or at least to mark the spot where he died protecting Cloud outside Midgar.

In FinalFantasyVII: AdventChildren, Cloud leaves the Buster Sword on Zack's grave, overlooking Midgar.

* ''{{Lunar}}'': Dyne's Monument has his sword stuck in it. Eventually, Alex pulls it out and uses it to become the Dragonmaster.

* In Kingdom Hearts 2, there is a room in The World That Never Was that houses graves with pictures of the weapons that each Organization member used.

** FinalFantasyX subverted this trope: the unattended weapons may give the wrong impression, when combined with the opening piano and somber narration.

* In the ''SergeantRock'' comics, the graves of fallen members of Easy Company were usually marked with their rifle and helmet.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* When Milton Caniff, creator of Steve Canyon, died, the last ''Steve Canyon'' strip to run was a tribute including a panel by Bill Mauldin. This showed Mauldin's WorldWarII soldier Willie sticking a rifle-sized pen into the ground while Steve, in flight suit, set a pilot's helmet atop the pen. (The rest of the tribute was the signatures of twenty or thirty other cartoonists.)
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* ''TheHobbit''. When Thorin Oakenshield was buried under the Mountain, the Elvenking laid the sword Orcrist on his tomb.

* In ''{{ComicBooks/Hitman}}'', Tommy gives ex-Para Bob a tombstone consisting of his gun, and a scrap of wood with "God is airborne" written on it.

* In ''GirlGenius'' Agatha Clay's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050119 grave]] got a pile of stones, some remnants of a mechanic monstrosity and death ray stuck in.[[/folder]]

* Dario's grave in ''ChronoCross'' is marked with his sword, the Einlanzer. Party member Glenn can retrieve the sword after some CharacterDevelopment and use it as his main weapon.

* ''{{Mulan}}'': When the commander--who also happens to be Shang's father--dies, Shang buries him. In the absence of anything else that hasn't been burned or destroyed, he marks the grave with his father's helmet, placed on his ''own'' sword.

* In Akira Kurosawa's ''SevenSamurai'' the four samurai who died are remembered this way. Possibly an UrExample for film and katana examples in particular.
** The peasants' who died in the fight have spears stuck in theirs.

A character falls in battle, and is buried by his comrades (or his enemies, if they consider him [[WorthyOpponent worthy]]). But for whatever reason, the grave isn't marked with a traditional tombstone, but rather with the slain character's weapon. Maybe circumstances didn't allow a regular marker, maybe it's just traditional (for the slain or the ones burying him), or maybe someone thought it would just be a poignant gesture..

Can be done with any type of weapon, although something with a blade will obviously be easier to stick into the ground. Regardless, almost always done in a way that the weapon is oriented vertically, rather than just laying on top of the grave.

This has been done sometimes in RealLife, with the most iconic modern example being a rifle with the boots placed near it and the helmet on top, but usually only as a temporary measure to serve as a grave marker for soldiers that were killed in the field and had to be buried close to the front lines; permanent headstones were brought in later, or the bodies moved, so the weapons wouldn't be wasted. Fictional characters often seem less concerned about losing weapons to permanent graves, for [[RuleOfCool some reason]].

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* A variation occurs in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'', where Link constructs a grave for Mikau out of his ''guitar''.

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* In ''GirlGenius'' Agatha Clay's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050119 grave]] got a pile of stones, some remnants of a mechanic monstrosity and death ray stuck in.

* Alexander Anderson in Hellsing gets a WeaponTombstone -technically a FieldOfBlades, but every weapon is his- made from his bayonets.
* In ''{{Trigun}}'', Vash uses [[spoiler:Wolfwood's cross punisher]] as his gravestone. Considering its shape, it's very fitting.

** The peasants' who died in the fight have spears stuck in theirs.

* In ''SamuraiSeven'' the graves of the samurai who died defending the village are marked with their katana.

* In ''{{Highlander}}'', Heather's grave was marked by her husband's claymore. Slightly unusual (though no less [[TearJerker effective]]) for the trope, as she wasn't a warrior herself.
** On the other hand, this [[JustifiedTrope may have been symbolic]] that "Connor McCloud" was there too, as he casts off his previous life with her.