History TragicKeepsake / Literature

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', when Harry leaves the Dursleys' house for good and discards most of his possessions, he keeps with him the fake Horcrux that Dumbledore had all but died helping him retrieve from the cave. This is also an example of the hero not keeping the keepsake; instead, Harry gives it to Kreacher, an act that results in the house-elf that had loathed Harry and his friends becoming one of his most loyal allies. This of course being because the locket is a tragic keepsake for Kreacher of someone else entirely.

* ''Literature/HIVESeries'': Wing wears half of a yin/yang symbol around his neck, and his mother had the other half. He knows she wasn't wearing it when she died, and assumes that whoever murdered her has the second amulet. [[spoiler: Turns out it was just Nero, to whom she sent it a few days before her death so that the two halves would remain separated. Neither of them know that they each contain half of Overlord's source code.]]
* Will Parry (''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'') grew up hearing tales about his brave father, the explorer, and was told by his mother that he would grow up to "take on his father's mantle." He does this quite literally. (However, it's not made explicit how long he keeps or wears the mantle itself.)

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', when Harry leaves the Dursleys' house for good and discards most of his possessions, he keeps with him the fake Horcrux that Dumbledore had all but died helping him retrieve from the cave. This is also an example of the hero not keeping the keepsake; instead, Harry gives it to Kreacher, an act that results in the house-elf that had loathed Harry and his friends becoming one of his most loyal allies. This of course being because the locket is a tragic keepsake for Kreacher of someone else entirely.
** It is revealed in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' that whenever Neville goes to see his parents who were [[TraumaInducedAmnesia tortured so much they lost their memories, including that they have a son]], they give him a gum wrapper before he leaves the hospital. While his grandmother tells him to just throw it away, he has kept every wrapper they have ever given to him.
* In ''Literature/FalseMemory'' by Dean Koontz, Dr. Ahriman has [[spoiler: his father's eyes in a jar. Not as a reminder of some past wrong, however, but rather because he killed his father and stole his father's eyes in an attempt to understand his own inability to cry and subsequent fetish for tears.]]

* In the ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Belgariad]]'' prequel ''Polgara the Sorceress'', Polgara keeps a hairbrush used by one of her friends, who was killed as an indirect result of her interference in Arendish politics, for over two thousand years.
* Zack keeps a gift from his former girlfriend during his time in prison in ''Literature/TheMentalState''. [[spoiler:However, this is actually a subversion, as he actually bought it himself to trick the other inmates into thinking he had a weakness]].

* ''Literature/WolfHall'' has a few:
** Early on, Cardinal Wolsey relates an amusing rumor that one of his many rings confers immortality and says if he knew which, he'd have a replica made for his favorite, Thomas Cromwell. Just before his exile, he gives Thomas a box with instructions not to open it until Wolsey dies--this happens a few months later in an implied DeathByDespair when Henry VIII accuses him of treason. Cromwell finds the box contains Wolsey's turquoise ring. He wears it on his index finger from then on.
** In a grisly example, Cromwell permits Thomas More's daughter to take his head from its spike and later hears the rumors that she carries it around and prays to it.
** Cromwell keeps the costume angel wings that his daughter Grace wore in the hopes that his household might one day have another little girl to wear them, though it seems increasingly unlikely as time goes on. When the closet they're kept in is used as a psychological torture chamber for Mark Smeaton (one of the men accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn), Cromwell decides he will have to burn them.

* In ''Literature/ThisAlienShore'', Kio Masada's wife of ten years was a musician before she died in a pod accident. Masada keeps her keyboard and touches it every day to remind himself of her.
* ''Literature/{{Forbidden}}'': [[spoiler:For Maya, the silver bracelet Lochan gave her for Christmas, engraved, “Maya, love you forever. Lochan x." becomes this.]]
* Anthony from ''Literature/LoveAnthony'' used to collect white pebbles and line them up all over the house. Now Olivia keeps them in a bowl on her coffee table.
* ''Literature/{{Shtum}}'' has Georg's "magic crystal" of Bohemia glass, which has been in the family for over a hundred years. [[spoiler:His autistic brother Jonatan was very attached to it, and was allowed to bring it with him when he was institutionalized. He was later [[MercyKill killed in his sleep]] by the nurses to spare him from the Nazis. When Georg found the body, the crystal was in his pocket. Georg couldn't bring himself to bury the crystal with him, so he took it to England as the only thing left of his family.]] Decades later, he passes it on to Jonah, who brings it with him when he is institutionalized.
* ''Literature/OneThirdNerd'': Dodge's grandmother Lily died four years ago. Since then, his grandfather Crash has worked to keep all her plants alive. He also won't throw out anything that has her name on it, causing the table to be buried under a mound of junk mail.
* ''Literature/NavigatingEarly'': In the story Early tells, Pi returns to his DoomedHometown to find nothing left of his family except a shell necklace his mother made. He carries it around for the rest of his travels.

* In ''Literature/BudNotBuddy'', Bud's prized possessions include some rocks with city names and dates carved on them that he found in his mother's drawer after she died. [[spoiler:She used to collect them before she ran away. Her father has boxes of them that she didn't take with her.]]
* ''Literature/ADrownedMaidensHair'': Maud's brother Samm'l, who was adopted away from her after their mother died when she was five and he was eleven, tracks her down at her new home in Hawthorne Grove. He has to go west with his adopted family, but before he leaves, he gives her a keepsake from their Catholic mother - a coral rosary with a silver crucifix. [[spoiler:Hyacinth steals the rosary after the HouseFire. Maud never sees it again.]]
* Livvie from ''Literature/LivvieOwenLivedHere'' carries the kitten collar of [[ADogNamedDog Orange Cat]], who escaped and was hit by a car, everywhere she goes. She usually wears it as a bracelet.
* ''Literature/PrudencePenderhaus'': Ever since Prudence's dad died five years ago, her mom has kept a stash of his stuff in the back of their closet. [[spoiler:It comes in handy after Mrs. Shooster throws out all of Cassius's belongings, including his clothes, and Prudence lends him some of her dad's clothes.]]
* ''Literature/ForbiddenSea'': Since Adrianne's father died two years ago, the only valuable her family didn't sell is a pendant that belonged to him, and before that belonged to his grandmother.
* ''Literature/SweepTheStoryOfAGirlAndHerMonster'': [[TheProtagonist Nan]]'s only remaining momento of her old guardian, the Sweep, is her char, a large clump of chimney soot all stuck together. It also manages to be warm in her hand, no matter what. [[spoiler:The char eventually comes to life, starting by saving Nan from being cooked alive inside the chimney she was stuck in.]]
* ''Literature/ApparentlyDisillusionedAdventurersWillSaveTheWorld'': The locket that Karan carries was purchased by the leader of her former team and acts as a symbol/reminder of what happened to her. [[spoiler: Nick accidentally breaks it during a job but she doesn't care, symbolizing her beginning to move on from the betrayal and trusting her new teammates.]]
* ''Literature/AngelChildDragonChild'': Ut keeps a matchbox with a photograph of her mother on the inside of the lid. Downplayed because her mother is not dead, and merely separated from the rest of the family by distance, but Ut misses her just as much.
* ''Literature/ApolloAutism'': Jake's parents died in a car accident when he was twelve. He still has two of their favorite possessions, an angel figurine from his mother and a catcher's mask from his father.
* ''Literature/GracefullyGrayson'': Grayson's mother was an artist. She left her a painting of a red, blue, and yellow bird flying above the earth. Grayson learns that the painting is of the phoenix, a creature Grayson was fascinated by when she was little.
* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'':
** The cloak Ayla used to carry her infant son becomes this for her at the end of the first book. She only takes it with her to remind herself of him after she's forced to leave him and she sometimes [[CradleOfLoneliness holds it close to her]] for comfort. She eventually leaves it behind in the third book, when she accepts she will probably never see him again; she uses it to wrap the body of a young boy who reminds her of her son.
** Jondalar has two notable ones:
*** A necklace belonging to his sister-in-law, Jetamio, which he keeps to remind himself of her and his brother after they both die. He keeps it with him until he reaches his home again and then passes it on to his mother.
*** He keeps a piece of opal that falls from the rock pile his brother is buried under, which Ayla says he should keep in his amulet, as it may be a sign from his brother's spirit. It becomes a MementoMacGuffin in the fifth book, involving a subplot where Jondalar uses it in a ritual to contact Thonolan's spirit and ensure he moves onto the afterlife.
** In ''The Mammoth Hunters'', Crozie been holding on to a white cape she made specially for her son for years. He never got to wear it because of his untimely death but Crozie couldn't bear to either throw it away or give it to someone else. She eventually decides to give it to Ayla for Racer to wear, so that people at the Summer Meeting won't mistake him for an ordinary horse and try to harm him. Crozie insists she use so it won't be wasted and out of gratitude for everything Ayla has done for the Crane Hearth.