History TragicKeepsake / VideoGames

** In [[PlayableEpilogue The Answer]] [[spoiler:It's revealed that Aigis kept the Protagonist's Evoker after he died and has been holding onto it for the whole month before The Answer takes place before finally surrendering it along with everyone else's at the start of the story]]

Since this is a DeathTrope, '''[[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked.]]'''

* ''VideoGame/Thief2TheMetalAge'', in the mission ''Trail of Blood'', has a pagan child spirit offering Dewdrop to Garrett because she doesn't need him anymore - a small handmade straw doll. Because of a bug in the game, it only acts as a toy rather than a magical doll that attempts to blind pursuers.

Since this is a DeathTrope, '''[[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked.]]''''

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has a couple of these. Mamoru, the Star Social Link, carries his father's car keys (from the car he died driving). When you max out the link, he decides to take responsibility for his family by working in a factory; as a sign he's moved past his father's death, he leaves the car keys with you. Akinari, the Sun social link, has what could be called a subverted one: the notebook he wrote his story in before he died from his disease. In the epilogue, you offer it to his mother, but she asks you to keep it so that she can hear the story from Akinari himself in the afterlife.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney:''
** Apollo Justice's bracelet [[spoiler: used to belong to his mother. She probably left it with him when she abandoned him.]] Similarly, after [[spoiler: Trucy's mother disappeared,]] her father gave her a locket [[spoiler: with her mom's picture in it.]] Naturally, [[spoiler: Trucy and Apollo actually have the same mother. Guess Thalassa isn't too great at sticking around her children.]] Both cases are a subversion since [[spoiler: their mother is alive.]]
** In ''Trials and Tribulations'', [[spoiler: the Master's Talisman that Misty Fey was obligated to wear around her neck for as long as she lived contained a picture of Maya and Mia, so they would always be with her until the day she died. Played with in that Maya and Mia weren't dead; Misty had, in fact, left the village when they were children in an effort to protect them from the disgrace which her role in the DL-6 court trial had garnered their clan.]]
** Another example involving Apollo presents itself in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' [[spoiler:when Apollo starts wearing his best friend's GYAXA jacket as a CoatCape after he's murdered.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Schala gives her little brother Janus an amulet to protect him. [[spoiler: As Magus, he still keeps the amulet tied around his waist.]]

* In the Doom Slayer's Fortress of Doom in ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', there's a cage containing [[spoiler:a bloodied rabbit's foot]]. This is all the Slayer has left of [[spoiler:his pet rabbit, Daisy, slain by the demons centuries ago]].

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins:'' In the City Elf origin, if the player character is female, she can loot her own wedding ring from [[spoiler:the body of her murdered betrothed]]. Should the player choose, she can keep it throughout the rest of the game as this.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII:'' When the templars forcibly took Anders to the Circle, the only personal possession he was allowed to keep was a pillow hand-embroidered by his mother. Before he goes on his quest [[spoiler:to blow up the Chantry,]] he offers the pillow to Varric, saying that the latter has been his good friend.

* The Necromantress in ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' is always followed by a floating purple crystal. [[spoiler:It's her older brother's SoulJar.]]

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': The Hero wields his tragically-murdered father's sword. He also gets [[spoiler:his mother Madalena's]] locket after her death.

*** Serena's left with [[spoiler:Veronica's staff and spellbook]] after the latter sacrifices herself in Act 2.

** [[ColdSniper Boone]] [[spoiler:has a sort of "If you get this, I'm dead" note addressed to his wife that all NCR troopers write; the tragedy is driven further when one remembers that his wife died long before him]].
** [[CoolOldGuy Raul]] [[{{Cowboy}} Tejada]] is [[ImpliedTrope implied]] to have one [[spoiler:if you convince him to become a gunslinger again; he'll take up his guns in honor of his long-dead sister Rafaela, and sports a Vaquero outfit that is heavily implied to be the same one he'd parade around in to make her laugh; he becomes a folk hero who delivers justice to those who prey on the weak.]]
** [[TheAlcoholic C]][[HardDrinkingPartyGirl a]][[DeadpanSnarker s]][[SirSwearsALot s]] has a tribal necklace from her mother before the latter died, and she is extremely stubborn to [[spoiler:sell the name of her vaporized caravan company when you're trying to buy it from her.]]
** One ending for [[SplitPersonality Dog/God]] in the Dead Money DLC has [[spoiler:God take control, and heal all his bodily wounds. Except for one: the large scars on his chest that spell out "DOG".]]
* During the opening sequence of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' the player character will automatically [[spoiler: take the wedding ring of their deceased spouse if the player opens the cryo pod that their spouse was in.]] The player could hock it off to a vendor given its an open world game, but still its clearly meant to be this trope. [[http://imgur.com/gallery/nYXfHNn This comic]] only drives the point home.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', near the end of ''Heavensward'', [[spoiler: Count Fortemps entrusts the Warrior with the remains of Haurchefant's shield, which he used to defend the Warrior from Sir Zephirin's attempt on their life. The Warrior would later lay it to rest at Haurchefant's grave, after which Count Fortemps gifts them another kite shield bearing the house's coat of arms.]] In Reflections in Crystal (5.3), [[spoiler: they return almost all of the memory crystals to Elidibus, but hang onto Azem's, which Emet-Selch secretly created and had delivered to them posthumously. Given that Azem was their past self, the keepsake could be in remembrance of themselves, Emet-Selch, their lost people, or all of the above.]] In ''Endwalker'', [[spoiler:they would continue to use Azem's crystal against foes too great to face alone, such as Zodiark, the Endsinger, Barbariccia, and Rubicante.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': [[spoiler:Delita]] keeps [[spoiler:his dead sister Tietra's]] necklace as shown in the Zeirchele Falls meeting with Ramza.

** [[spoiler: all the [[KidFromTheFuture children from the future]] carry the engagement rings that their fathers gave to their mothers in their S supports, shall said mothers get married.]]
** There are other more specific cases: [[spoiler: Gerome and Cynthia ride Cherche's wyvern and Sumia's pegasus, respectively, and Laurent wears Miriel's hat. Cynthia also keeps the remains of a lance that she and Sumia were supposed to make together, while Owain holds on to a piece of staff that he calls "Lissa", which is implied to be part of the staff his mother Lissa was holding when she died (hence the name). According to the ''Golden Gaffe'' DLC, Severa keeps the money inside her wallet untouched because it's what remains of the last gold coins that her mother Cordelia gave her before dying.]]
** Following the supports with [[spoiler: Gerome]] and the Drama CD's, [[spoiler: Princess Lucina]] has two from her mother, [[PlayerCharacter no]] [[DorkKnight matter]] [[TheOjou who]] [[TheLadette she]] [[ShrinkingViolet can]] [[GirlNextDoor be]]: a pendant that she and [[spoiler: Gerome]] search for when it's lost, and [[spoiler: the golden tiara she's wearing]] (And one could say [[spoiler: the Falchion]] is one from [[spoiler: her father Chrom.]])

** [[spoiler: Severa/Selena's GoldenPath supports with Cordelia's {{gender flip}}ped {{expy}} Subaki state that [[CallBack she still carries Cordelia's engagement ring with her]], as they meet when she's desperately looking for it. Subaki finds it and gives it back to her, and if they get married, he uses it as a base for the engagement ring ''he'' makes for ''her''.]]
** [[spoiler: Azura's son]] Shigure has two of them. The first one is [[spoiler: ''his hairstyle'' - the bangs haircut was his best friend from the Deeprealms' one, and said friend was murdered right before Shigure's recruitment.]] The second comes from the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC path, and [[spoiler: it's the now dead Azura's old pendant.]]
** Laslow wears a golden chain around his hip, attached to his leather belt. [[spoiler: His daughter]] Soleil wears a white headband. [[spoiler: Since Laslow is an OlderAndWiser Inigo, this strongly implies that the chain and the headband belonged to his mother Olivia.]]
* Late in the original ''VideoGame/FrontMission1'' Lloyd (Or "Roid" of you're going to be like ''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS that]]'') gets a hold of his fiance's [[spoiler:''brain'', which has since been converted into a Wanzer CPU and equips it to his own unit. Unsurprisingly, it's the absolute best CPU available in the entire game.]]

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': The Masterless Vision that Kazuha carries around and hopes to rekindle its lost power through finding a new Vision bearer is [[spoiler:a memento of his long-deceased friend and mentor, who perished in the hands of the Raiden Shogun for challenging her Sakoku Decree. He hopes that, by finding a new owner, he can pass on his friend's unwavering will onto them]].
* In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', the doll [[spoiler:Orchid]] carries around is one of Orchis' belongings which Apollonia gave to her in the hopes it would make her more emotional. [[spoiler:Orchis suggests Orchid should keep it since the latter became much more attached to it then Orchis ever had.]]

** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'': Just before [[spoiler: Jorge]] makes a HeroicSacrifice (which also becomes a SenselessSacrifice), he gives Noble Six his dogtags, who keeps them for the remainder of the game.
** In the teaser for ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', Master Chief is shown holding [[spoiler:the late Cortana's data crystal chip]].
* In ''VisualNovel/HighwayBlossoms'', Amber Golley, the protagonist, has her late grandfather's mix tape, which contains all the songs he used to listen to. [[spoiler:Near the end of the game, the tape deck eats the tape, and Amber buries it in the desert as she comes to terms with his loss]].

* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' Jacket keeps [[spoiler:a photo of himself and his old military friend Beard. Beard had given it to him as a memento after saving his life, only to perish in a nuclear strike some months later]]. At the end of the first game Jacket throws it away, believing his [[spoiler: revenge against Russians (who had dropped the bomb)]] to be over.
* ''VideoGame/KanColle'': The boss Destroyer Water Demon carries a blue ribbon in her hand. [[spoiler:It's Kaga's, being the ribbon holding up her ponytail. Destroyer Water Demon is Abyssal Hagikaze, and Hagikaze was one of Kaga's escort and the ship who ultimately scuttled her after the Battle of Midway.]]

** Terry Bogard and his [[SignatureHeadgear trademark cap]]. As explained in the the intro of ''VideoGame/FatalFury: Wild Ambition'' and the ''FF'' anime specials, it was [[ItWasAGift a gift]] given by his adoptive father Jeff after he was killed by Geese. He later gives his cap to [[spoiler: Geese's son]] Rock and the kid keeps it with him ever since.

** [[spoiler: Elisabeth Blanctorche]] has a headband that once belonged to [[spoiler: her best friend and adoptive brother Ash Crimson]], and she keeps it with her in her team's ''XIII'' ending after [[spoiler: his TakingYouWithMe with Saiki in which he [[RetGone erases himself from his own existence]] in the process. Even more, Elisabeth is the only one who remembers him]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', Joel keeps the watch given to him [[spoiler: as a birthday gift by the daughter he had failed to save in remembrance of her]] -- though cracked and past its usefulness, he still keeps it with him over 20 years later.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', the watch reappears. [[spoiler:This time it's Ellie who has it as a remembrance of Joel, whose murder starts off the whole game and motivates her revenge quest.]]
* Dart from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' keeps a gem his father once had before he and his mother were killed by the Black Monster. [[spoiler:This is later revealed to be the Dragoon Spirit of the Red-Eyed Dragon, which allows him to go into Dragoon form.]]

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the Sheikah Slate acts as one for Link; it originally belonged to Zelda back when they traveled together and before it was sealed up in the Shrine of Resurrection with Link, and her photographs on the camera are the key to Link recovering from his amnesia. [[spoiler:She gets it back in the ending once Ganon is defeated and she is freed from his grasp.]]

** Late in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': [[spoiler:After a large number of Diamond Dogs are killed following a vocal chord parasite outbreak, Big Boss orders their ashes be pressed into diamonds to hand out to the survivors. That way, even in death, their comrades would be by their side.]]
** Also revealed via [[spoiler: the Truth Records cassette tapes is that Major Zero reflected upon the pin badge that Skull Face gifted back to him, along with a phone call he had with him. The pin badge is from someone both Major Zero and The Boss both missed dearly. His body was never recovered after a previous conflict in Egypt and, as Major Zero says... "This pin badge is the closest thing he has to a gravestone..."]] [[spoiler: Unfortunately for Zero, it was just a very well-concieved fake, Skull Face kept the real pin badge and, unfortunately for Zero, he accidentally pricked his finger with the pin part of badge, which Skull Face coated with a possible prototype of the vocal cord parasite, leaving him only a limited amount of time before turning him into the vegetable he is seen to be in [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots MGS4.]]]]

** Even more tragically, in the sequel ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'', after [[spoiler: Talion takes Isildur’s ring of power once Celebrimbor betrays him, Talion [[TheDarkSideMakesYouForget slowly forgets who the keepsakes are from]] as he turns into a Nazgûl]].
* A few crop up in the first chapter of ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', in the form of [[spoiler:Claus]]'s shoes and the piece of cloth from [[spoiler:Hinawa]]'s dress, as well as [[spoiler:"the" Drago Fang]], described as "the relic of a horrible accident." Later on, you get a razor and lipstick from each of the Magypsies when they pass on, which will revive the character holding them if they fall in battle.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has a couple of these. Mamoru, the Star Social Link, carries his father's car keys (from the car he died driving). When you max out the link, [[spoiler:he decides to take responsibility for his family by working in a factory; as a sign he's moved past his father's death, he leaves the car keys with you.]] Akinari, the Sun social link, has what could be called a subverted one: the notebook he wrote his story in [[spoiler:before he died from his disease. In the epilogue, you offer it to his mother, but she asks you to keep it so that she can hear the story from Akinari himself in the afterlife.]]
** FES has Elizabeth {{lampshade|Hanging}} this an interesting way during one of her quests. She asks for a fruit knife (which you get from Shinjiro, as he loves cooking). However, like her other fetch quests she won't take it as she notices how well taken care of it is, saying it's probably very important to the owner (the engraving on it hints that has to do with orphanage he grew up in.) In the end though, [[spoiler: after the events of October 4, you will still have it in your inventory, making it more or less ''your'' keepsake of Shinjiro.]]
** The girl's route in the remake also shows a few. Ken, who is a social link, keeps the key to his house (which was destroyed and left him without a home and a family). [[spoiler: When he overcomes the regrets of losing his mom and realizes he suppressed all of the loving memories with her for the sake of revenge, he gives the protagonist that key, representing how he moved on, along with she is just as important him as those memories.]] Koromaru also has the collar that he used to wear on his walks with his late master, and Shinjiro also has pocket watch which he cherishes, and as he's an orphan also, it's likely it was from a family member. There's also Ryoji, who gives you a ring [[spoiler: as proof that he was once human, before going on to cause the Fall.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' has one of these in the form of [[spoiler:Sojiro Sakura's curry recipe. The recipe was actually created by Wakaba Isshiki, a dear friend of Sojiro's and the mother of his adopted daughter, Futaba, to compliment Sojiro's coffee. After Wakaba was assassinated for her cognitive psience research. He would continue to use the recipe, in part to honor Wakaba's memory, and in part because it is Futaba's favorite food.]]
* Cubone from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' are notable for wearing their dead mother's skull on their heads. They wail for said mothers often. Which is odd given, among other reasons, if you breed your female Cubone or Marowak, she'll be fine, and her offspring will still have the skull.
** This is yet more support for the "written by the ten-year-old protagonists" alternate fan theory on Pokedex entries. If nothing else, think about the mathematics: If the skull is specifically that of the Cubone's ''mother'', then the species has been going extinct at a rapid pace for quite some time, and in fact should have disappeared decades if not centuries ago, because there are only so many skulls to go around, and some of those Marowak are male.
** There is an ''EpilepticTrees'' theory stating that Cubone are actually the pouch babies leftover from dead Kangaskhan.

* ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' has an example in the BGA for Canon-D, in which a girl keeps a necklace that was actually [[spoiler: a pupil from a robotic eye that helped her escape from treacherous robots but ends up getting killed protecting her.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'', the apple Ringo always carries around was, according to her, a possession of her grandmother. Her friends assume from how she words it that her grandma is no longer alive... [[spoiler:except Ringo tells them she is, in fact, still living, thus subverting the trope]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Rakuen}}'': Tony's most prized possession is a broken music box that used to play the tune of a lullaby he'd sing to his daughter Christina. [[spoiler: The two haven't spoken to each other ever since the accident that claimed his son Benny's life, but the quest to fix the music box leads to you helping him reconcile with her.]]
* ''VideoGame/RaveHeart'': If the player returns to Villa's house on Planet Orion, [[spoiler:she'll give them Bryan's sword, which cannot be equipped and is instead kept as a key item to remind the party of his HeroicSacrifice]].
* ''VideoGame/ReKuroi'': Kaito's piano tuner is the only thing he has left of his father. [[spoiler:Nina manages to find a second tuner from Kaito's father in the bandits' hideout, which the latter intended to give to Kaito before he was transformed into a monster.]]
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': Arthur's main hat belonged to his dad. In turn, [[spoiler: he gives it to John along with the rest of his stuff right before he dies. John also proposes to Abigail with an engagement ring]] that once belonged to him.

** At the end of ''VideoGame/SakuraWars1996'', [[spoiler:Ayame Fujieda leaves behind her sword, the Shirahadori, after she dies]].
** After [[spoiler:Aoi Satan/Shinnosuke Yamazaki]] is KilledOffForReal in ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2ThouShaltNotDie'', [[spoiler:he leaves behind his sword, the Mukei]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' does this at the end when [[spoiler:Sonic gives Rouge Shadow's inhibitor ring after the black-and-red hedgehog supposedly dies.]]
** And again in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', Sonic keeps [[spoiler:Chip's collar when the latter returns to his millennial sleep]].
* In ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands,'' during episode four when [[spoiler: Rhys is in Handsome Jack's office, you can choose to examine his wall of prized possessions, and one of them is the cowboy hat that his dead girlfriend Nisha used to wear. If you've made certain decisions prior to this, you'll have Jack's (the ArtificialIntelligence of him, anyway) adding his own commentary to the scans Rhys' echo-eye makes of objects; if you scan Nisha's hat, Jack simply says, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes "I miss my girlfriend."]]]]
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'', Ludger takes the swords [[spoiler: that were used by his brother Julius in the wake of his demise]]. You can also optionally obtain more keepsakes through a sidequest, which are [[spoiler: a pair of the glasses he was always wearing and a better version of the aforementioned swords]].

** [[spoiler:After Sophet kills Alison, Seth keeps the doll that the latter made for him. He later gives it to Alison's father, Gallian.]]

* Several items in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' act as this, such as at the end of Rheastrasza's quest chain rewarding you with [[spoiler: her last egg after she and her other egg are destroyed by Deathwing]] and [[spoiler: the Paragons of the Klaxxi encounter in the Siege of Orgrimmar giving you a chance to get Kaz'tik the Manipulator's pet kunchong Kovok.]]

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

** [[spoiler: Azura's son]] Shigure has two of them. The first one is [[spoiler: ''his hairstyle'' - the PeekABangs haircut was his best friend from the Deeprealms' one, and said friend was murdered right before Shigure's recruitment.]] The second comes from the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC path, and [[spoiler: it's the now dead Azura's old pendant.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has a couple of these. Mamoru, the Star Social Link, carries his father's car keys (from the car he died driving); when you max out the link, [[spoiler:he decides to take responsibility for his family by working in a factory; as a sign he's moved past his father's death, he leaves the car keys with you.]] Akinari, the Sun social link, has what could be called a subverted one: the notebook he wrote his story in [[spoiler:before he died from his disease; in the epilogue, you offer it to his mother, but she asks you to keep it so that she can hear the story from Akinari himself in the afterlife.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', near the end of Heavensward, [[spoiler: Count Fortemps entrusts the Warrior with the remains of Haurchefant's shield, which he used to defend the Warrior from Sir Zephirin's attempt on their life. The Warrior would later lay it to rest at Haurchefant's grave, after which Count Fortemp gifts them another kite shield bearing the house's coat of arms.]] In Reflections of Crystal (5.3), [[spoiler: they return almost all of the memory crystals to Elidibus, but hang onto Azem's, which Emet-Selch secretly created and had delivered to them posthumously. Given that Azem was their past self, the keepsake could be in remembrance of themselves, Emet-Selch, their lost people, or all of the above.]]

** [[spoiler: Elisabeth Blanctorche]] has a headband that once belonged to [[spoiler: her best friend Ash Crimson]], and she keeps keeps it with her in her team's ''XIII'' ending after [[spoiler: his TakingYouWithMe with Saiki in which he erases himself from his own existence in the process. Even more, Elisabeth is the only one who remembers him]].