Thorin: Farewell. good thief. I wish to part in friendship, and would take back my words at the gate.
Bilbo Baggins: There were many words I would take back, also.
Thorin: And does it take this to make us to see each other?
Sometimes, people don't see eye to eye. Disagreements are born, grow, fester.
And then, someone finds that they are running out of time. They're going to shuffle off this mortal coil. And it causes a good deal of reevaluation of their life. And they realize that the disagreements and grudges they were holding onto in life aren't as important as they thought they were. Or the reverse could be true. Upon learning that someone is dying, someone might realize that the grudges they bore them were petty and unimportant.
Whether it is the person dying who offers the olive branch, the person who holds a grudge against them, or if they reach out to each other mutually, they often tend to put aside their petty differences and make peace.
If it turns out that the person who was dying is treated with a miracle cure at the last possible moment, or resurrected by the powers-that-be, look for them to have a much healthier relationship with those around them when they return. If it turns out they were lying about dying, or someone else was lying about it, look for it to be Played for Laughs and for the hostilities and resentments to begin anew.
Will sometimes overlap with Redemption Equals Death, as well as Death Equals Redemption. Often the final chapter of a relationship with the "Well Done, Son" Guy. May be met in more tearjerking works with a Heel–Face Door-Slam or a Reformed, but Rejected. Indeed, this may well be the finale of The Generation Gap in a story, where an elderly family member, or their offspring, try to lay any conflict between them to rest before passing on. In some extreme cases, they could be Together in Death.
See also Thanatos Gambit. Compare Deathbed Confession. Compare and contrast Dying Truce. Also contrast Dying Declaration of Hate, in which the dying party decides to use one of their last breaths to make clear they will continue their grudge in the ever after (or even reveal that they had one) as one final, powerful insult. May overlap with I Die Free, when someone wishes to die without regrets.
A subtrope of Last Moment Together.
Because of its nature as a Death Trope, all spoilers will be left unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- My-HiME: Episode 25 gives us a variation. Natsuki isn't dying in the traditional sense. But the rules of the HiME Festival are that There Can Be Only One or the HiME Star will crash to Earth and wipe out everything. Natsuki can't win, as she is Shizuru's most precious person, and Shizuru is hers. She decides Mai should be the one to confront the Obsidian Prince, and goes off to face Shizuru, and in a move that surprises Shizuru, offers Forgiveness for whatever passed between them when Natsuki was sleeping and in Shizuru's care. Natsuki embraces Shizuru while destroying her CHILD, ensuring they're Together in Death. They get better.
- Naruto:
- Obito Uchiha, after making his Heel–Face Turn and dying to help the heroes seal Kaguya away, speaks to Kakashi one last time before he passes onto the afterlife. Obito laments his sins, but Kakashi tells him that he's just happy that they get to part as friends instead of enemies.
- Madara, on the verge of death for the third and final time, speaks with Hashirama in his final moments, admitting that his way to carving peace is superior to his own, and dies peacefully when Hashirama says that he still cares for him as a friend.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: After their final duel, Yusei gets to speak to Kiryu Kyosuke (known as Kalin Kessler in the dub) one last time, where the latter makes peace with him after wrongly accusing Yusei of betraying him. Kiryu admits that besides revenge, his other purpose as a Dark Signer was to carry out Team Satisfaction's (the Enforcers in the dub) last duel. It's subverted however when Kiryu is resurrected as a human.
Films — Live-Action
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Lloyd Vogel was upset and angry with his father for running out on his mother when she was on her deathbed. But thanks to a little intervention from none other than Fred Rogers, the two reconcile when Jerry himself is on his deathbed, with Jerry Vogel now fawning over Lloyd's new son as a grandfather.
- Big Fish: After a three-year estrangement, Will learns his father Edward is dying of cancer and returns home hoping to repair the relationship before he dies. The central issue the two have is that Edward exaggerates stories of his life to the point of being tall tales, and Will wants to know the truth. He ultimately at least comes to understand who his father is, culminating in Edward's last moments when Will tells the story of how Edward dies, the one story he never told.
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife: A rare case of someone being able to reconcile posthumously, as Ray apologizes to Egon's spirit for not listening to him about Gozer's return.
- The Royal Tenenbaums: Invoked by Royal, who pretends to have terminal stomach cancer to get one last attempt at reconciling with his estranged family. After the deception is revealed, Royal still manages to achieve a small measure of reconciliation before dying of a heart attack.
- Shaun of the Dead: Shaun was never happy that his mother remarried, and had a rocky relationship with his step-father, Phillip. However, before he dies, Phillip tells Shaun that he was always trying to look out for him and that it wasn't easy to be a father, and that he'd always loved Shaun, and always thought he had it in him to do well. Shaun is devastated at that point when Phillip dies, knowing the antipathy between them had been unnecessary. He tearfully tells Ed to stop the car, as he mourns Phillip's passing, and even acknowledges that Phillip was his father when he has to explain to his mother that there's nothing left of the man in the creature now locked in the car.
- Synecdoche, New York subverted this to the point of parody. Caden is summoned to his daughter Olive's bedside when she becomes terminally ill from all her extensive tattoos. Although he has been forcibly removed from her life for years against his will, Olive blames him for abandoning her and insists he apologize for having a gay affair with someone named Eric (which never actually happened). Caden does apologize and begs her forgiveness...which Olive refuses before promptly dying.
- In A Very Long Engagement one of the four other men sentenced to die along with Manech had a lifelong best friend who was like a brother to him, but it was noted that the two men appeared to have a mysterious and bitter falling out a few months earlier. However, shortly the man was set to be executed by being kicked out into No Man's Land between the trenches in World War I and left for the Germans to kill, that man and his best friend (who was also a soldier in the same region) tearfully reconciled.
Literature
- Toward the end of The Sapphire Rose, the third part of the Elenium trilogy, protagonist Sparhawk and his childhood friend-turned-nemesis Martel have a fatal swordfight. As Martel lies dying, he makes peace with Sparhawk and also their teacher, Sephrenia. Knowing that they've both forgiven him for his evils, he tells them that he's glad to be receiving something almost like a formal deathbed, because "I get to die in the presence of the only two people I've ever really loved."
- In The Hobbit, Bilbo takes the Arkenstone and gives it to Bard in a desperate attempt to prevent battle from breaking out between the Dwarves and the gathered host of Elves from Mirkwood and Men from Lake-town. When Bard reveals the Arkenstone and Bilbo admits to giving it to him, Thorin feels betrayed and casts Bilbo out of the company. Despite Bilbo's efforts, the Battle of the Five Armies happens (with the Dwarves, Elves, and Men joining forces against the Goblins and Wargs), and Thorin is mortally wounded. Bilbo is brought to Thorin in his final moments, where Thorin recants his words and actions and Bilbo expresses gratitude for being allowed to be part of the adventure.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Downplayed at the end of volume 10. Oliver Horn can't bring himself to torture his dying enemy Demitrio Aristides the way he normally does, because the only reason he won is that the personality of his friend Yuri Leik, a Soul Fragment of Demitrio, was Fighting from the Inside. In return, Demitrio tells Oliver what he knows about the motives behind the conspiracy to murder his mother and warns him about how dangerous Headmistress Esmeralda will be to fight, then allows Yuri to take control so that he and Oliver can say goodbye to each other.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: In "Born to the Purple", Garibaldi discovers that the unauthorized activity on the gold communication channel is Commander Ivanova communicating with her dying father back on Earth. He unintentionally eavesdrops on Andrei Ivanov apologizing to her for an apparent estrangement and failures as a father, shortly before passing on.
- Bones: The episode "The Feud in the Family" death with the murder of the patriarch of a family that was involved in a feud with another family. Over the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the man wanted to end the feud as he was terminally ill. He was murdered by someone from his family who was trying to keep the feud going so they could profit from lawsuits.
- Doctor Who: Played with at the start of Series 9. Davros is dying and has asked for the Doctor to come. The Doctor does. Davros and the Doctor have a lengthy conversation over a great many topics, such as Davros expressing joy for the Doctor at having reclaimed Gallifrey from the fires of the Time War, reminding The Doctor of his words from "Genesis of the Daleks" note . They even share a genuine, heartfelt laugh when the Doctor expressed doubt that Davros was dying, and Davros quips that "You...are not a very good Doctor." The Doctor even gives Davros some of his regeneration energy to allow him to open his eyes, and for one brief moment, he's not some ageless, deathless monster, but a frail old man. Of course, it was all a ploy by Davros to steal the Doctor's regeneration energy so that the Daleks would have that ability, but the Doctor had seen through the ruse and known that the decaying sludge in the sewers that were the dying Daleks would turn against their healthy compatriots in their bitterness and hatred.
- Rizzoli & Isles: Subverted in one episode. An elderly woman was dying of cancer, but her chauffeur, who was her late husband's illegitimate son, learns she's planning to go peacefully by having a huge morphine overdose. Furious that she kept him from getting to know his own father, he injects her with air from a syringe to cause a fatal and painful embolism. During his confession, he says that even in the throes of death, she seemed to be trying to forgive him, and he tearfully states he wishes he could go back and tell her that it was all right, that he forgave her, as well.
- In the Son of a Critch episode "Thanksgiving", Leo Critch, Pop's estranged brother, suddenly returns to Newfoundland after two decades away, hoping to meet his two great-nephews and make peace with Pop. As Pop and Leo have barely spoken to each other since Pop abandoned Leo in New York City decades ago, Pop is curious as to why his brother suddenly wants to talk to him now. After much cajoling, Leo reveals that he's been diagnosed with cancer, and doesn't expect to survive much longer, and thus he wanted to make peace with his brother before he died.
Music
- Discussed and sadly averted in the Mike + the Mechanics song "Living Years", where the narrator laments that he and his father didn't lay their disagreements to rest before his father died, and admits he might finally see what his father was trying to tell him when he himself becomes a father. The chorus urges people to clear the air and listen to one another while your loved ones are still there to talk to.
- Tim McGraw's song "Live Like You Were Dying" has a man who was diagnosed with a terminal illness discuss this, saying he had given forgiveness he'd been denying.
Religion
- Some people interpret The Bible's command not to "let the sun go down on your anger" as this; not a command against being angry at all,note or related to literal sundown, but a statement that Christians should try to reconcile with a person if they expect they will be separated from them for a long time (or forever).
Theater
- Hamlet: After Laertes is wounded with his own poisoned sword, and Gertrude falls dead from drinking from a poisoned cup of wine, Laertes exposes Claudius's plot to Hamlet before he succumbs to the poison, giving Hamlet the drive to finally kill Claudius.
- The King and I: After Anna and the King's heated argument over whether or not Tuptim should be punished for trying to elope with her lover, they don't speak for months and Anna resolves to leave Siam. But then she receives the news that the King is dying, as well as a letter from him in which he finally acknowledges that she was his most valuable advisor. At this, she goes to his bedside, is with him as he dies, and resolves to stay in Siam for the sake of his children.
Video Games
- Far Cry: New Dawn: Ethan Seed, the Bastard Bastard of Ex-Big Bad Joseph Seed of the previous game, lies dying after a prolonged battle with the Captain, who shot him repeatedly after he ate a mystic apple and the darkness in his soul turned him into a monster. Joseph runs to his son's side, and Ethan begs his father's forgiveness for selling out New Eden to the Highwaymen out of resentment towards him for not making Ethan the heir to his kingdom. Joseph tearfully agrees, whereupon Ethan dies in his arms, and Joseph descends into a guilt-and-grief-induced Villainous BSoD and carries his son's body away to mourn and convince the Captain to kill him too.
Western Animation
- In the penultimate episode of Bojack Horseman, Bojack has hit rock bottom and is attempting to drown himself in the pool of what used to be his house. As he dies, he has a fantasy in which he tries to reconcile with all the people in his life who died before he could make peace with them, like Sarah Lynn, Herb, and his mother.
- The Hobbit: Thorin and Bilbo have a heated argument about the impending war on the eve of battle, with Thorin regarding Bilbo as a coward for not wanting to fight. Bilbo, on the other hand, balks at the coward label, pointing out the many times he's pulled the dwarves' fat from the fire. After the Battle of Five Armies is concluded, Thorin is mortally wounded and dying. He calls for Bilbo and says he would take back his words at the gate. Bilbo acknowledges that there are things he would take back, as well. Thorin is pleased to part as friends with Bilbo and is at peace when he dies.
