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Basic Trope: A character dies, and very few (if any) people attend the funeral.

  • Straight: Bob dies. His sister Alice and his friends Charles and Diane are the only mourners at the funeral.
  • Exaggerated:
    • The only mourner at Bob's funeral is his dog...if he's lucky!
    • Not only did people and non-human animals not attend his funeral, not even his corpse exists any more.
    • People actually go out of town to avoid being in close proximity to Bob's funeral.
  • Downplayed: Bob's parents, two sisters, and three friends show.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted:
    • Only five chairs are put out for the mourners, but several characters show up at Bob's funeral.
    • To the naked eye no one attends Bob's funeral, but Alice, who can see spirits, sees many ghosts waiting near the casket for Bob's ghost to appear. It turns out they're those of Bob's friends who died before he did — Bob just happened to be the last one alive among their circle.
  • Double Subverted: When they hear that it's Bob's funeral, they all leave except Alice.
  • Parodied:
    • In Bob's will, he actually offered to pay anyone who attended his funeral. People still did not show up.
    • Bob plays dead and everyone suddenly disappears from him.
  • Zig Zagged: Nobody shows up at Bob's funeral, but it turns out that it wasn't his funeral. However, at his actual funeral nobody he knew bothered to show up. But someone felt bad for Bob and decided to go to the funeral despite having no idea who Bob is (or even knowing his name). It turns out the 'person' is the new mourn-bot 3000 which was programmed to attend funerals where nobody else would. But despite being a robot, it still counts as a mourner and so Bob's funeral is not lonely.
  • Averted:
    • There are an appropriate number of mourners at the funeral.
    • No one dies.
  • Enforced: Bob was a Creator's Pet.
  • Lampshaded: "This is one quiet funeral."
  • Invoked: Throughout his life, Bob draws no attention to himself.
  • Exploited: "For an extra 300 dollars, funeral home staff will actually attend your funeral and mourn in lieu of actual loved ones."
  • Defied:
    • Bob gains as many friends as possible, so he will be remembered after he dies.
    • A person who has never met Bob before feels so sorry for him that he actually attends Bob's funeral.
    • Someone designs a robot which is programmed to attend funerals where nobody else would.
  • Discussed: "I didn't expect so many people to show in this weather. Thank you all for coming; I'm sure this is what Bob would have wanted."
  • Conversed: "Why are movie funerals always so quiet? Considering how many people Bob knew, there should realistically be about 25 more mourners."
  • Deconstructed: The lack of mourners at Bob's funeral shows how uncaring and indifferent his "friends" truly were all along.
  • Reconstructed:
    • Most of Bob's friends wanted to attend his funeral, but were too busy.
    • Bob was a very old man who managed to outlive all his friends. If his friends were still alive, they would have gone.
  • Played For Laughs:
  • Played For Drama: Alice murders Bob's "friends" because they didn't care enough to attend his funeral.

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