I'm Cold... So Cold...

"[Alice collapses] Bob: [gathers Alice in his arms] "Alice! What's wrong?" or if that's obvious "Hang in there! I'll get help." Alice: "I'm cold... so cold...""

- Bob and the audience start to worry for real.

They're right to be bothered: Saying "I'm cold" means that a character is seriously unwell. It can be a sign that a character will be Killed Off for Real and these are their last words. When a new, unknown character says this it can even mean that they are a ghost. This is also something dead people are traditionally expected to tell anyone they talk to on the telephone.

This is because death... is cold.

There's sense in the trope: cold skin is a sign of shock. Coldness can also indicate blood loss or impaired blood circulation and, of course, corpses lack body-warmth. Additionally, a person suffering from a rising fever will feel cold and shiver. A mythological reason might be that Purgatory (which can sometimes include wandering the earth as a ghost) was depicted as being a cold and miserably damp place. Sleepiness or Blood From the Mouth tend to go hand in hand with this. Perversely, one emergency that often does not feature this is hypothermia: cold becomes an emergency if the victim stops being able to feel it, or too tired to shiver; in fact, exposure victims are often found partly undressed because the lowering of their internal temperature makes them feel too warm.

A common variant, also due to the above, is "I'm tired...so tired."

Is dangerously on the verge of becoming Narm.

See Evil Is Deathly Cold for a motif. Compare Ghostly Chill.

Advertising

 * A recent Pillsbury Pizza Pop ad has a young man cradling the head of a robot, whimpering his name, as the robot says that he can't feel his legs and is "so...cold". As it happens, an exploding pizza pop the robot was too slow to catch blew his body off.
 * How on earth does this make anyone want pizza??
 * Maybe they're trying to cater to that elusive "Roboracist" demographic. After all, there's no reason people who hate robots can't come together to celebrate their hatred and enjoy a nice, hot, exploding pizza.
 * Pizza Pops are basically miniature calzones, and the "exploding" is a running joke in their ads, playing on how packed they are with sauces and fillings.

Anime and Manga

 * In Naruto, Sakura remarks how cold body feels.
 * This happens in the manga version of Chrono Crusade. A character collapses to the ground, near death, while a friend  runs to her side. We see the scene through her eyes, unable to hear the words of the panicking friend, while she has a dying Inner Monologue that finishes with "It's getting cold, isn't it? You can use my scarf, if you want."
 * Inverted in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars where people are explicitly warm to the touch when they die. Lines that reference it are Tear Jerker material for fans. For example...


 * Hiroki tends to use this phrase in a slightly more life-affirming way in Junjou Romantica.
 * Watch for a varation on this phrase in Gunslinger Girl: it's the first real cue (aside from two large bleeding bulletholes) that  really might not make it.

Comics

 * A scene in The Crow which was never adapted into the film: This trope invoked because of shock, bloodloss, and death when Eric removes one of his first targets at the shins. Quite possibly the most unpleasant scene of the lot.
 * Justified in the second Silver Surfer series, when Frankie Raye, a fire elemental, is fatally injured. Her flame then starts to dwindle before dying out.

Film
"Frankie: [dying] Lenny, is that you? Lenny: I'm here, Frankie. Frankie: Come closer. Lenny: What is it, Frankie? Frankie: I'm so cold. Lenny: That's because we're cold-blooded. Frankie: [Frankie slaps Lenny] Moron. [dies]"
 * In Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, after the titular curse is broken, rendering Barbossa and his men mortals again, Jack Sparrow shoots Barbossa and he says, "I feel... cold." (falls over) Bonus points on this one, because this is the very first thing Barbossa felt since he turned immortal.
 * Extra bonus points as, from the look on his face, he was quite pleased at being able to feel cold, indicating that being turned human again is a bit of a Blessed with Suck moment (it's awesome to be able to feel ANYTHING again, even if it means dying).
 * RoboCop 2. The child criminal Hob has been badly shot up by the Cain cyborg. When Robocop finds him, Hob says that he feels cold. Robocop tells him that he's going into shock.
 * Lampshaded when, in Lethal Weapon 3, annoying sidekick Leo struggles with the Big Bad for a gun, and is shot in the shoulder for his efforts. He thinks he's dying because he feels numb and cold all over... which is only natural, since he was lying on the ice of a hockey rink.
 * Spoofed in Loaded Weapon 1 where Destiny utters this line at the end of the movie, Colt then removes a bag of ice that was on her for no good reason.
 * In the live-action Casper movie, Kat tells the title character that he feels cold. Also, it's later revealed that.
 * In the movie Conan the Barbarian (1982) the last words said by Valeria as she died in Conan's arms were: "I'm cold, so cold, keep me warm."
 * Followed by her funeral pyre. Warm indeed.
 * Parodied in Tropic Thunder - Tugg Speedman, in an Ironic Echo, says that he can't feel his legs; Lazarus has to point out that he's fine, it's just that his legs are knee deep in a pool of cold, muddy water.
 * From Shark Tale (mafia movie about fish) we have this exchange:

":''' I-is it getting cold? Chuck: Uh......Maybe."
 * An interesting version happens in Return of the Living Dead. After two of the main characters are exposed to Trioxin, they start feeling crappy and complain about the cold. Near the climax they feel better as zombies.
 * That's because they're going through rigor mortis while still "alive", by the way. Poor bastards.
 * Subverted in Titanic where Rose says "I'm so cold," and later "I can't feel my body." It's already a foregone conclusion that she survives, as she is the narrator for the whole movie.
 * ...Plus she's drenched and floating on a bit of wreckage in the icy North Atlantic, she's not just mystically drifting closer to mortality.
 * Said by at the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
 * in Help! I'm A Fish! says a variation of this.


 * Red Dawn. When Action Girl Toni is fatally wounded by Hind gunships she asks Jed to leave her a hand grenade to kill herself with, saying "I don't want to be cold". She doesn't use it though; just leaves the grenade under her body to kill the first Dirty Communist that tries to move her.
 * Likely also a Call Back to the movie's discussion on He Who Fights Monsters: One of the kids is warned that his hatred of the Russians will burn him up inside. The kid replies nonchalantly that it keeps him warm.
 * Tobias in Dark Floors spent most of the movie being "cold", as well as coming back as a zombie to save Sarah.


 * Poltergeist 3 had a sequence where Lara Flynn Boyle comes back from the other side and exclaims how cold she is, so her family tries to warm her up in the shower.
 * Point Break: Played straight and discussed:  complains of being cold after being shot. Utah argues to Bohdi that he should turn himself in so they can get the man to a hospital.
 * Frantic. The last words of Michelle, the Paris street waif who has been helping the protagonist search for his kidnapped wife, fatally wounded in the film's climax.
 * In Vertical Limit, basically says this. Justified in that he's severely wounded and dying of hypothermia halfway up K2. He's really in trouble when he stops feeling cold.
 * Parodied in The Mask. The Mask, dressed like a cowboy, is shot in the chest and falls into the shooter's arms, overly dramatically telling him he's "so cold" while coughing, and saying his last wishes before dying dramatically.
 * The "I'm tired" variant serves as Annie's dying words in Imitation Of Life (1959).
 * Said verbatim by Emu O'Hara in the film adaptation of Crying Freeman. Completely justified, as she has taken a few bullets and suffers from a large blood loss.
 * Said verbatim by Emu O'Hara in the film adaptation of Crying Freeman. Completely justified, as she has taken a few bullets and suffers from a large blood loss.

Literature
"So cold. Just... Can you just get me a blanket or... I'm scared. Does that... Does that make you happy, Andalite? Jake: No. No, it doesn't make me happy."
 * In Catch-22, the
 * While he never says the trope, the Marquis de Carabas from Neverwhere describes death as "very dark, and very cold".
 * Animorphs has this in a rather chilling portion with this exchange:

"'I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement....'I must stop it, nevertheless!' I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' 'Who are you?' I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. 'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly....'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!'"
 * Although he never records himself saying these exact words, Frodo spends a lot of the time after he has been stabbed with the Morgul knife shivering and describing how cold he feels.
 * Wuthering Heights.

"Harry (thinking Murphy shot him): "I'm so cold." Murphy (angry): "We're all cold, moron....it must be below forty, already, and we're wet besides.""
 * From Full Moon:


 * Last words of a Drachelander (German-descended) knight in the first book of the World of Tiers series, after he was swarmed by enemies and the protagonist arrived just too late to save him: "'siz kalt."
 * Bill Bryson discusses the dangers of hypothermia to Appalachian Trial hikers in A Walk In The Woods, and the 'Paradoxical Undressing' phenomena (see below). He also recounts a day when he went off hiking and forget to pack his waterproofs. He gets soaked by the incessant drizzle and starts to lose track of time...
 * Lord Brocktree: dies with a smile on his face; "Funny. Don't feel hungry anymore. Jolly cold, wot!"

Live Action TV
"Wesley: Is anyone else cold?"
 * Subverted in Firefly where Kaylee says something like this after being shot, but she recovers without complication.
 * She says it not because of impending death, but because she's going in to shock from the traumatic injury.
 * In the Charmed episode "All Hell Breaks Loose," when Piper, she says,
 * In the Doctor Who episode "Age of Steel" a downed Cyberman whose emotions are restored says this. And this is revealed to have been a bride about to go to a wedding.
 * Played with in "White Light Fever", an episode of the revived The Outer Limits series. An old, rich, selfish man who nearly died says that death feels cold.
 * The pilot of Look Around You uses this trope in the conversation with intelligent calcium, where the aforementioned substance answers the scientist's question of "how do you feel?" with "cold".
 * Star Trek: Voyager featured an episode where Kes kept shifting backwards in time. Whenever she said this, it was an indication that she was about to shift.
 * When a Cold Case villain flashes back to his first kill (inadvertent, as he merely let the woman die rather than outright harming her), he remember a woman trapped in a well, frantically treading water and babbling, "Cold. . .so cold".
 * In Warehouse13, this is the sign of the artifact of season 3's Insatiable affecting someone. Other side effects include an insatiable hunger and eventual death from hypothermia.
 * Wesley on Angel 'The Thin Dead Line', after the zombie cop shoots him.

Music

 * "Second Birth" by Obsidian Shell starts with "So cold... am I dying?"

Radio

 * An infamous The Stephanie Miller Show sketch ends with Yogi Bear's Sidekick Boo Boo being killed off by Sarah Palin; this phrase is part of his death scene.
 * Somewhat subverted in the radio play version of the second (or fifth) Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke (still played by Mark Hamill) nearly freezes to death in the ice planet Hoth. As Han Solo finds him delirious in the snow, Luke moans about being cold, followed by "Warmer now," which causes a deeply concerned Han to yell "No, Luke, that means you're freezing!"

Theatre

 * In the musical Rent  but subverted in that.
 * Invoked, then poignantly subverted in Puccini's Opera La Boheme (the 'original' Rent). As she lies dying, Mimi is 'cold, so cold' and longs at least to warm her hands. Her friends rush out to buy her a fur muff. She is happy, and murmurs as she drifts off to sleep that she feels warm at last.
 * In Les Misérables, the dying Fantine tells Valjean that 'the night grows ever colder'. Whether this is an actual temperature change or the trope is debatable.

Video Games

 * This is a common death line in Fire Emblem.
 * In Baldur's Gate 2, "I feel so cold" are Aerie's last words before her hit points drop to zero.
 * As are Imoen's in the first game.
 * There's also a ghost in the expansion who complains of this. He won't say anything else until you light a fire in the hearth for him.
 * Shai-Gen Corporation cronies in Crackdown tend to spout this as they die. Even if they died from immolation.
 * Justified in the Golden Sun series—the Fire Clan members who say it are freezing to death, having been deprived of the strength to warm themselves or escape.
 * One of the enemy officer death lines in the Dynasty Warriors / Samurai Warriors crossover Warriors Orochi is 'Such a cold embrace...'
 * In Pathways into Darkness, one of the dead Nazis you encounter has completely forgotten about everything except that death is cold.
 * Though I can't remember the exact title, in one of the Slayers videogames, the gang barely manages to rescue, but when they do, she says "I feel...so cold..."
 * MadWorld works this trope into the form of a song, aptly titled So Cold, which takes over the previously boastful boss theme halfway through the final fight.
 * In Apollo Justice, Apollo actually watches someone die... and the victim says 'I'm cold... so cold' as he tells Apollo who the witness is.
 * In Shannara, says to Jak 'I'm cold...so cold'
 * Among the many theories for why Touhoes wear such silly hats is that it prevents them from freezing to death.

Webcomics

 * Played for laughs in this Order of the Stick interlude.
 * In Sluggy Freelance a man has this reaction after having to put gym shorts on a Duh-Mentor.
 * Subverted elsewhere, when it turns out.
 * Subverted in Terinu. When the title character is badly wounded, he starts feeling warmer as he slips into shock, since his body is losing the ability regulate temperture correctly. The comic's author is a nurse, so this counts as a case of Shown Their Work.

Western Animation

 * In Avatar: The Last Airbender, this doesn't actually happen, but is the topic of a ghost story Katara tells to the Gaang. Of course, said story is set at the South Pole, and the death did occur during a weeks-long blizzard.
 * In Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the Jetsons arrive in Birdman's office, but have to walk to his desk, as there is no conveyor belt. Eventually, Astro collapses during the trek, saying "Ro rold, ro rold..."
 * In The Simpsons episode "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", when Bart is discovered to have head lice on class picture day (as a result of playing with a monkey Milhouse found), he comments "Nothing ever happens to Milhouse." We then see Milhouse standing there pale, wrapped in a blanket, muttering "Cold, so very, very cold."
 * In a recent episode, the GPS from Homer's car says "So cold, so cold..." after Homer rips it out and throws it in a nearby fountain.
 * Happens in an episode of Ben 10 when Ben offers another character a piece of chocolate, which ended up poisoning him due to him ingesting foreign food.
 * Ren says this in an episode of The Pirates of Dark Water. Justified in that Tula was purposefully lowering his body temperature in order to kill him so they could save Ioz.
 * In one episode of The Venture Brothers, a group that seems oddly familiar infiltrates Dr. Venture's mansion and snoops around. At the end, they run afoul of a berserking Brock Sampson, who promptly kills the Fred, Shaggy and Scooby equivalents. As Shaggy dies, gutshot and bleeding out on the floor, he whimpers, "So cold, man...."
 * A disturbing example from an obscure BBC children's cartoon called The Brollys, about a boy making friends with a man and a woman who control the weather. While most of the weather is rather pleasant, the ice and snow brings with it the terrifying Jack Frost, who not only freezes Mr. and Mrs. Brolly, but also tries to kill the little boy by making him succumb to sleeping in the cold.

Real Life

 * As described above, victims of shock frequently complain of feeling cold, and cold clammy (diaphoretic) skin is a major sign of shock, along with rapid heart rate and low blood pressure. Sudden complaint of cold in a trauma patient or one with known risk of shock (from infection, heart failure, internal bleeding, etc) is a very ominous sign indeed.
 * Cold itself is also a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality in shock patients, as it forms one of the three bases of the "trauma triad" or "triad of death": cold induces massive shivering as the patient attempts to maintain body heat, which generates lactic acid buildup in the bloodstream through anaerobic metabolism, which in turn impairs tissue oxygenation and promotes coagulopathy (inability to clot blood properly). Survival rates in this situation are dismal. Modern care of the shock victim frequently involves aggressive rewarming measures in addition to the usual protocols (fluid and/or blood product replacement, pressors where indicated, etc) in recognition of the risks of this outcome.
 * Averted in cases of drowning and hypothermia, in which cold serves as a protective mechanism in a euvolemic victim (i.e. one not in shock to begin with). Below a certain point (usually around 32 C), low core temperatures drastically slow metabolism, preserving organs from hypoxic damage, and occasionally allowing successful resuscitation in a victim who would otherwise be long past saving. To that end, an old aphorism of emergency medicine states that hypothermia victims "aren't dead till they're warm and dead." The same effect is also exploited in active cooling therapies for heart attack and stroke patients, in which the patient is deliberately rendered hypothermic in the ICU to protect the heart or brain from further ischemic insult.
 * Averted again in hypothermia as often in fatal cases of hypothermia the victim engages in 'paradoxical undressing' wherein they remove all their clothes. No one has experienced this and survived but it has been suggested that at such a late stage the blood vessels close to the skin 'give up' and widen as they do when experiencing heat causing the victim to feel too hot and strip. In this case, I'm hot... so hot might be more appropriate!