Died in Your Arms Tonight



"''Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight

It must have been something you said"

- Cutting Crew, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"

Death Is Dramatic, depressing, and emotional enough, but sometimes, just for the extra emotional kick-in-the-gut Tear Jerker, the author will make a character die in the arms of a futile onlooker. As the onlooker (usually one of the dying character's True Companions) holds them dearly, the dying may flash them a smile or make a final dramatic statement before finally closing their eyes and succumbing to their fate.

If this is done on an Anyone Can Die show, expect the character to be Killed Off for Real (usually). Can turn into It's Personal for the witness, and very often overlaps with How Dare You Die On Me! and Dying Declaration of Love. May be an extension of the refusal to let your loved one Die Alone.

Compare with Pieta Plagiarism, the pose characters generally find themselves in, Cradling Your Kill, when a character dies in their killer's arms, and Deadly Hug, where the victim is killed during the embrace. Contrast Intimate Healing, where a wounded or ill character is less likely to die while in a loved one's arms. (Though strangely enough, intimacy is exactly what's being referenced by the Cutting Crew song.)

Anime & Manga

 * Pictured above: Meer Campbell in Gundam Seed Destiny dies in the hands of Lacus Clyne after Taking the Bullet for her. For an extra kick, Meer is Lacus' Body Double and her once biggest Fan Girl, now ridden by a volatile mix of jealousy, admiration, and the wish to be noticed by her.
 * Also, Stellar Louissier dies in Shinn Asuka's arms.
 * dies in Juliet's arms, in Romeo X Juliet, after being Impaled With Extreme Prejudice.
 * Technically, in the manga.
 * Same goes to, who perishes in the arms of both Romeo and Juliet.
 * In Angel Beats, Kanade passes on in Otanoshi's arms.
 * Masaki in young Ichigo's and Shiba Kaien in Rukia's in Bleach. Subverted a little with Orihime whose brother (presumably) didn't die in her arms but his ghost did.
 * While it was more a case of, this appears to be the fate of.
 * L in Light's in Death Note, although Light cradling L in his arms as he dies is actually just an act; when Light thinks nobody but L can see his face, he flashes a smugly victorious Slasher Smile at L just before L expires. However, if you ask the shippers...
 * In Black Cat, Saya died in Train's arms.
 * In Code Geass,  in Lelouch's arms.
 * And then there's, who was in Suzaku's arms for a while, but died in Nunnally's in the end.
 * in Lelouch's arms,  in Suzaku's arms, Marianne in Nunnally's arms in the past, and C.C. in Lelouch's arms in the beginning, though she recovered.
 * In Rurouni Kenshin died in Kenshin's arms after he accidentally attacked her with his katana.
 * Pip Bernadotte in Seras' in Hellsing. Though technically he was just absorbed.
 * Surprisingly little in Dragon Ball; usually the heroes find people already dead if there's mourning to do. If they die in the presence of others, it's usually not in someone's arms per se.
 * dies in Sailor Moon's arms in the climax of Sailor Stars.
 * And  dies in Sailor Moon's arms as well.
 * And Mamoru, in his first death.
 * Let's not forget and, whose Redemption Equals Death demises happen while in Naru's and both Moon and Tuxedo Kamen's arms, respectively.
 * dies in the arms of the three Starlights.
 * In the manga, it was in the arms of Sailor Moon.
 * And lest we forget, in Kunzite's arms.
 * Weiss Kreuz gets some mileage out of this one: Aya gets to both Asami and Sena just in time for this, Sister Ruth dies in the arms of both Ken and Omi, Nagi catches Tot as Fafarello stabs her (she recovers) and has a nice Freak-Out, and, most dramatically of all, Ouka Sakaki is shot as Omi embraces her, telling her they'll always be together...
 * GB towards the end of the Hybrid Bear Arc of the Ginga Densetsu Weed manga.
 * In Zeta Gundam, both Four and Emma die in the arms of Kamille. Whereas Blex Forer dies in Quattro's.
 * In One Piece, shields Luffy from a killing blow, and he dies while Luffy holds him in his arms. This trope contributes to the sheer emotional impact this death has on both Luffy and the viewer.
 * Nuriko of Fushigi Yuugi dies in Tamahome's arms, as does Tamahome's little sister. Soi dies in Nakago's.
 * Clannad:  dies in Tomoya's arms.
 * The Twelve Kingdoms:  dies in Youko's arms, and   perishes in Shoukei's.
 * Recently in Mahou Sensei Negima,  died  in the arms of Yue Ayase.
 * Also a Senseless Sacrifice, as she died making a Diving Save, against a projectile which wouldn't have even harmed the intended recipient. Of course, she had no way of knowing that...
 * In Inuyasha.
 * In the Mt. Hakurei arc this is subverted when Myouga sucks Renkotsu's poison out of Kagome. Bonus points because Inuyasha was so releived she was alive that he.... he.... HE..... he cried.
 * In X 1999  Also potentially subverted when
 * In Bokurano,  dies in either  's arms or , depending if you're following the anime or the manga.
 * Kagero dies in Jubei's arms in Ninja Scroll.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh LOVES this trope:
 * Yu-Gi-Oh Season 4: Joey dies in Mai's arms (it turns out to be of the undoable kind).
 * Yu-Gi-Oh Season 5: Kisara dies in Seto's arms.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds: Carly dies in Jack's arms (undone at the end of the season).
 * In the same season, Kiryu dies in Yusei's arms, complete with Ho Yay shoujo sparkles.
 * Happens in Rozen Maiden on two separate occasions. First, . In the very next episode,.
 * dies in Spike's arms in the last episode of Cowboy Bebop. Hell, her entire death scene is iconic as well as heartbreaking (until was made to sing "(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight" in one of the AMV Hell compilations).
 * Alfeegi in Dragon Knights dies in his friend's arms after he was stabbed.
 * But perhaps the most tear-jerking of them all is in AIR. The kicker? It plays to the most heart-wrenching award bait song EVER.
 * Berserk: Judeau dies in Casca's arms (sort of) after shielding her from a demon attack during the Eclipse. Made even worse by two additional heart-wrenching factors: his love was unrequited, and she didn't even know how he felt. And even worse, in the manga, the poor guy doesn't even succeed in spitting it out before he dies.
 * Also, Gaston, Guts' second in command, died in his arms and was the last of the Hawks to die. He didn't go out as kindly as Judeau did, though.
 * Another instance of this trope occurs in Gantz, where the protagonist's girlfriend Tae Kojima dies in his arms after being hunted down and murdered.
 * In Future War 198 X Michael frantically searches for after a fight breaks out in Neinberg, only to find her crushed under the rubble of a building. He pulls her out and she dies in his arms.
 * Sasuke appears to die in Naruto's arms.
 * In S-Cry-ed, Ayase dies in Kazuma's arms when she loses the will to live. It sounds a bit idiotic, but it's justified in that being refined weakened her body severely, so the only thing she was living for was her brother. When he died, that was it.
 * In Gungrave episode 24, Sherry ended up taking a bullet meant for Harry when he was attacked by an assassin. Harry screamed her name while he clutched her to his chest.
 * In Gundam Wing Episode Zero, Wufei's wife Meiran dies in his arms after she tried to save her space colony.
 * In Kaze no Stigma, dies in Ren's arms.
 * Near the end of the Vamdemon arc of Digimon Adventure, Wizardmon died in Gatomon's arms after Taking the Bullet for her and Hikari. Then we have Wormmon in Digimon Adventure 02, who died in Ken's arms to kick-start his Heel Face Turn. Wormmon got better... Wizardmon didn't.
 * In Tiger and Bunny, the end of episode 24 has a scene that looks like a classic example (which all the characters believed it to be), but this was subverted as of ep. 25.
 * Inverted Trope in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure during Phantom Blood's (the first part of the Manga) ending, where dies while holding  in his arms.
 * It's also played straight at some points too, like earlier on when.
 * dies this way in Guilty Crown.

Comic Books

 * Comic book covers in general, especially in the Silver Age and Bronze Age, absolutely loved this trope. Almost always accompanied by a Tonight Someone Dies.
 * Elektra had her first death in Daredevil, after taking a vicious curbstomping from Bullseye that ends in her throat getting slashed by a thrown card and then her getting impaled on her own sai, Elektra crawls out from the parking lot they were fighting in. She stays alive long enough to crawl to Matt's house and call out to him, before dying in his arms
 * Superman died in Lois Lane's arms in The Death of Superman.
 * In both the comic and movie versions of V for Vendetta, V dies in Evey's arms after being shot.
 * Happens twice in Runaways. To the same person. Both times are with the same guy, too.
 * On one occasion, it was a Berserk Button for Namor that entirely too many people over the years had died in his arms after Taking the Bullet for him, and the latest one didn't even get to speak any Last Words.
 * After sacrificing himself to kill Kang, Tony Stark dies in Steve Roger's arms. Very dramatically.
 * Tony almost dies in Steve's arms here, too. Luckily, he recovers before dying this time.
 * While he was technically already dead, Jason Todd (Robin II) was held in the arms of Batman during Death In The Family.
 * Troia died in Nightwing's arms in Graduation Day. As they were each other's closest friends and Like Brother and Sister, it really messed him up.
 * Done, by all people, Wolverine in a What If? comic. Granted, he had  but it doesn't make it any less sad.

Fan Fiction

 * Of course, Shippers in general are quite fond of this.
 * In Fallout Equestria Project Horizons the first-person protagonist Blackjack dies under Glorys wing from a combination of cancer, mutation, multiple limb amputation, blood loss, pneumonia and finally, heart failure.
 * The absolutely heartbreaking moment in Ace Combat: The Equestrian War when  dies in Derpy's arms.

Film
"Rufio: "I wish I had a dad... like you.""
 * Blade2 - Nyssa disintegrates in the sunlight while Blade cradles her.
 * Fiamma dies in Miss. G's arms in Cracks. Subverted in the fact that Miss. G is killing Fiamma by withholding her inhaler while she has an asthmatic attack.
 * Nathan in Shilo's arms in Repo the Genetic Opera.
 * In Galaxy Quest, Quellek gets shot by one of Saris' minions after he and Dr. Lazarus free some Thermians from certain death. Before dying in his arms, Quellek tells him that the doctor was like a father to him. Dr. Lazarus quotes his famous line seriously for the first time in the film before rushing and attacking the minion, who's having some gun jamming issues.
 * In Hook, Rufio dies in Peter Pan/Banning's arms.

"Morgan Earp: Remember what I said about people seein' a bright light before they die? It ain't true. I can't see a damn thing."
 * Somewhat cruelly subverted in John Woo's The Killer when the title character dies. He and his love interest Jenny miss each other as they grope for each other on the ground near the burning church due to both of them being blind at this moment, Jenny due to the tragic mistake that kicked off the whole thing, and Ah Jong due to getting shot in the eyes by the Big Bad. The reason the scene came out like it did was because Chow Yun-Fat and Sally Yeh, the actors of the two in question, could only be scheduled to shoot on different days.
 * King Theoden dies in Eowyn's arms in the battle of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings.
 * Morgan Earp dies in his brother Wyatt's arms in Tombstone.

"Rocco: You can't stop. You get out of here. Don't ever stop."
 * Reservoir Dogs ends with Mr White cradling the mortally-wounded Mr Orange and finishing him off after the latter confesses he was the rat.
 * Maybe. It's actually pretty ambiguous on whether White shot Orange or if the cops just started shooting at him before he would have the chance. This is Tarantino we're talking about here, so this is probably completely intentional.
 * The original ending to Little Shop of Horrors has Audrey dying in Seymour's arms after the plant, Audrey II, tried to eat her.
 * Serenity: Shepherd Book dies in Mal's arms after the Alliance attacks Haven.
 * In Rob Zombie's Halloween II, Annie dies in Laurie's arms.
 * Moulin Rouge: Satine, in Christian's.
 * Star Wars:The Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon Jinn dying in Obi-Wan's arms (does this happen to Ewan McGregor a lot?)
 * Darth Vader dies in Luke's arms in Return of the Jedi.
 * In Onmyoji, Hiromasa dies in Seimei's arms. However, he gets better.
 * The Live Action Adaptation of Death Note had
 * There is a variation of this trope at the end of The Boondock Saints. Rocco is shot while tied to a chair, which is knocked down by the force of the shot. Connor and Murphy are tied to chairs on either side of him, and Murphy falls to the ground beside him, taking his chair with him. While there can be no arms involved (because they are all tied), Rocco dies with Murphy's head buried in his shoulder while the brothers scream with grief. It is a very touching scene, and conveys the general emotion of this trope, complete with Rocco's Famous Last Words.


 * Tangled:  in Rapunzel's arms. Thanks to a teardrop and the healing incantation,   The position of the characters in this scene is very reminiscent of...
 * Beauty and The Beast: Beast dies in Belle's arms. Thanks to Belle's timely, spell-breaking "I love you," he recovers.
 * Adam Sandler's character in Click dies in the arms of his son. However, it turns out to be a dream of sorts.
 * Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3, just after finally forgiving Peter and helping him defeat Sandman.
 * In Pans Labyrinth, Ofelia dies in Mercedes' arms, while Mercedes hums a lullaby to her, trying (and failing) not to cry.
 * Romeo dies in Juliet's arms in Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, in which he takes the poison right when Juliet awakens.
 * Subverted with  in the climax of Mystery Team.
 * Barry Lyndon had a slight variation with  in that the actual death occurs off-screen. Nonetheless, this is still his last scene and it involves.

Literature

 * In Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Carlo holds Francesco when he dies, telling him that he always loved him.
 * In The Song of Roland Roland's best friend Olivier dies in his arms while Roland weeps.
 * In Wolf Hall, Cromwell's youngest daughter dies in his arms. It's done very, very well.
 * Ralph dies in Isabel's arms in Portrait Of A Lady.
 * Dobby does this in Harry's arms.
 * In Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline tracks Gabriel from Canada to Louisiana only to find him moments before his death.
 * Hank Rearden picks up the Wet Nurse and carries him until after his death in Atlas Shrugged.
 * An interesting example occurs in A Song of Ice and Fire: Joffrey Baratheon dies in the arms of his helpless, grief-stricken mother Cersei. To a person who doesn't know the series, the scene could definitely be considered tragic. But since the two characters are generally considered villainous-- Joffrey in particular-- by those who read the books, it's not very sad and can even count as a Karmic Death for Joffrey.
 * This is also how  dies. Her boyfriend, , holds her and gives a rather desperate Planning for The Future Before The End speech, to which she responds sadly,

Live Action TV
"Illyria: Would you like me to lie to you now?"
 * The Evil Queen dies in Virginia's arms in The Tenth Kingdom after trying to kill her and being hoist on her own petard. As she dies, the memories of her past life come flooding back and she caresses Virginia's cheek whispering "My little girl - I gave away my soul."
 * The Master and Jenny in the Doctor's in Doctor Who.
 * Dying in your arms, happy now?
 * Also, in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe,
 * At the end of The Pandorica Opens,.
 * Also, "Amy's Choice". In the world in which Amy and Rory are married and have settled down,
 * In order of death: Estelle, Tosh and Ianto in Jack's in Torchwood.
 * Nathan Petrelli in Peter's in the second season (he got better) Daphne Millbrook in Matt's in the third season of Heroes. Also Claire Bennett in her mother's arms in one of her many, many deaths in the first season.
 * Warrick in Grissom's in CSI, in which we later learn Grissom was like a father to him. Grissom goes on to solve Warrick's murder, of course.
 * The Season 3 finale "The Graduates" of The OC - due to a car-crash, Marissa dies in Ryan's arms.
 * Fred in Wesley's arms before her soul is consumed by Illyria. A few episodes later, Wesley dies in Illyria's arms while Illyria takes the form of Fred.

"Henry: All I know is what they told me at medical school. Rule one: Young men die. Rule two: Doctors can't change rule one."
 * In the Mork and Mindy episode "Mork In Wonderland", Mindy's alternate universe counterpart, Mandy, dies in Mork's arms, telling him that Mindy is a lucky woman.
 * Farscape: One of the two John Crichtons (long story) dies in Aeryn's arms of radiation poisoning.
 * Los Hombres De Paco: After getting gut-shot on her friggin' wedding day, Silvia spends the rest of the two-hour season finale suffering until she finally dies in the arms of her new wife and her father.
 * Hex: Thelma is stabbed by Azazel when she tries to save Cassie and falls into her arms. She got better... sort of.
 * Xena and Gabrielle have each died in the other's arms more than once. They got better.
 * Blood Ties: Mike dies in Vicki's arms after being shot, but Henry hits the Reset Button on the Groundhog Day Loop and he's fine.
 * Dark Angel: Max dies in Logan's arms after being shot in the season 1 finale. She gets better.
 * Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: During Gilgamesh's ritual to raise Dahok, he throws the sacrificial dagger at Nebula. Iolaus yells and dives in front of her, taking it in the chest. He dies shortly afterwards in Hercules' arms. He later is possessed and gets better.
 * Iolaus had died twice in Hercules' arms previously.
 * Supernatural: Sam is stabbed in the back severing his spinal cord as he and Dean are reunited at the end of the penultimate episode of season 2. Sam dies in his arms, but Dean makes a deal with a demon to bring Sam back.
 * Actually subverts the usual form of this trope in that Sam doesn't get a chance to say goodbye or really anything at all--he just gets stabbed in the back, falls down, looks vaguely unfocused and dies. He barely seems to register Dean's presence.
 * As a result, at the end of season 3, Dean dies in Sam's arms.
 * Dean dies in Sam's arms three times (at least) in 'Mystery Spot'.
 * Actually, it's 6.
 * Jo dies in her mother's arms. Made even more tearjerkier when Ellen makes a Heroic Sacrifice shortly after.
 * Marian dies in Robin's arms in Robin Hood at the end of season two.
 * Subverted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer; is pretty much dead before she hits the floor, but  still holds out hope.
 * Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes holds Sally (the prostitute from Hyde in 2.1), Supermack and Martin Summers in his arms as they die.
 * Jim Keats in the same show, who holds both Louise (the undercover police officer) and Viv in his arms. It later emerges that
 * In Spooks, dies in the arms of  after being shot by . Her dying wishes that he look after  made it even sadder
 * Alex and Olivia. Not canon my ass.
 * In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, this is how Charley Dixon's wife dies, with Charley holding her and sobbing. He's not the only one.
 * In Touched By an Angel, a few of Andrew's assignments die in his arms, such as in the season five episode, "The Peacemaker."
 * The groundbreaking Mash episode "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet," in which Hawkeye's friend (author of a book he was writing under the episode title) dies on the operating table. Hawkeye asks why he weeps for his friend and not the kids who have died before, and Henry rationalizes only this:


 * Lost: Sawyer holds Juliet as she dies in the final season opener.
 * Sura dies in Spartacus Blood and Sand' arms.
 * Skins: Chris dies in Cassie's arms.
 * Sharpe: Poor young Perkins dies in Harper's arms, surrounded by the other two supporting members of The Squad, after being gutstabbed.
 * Kai's second death in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger occurs this way, after he is badly burned during the 2nd destruction of Dora Talos. Losing her son a second time causes Bandora to shed a tear, robbing her of her witch powers.
 * The Outer Limits episode "Corner of the Eye'': Two best friends successfully foil an alien invasion, then one dies of his injuries in the other's arms.
 * Misfits: Future!Simon dies in Alisha's arms after taking a bullet for her.
 * And then in season three, ALISHA dies in SIMON'S arms. It's that sort of a show.

Music
"Can you feel me in your arms?"
 * Note that the Cutting Crew song is actually about what the French call "the little death"...
 * "Arms Tonite" by Mother Mother.
 * "This is because I can spell confusion with a K and I can like it/It's to dying in another's arms and why I had to try it..." Konstantine, Something Corporate.
 * "My Last Breath" by Evanescence. The narrator in the song is dying, and singing the song to her lover.

"I lay smiling like our sleeping children / One of us will die inside these arms."
 * Naked as We Came by Iron&Wine.

"But somehow I found my baby that night
 * "Sons of Fate" by The Protomen.
 * Concrete Blonde's 'The Sky Is a Poisonous Garden'.
 * J. Frank Wilson's Last Kiss (The Pearl Jam version is a cover.):

I lifted her head, she looked at me and said,

"Hold me, darling, just a little while."

I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss;

I found the love that I knew I had missed.

Well, now she's gone, even though I hold her tight.

I lost my love, my life, that night."

Theatre

 * Eponine dies in Marius' arms in Les Misérables.
 * And Fantine dies in Valjean's.
 * Both Christian and Cyrano in Roxanne's, in Cyrano De Bergerac.
 * Rodrigo in Schiller's and Verdi's Don Carlos dies in the title character's arms.
 * Verdi LOVED this trope actually. Here's a list of characters of his that die in the arms of others:
 * Rigoletto: Gilda, in her fathers' arms.
 * Il Trovatore: Leonora, in Manrico's.
 * La Traviata: Violetta, to Alfredo's.
 * La forza del destino: again a Leonora, in Alvaro's.
 * Simon Boccanegra: Simon, in his daughter's and Fiesco's.
 * Ernani: Ernani to Elvira...
 * Un ballo in maschera: Gustav (Richard) to Amelia.
 * Tristan to Isolde.
 * The title character, Kim, of Miss Saigon. She dies in the arms of Chris after shooting herself.
 * Audrey in Seymour's in Little Shop of Horrors.
 * In most Walküre stagings, Siegmund to Wotan.
 * Mark Antony with Cleopatra.
 * Hamlet in Horatio's.
 * In some adaptations, Gertrude in Claudius's.
 * In many if not most productions, Hotspur in Prince Hal's (also a case of Cradling Your Kill, with a dose of Foe Yay).
 * Schiller's Kabale und Liebe: Luisa to Ferdinand.
 * Mimì in Rodolfo's arms in La Boheme by Puccini; subverted in the modern musical Rent, where Mimi has a new lease of life.
 * Then played straight in Rent, when Angel dies in Collins' arms.
 * Many, many operas and ballets based on Abbé Prévost's character Manon, who dies in the arms of her lover Des Grieux.
 * In the famous dramatization of East Lynne, Lady Isabel, disguised as Madam Vine, takes her son William into her arms in his dying moments, and asks him to call her his mother. He does so, and dies. Isabel's ensuing lament that her child died without knowing she was his mother is famous although invariably misquoted.
 * In Aida, the titular character's former servant Mereb dies in her arms, fatally injured trying to protect her and her father.
 * In bare: a pop opera, Jason dies in Peter's arms.
 * In Love Never Dies, Christine dies in the Phantom's arms.

Video Games

 * In Mass Effect 3 this can happen with in one of the ways his story is resolved.
 * if you don't complete certain prerequisites.
 * The first Baten Kaitos game has die in  arms after you beat the final Big Boss.
 * Arcueid dies in Shiki's arms in the end of her route of Tsukihime.
 * Nanami in Riou's in Suikoden II. She gets better if you collected all 108 stars before this scene.
 * Steve Burnside's in Claire Redfield's in Resident Evil: Code - Veronica. Alfred's just a bit too late for him and Alexia to do this in the same game, also Luis to Leon in 4 to a lesser extent.
 * In Fire Emblem 7,  is seen in  's arms in the CG that follows her death scene.
 * In another CG,  dies in  's arms. 20 years later, according to Fuuin no Tsurugi,   himself would perish in the arms of.
 * And in Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, if you chose Eirika's path, the first CG you see in the epilogue shows her holding the dying  in her arms.
 * In Project Justice's  ending,   dies in  's arms.
 * Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days has
 * In Mega Man X 4, if you choose to play as Zero, after you defeat, Zero cradles   in his arms until   "dies". A rather touching scene, if you can get past the bad voice acting.
 * Go watch the Japanese version of it. The way Zero screams over  still gives this troper chills.
 * It was re-dubbed in English later, and it sounds better.
 * A few Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors endings have a character's love interest dying like this. In at least one case, it's because the player killed him.
 * At the end of Mother 3, . *sniff*
 * As an another addition, Persona 3 Portable's ending on a New Game+ gives the protagonist (you) the choice to meet whomever you've maxed your Social Link with romantically to die in their arms. For the female protagonist, this includes
 * Many are Anguished Declaration of Love and I Will Protect Her.
 * And in Persona 2: Innocent Sin's ending, dies in  arms.
 * A couple of examples of this in the .hack series:
 * dies in Elk's arms after the party defeats her true form.
 * gets data-drained by an AIDA and "dies" in Haseo's arms, providing one of the saddest cutscenes in the G.U. games.
 * dies in arms in Soul Nomad and The World Eaters.
 * The absolutely heartbreaking death of in Valkyria Chronicles.
 * In Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood,
 * Depending on your choices throughout the game, any of your team members in Mass Effect 2 can die in Shepard's arms during the assault on
 * Bioware does it again in Dragon Age 2:
 * Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors:
 * In a discarded storyboard for Team Fortress 2 promotional video Meet The Medic, a BLU Sniper dies dramatically in the arms of a BLU Soldier. Cue Big No...and then both of them get run over by an incoming train.
 * Nie R's third ending has  dying in your character's arms after   There's also
 * Final Fantasy XIII 2:
 * ; on at least two of these occasions, she is cradled in either arms.
 * Final Fantasy XIII 2:
 * ; on at least two of these occasions, she is cradled in either arms.

Webcomics
"Therkla: "I'll take my chances that the Afterlife won't have any punishment worse than not being with you.""
 * Therkla in Elan's in Order of the Stick. To make matters worse, despite the fact that resurrection is relatively easy for an adventuring party...


 * Cut short earlier in the series.
 * Zoë from Sluggy Freelance was last seen cradled in Riff's arms, although no one knows if she's really dead or not.
 * It still counts because Riff believes she died.
 * In Girl Genius, it is uncertain whether or not Zeetha is dead yet or can be revived, but this would seem to count.

Web Original

 * A fan's take on a Team Fortress 2 "Meet the Spy" animation has the Spy over-selling his "death" to an Engineer who just shot him, collapsing dramatically into the Engineer's arms (complete with literal Pieta Plagiarism), . (See it here.)
 * in The Nostalgia Critic's arms at the end of Suburban Knights.
 * Clio Gabriella died this way in v4 of Survival of the Fittest, in the arms of her boyfriend Simon Telamon. She even begged for him to help her.

Western Animation

 * In Wakfu,.
 * Christophe/Ze Mole in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut died in Kyle's arms after failing to free Terence and Phillip. The two then take part in La Resistance's Dark Reprise duet. Cue the shipping.
 * Beast Wars: Silverbolt thinks this happens with Blackarachnia (complete with Big No). Rattrap and Rhinox let him get it out of his system, before mockingly pointing out that she's merely in Stasis Lock.
 * Aang dies in Katara's arms in the season two finale. He got better with the assistance of the spirit water and Katara's healing powers, though he can't access the Avatar State.
 * ThunderCats (2011) has The Hero Lion-O doing this twice.
 * In "Omens Part Two" he holds his father King Claudus as he dies having been stabbed In the Back by the series Big Bad, and Claudus has just enough time to tell Lion-O he's So Proud of You.
 * In "Song of the Petalars" Lion-O holds his Lilliputians Plant Person friend Emrick in the palms of his hands, as Emrick dies of old age, due to his race's one-day lifespan. Lion-O grieves that Emrick hasn't achieved all his goals, but Emrick, who by his reckoning has led a rich, fulll lifetime, assures him that It's the Journey That Counts.
 * Yakko Warner cradles his sister Dot as she dies near the end of Wakkos Wish, breaking down in tears as she makes him tell her special story "one last time." We see later but it's no less tearjerky to watch.