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Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
Within an episode (or chapter or scene), someone is born or a pregnancy is revealed and someone else dies, emphasizing the cycle of life. A supertrope of [[Death Byby Childbirth]], but includes all the cases where the death is ''not'' the mother. Compare [[Babies Ever After]], [[Dead Guy, Junior]], [[Someone to Remember Him By]]. [[The Phoenix]] is a symbol of the motif.
 
{{deathtrope}}
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Ben and Cross's puppies are born right after a bloody battle in ''[[Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin]]''. Notably, Kisaragi's own puppies were killed by the bears during it.
* When a [[Digimon (Franchise)|Digimon]] dies, their data is recycled into a new Digiegg.
* When it depicts the bombing of Hiroshima itself, ''[[Barefoot Gen]]'' features Gen helping his mother give birth to his sister Tomoko within pages of the rest of the immediate family burning to death in the ruins of their home.
* In ''[[Millennium Actress]]'', Chiyoko is born in a great earthquake that took her father's life. Chiyoko expresses the belief that [[Heroic Sacrifice|he died so she could be born]].
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* This technically happened in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', where Goku got Chi Chi pregnant just before dying in the Cell games, but it's not shown that Chi Chi had a son until several episodes later (seven years in the storyline).
* In the fast-paced anime movie ''[[Dead Leaves]]'', one of the focuses is on the conception, birth, aging and death of the main characters' baby, all in one day!
* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'', Akasaka's wife dies (from falling downstairs while pregnant, so it's not exactly [[Death Byby Childbirth]]) but the baby survives.
* In ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'', it is revealed the Aya is pregnant just as Toya, the father, is being killed by Mikagi.
* In ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum (Anime)|Mawaru Penguindrum]]'', Momoka Oginome dies the same day when her baby sister Ringo ''and'' the Takakura boys are born.
* In ''[[Barefoot Gen]]'', Kimie gives birth to Tomoe prematurely as a result of stress amid the death and destruction from the atomic bomb. {{spoiler|Sadly, baby Tomoe does not survive, because Kimie is starving and her milk dries up as a result.}}
 
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*** ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5959382/1/Pride_Lands_Generations Pride Lands: Generations]''.
* In ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2451057/1/Warriors_Secret Warrior's Secret]'', {{spoiler|Meta Knight}} dies and in the next chapter Fumu and Bun's younger sibling is born (and [[Dead Guy, Junior|named in honor of the dead character]]). {{spoiler|But considering the nature of Star Warriors...}}
* In ''[[A Study in Regret (Fanfic)|A Study in Regret]]'', [[Action Girl|Mary Watson]] discovers her pregnancy while on her quest to find [[The Watson|her husband]]. She soon discovers that Dr. Watson has been killed, and that [[Big Bad|Colonel Moran]] now wishes [[Avenging the Villain|to get revenge]] on [[Sherlock Holmes]] by [[Revenge Byby Proxy|murdering her and her child.]]
 
 
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== Film - Live-Action ==
* The dramatic climax of ''[[Star Wars]] III: [[Revenge of the Sith]]. Padme dies immediately after Luke and Leia are born, and Darth Vader is "reborn" as Anakin Skywalker "dies". Darth Vader's first breath is juxtaposed against Padme's last.
* The baptism/execution sequence from the end of ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]'' where Michael became the Godfather in both senses of the term. OK. Not quite a birth, but close enough.
* ''[[Alien]] 3'': Dillon gives the speech about rebirth as Newt and Hicks are cremated just as the new Alien is reborn.
* ''[[Steel Magnolias]]''
* ''[[Turner And Hooch]]''
* In the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|Star Trek]]'' movie, James Kirk is born in the opening sequence seconds before his father dies.
** Previously, ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' did a variation where the shots of Kirk racing to get to Spock before he dies are intercut with the birth of the Genesis planet.
* Referenced in ''[[The Addams Family (TV)|The Addams Family]] Values'':
{{quote| '''Morticia:''' Children, do you believe that when a new child is born, one of the older children must die?<br />
'''Wednesday and Pugsley:''' Yes. <br />
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'''Arden:''' Holy shit... ''(Sil kills him)'' }}
** ''Species II'' shows this connection even more directly, where we get to see women impregnated by an alien dying giving birth to their gruesome offspring. Other scenes simply show the alien baby sitting beside it's mother's bloody corpse.
* ''[[Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Bollywood)|Kuch Kuch Hota Hai]]'' starts with the birth of Anjali and the death of her mother Tina.
* The [[Tear Jerker]] Cleansing of the House montage from the end of the first ''Children of Dune'' film (which, incidentally, ''combines'' this trope with [[Death Byby Childbirth]]), all set to the tune of a [[One-Woman Wail]].
** The cleansing includes the executions of Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam and Guild Navigator Edric.
* In the movie ''[[Angus]]'', the titular character's father died as his mother gave birth to him.
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* Not exactly to the trope, but the alternative(original) ending of ''[[John Q]]'' fits. In this ending, the titular character dies, but his heart is given to his son, who needs a transplant.
* Similarly to the above post about [[John Q]], [[Terminator Salvation]], while technically not ending in a "birth", per se, ends with Marcus giving his heart to a fatally wounded John Connor.
* A twisted subversion occurs in the remake of ''[[Dawn of the Dead 2004 (Film)|Dawn of the Dead 2004]]'', wherein one of the refugees was hugely pregnant when she was bitten by a zombie. She turns into a zombie, and her husband just keeps her tied up in a back room until she gives birth... to an infant who is also a zombie.
 
 
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* This is the story behind Miracle, the protagonist of the novel ''Dancing on the Edge'', whose mother was hit by an ambulance, but Miracle survived. Later we find out that her mother was attempting to commit suicide and stepped in front of the ambulance on purpose.
* In the ''[[Adrian Mole]]'' series, elderly Queenie dies shortly after Adrian's sister is born, and at the funeral he reflects that Queenie must have died so as to "make way" for the baby.
* [[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]] (of course) has a symbolic 'rebirth' (surviving the first attempt on his life, and being adopted) the same night his parents are murdered. Later on, Cedric Diggory is killed before Voldemort's resurrection (which involves nearly killing Harry, again). There's also Trelawney's prophecy, connecting Harry and Voldemort in birth and death. And just to make sure the [[Anvilicious|symbolism is clear]], the two of them also are linked by phoenix feathers in their wands. Also, the birth of Teddy Lupin followed closely by the deaths of his parents.
* In [[Dean Koontz]]' ''Life Expectancy'', protagonist Jimmy is born at the same minute his grandfather dies.
* Not birth exactly, but similar: in ''[[The Grapes of Wrath (Literature)|The Grapes of Wrath]],'' Rose of Sharon (who's pregnant) and her husband have sex as the family arrives in California. When they get there they discover the grandmother is dead, and Rose of Sharon is horrified as she considers the juxtaposition.
* In N. Perumow's "Hierward Chronicles", there are Elemental Mages, which are personalized powers. Those powers can only belong to one generation, so if one of the mages has children, they all begin to loose their powers and die (unless they can secure some auxiliary magic source, but even they they are vulnerable, whereas before they just re-spawned if killed). Conversely, if all Mage are wiped out, new are spawned by magic.
* ''[[Literature/Song Of Solomon|Song Of Solomon]]'' begins with a man named Robert Smith on the roof of the hospital, falling to his death as he attempts to fly with a suit he has created. One of the women in the crowd of onlookers goes into labor, and the next day gives birth to the protagonist, Milkman, becomes the first black child born in that same hospital. He then grows up and learns to fly himself. [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|Sort of/maybe]].
* Enforced out of necessity, due to limited resources, at the beginning of [[Robert Silverberg]]'s ''At Winter's End''. Almost no one's allowed to conceive a child to begin with; the few who ''are'' allowed to procreate are required to wait until someone's committed ritual suicide at the allotted age.
* ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'': Cinderpelt dies shortly before Cinderkit is born.
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
* Done in the ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' series finale. D'Argo dies right after Aeryn gives birth [[Pregnant Badass|during a battle]]. [[Dead Guy, Junior|They decide to name the kid after him]].
* The first episode (33) of the series proper of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'' has people dying left and right throughout, and in the very last scene the characters get word that a baby was born in the fleet.
* In ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'', [[Kid From the Future]] Chris dies while he is born. (It makes sense in context.)
* In the final episode of ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' there is a montage that intercuts the final moments of Mrs. Mccluskey with the birth of Julie's daughter.
* ''[[Friends]]'': when Phoebe's grandmother dies, Monica rushes in and tells the group that a couple is having sex in a car outside. The rest of the gang tries to tell her that now isn't the time; but Phoebe isn't that disappointed. "It's kinda cool. 'Cause it's like, you know, one life ends and another begins." Monica leans down and whispers to the others, "Not the way they're doing it."
* ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' In the episode where the story is about the death of Pierce's Mother, Abed's story in the background is about a Greendale student going into labor.
* ''[[Growing Pains]]'': in the episode in which Chrissy is born, Ben befriends an elderly patient, Chris, who dies.
* ''[[Holby City]]'' did this one just recently.
* ''[[Home and Away]]'' - Kitt's baby is born, but then she finds out Beth (her mother) has just been hit by a truck.
* In ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', a pregnant woman was ill but they got the baby out. For a minute, it looks like they're both going to die but the baby cries on its own. At exactly the same time, the mother dies. [[Tear Jerker|It's seriously depressing.]]
* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'': "Do No Harm." Boone dies, and Aaron is born.
* ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'': In "Newborn King." The poor woman gives birth {{spoiler|in the backseat of a broken down car, parked in a gas station garage, in a blizzard, on Christmas, [[It Got Worse|during a shootout with Russian mercenaries who want to kill her and kidnap her child]], [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|with]] ''[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Gibbs]]'' [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|as the midwife.]] This is interspersed with a desperately outnumbered and outgunned Ziva singlehandedly defending them against an onslaught of Russian mercenaries.}}
* Toyed with in ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'': Dr. Cox doesn't want his daughter's birth to be announced until later, over concern that her birth will forever be associated with Laverne's death.
** JD explicitly states that this is one of the beautiful things about working in a hospital in the episode "My Philosophy", such as patients receiving life-saving donor organs from someone who just died or (unfortunately) the possible death of either a mother or child to save the other's life. He refers to it as the "circle of life" (he likes that lion cub)
* In the same episode of ''[[Sesame Street (TV)|Sesame Street]]'' where Big Bird finds out Mr. Hooper died, there's also a segment where Big Bird (after hanging his drawing of Mr. Hooper on his wall as a memorial to him) is introduced to a friend's new baby.
* ''[[Mad Men]]'': One episode after the death of her father Eugene, Betty Draper gives birth to a son (all the while seeing hallucinations of her recently-deceased dad). [[Dead Guy, Junior|She decides to call him Eugene]].
* Among the guest stars on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' was a mother and daughter; as the daughter is giving birth to her own child, her mother (having been accused of witchcraft) is being dunked in the lake. Averted considering the mother is saved, but her near-execution is inter-cut with scenes of her daughter in labour.
* The final episode of ''[[Six Feet Under]]'' [[Cold Open|begins]] with a birth, while [[Once Per Episode|every previous episode]] began with a death. Played with by having the baby barely live through birth, though he turns out fine in the end.
* In the infamous "Love's Labor Lost" episode of ''[[ER]]'', a woman dies in childbirth. Later, in the episode "Great Expectations", as Carol gives birth, an elderly woman in the room next door dies of renal failure. Additionally, a character's daughter starts her period.
* In the third season finale of ''[[Private Practice]]'' Maya (who is pregnant) and her midwife, Dell, are hit by a drunk driver. The baby is born prematurely and survives, Dell dies.
* In the third season of ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', Darla, a vampire, is pregnant with a living baby. When it is time to give birth, she realizes she'll lose her ability to feel empathy and compassion because she only feels those emotions through her unborn child's soul. She chooses to stake herself and turns to dust, leaving behind a crying baby.
* ''[[Barney Miller]]'' had a New Year's Eve episode like this. An extremely pregnant lady is brought into the station house as Fish goes out to talk a suicidal man from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. The pregnant lady gives birth in Barney's office, helped by Liz and Wojo, who's had experience in Vietnam. Fish returns, looking haggard. Greeted with "Hey, we had a baby!" he replies "You win one, you lose one."
* In ''[[CSI]]'', Nick and Doc Robbins are on their way somewhere else when they're alerted by a passerby to a dead girl in a house. They break in and find her hanging in her closet, beyond saving, and then Robbins realizes she's eight and half months pregnant and the baby is still moving. He does an impromptu Caesarian and manages to get the baby breathing, and she lives.
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== Music ==
* [[Elvis Presley (Music)|Elvis Presley]]'s "In the Ghetto" chronicles a guy's life from birth to his murder, and as he dies, another baby is born, with the suggestion that [[Tear Jerker|his fate will be the same]].
* The main theme of [[Live (Music)|Live]]'s "Lightning Crashes"
* Edwin's "Alive" explicitly evokes the trope in one line.
* "And When I Die", by Blood, Sweat, and Tears
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that your mother took his name<br />
and labor pains would collapse her fragile frame }}
* Going along with the ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' entry above, Michael Giacchino even named the music that plays during the montage "Life and Death"
* Done in "The Breath You Take" by [[George Strait]]. The narrator's father takes his last breath in the same day that the narrator's son is born.
* Dave Matthews Band's song "Funny the Way it Is," includes a reference to this among other things.
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== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Shining Force]] III'' it is referenced that Gracia was born at the moment that Julian's father died.
* Unicorns in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' apparently work like this. The instant one dies, another is born.
 
 
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* In ''DMFA'', there are always 2,438,165 [[The Fair Folk|Fae]]. When one dies, their relatives get to auction the rights to have a kid, or a random Fae becomes a parent all of the sudden.
* In ''[[Anders Loves Maria]]'', the titular Maria gives birth and dies, while one of the other characters is busy catapulting herself off a bridge.
* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', a [[Half-Human Hybrid|human with]] [[Elemental Embodiment|fire-elemental]] [[Half-Human Hybrid|blood]] passes their life force onto their first child. They grow weaker as the child grows older, and die when the child is about 12 years old. Surma Carver was one such person; her daughter Antimony only learns of these facts, and that she'll go through the same thing as well, three year after Surma's death.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', we see Avatar Roku's death a hundred years ago, followed by a scene of the birth of Aang. More generally, whenever an Avatar dies the next Avatar is born within a week.
* In ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|Thundercats 2011]]'', the [[Plant Aliens|Petalars]] are introduced as a new baby is born. A wizened elder welcomes him into the world with a philosophic [[Final Speech]], then peacefully collapses and withers away moments later.
 
 
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