Died in Your Arms Tonight

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must have been something you said

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 Pietà 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.)

As a Death Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of Died in Your Arms Tonight include:

Anime and 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.
  • Romeo dies in Juliet's arms, in Romeo X Juliet, after being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
    • Technically, in the manga they die at the same time.
    • Same goes to Lord Montague, 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 Rangiku crying over his broken, dying body, this appears to be the fate of Gin.
  • 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, Shirley in Lelouch's arms.
    • And then there's Lelouch, who was in Suzaku's arms for a while, but died in Nunnally's in the end.
    • Rolo in Lelouch's arms, Euphemia 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 Tomoe died in Kenshin's arms after he accidentally attacked her with his katana. In the OVA, this is when she decides to add the other stroke of his cross-scar (in the original, the scar happened accidentally).
  • 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.
  • Sailor Mars dies in Sailor Moon's arms in the climax of Sailor Stars.
    • And Prince Diamond dies in Sailor Moon's arms as well.
    • And Mamoru, in his first death.
    • Let's not forget Nephrite and Blue Saphir, whose Redemption Equals Death demises happen while in Naru's and both Moon and Tuxedo Kamen's arms, respectively.
    • Kakyuu dies in the arms of the three Starlights.
      • In the manga, it was Kakyuu in the arms of Sailor Moon.
    • And lest we forget, Zoisite 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, Ace 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: Ushio dies in Tomoya's arms.
  • The Twelve Kingdoms: Ill Boy Seishuu dies in Youko's arms, and Ikuya Asano perishes in Shoukei's.
  • Recently in Mahou Sensei Negima, Emily Sevensheep died (or better said, was written out of reality) 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 Kikyou dies in titled character's arms the final time, and while they kissed too.
    • 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 Seishirou dies in Subaru's arms at the Rainbow Bridge. Also potentially subverted when Kotori is killed, and once everything has died down, Kamui cradles her severed head while the Seals look on in horror.
  • In Bokurano, Anko dies in either Kanji's arms or her dad's, 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! 5D's: 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, Souseiseki dies in Suiseiseki's hands after a futile attempt at taking on Suigintou, made especially heartwrenching because Suiseiseki had desperately tried to convince her not to do it up to that point. In the very next episode, Hinaichigo slowly unwinds during the course of the episode and finally in the hands of Tomoe.
  • Julia dies in Spike's arms in the last episode of Cowboy Bebop. Hell, her entire death scene is iconic as well as heartbreaking (until Julia 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 by the main character, who later cut off his own head.
  • But perhaps the most tear-jerking of them all is Misuzu dying in Haruko's arms 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.
  • 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 198X Michael frantically searches for Marina 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, Ayumi 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 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure during Phantom Blood's (the first part of the Manga) ending, where Jonathan Joestar dies while holding Dio Brando's severed, but quite alive, head in his arms.
    • It's also played straight at some points too, like earlier on when George Joestar, Jonathan's father dies on his arms after being stabbed by Dio.
  • Hare, while being eaten alive by the Apocalypse Virus, dies this way in Guilty Crown. Brutally averted, she was already dead, but her body shattered in Shu's arms.


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.
  • 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 just killed his son Daken and was moments away from killing himself but it doesn't make it any less sad.


Fan Works


Film

  • Blade 2 - 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.
  • 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.

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.


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. Later, so does Snape.
  • 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.


Live-Action TV

  • 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. Both get better.
    • Dying in your arms, happy now?
    • Also, in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe, his daughter Miranda.
    • At the end of The Pandorica Opens, Rory is last seen cradling the body of Amy, half-fallen away from him after he accidentally shot her. Don't worry, she gets better too.
    • Also, "Amy's Choice". In the world in which Amy and Rory are married and have settled down, Rory disintegrates slowly and dramatically in Amy's arms. he only died in a dream, though.
  • 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.

Illyria: Would you like me to lie to you now?

  • 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; Tara is pretty much dead before she hits the floor, but Willow 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 at least in Viv's case they probably went to hell as Keats was the devil.
  • In Spooks, Fiona dies in the arms of her husband Adam after being shot by her ex-husband who had come Back from the Dead. Her dying wishes that he look after their son Wes 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:

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.

  • 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

  • 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.

Can you feel me in your arms?

  • Naked as We Came by Iron&Wine.

I lay smiling like our sleeping children / One of us will die inside these arms.

  • "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.):

But somehow I found my baby that night
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 Conrad Verner in one of the ways his story is resolved.
    • Miranda if you don't complete certain prerequisites.
  • The first Baten Kaitos game has Xehla die in Kalas's arms after you beat the final Big Boss.
  • Arcueid dies in Shiki's arms in the end of her route of Tsukihime. She gets better. Double Subverted in the True Ending, where she decides she can't stay with Shiki.
  • 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, Ninian is seen in Eliwood's arms in the CG that follows her death scene.
    • In another CG, Archsage Athos dies in Hector's arms. 20 years later, according to Fuuin no Tsurugi, Hector himself would perish in the arms of Roy.
    • 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 Queen Ismaire in her arms.
  • In Project Justice's Taiyo High ending, Hyo dies in his brother Kyousuke's arms.
  • Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days has Xion's death, or rather Xion's individuality as a separate being. As it wasn't depressing enough already imagine dying in the arms of someone who's forgetting you even as he tries to hold on.
  • In Mega Man X 4, if you choose to play as Zero, after you defeat Zero's love interest, Iris, Zero cradles her in his arms until she "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 Iris 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, Claus dies in Lucas' arms. *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 Shinjiro Aragaki, who merely woke up from a coma three days before.
  • And in Persona 2: Innocent Sin's ending, Maya dies in Tatsuya's arms.
  • A couple of examples of this in the .hack series:
    • Mia dies in Elk's arms after the party defeats her true form Macha the Temptress, the sixth phase of the wave. She gets better..
    • Alkaid gets data-drained by an AIDA and "dies" in Haseo's arms, providing one of the saddest cutscenes in the G.U. games.
  • Shauna dies in Trish's arms in Soul Nomad and The World Eaters.
  • The absolutely heartbreaking death of Isara in Valkyria Chronicles.
  • In Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, Guybrush finds Morgan LeFlay mortally wounded by her own Blade of Dragotta and runs to her side, holding her in his arms (or rather with his hook hand) as she slowly dies after telling him about the incident in the Marquis De Singe's lab.
    • Also, Elaine holds Guybrush in her arms as he is slowly dying from his wounds inflicted by LeChuck's Cutlass of Kaflu, and after she tearfully makes her promise to stop LeChuck for him, Guybrush slumps down to the ground as he dies while still in her arms. (He gets better later in Chapter 5.)
  • 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 the Collector Base
  • Bioware does it again in Dragon Age 2: Hawke's mother dies this way.
  • Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: June dies in Junpei's arms in the "safe" and "submarine" endings.
  • 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.
  • NieR's third ending has Kainé dying in your character's arms after you kill her when the Shade inside her takes control. There's also Fyra in the King's, and Devola in Popola's.
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2: At the end, Serah has her final vision, and as she collapses, Noel pulls her into a hug to hold her upright. After a few seconds, Serah dies, and both of them fall to the ground together, still embracing. When Hope arrives a few minutes later, Noel is still cradling Serah's body against his chest.
    • Yeul is shown dying several times throughout the story; on at least two of these occasions, she is cradled in either Noel or Caius' arms.


Webcomics

  • 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...

Therkla: "I'll take my chances that the Afterlife won't have any punishment worse than not being with you."


Web Original


Western Animation

  • In Wakfu, Idiot Hero Sadlygrove dies in the arms of his Love Interest, Evangelyne.
  • 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 until the final battle against Ozai.
  • ThunderCats (2011) has The Hero Lion-O doing this twice.
  • Yakko Warner cradles his sister Dot as she dies near the end of Wakko's Wish, breaking down in tears as she makes him tell her special story "one last time." We see later she, and arguably he, were just acting but it's no less tearjerky to watch.