Due to the Dead: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Rites 921.jpg|frame|Giving dues: [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Klingons howling to the afterlife to warn of a warrior's approach]], [[Return of the Jedi|Luke burning Vader's body on a pyre]], [[Six Feet Under|a typical Christian burial service]]]]

{{quote|''And such were the funeral rites of Hector, tamer of horses.''~~|'''[[Homer]]''', ''[[The Iliad]]''}}~~

{{quote|''And such were the funeral rites of Hector, tamer of horses.''

|'''[[Homer]]''', ''[[The Iliad]]''}}

One mark that distinguishes humans from nonhumans - aside from elephants - is that humans have funeral rites; they regard something as due to the dead and have for a long time. Indeed, since burials leave archaeological evidence, we know that they occurred as long as 300,000 years ago, as a practice among the Neanderthals.

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== Good ==

=== Anime & Manga ===

=== Anime and Manga ===

* In ''[[Girls' Last Tour]]'' After realizing that Yuu scavenging junk constituted as grave robbing, Chii-chan insists they put the stuff back where they found it. Yuu, while not out to disrespect the dead, would rather not go through the inconvenience. It's possible Chii-chan would have been less charitable to the dead if she thought the scavenged stuff would help them survive.

* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', Tohru and her friends visit her mother's grave, and find that her grandfather had also come to pay his respects.

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* In some variants of the [[Child Ballad]] ''The Famous Flower of Serving Men'', the heroine must dig her husband and child's grave. When the magical ending is used, a milk-white hind leads the king to the grave, where a [[Our Ghosts Are Different|bird]] laments how his love had become a serving man, and explains to the king how they had been murdered by the heroine's mother.

{{quote|''They left me nought to dig his grave but the bloody sword that slew my babe

All alone the grave I made, and all alone the tears I shed

''All alone the grave I made, and all alone the tears I shed

And all alone the bell I rang, and all alone the psalm I sang'' }}

''And all alone the bell I rang, and all alone the psalm I sang'' }}

* In the [[Child Ballad]] ''The Unquiet Grave'', the true love is mourned for a year and a day—though after that time, the dead have a new demand:

{{quote|''[[A Year and a Day|The twelvemonth and a day]] being up,

The dead began to speak:

''The dead began to speak:

"Oh who sits weeping on my grave,

''"Oh who sits weeping on my grave,

And will not let me sleep?"'' }}

''And will not let me sleep?"'' }}

=== Card Games ===

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' gives us cards like Remember the Fallen, which grant the player either recursion or a bonus for each card in the graveyard. On the evil side, [[Complete Monster|Phyrexian]] cards on these mechanics tend to be flavored as cannibalism or the like.

=== Comic Books ===

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* The Destine family of ''[[ClanDestine]]'' have a private graveyard for the bodies of Adam Destine's parents and children. One issue starts with Adam and the twins visiting the grave of Florence, who was really Rory and Pandora's sister but posed as their grandmother (it's complicated). Special mention goes to the family Black Sheep, Vincent, who despite evil deeds of an unknown nature was still laid to rest in the family cemetery in the proper way (complete with an extremely weird statue as part of the grave marker, courtesy of his younger sister Samantha).

* [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|"To]] [[wikipedia:Mark Gruenwald|Gru]]. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|We still miss you."]]

=== Fairy Tales ===

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* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718151331/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/stories/birdgrip.html The Bird Grip]", the hero arranges for a man's burial and acquires a fox companion—who reveals, in due course, that he is a ghost.

** More fairy tales of this type are found [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0505.html here].

===[[Fan Works]] ===

* In ''[[White Devil of the ~~Moon|The White Devil Of The~~ Moon]]'', during the heroines' expedition to the moon the present-day Sailor Mars builds a gigantic funeral pyre for the dead of the Moon Kingdom.

* In ''[[White Devil of the Moon]]'', during the heroines' expedition to the moon the present-day Sailor Mars builds a gigantic funeral pyre for the dead of the Moon Kingdom.

* ''[[Night of the Seance]]'', [[ABBA|Frida]] opted to have a private funeral for {{spoiler| Agnetha}} via, funeral pyre, which {{spoiler| would've been chosen anyways.}} It was out of respect for the other families, who also were grieving their losses. Frida was still struggling over the lost, but she didn't want to cause a scene for the others and honor the final requests.

* In [[The Teraverse]] tale ''Incubation Period'', a police officer's funeral in South Boston is quite colorfully described.

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* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' films show us that Jedi respectfully burn the bodies of their dead. ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' has Qui-Gon's funeral, and ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' has Luke burn the body of Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker.

** In contrast, Vader is fond of strangling people, dumping them on the floor, and storming off in a rage.

* In ''[[9~~|Nine~~]]'', before the remaining [[Punk Punk|Stitchpunks]] go after {{spoiler|The Seamstress, to get 7 and 8}}, they give {{spoiler|2}} a water burial, sending {{spoiler|him}} off on a raft. Then, at the end of the film {{spoiler|the survivors, 9, 7, and 3 + 4 build and light a funeral pyre for the deceased Stitchpunks}}.

* In ''[[9]]'', before the remaining [[Punk Punk|Stitchpunks]] go after {{spoiler|The Seamstress, to get 7 and 8}}, they give {{spoiler|2}} a water burial, sending {{spoiler|him}} off on a raft. Then, at the end of the film {{spoiler|the survivors, 9, 7, and 3 + 4 build and light a funeral pyre for the deceased Stitchpunks}}.

* ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'' opens with a traveling salesmen arguing with the town undertaker over the burial of a Native American who died in the street: the salesman is willing to pay for the burial, but no one is willing to drive the hearse up to Boot Hill because a "certain element" in the town objects to having a non-white buried there and is threatening violence. The matter is resolved when Chris and Vin, the first two of the eponymous seven, volunteer to drive the hearse and engage in a brief gunfight with a group of racists who try to stop them from entering the cemetery. The villagers then approach them to ask for help, for men who do that are men who will help them.

* At one point in [[U 571]], the [[Hollywood History|US Marines who've boarded a U-Boat to recover the Enigma decoder]] are attempting to convince a German warship that they've been sunk, firing the body of one of their fallen comrades out of a torpedo tube along with whatever junk they can get hold of. The private assigned this task regards it as extremely [[Dirty Business]], and takes the time to recite the prayer used for burial at sea before doing so.

* At one point in ''[[U-571]]'', the [[Hollywood History|US Marines who've boarded a U-Boat to recover the Enigma decoder]] are attempting to convince a German warship that they've been sunk, firing the body of one of their fallen comrades out of a torpedo tube along with whatever junk they can get hold of. The private assigned this task regards it as extremely [[Dirty Business]], and takes the time to recite the prayer used for burial at sea before doing so.

* In ''[[Taking Chance]]'', American military members who die while serving overseas are kept under a military escort for their entire trip back to their home town. The movie follows a Marine officer who volunteers to escort PFC Chance Phelps for the last few legs of the trip between Dover AFB and Chance's home town.

=== Game Books ===

* Book 8 of the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series ''The Jungle of Horrors'' has a few examples. If you take the Barge to Tharro at the beginning of the book you get to witness both sides of this trope. The [[Complete Monster]] [[Necromancer]] that you fight and kill on the barge has his corpse weighted with rocks and tossed overboard like so much garbage. OTOH, the friendly NPC that was killed by that necromancer is laid to rest in a casket and given a respectful burial in the river. If you take the Great North Road, you might end up at an abbey. The monks of said abbey {{spoiler|are actually undead Vordaks that murdered the real monks and took their place}}. After {{spoiler|dealing with the Vordaks}} [[Lone Wolf]] discovers {{spoiler|the bodies of the real monks}} and takes the time to bury them.

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=== Legends and Myths ===

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=== Legends & Myths ===

* In Norse legends, Skald or Scef [[Moses in the Bulrushes|drifted ashore as a child]] and became king. When he died many years later, his people sent back to sea on a ship laden with treasure—described as not less than he had been sent with.

=== Literature ===

* In [[J. R. R. ~~Tolkien|JRR~~ Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth, people generally try to give the dead as adequate a funeral as possible with the means at hand, be it a burial, a cairn, or something else, and bemoan the fact if the dead had to go unburied. In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', having no other options, they put {{spoiler|Boromir's}} body in a boat and send it down a waterfall, as the river would keep the orcs from it.

* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth, people generally try to give the dead as adequate a funeral as possible with the means at hand, be it a burial, a cairn, or something else, and bemoan the fact if the dead had to go unburied. In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', having no other options, they put {{spoiler|Boromir's}} body in a boat and send it down a waterfall, as the river would keep the orcs from it.

** In the Appendices, Tolkien recounts the story of a battle after which the dwarves had to cremate their dead, being too numerous to bury them in the traditional stone tombs, and earth burials being unacceptable. As a consequence, to say of one's father that "He was a burned dwarf" came to be a boast that he had fought and died in this battle.

** It's made very clear that in the eyes of Men, Orcs do ''not'' merit Due to the Dead: at one point the characters encounter a battlefield where the victorious Rohirrim have piled the vanquished Orcs' bodies up and burned them, leaving an Orc's severed head on a spike. (It's interesting to compare this to Tolkien's depiction of the siege at Minas Tirith, where the bombarding of the fortress with severed ''human'' heads is portrayed in very emotive terms as a particularly horrifying and barbaric act.)

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* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s [[Tortall Universe]] books, Stormwings are half-human, half-steel-feathered-bird immortals who thrive on fear and carnage. They'll circle over a site where they expect a battle will be, and after it's over, they mix the remains of the dead with their own filth and roll around in it. (A running theme in the books is how this isn't evil, it's just their nature, no matter how distasteful it is to humans. They were ''made'' to make war more horrific.) Most victorious commanders will retrieve their own dead for a decent burial but leave the enemies to the Stormwings. Kel, the protagonist, generally disapproves of this and is careful to dispose of even the enemy dead respectfully, but in ''Lady Knight'', after winning a battle against {{spoiler|a necromancer who murders small children so he can [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|use their souls to bring war machines to life]] and sell them to a militaristic king}}, she lets the Stormwings have him and his men (saying that ''someone'' should get some good out of it).

* In ''At the Crossing-Places'' by Kevin Crossley-Holland, sequel to ''The Seeing Stone'', a Jewish moneylender is murdered on the manor of an English lord, ca. 1200. The priest and most of the others want to leave him for the dogs, but the protagonist (the squire to the manor's lord) gets someone to help him move the body inside a building, and when the lord gets home he has the man buried just ''outside'' their own cemetery. A while later the man's young daughter comes looking to find out whether he's dead or alive. The squire shows her his grave, expecting her to be comforted that they gave him a semblance of a Christian burial, but of course she's dismayed because he should have had a Jewish burial by his family.

* In the [[Imperial Guard]] novel ''Cadian Blood'', the Imperial forces are supposed to pray for the dead they find, and see to it that the bodies are burned, in order to give them some chance at redemption; they do not like it because it interferes with fighting.

* In the ''[[Imperial Guard]]'' novel ''Cadian Blood'', the Imperial forces are supposed to pray for the dead they find, and see to it that the bodies are burned, in order to give them some chance at redemption; they do not like it because it interferes with fighting.

* In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''The Flight of the Eisenstein'', Garro finds that the bolter given to him had belonged to his dead comrade Pyr Rahl; he reflects on how the Death Guard pass on their effects from one man to the next, [[Famed in Story|to remember the dead]]. Then he sees the belongings of his dead [[Old Retainer|housecarl]] Kaleb, which no one else would want to claim. Though tempted to throw it all out and so be free, that would be ignoble; he goes through it instead.

* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' novel ''The Flight of the Eisenstein'', Garro finds that the bolter given to him had belonged to his dead comrade Pyr Rahl; he reflects on how the Death Guard pass on their effects from one man to the next, [[Famed in Story|to remember the dead]]. Then he sees the belongings of his dead [[Old Retainer|housecarl]] Kaleb, which no one else would want to claim. Though tempted to throw it all out and so be free, that would be ignoble; he goes through it instead.

* In Steve Parker's [[Imperial Guard]] novel ''Gunheads'', when they find the murdered slaves, the Guardsmen stop to pray for them, and Bergen orders that their confessors see to the bodies, although they will have to be burned.

* In Steve Parker's ''[[Imperial Guard]]'' novel ''Gunheads'', when they find the murdered slaves, the Guardsmen stop to pray for them, and Bergen orders that their confessors see to the bodies, although they will have to be burned.

** Colonel Strum tells van Droi that the men who died in a tank that fell over a cliff will be properly commerated.

** When his squad admit to Wulfe that they knew about the [[Dead Person Conversation]] that saved their lives, and that [[Remember That You Trust Me|they were hurt that he didn't trust them with it]], one says that they could have joined him in praying for the dead man.

* In Matt Farrer's "After Desh'ea" (in the [[Horus Heresy]] book ''Tales of Heresy''), Angron is enraged that he cannot get dirt from where he lost to add to his "rope"—how can he properly ~~commerate~~ the dead?

* In Matt Farrer's "After Desh'ea" (in the [[Horus Heresy]] book ''Tales of Heresy''), Angron is enraged that he cannot get dirt from where he lost to add to his "rope"—how can he properly commemorate the dead?

* In C. S. Goto's [[Blood Ravens]] trilogy, Jonas characterizes the rite "Beacon Psykana" as an honor paid to the dead.

* In ''[[Dune]]'', the Fremen place the bodies of the dead into machines which render them down and recover their body's water, which is then added to the tribe's stockpiles. This is regarded as not only practical (since water is so scarce on Arrakis that to let the water in a corpse go to waste is pointlessly foolish) but also a way of honouring the fallen Fremen, since they get to continue to serve the tribe even in death. It is considered a particular honour to be allowed to take the water of a non-Fremen, and the Fremen often dishonour enemies by either slitting their throats (thus wasting their water) or otherwise not reclaiming it since it is their way of saying that a fallen foe's water is not worthy of being drunk by the Fremen.

** When Paul Atreide attends the funeral of Jamis the Fremen are awed when he shows the highest level of respect for Jamis by "giving water to the dead." (A.K.A. crying at the funeral)

* [[Nero Wolfe]] by [[Rex Stout]]:

* ''[[Nero Wolfe]]'' by [[Rex Stout]]:

** When Nero's friend Marko is murdered at the beginning of "The Black Mountain", Wolfe asks the coroner for permission to honor an old promise he'd make Marko. When permission is given, Wolfe places two small coins on his friend's eyes. (He then heads off to Montenegro to hunt down the murderer, but that's [[Revenge|a different trope]].)

** In ''Fer-de-lance'' when Maria Maffei goes to Wolfe to ask him to find her missing brother, she tells him that she has over a thousand dollars saved up, and that if he finds Carlo alive she will pay him all of it, but if Carlo is dead, she will pay less, because "First [she] will pay for the funeral." Wolfe not only considers this perfectly reasonable, he commends her for it and says she is "a woman of honor".

** In the novella "Cordially Invited To Meet Death", (published in the [[Omnibus]] volume ''Black Orchids'') Wolfe sends a spray of extremely rare <ref>only three plants exist</ref> black orchids to the funeral of a client whose murder he could not prevent.

* In [[Karl May]]'s travel Story "Durchs Wilde Kurdistan" (Through the wild Kurdistan), a religious leader of zoroastric sect is killed and everybody helps in building a cairn, sort of, to bury him. This includes the very pious muslim Hadschi Halef Omar, the servant, protector and friend of Karl May.

* In [[C. S. ~~Lewis|CS~~ Lewis]]'s ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', Orual sets out to find her sacrificed sister's body, for a proper burial.

* In [[C. S. Lewis]]'s ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', Orual sets out to find her sacrificed sister's body, for a proper burial.

* In Suzanne Collins's ''[[The Hunger Games]]'', Katniss adorns {{spoiler|her ally Rue's corpse}} in wildflowers. Considering the blasé way the tributes' deaths are usually treated, this also serves as a wicked [[Take That]] to the Capitol, humanizing the fallen competitor in the normally disconnected Games.

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Orphans of Chaos]]'', Quentin insists on burying bodies properly.

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** In ''[[Hermetic Millenium|Count to a Trillion]]'', this is the one element of religion that Menelaus admires.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Horus Rising'', the planet Murder had trees on which the aliens threw dead bodies before they ate them. One Marine was so horrified by the desecration of the corpses that he blew up some trees.

* In Andy Hoare's [[White Scars]] novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the White Scar scouts find unburied bodies and are distressed by the lack of respect for the dead; one wishes to bury the dead—even hesitating over a direct order—and his sergeant admits they should, but they cannot.

* In Andy Hoare's ''[[White Scars]]'' novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the White Scar scouts find unburied bodies and are distressed by the lack of respect for the dead; one wishes to bury the dead—even hesitating over a direct order—and his sergeant admits they should, but they cannot.

* In [[Homer]]'s ''[[The Iliad]]'', Patrocles's funeral—and Hector's, once Achilles gave it up.

** Achilles abuses and mangles the corpse of Hector after killing him, in revenge for the death of his friend/lover Patroclus, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Achilles' attempt to mutilate Hector's corpse by dragging it behind his chariot three laps around the city was stopped by the [[Classical Mythology|Greek Gods]] themselves, who used their powers to keep the body untouched. They don't agree on much else, but proper treatment of the honorable dead is very high on their standards of behavior.

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[Iron Shadows in the Moon|Shadows in The Moonlight]]", in [[Dreaming of Times Gone By|Olivia's dream]], the [[Physical God]], [[You Are Too Late|arriving too late]] to save his son, retrieves his body.

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' story "[[Iron Shadows in the Moon|Shadows in The Moonlight]]", in [[Dreaming of Times Gone By|Olivia's dream]], the [[Physical God]], [[You Are Too Late|arriving too late]] to save his son, retrieves his body.

* Played with mercilessly by [[Brandon Sanderson]] in [[The Stormlight Archive]], the Parshendi are [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|a proud warrior race]] who leave their dead out on the battlefield because they apparently consider it sinful to move them. [[The Hero]] is in a crew that theoretically exists to transport bridges to get the army across chasms (of which there are a lot in the area) but is also [[The Bait]], meant to draw arrow fire away from the real soldiers, and thus not allowed to wear armour because it would make them less tempting targets. Naturally [[The Hero]] is not pleased with this. So, he decides to get a hold of some Parshendi corpses strip the [[Bizarre Alien Biology|natural armour]] off them, and put it on top of regular armour, which [[Berserk Button|really pisses off the Parshendi]] making them even better bait, but also protected from arrows.

* In ''[[The Stand]]'' by [[Stephen King]], Frannie Goldsmith buries her father, a victim of the superflu informally called "Captain Trips," in the garden he tended with utmost care in life. It's a painful ordeal in every way from physical to emotional.

* Important in ''[[Malevil]]''. A day after [[World War III]] Colin, Meyssonier, and Peyssou leave the shelter of the castle to investigate their homes and recover their loved ones. They return with the remains of three families that fill a two by one box. Afterwards, they make sure to properly bury the remains of their enemies for both health concerns and to practice better morals and respect than that of brigands. {{spoiler|At the end, Gazel is being pressured not to give Fulbert a Christian burial. Emmanuel intervenes because he doesn't want a modern ''[[Antigone]]''}}.

* In the first [[Riftwar]] book, the only known truce between the Tsurani and Kingdom armies was during the Siege of Crydee. With all of the dead bodies piling up outside the walls, they need to dispose of the bodies before disease spreads. One squad of Kingdom soldiers goes outside the walls unarmed to erect funeral pyres. A few hours later, a squad of unarmed Tsurani soldiers leave their camp and help set up the pyres. After the bodies are burned, the soldiers exchanged salutes and returned to their own lines, at which point the battle resumed.

* In the first ''[[Riftwar]]'' book, the only known truce between the Tsurani and Kingdom armies was during the Siege of Crydee. With all of the dead bodies piling up outside the walls, they need to dispose of the bodies before disease spreads. One squad of Kingdom soldiers goes outside the walls unarmed to erect funeral pyres. A few hours later, a squad of unarmed Tsurani soldiers leave their camp and help set up the pyres. After the bodies are burned, the soldiers exchanged salutes and returned to their own lines, at which point the battle resumed.

** The bodies of the Nighthawks are ''always'' given a funeral pyre. This is not due to respect, though. Some Nighthawks are Black Slayers, and if you don't burn them, they'll come back from the dead and attack again.

* In the second ''[[Green Rider]]'' book, Karigan learns of a ritual the original Riders used to honor their fallen while traveling through time. At the end of the book she restarts the tradition.

* In [[Jasper Fforde]]'s [[Thursday Next]] books, a wall carries the names of fallen Jurisfiction agents.

* In [[Jasper Fforde]]'s ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books, a wall carries the names of fallen Jurisfiction agents.

* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]],'' after Tyrion arrives in King's Landing, he notes that the heads of those executed as part of {{spoiler|Ned Stark's failed attempt to remove Joffrey, a bastard born of incest, and Queen Cersei from power}} are on display on the battlements. Tyrion makes a point of removing the heads, reuniting them with the bodies they had come from, and ordering the return all of the remains to their families, particularly the body of {{spoiler|Ned Stark}}. He says, "Even in war, certain decencies have to be observed."

** A Dance with Dragons has {{spoiler|Stannis' army}} lost in the North as winter descends, and some of the men are driven to cannibalism. Even though it is clear to everyone that the cannibals had ''not'' actually killed the men (they were already dead from cold), and that they were literally starving to death themselves, this is considered such an abominable desecration that the cannibals are executed. [[Kill It with Fire|The fact that the method of execution is a horrible one by burning]] brings up rather strikingly the hypocrisy of {{spoiler|Stannis and Melisandre's notions of justice}}.

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* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', a vigil is held overnight for the family and friends of a fallen warrior to say their last goodbyes, and in the morning, the Clan elders bury the body. There have been occasions where enemy warriors have been returned to their own Clans for their Clan to mourn them, and at least one occasion where a rogue was killed, and it was decided that a couple of young warriors would bury the body, no elders need be present.

* In Michael Scott Rohan's ''The Forge in the Forest'', the main characters find the ruins of a city destroyed more than a thousand years before, and within it the huge tomb of three millennia of the city's kings. The last king, and two guardsmen, stayed and died in the crypt while the rest of the populace escaped. One of those who've found it now is the long-dead king's descendant. He lifts the loyal guardsmen's corpses from the floor where they lay down to die, and sets them upon biers that were meant for kings, saying that '''he''', as king-to-be, judges they earned that honor.

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* One surviving work of the Roman poet [[Catullus]] records his journey from Rome to Anatolia to make sacrifices at his brother's grave. The description of how he feels at the tomb are heart-wrenching.

=== Live Action TV ===

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** Subverted ''hard'' in [[The Movie]]. See "Film," below.

* In the ''[[Chojin Sentai Jetman|Jetman]]'' tribute episode of ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'', the Gokaiger visit Gai Yuuki's grave ([[Back from the Dead|to confirm that he's really gone]]) and find presents left behind by his teammates, including flowers, his favorite liquor, and [[Mythology Gag|an Ako-chan ramen cup]].

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=== ~~Nature~~ ===

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* Elephants, cows, apes, monkeys, magpies, and other social animals are the only species other than humans to have been documented to mourn their dead.

=== Poetry ===

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* One surviving work of the Roman poet [[Catullus]] records his journey from Rome to Anatolia to make sacrifices at his brother's grave. The description of how he feels at the tomb are heart-wrenching.

=== Tabletop Games ===

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' Space Marines go to great lengths to recover their dead brothers, and the individual chapters have additional and often elaborate practices to remember their dead. However, the body itself is not really important, the important things are the progenoid glands, that generate and store the geneseed necessary to create new Space Marines, and the expensive and in some cases outright irreplacable weapons and armor.

* Not a burial place, but the "San Angelo" setting for 4th edition [[Champions]] has the Liberty Square plaza. Memorials to several fallen heroes, including the WWII-era team the Liberty Corps, are placed here. Most supers in San Angelo, regardless of where they fall on the hero - villain scale, refuse to fight here out of respect to the dead.

* Not a burial place, but the "San Angelo" setting for 4th edition ''[[Champions]]'' has the Liberty Square plaza. Memorials to several fallen heroes, including the WWII-era team the Liberty Corps, are placed here. Most supers in San Angelo, regardless of where they fall on the hero - villain scale, refuse to fight here out of respect to the dead.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' presents a strong incentive to give proper Due to the Dead, since failure to provide proper rites will usually anger the corpse's Hungry Ghost (one of the person's souls that remains behind to protect the body) and send it on a rampage. In certain areas, it's also possible to encounter a person's [[Our Ghosts Are Different|other ghost]], who will also likely be pissed off if they didn't receive a proper funeral.

=== Theater ===

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** Oswald in ''[[King Lear]]'', after being mortally wounded by Edgar:

{{quote|''Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;'' }}

''If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;'' }}

** ''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]'', after Brutus dies, his enemies, Antony and Octavian agree on giving him a respectful burial.

{{quote|'''Octavius:''' According to his virtue let us use him

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* Following the death of {{spoiler|Roy Cohn}} in ''Angels In America'', {{spoiler|Belize calls upon Louis to recite the Jewish prayer for the dead at his bedside, in spite of the fact that both men find the deceased personally and politically despicable.}}

* [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Alcestis]]'': When Admetus's wife Alcestis dies, and Hercules appears at his home, Admetus tries to hide that he is in mourning for his wife because they considered [[Sacred Hospitality|hospitality sacred]]. When Hercules learns of the death, he is really, really, really shocked to find that his host had hidden this from him and so his behavior has been really bad; he goes [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|to wrestle with]] [[Grim Reaper|Death]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|to reclaim her]].

=== Video Games ===

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** In ''Brotherhood'' {{spoiler|after Rodrigo is killed by his son Cesare}}, Ezio performs the rite once more with no malice, and for all of the Templar Agents (the single-player counterparts of the multiplayer characters). Only {{spoiler|Juan Borgia}} and {{spoiler|Octavian, Baron de Valois}} survive long enough to actually talk back to him though.

** In ''Revelations'', passersby will scold Ezio if he loots dead bodies.

* [[Mass Effect|Commander Shepard]] gets some sort of memorial (depending on his/her background) after his/her temporary death, which you get to hear news reports about. You also get to explore the crash site of the original Normandy and place a memorial there, as well as gathering all the dog tags of the fallen crew.

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': Commander Shepard gets some sort of memorial (depending on his/her background) after his/her temporary death, which you get to hear news reports about. You also get to explore the crash site of the original Normandy and place a memorial there, as well as gathering all the dog tags of the fallen crew.

** Also, in [[Mass Effect 3]], a memorial wall is placed in front of the elevator on the crew deck, so that you can't avoid looking at it when you step out of the elevator. It lists the names of each lost crewmember from the Normandy, and [[Anyone Can Die|as the game goes on,]] [[It Got Worse|the list gets longer.]]

* Funerals and memorials are sometimes given [[Incredibly Lame Pun|grave importance]] in ''[[Final Fantasy]]''.

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* In ''[[Beast Wars]]'' the Maximals "recycle" Dinobot's body, following the ''Predacon'' funeral traditions. In addition, Optimus, Cheetor, and Silverbolt fly overhead in the "missing man" formation.

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=== Real Life ===

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* Elephants, cows, apes, monkeys, magpies, and other social animals are the only species other than humans to have been documented to mourn their dead.

== Evil ==

=== Anime & Manga ===

=== Anime and Manga ===

* In the ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' manga, when Aion kills Pandaemonium, he cuts off her head and then mercilessly hacks up her body. {{spoiler|However, considering that Pandaemonium is the body of his human mother, Lilith, grafted onto the body of the demon's [[Hive Queen]], Aion views it as "freeing" her, and probably also as revenge for the desecration the demons subjected his mother's body to.}} Also, throughout the series several demons are shown as being cruel, disgusting or evil because of their treatment of the bodies of their human victims.

* The ''[[Berserk]]'' manga has Wyald establishing his [[Complete Monster|monster credentials]] in a big way by not only {{spoiler|raping and murdering a woman who helped the Hawks as well as the girls in her care}}, but also {{spoiler|[[Dead Guy on Display|carrying their naked, dismembered bodies into battle with the Hawks]]}}.

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=== Fairy Tales ===

* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130921113251/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/47junipertree.html The Juniper Tree]" and in "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140401211439/http://surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/stories/rosetree.html The Rose Tree]", the [[Wicked Stepmother]] kills the stepchild, cooks the body, and serves the dish to the child's father.

=== Film ===

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*** Not ''just'' an [[Indian Burial Ground]], but one used for Indians who were [[Ax Crazy|insane]] or had some lingering illness. And then later it was used by [[Evil Sorceror|devil worshipping witches]]. And ''then'' [[Too Dumb to Live|someone built a house there]].

* In ''[[The Searchers]]'', one of the big clues that Ethan Edwards is [[Anti-Hero|not John Wayne's usual role]] is the scene where he uncovers a dead Comanche warrior and shoots his eyes. As he explains, the Comanche believe that you need your eyes to enter the spirit world—by shooting the eyes out, he'd just condemned that warrior to wander the Earth as a ghost.

* ''Charade'' plays this semi-humorously: Audrey Hepburn is attending the lying-in-state of her husband when three former associates show up, one by one. One begins sneezing violently, causing the widow's best friend to remark that he must've known the dead man very well: he's allergic to him. Another holds a mirror to the corpse's nostrils to check for breathing. And the third slams open the church door, strides in fiercely, and jabs a pin into the dead man's hand. Audrey's wide-eyed look is hilarious.

* ''[[Charade]]'' plays this semi-humorously: Audrey Hepburn is attending the lying-in-state of her husband when three former associates show up, one by one. One begins sneezing violently, causing the widow's best friend to remark that he must've known the dead man very well: he's allergic to him. Another holds a mirror to the corpse's nostrils to check for breathing. And the third slams open the church door, strides in fiercely, and jabs a pin into the dead man's hand. Audrey's wide-eyed look is hilarious.

* The eponymous [[Predator]] prizes the skulls of worthy prey as valuable trophies, honoring their prey/victim in a bizarre inversion of the trope.

** It's not that much more unusual than a human game hunter mounting the heads of animals he's killed on his wall; you're more likely to show off a lion's skin more than that deer you shot from a tree.

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* In ''[[13 Assassins]]'', Lord Naritsugu kicks the severed head of his own loyalest subject, who just gave out his life to defend Naritsugu. When the hero calls him out for it, Naritsugu shrugs it off.

* In ''[[Serenity]]'', the crew comes across the village where Book has been living peacefully having been completely slaughtered by The Operative's forces. Mal decides to use the bodies to camouflage Serenity to sneak past the Reavers orbiting the planet Miranda, which (naturally), his crew finds completely disgusting.

=== Literature ===

* In [[J. R. R. ~~Tolkien|JRR~~ Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the siege of Gondor features heads, struck from the dead, being launched into the city via catapult to horrify the defenders.

* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the siege of Gondor features heads, struck from the dead, being launched into the city via catapult to horrify the defenders.

** In ''Two Towers'' when Theoden throws off Saruman's enchanting voice, he cites the mutilation of Hama's corpse (along with the [[Children Are Innocent|dead children]]) as proof that Saruman does not deserve peace.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Ghostmaker'', patrolling Ghosts find one of their number not only dead but mutilated.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Ghostmaker'', patrolling Ghosts find one of their number not only dead but mutilated.

** In ''Blood Pact'', Chaos forces unpack; they had used corpses and blood to seal up what they shipped—some of it inside the corpses. Later, Gaunt recounts how Slaydo's body had been mutilated after his death.

* In L. M. Montgomery's ''Emily of New Moon'' books, the founders of a family, a couple, were immigrating, until the woman declared that she would not get back on the ship: "Here I stay." When she died, her husband had it written on her gravestone. (His family have therefore made it a rule that you ''never'' hold grudges against the dead, and always attend the funeral and the like.)

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* In ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'', after shooting his captive prey Buffalo Bill skins (and in one case scalps) their corpses and dumps them in a river, where they wash up on the muddy shores bloated, rotting and nude. Hannibal Lecter, the novel's other serial killer, butchered, cooked and ate parts of some of his victims, but he also did other things with their bodies, often with an artistic element. {{spoiler|When he escapes he kills the two officers guarding him and uses a pocketknife to cut the face off one of them to use as a disguise to get himself carried out of the building.}} In the movie the other officer is partially skinned and strung up on the bars of Lecter's cage to resemble a butterfly. Not only is this a reference to two important elements of Buffalo Bill's M.O., it is also a reference to a Francis Bacon painting.

* In ''[[The Iliad]]'', Achilles secured Hector's body to his chariot after killing him, and circled the city thrice with the corpse in tow. For the era, this was regarded as crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]], and sealed his doom in the eyes of the gods. Now, Achilles is known more for [[Achilles' Heel|how he died]] than how he didn't. However, after Priam, Hector's father came to him in person, Achilles regretted his actions, and gave Hector's body to him, so he did eventually have a proper funeral.

* In ''[[~~Odyssey|~~The Odyssey]]'', Agamemnon tells Odysseus:

* In ''[[The Odyssey]]'', Agamemnon tells Odysseus:

{{quote|''As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not [[Dies Wide Open|close my eyes]] as I descended into Hades.''}}

* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', after murdering {{spoiler|Robb Stark in the [[Moral Event Horizon|Red Wedding]], the Freys desecrate his corpse by decapitating it and sewing the head of his [[Big Badass Wolf|direwolf Grey Wind]] in its place.}}

** Also as part of that same incident {{spoiler|the Frey's dumped the body of Robb's mother, Catelyn Tully Stark, in the river as a mockery of the funeral customs of House Tully. [[Back from the Dead|That one is going to come back to haunt them...]]}}

* In the last story of Michael Gilbert's ''[[~~Government Agency of Fiction|~~Game Without Rules]]'', an enemy spy with a grudge kills Mr. Calder's dog Rasselas, a highly pedigreed deerhound. Before he can kill Mr. Calder, though, Mr. Behrens shoots him dead. They bury the dog in a fit "resting place for a prince." As for the enemy agent...

* In the last story of Michael Gilbert's ''[[Game Without Rules]]'', an enemy spy with a grudge kills Mr. Calder's dog Rasselas, a highly pedigreed deerhound. Before he can kill Mr. Calder, though, Mr. Behrens shoots him dead. They bury the dog in a fit "resting place for a prince." As for the enemy agent...

{{Quote|Colonel Weinleben they buried later, with a good deal more haste and less ceremony, in the wood. He was the illegitimate son of a cobbler from Mainz and greatly inferior to the dog, both in birth and breeding.}}

=== Live Action Television ===

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=== Newspaper Comics ===

* In early episodes of ''[[Bloom County]]'', the ''Bloom Picayune'' would often engage in [[Malicious Slander]] against politicians. ~~however~~:

* In early episodes of ''[[Bloom County]]'', the ''Bloom Picayune'' would often engage in [[Malicious Slander]] against politicians. However:

{{quote|'''Milo''' ''(typing}'': And thereby, our conclusion is that Councilman Hunzinker is a pin-headed old demagogue.

'''Opus:''' Excuse me, sir, I thought you'd like to know that Councilman Hunzinker just kicked the bucket.

''([[Beat Panel]] as Milo crosses out what he typed.)''

'''Milo''' ''(typing again, having replaced the "Editorials" sign on his ~~desk~~ to "Obituaries"}'': Councilman Hunzinker was a sharp-witted elder statesman.}}

'''Milo''' ''(typing again, having replaced the "Editorials" sign on his dsk to "Obituaries"}'': Councilman Hunzinker was a sharp-witted elder statesman.}}

=== Paintings ===

* The painting of Albert Edelfelt: ''Duke Karl Insulting the Corpse of Klas Fleming''. It is depicting a probably fictional episode of the Swedish Civil War when the [[Notable Swedish Monarchs|Regent Karl]] burst into the room where the body of his enemy, Admiral Klas Fleming's body lay, pulled on his beard and insulted him in front of the widow.

=== Tabletop Games ===

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** The Necrons have the Flayed Ones, who wear their enemy's flesh as a hide.

* The typical reaction to the death of an ally or honored friend by [[Player Character|the players of any table top game?]] [[Sociopathic Hero|Strip the dead of anything and everything of any remote value. Even, and especially, if they were a fellow PC.]]

=== Theater ===

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* Shakespeare's ''[[Titus Andronicus (theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]'' avenges the rape and mutilation of his daughter Lavinia by killing Queen Tamora's last two sons, and then, in a nod to the above fairy tales, bakes them into a giant meat pie which he then serves to Tamora before taking his final vengeance upon her.

* The Greek play ''[[Agamemnon]]'' shows the importance of the fact that bodies of some Greek soldiers were left behind at Troy.

=== Video Games ===

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* Not necessarily ''evil'', ''per se'', but one of the songs in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' is called "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie". The second verse starts, "But we buried him there, on the lone prairie".

* B.J. Blazkowicz, the protagonist of ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]'', does this with the body of [[Adolf Hitler]] in the finale of Episode 3, "Die Fuhrer Die," kicking his head off his remains and spitting on them.

=== Web Comics ===

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0258.html Angelika thinks bringing on Emily so soon after Pauline's death is disrespectful.] Really. Not jealousy at all.

=== Web Original ===

* After the first battle of the Tower in [[~~Were~~ Alive]], those who were killed were given a funeral complete with the reading of their names.

* After the first battle of the Tower in ''[[We're Alive]]'', those who were killed were given a funeral complete with the reading of their names.

=== Western Animation ===