Go Out with a Smile/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A dying character smiles at another as they die.

  • Straight: Bob smiles at Alice as he dies.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Bob gives Alice an extremely goofy grin and makes funny faces to cheer her up as he dies.
    • Bob dies laughing like a madman.
  • Justified:
    • Bob smiles at Alice as he dies since he cannot feel any pain from his mortal injuries any longer.
    • Bob's a Death Seeker, who's finally got the honorable death he's spent decades fighting for.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted:
    • Bob smiles at Alice as he's dying, but The Medic gets there in time to save his life.
    • The last thing Bob feels before he dies is a massive jolt of pain, so his smile turns into a distorted grimace.
  • Double Subverted:
    • ...Or not. Bob dies smiling at The Medic.
    • Despite being in pain, Bob still dies smiling, because he knows he will be free from it very soon.
  • Parodied:
    • "What are you smiling at?" "I just got that Bond One-Liner... good one!" [dies]
    • Bob is dying from a lethal botox overdose, forcing his lips into a grotesque grin.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Seeing that Bob dies smiling, Alice becomes a Death Seeker because she believes that hers is a Crapsack World.
    • Alternatively, it's obvious that Bob's smile is forced... He's in excruciating pain and might never see Alice again, but he forces himself to smile, for her sake.
  • Reconstructed: Alice, sobbing, calls Bob out for trying to mask his pain to make her feel better. He tells her that while he might be in agony, he's genuinely happy that he got a chance to be with her at the end.
  • Zig Zagged: Bob starts convulsing, causing his expression to switch from a smile, to a frown, to a rictus of pain, to his "O" face, and finally, to a look that's partially a smile, partially sorrow, and mostly a reaction to the realization that he just shat himself.
  • Averted: Bob immediately dies without smiling or anything.
  • Enforced: "Let's make this more of a Tear Jerker by having Bob smile at Alice while he's bleeding to death!"
  • Lampshaded: "Wow. You shoot a guy 50 times and he similes as he dies. How classy. And creepy."
  • Invoked: Bob knows that smiling at Alice will comfort her and show her that she was not to blame for his death.
  • Defied: "Bob, if you love me, won't you please smile?" "NO!" [dies]
  • Discussed: "Should I be seconds from death, I'd try to cheer others. What harm can it do to me? I'm dying anyway!"
  • Conversed: "Gasp! He's smiling at her! Do they have to break my heart even more with this season's ending?!"

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