Go Out with a Smile: Difference between revisions

{{quote| {{spoiler|"And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a gallant gentleman."}}}}

** In [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''[[The Dracula Tape (Literature)|The Dracula Tape]]'', the Count hangs a somewhat cynical lampshade on this by observing that nothing seems to make a vampire look more 'at peace' to breathing humans than the knowledge that he or she is finally safely dead.

** Not to mention {{spoiler|Sirius}}, whose laughter "Had not quite died from his face" before falling through the veil.

* [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Thrawn]], after he is finally defeated and then [[Bodyguard Betrayal|stabbed by his bodyguard]], smiles and tells Pellaeon "[[Famous Last Words|But... it was so artistically done.]]" before [[Eye Lights Out|his eyes go out]].

* In ''[[Smallville (TV)|Smallville]]'', right before Jonathan Kent succumbs to his heart attack, he attempts to smile one last time to his family and tell them "I love you." [[Tear Jerker|Oh geeze]]...

** After a brutal fight with Clark, [[Smallville (TV)/Phantom Zone/Characters|Titan]] realizes he has been fatally impaled by his own arm-spike. He smiles while stating "[[Worthy Opponent|Good fight]]" and drops dead.

** The Ninth Doctor Gets one of these just as he starts [[The Nth Doctor|regenerating]], during a fond farewell to Rose. [[The Nth Doctor|Number 10]] reawakens from the regeneration still smiling and ready to resume the pair's trip to (the planet) Barcelona.

** The Third Doctor uses his last moments to comfort Sarah Jane. ''"A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's..."''

* In ''[[The Mentalist (TV)|The Mentalist]]'', Bosco not only smiles himself, but manages to make a tearful, distraught Lisbon who loves him (and they've just had an [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]), smile. Just the most heart-wrenching death.

* Narrowly [[Averted Trope]] in ''[[Merlin (TV)|Merlin]]'' after Lancelot is captured and about to be executed after securing Guinevere's escape from a warlord's keep. When he's threatened with a slow and painful death, he only gives a beautific smile and tells them that because Guinevere is safe, he dies happy. Only for the men to drag a recaptured Guinevere back into the arena. But then Prince Arthur saves them both anyway.

* Beautifully done in ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]''. After absorbing a lethal amount of radiation the clone of John Crichton smiles at Aeryn Sun and delivers one of the most heartbreaking lines in the series. "Don't worry about me, I've never felt better."

* Archie Kennedy in the sixth installment of the [[Horatio Hornblower]] mini-series, after saving Horatio's life and career. Albeit something of a tearful-looking smile (and largely there for Horatio's sake), but still one that could light up a room.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' has {{spoiler|[[The Starscream|Byrne/Staven]] who, in the final battle against [[Big Bad|Malladus]] and [[The Dragon|Chancellor Cole]], his former masters, conjures a forcefield that lets Zelda reclaim her body. As a result of this , he is killed with a spell that ''completely and utterly destroys him''. His last words to Zelda are a laugh and [[Tear Jerker|"Didn't you say you wanted words with me?"]]}}

* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' {{spoiler|Leandra, [[Player Character|Hawke's]] mother, dies smiling in her child's arms after telling him/her [[So Proud of You|how proud she is of him/her.]]}}

* Although he doesn't die, [[Dawn of War (Video Game)|Sergeant Cyrus]] believes in this. As he knows that he will die one day in battle, regardless of his skill or experience, he's come to realize that death is not exactly the best thing to do. When Sergeant Thaddeus asks him, Cyrus merely tells him to save some of the victory feelings he gets when he has beaten a very tough opponent, so that when the end does come, you can remember the feeling you got when you won and not have bad things to consider.

* In the True Ending of ''[[Blaz Blue Continuum Shift (Video Game)|Blaz Blue Continuum Shift]]'', {{spoiler|just as Hazama is about to deliver the killing blow to Ragna, Lambda teleports in front of Ragna and [[Taking the Bullet|takes the blow for him]]. She dies peacefully in Ragna's arms while telling him how much she loves him and how happy she was to sacrifice herself for him}}.

* Some versions of the [[John Henry]] story have him smiling right before dying from overwork after winning a race to see who can cover a length of track the fastest.

* A most famous real life example is of Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges. He died in the back of a taxi cab while lighting up a cigar and telling a joke after coming home from the boxing match. Knowing Shemp's personality, [[He Would Have Wanted It That Way]].

* In 2011 in the Seattle area, a middle-aged (not old) hobby fisherman caught a 20-lb. salmon, the biggest fish of his life. He turned to a stranger, said happily, "This is the fish of my dreams," then fell into the river and died of a heart attack. They barbecued the salmon and ate it at his wake. Not such a bad way to go, yes?

 

[[Category:Tear Jerker]]

[[Category:Go Out With A Smile]]