Meaningful Funeral

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Charles Carol Coleman - Funeral March

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
 Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.
 Silence the piano and, with muffled drum,
 Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come."

—W. H. Auden, Funeral Blues

So a well-liked character died and we don't feel like laughing. We need to find a way to cope with the loss.

Much like in real life the cast assembles to bid farewell. Even cynical shows and so much more the idealistic ones make the characters emphasize their feeling of community. We get to see all the reactions, from crying over composure to quiet shock. We get to see the stylish cast in subdued clothes. We get to see a scenery shot from further away to show the mood - and who's still alive. The soundtrack gets quite creative and the weather will be fitting for the mood: Rainy and cloudy.

A speech, a song or a poem might be performed by one of the cast. It will praise the deceased, recall memories of him or her, emphasize the ideals they lived by and express the cast's (and with them the public's and maybe even writer's) sorrow. The scene ends on a very moving note that can be anything between hopeful, heartbroken and tragic-comic.

A well-made funeral scene can virtually sum up what the show is all about.

A funeral being Due to the Dead, arranging a Meaningful Funeral, or attending with proper respect, may be used to characterize good characters, and denying one, or behaving disrespectully at one, evil characters.

A Reality Subtext can make the Meaningful Funeral even more meaningful.

A less formal but similar situation is To Absent Friends. Indeed, characters may go from a Meaningful Funeral to To Absent Friends, although this can be hard to pull off as they revolve about the same emotions. Personal Effects Reveal also often dwells on the grief. When the funeral is not meant to be taken seriously, you've got The Fun in Funeral.

This should go without saying, but... As a Death Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of Meaningful Funeral include:

Anime and Manga

  • Dragon Ball Z: When Vegeta is killed by Frieza, Goku buries him on the spot with a few understanding words. In the English dub, the eulogy is a bit more long-winded.
  • Naruto: The funeral of the third Hokage and Iruka's talk with Naruto.

Kurenai: It's raining.
Asuma: Even the heavens weep.

    • Also, Asuma's. The most meaningful part is who fails to show up.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist has Maes Hughes' funeral, one of the most infamous tear jerkers in the series. Mostly because his four-year-old daughter can't understand why they're burying her daddy, and tells them to stop because he has work to do.

Elysia: Mom, how come? Why are they burying Daddy? Who are those people? Why are they burying him? Why?
Gracia: He's gone, baby.
Elysia: They can't! I don't like it! Daddy said he had lots of work to do, and if they bury him, he can't do it when he wakes up!
Gracia: Elysia!...
Elysia: Stop them, Mommy! Daddy needs to do his work! He told me! Why are you letting them bury Daddy, Mommy? Why? Daddy, wake up!!!

    • Even more meaningful is the exchange between Mustang and Hawkeye after the service, both standing before Hughes' grave. Up to this point Mustang has been played as the flippant, arrogant man who seems incapable of doing anything wrong. The transmutation he speaks of could at worst kill him, and is a known sin.

Mustang: Alchemists as a whole...we really are horrible creatures, aren't we? There's a part of me that's desperately trying to crack the theories of human transmutation right now. I think I understand what drove those boys when they tried to bring back their mother.
Hawkeye: "Are you alright, sir?"
Mustang: "I'm fine...except" *puts on his cap and stares to the cloudless sky* "it's a terrible day for rain."
Hawkeye: "What do you mean? It's not raining."
Mustang: *with a single tear rolling down his cheek* "Yes...it is."

    • In the first anime, Mustang bitterly points out the Tragic Irony of how Hughes, who pulled from him the brink and offered career support from below, died first and was promoted above him. Somewhat understated, Mustang is angry that Hughes died, as Hughes was keeping him alive with this support.
  • Tower of God: Ho's funeral. Done completely without words, with Libation for the Dead into his water grave and Baam's first experience of sending off someone he considered a friend. Bittering this all is the fact that Ho killed himself because his desperate last resort to get past the second floor[1] got foiled by none other than Baam and his incredible prowess, which was the reason Ho's progression was endangered after all.
  • One Piece - for the Going Merry.
    • Later in the series Shanks and the Whitebeard Pirates have one for Portgas D. Ace and Captain Edward Newgate.
  • In the first episode of Yu Yu Hakusho, Yuusuke finds out how much the people around him really care about him at his own funeral, which inspires him to go through the difficult ordeals necessary to live again.
  • Hellsing has two, one for all the soldiers that died in the Valentine brothers' attack and a brief one for Anderson, right in the middle of the war with Millenium, made even more briefer by being interrupted by Walter, who turned out to be The Mole.
  • The Death Note anime left one of these on the cutting room floor; it's viewable here, with massive spoilers, obviously. It's probably just as well for them that the final production toned it down a bit.
  • In Black Lagoon, Balalaika's Start of Darkness involves her rallying a group of disaffected war veterans at a funeral.
  • Subverted in Katekyo Hitman Reborn when we found out that the ten-years-later Tsuna was in a coffin in an unmarked forrest, dead. What makes it odd is the fact that it wasnt a meaningful funeral, in spite of the fact that he was the well know and well loved boss of the greatest mafia family in the world. This could be considered a Meaningful Funeral with an audience of one, concidering that the ten-years-later Gokudera was there.
  • Midway through the first season of Code Geass, Shirley's father is killed, the first of many tragic events, immediately followed by a rainy day funeral. About one season later, Shirley herself is killed by Rolo. The funeral is no less a Tear Jerker, especially considering her poor mother. Lastly, after Rolo sacrifices himself to rescue Lelouch from the Black Knights betraying him, Lelouch privately buries him with his own hands.


Comic Books

  • Runaways has one: Gert's... in which Gert herself assisted as it was the funeral of her future self.

Molly: Why do they call it a plot, anyway?
Gert: Because this is how every story ends.

  • Morpheus' funeral in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series. As much for what goes on with the new incarnation of Dream and his brother Destruction as for the reactions of the attendees.
    • Not just Morpheus' funeral, but also Wanda's and Zelda's, though the latter gets less screen time.
  • Unusual variant: When Mister Miracle apparently died in Justice League International, the comic took an issue to deal with the funeral and the reactions from all his teammates, with everyone up to and including Guy Gardner struggling with their grief. The result is startlingly moving given that a) the Mister Miracle who died was actually a robot impostor and b) the readers knew that at the time.
  • Captain Mar-Vell's. Though the biggest ordeal is made of his deathbed.
  • The Invisible Woman recently got buried... And she attended, seeing as it was herself from the future. She even, like the Runaways example, gave her own eulogy.
  • The funeral of the Comedian in Watchmen, including several of his former comrades paying tribute. And at least one of his former enemies. As befits the book's Deconstruction status, it shows us the solemn ceremony, including his burial with full military honors. It juxtaposes that with individual characters silently remembering what The Comedian was really like.
  • Splinter's funeral in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage was one of these, featuring a significant amount of the series' supporting cast and even the creators themselves in a cameo.
  • After his Heroic Sacrifice, the original Starman, Ted Knight, was given a full-issue funeral with eulogies by various Justice Society members, Starmen, and his cousin the Phantom Lady, amongst others. It helped transition into the series' final story arc.
  • Despite the fact she was The Mole all along, betrayed them all savagely (once she had learned their secret IDs), strung them all up in a HIVE trap, then attempted to kill them all, killing only herself in the process, the Teen Titans still gave Terra a hero's funeral and statue in their memorial hall.
  • The funeral of Bart Allen (Impulse, Kid Flash, the Flash) was given a lot of attention in the Titans comic. That he came back a year or so later (as comic characters are wont to do) dampens it a bit, but doesn't cancel out the tearjerkers entirely... Especially since it invovles watching the video he made, telling people how much he'd loved being Kid Flash and wanted to live up to his Grandfather's legacy - a video which is just a bit out of date, as he keeps talking to characters who died before Bart did.
    • There's an additional Tear Jerker in that Bart's Co creator Mike Wieringo died of a heart attack a few months later.
  • There isn't really a funeral, but the Star Wars comic story "Chewbacca" is about the preparation for one. R2-D2 and C-3PO travel the galaxy to collect eulogies and anecdotes from those who knew and loved Chewie.
  • Neil Gaiman's graphic novel Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?? features Batman's spirit attending his own funeral, during which his allies and rogues gallery deliver their eulogies and give vastly differing accounts on the circumstances surrounding his death.
  • In The Death of Superman, there was a huge funeral in Metropolis, politicians, superheroes, and civilians got together in a huge procession. Even Batman was in the shadows making sure nothing bad happens. What is extremely tearjerking was what was going on in Kansas with the Kents who couldn't even go to their own son's funeral. They simply had their own private memorial at the crater where they found their son so many years ago.
  • Nightcrawler's and Cable's in X-Men: Second Coming.
  • Chapter Two of All Fall Down revolves around one of these for all the heroes and villains who died in The Fall. The book ends with another one for Sophie.
  • The death of Aunt May in Spider-Man. Granted, it was later ret-conned out, but it was a touching issue where she reveals to Peter that she already knew he was Spider-Man. As Peter holds her hand on her death-bed and Mary Jane is standing by, he says a quote from Peter Pan. Even Ben Reilly is lurking outside the window. Many fans, including myself, wish that this had been final. It was just so perfect.
  • Captain America (comics) in the Fallen Son mini-series.
    • Addtionally, Dan Jurgens' run in 2001 ended with a short story that had Cap dead, with him given a huge funeral that features reactions from the entire Marvel Universe.
  • Nick Fury in an issue of the Incredible Hulk that took place after he was killed by an insane Punisher (in truth it was a LMD)


Fan Works


Film

  • Four Weddings and a Funeral: The dead guy's boyfriend, who masqueraded as Heterosexual Life Partners, recites the above poem. It saddens the cast but encourages them to try and live a life full of love.
  • Spock's funeral at the end of Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan.
  • The funeral in Rent. It was ended by the cast singing the reprise of "I'll Cover You." By "When your heart has expired," everyone will be crying their hearts out. The film version is especially heartbreaking, as it is preceded by Roger and Mimi's relationship falling apart, Angel's AIDS destroying his immune system, and Mimi going through various stages of withdrawal and relapse. It ends with a weeping Collins sitting in Angel's hospital bed, clutching an obviously-dead Angel. This troper cried until twenty minutes past the end of the movie because it's just that sad.
    • It is also added to if you remember that the first night they had a full performance was the night after the writer director and creator Jonathan Larson had died from a heart problem. At this point the cast was basically a family and on the dvd extras, they all say that that night the song was all about him, and everyone was crying.
  • The end of Spider-Man 3 has Harry's funeral, over which Peter soliloquies about fate and choice. Very appropriate, considering Harry's death was a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Norman Osbourne/Green Goblin's funeral in the first as well.
  • Across the Universe has two of these at once; one of which is a military funeral, and the other of which is for a black child who was slain in the Detroit riots. It was essentially a funeral montage with a gospel choir version of "Let It Be" playing in the background. Crying was perfectly acceptable.
  • Serenity's funeral for Wash, Book, and Mr. Universe triggered many a Manly Tears moment for the fandom.
  • When Will attends his father's funeral at the end of Big Fish, he sees that some of the funeral attendees closely resemble characters his father described in his fantastical stories, implying that they may be truer than Will had first thought.
  • Departures has this as a central point of the story; a frustrated musician finds meaning in a job helping funerals have meaning and beauty.
  • Towards the beginning of The Right Stuff, there are two military funerals (appropriately, with fly-bys and "Missing Man") for test pilots who died on the job, underscoring the dangerous nature of their business.
  • Being There has the funeral of Ben Rand. There's stylish clothes, an overcast sky, and the President reading the deceased's own words as pallbearers carry the coffin to its tomb (albeit discussing politics amongst each other as they do). But all this is not meaningful to the movie's main character; Chance the Gardener, being The Fool, loses interest and wanders away. The truly meaningful event, the one that sums up the whole story, happens unobserved by anyone save the audience...and the speech heard from a distance just happens to support it with the film's final line: "Life is a state of mind."
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ends with Quatermain's funeral, at which the surviving members decide to continue traveling the world together instead of going their separate ways.
  • Ladder 49, with Dennis and later Jack; according to the commentary, both were attended by hundreds of actual firefighters from across the country.
  • The Cat's Meow opens with a funeral and builds the mystery surrounding such a strange death.


Literature

Let the priest in surplice white,
 That defunctive music can,
 Be the death-divining swan,
 Lest the requiem lack his right.

  • The funeral of Theoden in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
    • In the film of The Two Towers, Theodred's also counts.
    • Perhaps Boromir's, in both book and film.
  • In Graham McNeill's Warhammer 40,000 novel Storm of Iron, Vauban's. Leonid is moved to tears by the spontaneous tribute of his men, who lined the route as an honor guard. Vauban had thought his men did not love him, and Leonid knows that was not true.
  • Numerous characters die in the X Wing Series. Corran Horn had a ceremony, a speech in which Wedge urged everyone to keep fighting. (He wasn't actually dead.) In Wraith Squadron, Jesmin Ackbar has a Burial in Space, one of the very few to show up in a Star Wars novel. This was complete with Wedge acting as her wingmate one last time and firing a symbolic proton torpedo, and a eulogy by Face, though the viewpoint character, depressed and angry because he couldn't save her, cynically wonders if Face's sorrow is real, since the guy was an actor. Considering the character, it probably was.

"Jek Porkins, Biggs Darklighter, Dak and Zev and everyone else who flew with us on even one mission... too many to remember, but too many for them to be forgotten. Rogues, now and forever, part of a grand tradition that all of them would gladly trade for another second of life."

The Emperor had little patience with memorials, Mara knew, with extra contempt for the practice of saying words over the fallen. Mara said a few words anyway, half remembered ones from her childhood, before consigning Tannis's body to the emptiness of space.

  • The funeral of Genghis Khan at the end of Bones of the Hills, which draws elements from Mongolian Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, and allows the entire nation to mourn the passing of a great man.
  • Maximum Ride attempts to pull this off with Ari's funeral, and surprisingly does well. For a scene that lasts all of eight pages, it's surprisingly effective.
  • In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novel Turn Coat, Morgan is officially denied this as part of the coverup. They resort to To Absent Friends, with an impromptu wake.
  • Patroclos' funeral in The Iliad, and the games that follow, serve as a somewhat closure for Achilles. Hector's funeral does the same for the Trojans.
  • In Artemis Fowl, Julius Root's funeral has all of the press show up, looking sad for the camera. Also, Julius' ashes are buried in the earth to replenish the soil. Too bad Holly couldn't be there. But Artemis kind of cheers her up with his newfound niceness.
  • "Memories Of Ice" from The Malazan Book of the Fallen has an extremely moving and meaningful one for Itkovian.
  • The Mysteries of Pittsburgh ends on one, for Cleveland which caps the summer and Coming of Age Story for the main character.
  • Subverted and played straight in The Fault in Our Stars. Augustus, upon learning he is dying, asks his two closest friends to read their eulogies at a memorial service before he actually dies, leading to a highly personal Meaningful Funeral. His actual funeral, by contrast, consists mostly of platitudes said by more distant acquaintances, although even then, there are a few moments of genuine connection.
  • The clans hold one any time someone dies in Warrior Cats. Especially significant ones include Bluestar's in the first arc and Russetfur's in Omen of the Stars.
  • In the Israeli children book Eight in Pursuit of One, a brief chapter dedicated to the dog’s funeral is included. The narrator suggest that more sensitive readers skip ahead, as it is a very sad event.


Live Action TV

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: The funeral of Natasha Yar in first-season episode "Skin of Evil".
  • The Sopranos: Several - mob movies like those - but especially the one from the season 3 finale. It ends with half the cast bawling to Uncle Junior's Italian song - even though many of them accepted that the young man would get killed.
  • Despite being on a desert island, the castaways on Lost have set up some decent funerals for their departed. In the fourth episode, there was the memorial pyre for everyone who died in the plane crash. Later, there were the burials of Boone and Shannon. The funerals of Ana-Lucia, Libby, Nikki, and Paulo were less dramatic. For the first two, it was interrupted by an end-of-episode twist (which made even the characters pretty much forget about them). For the other pair, well... no one was really sad to see them go in the first place.
  • John's funeral in Supernatural is him on a pyre, being watched by the two boys in the middle of nowhere and is a total of about five minutes. They've got nobody else now but each other, Dean is quiet and crying silently while Sam is fidgety and visibly upset and when they use Carry On My Wayward Son in the previously ons, it's the shot they usually use for "Don't you cry no more".
  • The funeral of Kaitlin Todd on NCIS. It's... very... tearjerkery, most of all when (hearkening back to a conversation earlier in the episode mentioning the New Orleans tradition of playing jazz at a funeral, but only on the walk back—on the way there you play a dirge) Abby pulls out the CD player and puts on some lively jazz, and they show the team starting to really smile again for the first time in the whole arc.
  • ER does this when Mark Greene dies and most of the cast (including a couple of characters who had left the show) go to the funeral. Which raises some questions: was the hospital even open? (explained, albeit unrealistically, with a flashback later on), and of course, makes long-time fans wonder what happened with those who weren't there (namely Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway). That was subverted later on when Greg Pratt died, as they didn't show the funeral but commented on how most past and present characters went or at least sent flowers.
  • Everwood had Irv's funeral as the penultimate episode, bringing most of the storylines near their end and being a very well-written no-flashback-needed way to connect the past, present and future of the characters. Extra points to the make-up artists to make all characters de-age almost at will. Not only it was a very meaningful funeral, but it also paved the way for the finale.
  • Dawson's Creek... well, sort of. But then again, it was the whole illness-death-aftermath thing that brought the plots to a closure.
  • In Glee, there is a flashback of Kurt and his dad walking away from his mother's funeral wearing stylishy black clothes.
    • Also in Glee When Sue's special needs sister dies, there's a very touching funeral where New Directions sing 'Pure Imagination' and play a video of clips showing Sue and her sister. Sue is very grateful ... right up until the next series when she hates them all again.
  • The funeral and eulogy for Warrick Brown by Gil Grissom is particularly heartwrending when combined with Warrick's earlier admission that he considers Gil to be his mentor and father-figure.
  • Scrubs, of course, did this in "My Screwup", with Dr. Cox crying because his best friend died. Probably the main reason why this episode is the highest rated along with "My Lunch". A real Tear Jerker. Seriously.
  • The Sarah Connor Chronicles has a particularly poignant one when Charley Dixon's wife dies.
  • Subverted on Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Cordelia has been seriously injured by being impaled on jutting metal during the hunt for a Monster of the Week, and it's looking serious enough that she might not make it. The scene then cuts dramatically to a big, moving looking funeral... and then the camera pans down to Buffy and Willow walking past the funeral discussing how Cordelia's going to be fine.
    • And then it's played straight at Joyce's funeral.
  • The funeral at the end of Firefly episode "The Message" features beautiful music and snow instead of rain. For the fans this point is extra sad as the cast had just been told the show was cancelled. (The music was meant by the composer to be his farewell to the show, too.) It certainly gives the characters' expressions an extra meaning.
    • There was also Nandi's funeral at the end of "Heart of Gold". The sense of community between the women was evident, as well as the way they would move on.
  • Aeryn Sun's funeral in Farscape was one hell of a Tear Jerker. Rygel overcoming his greedy tendencies, D'Argo leaving his gunsword Qualta Blade in her coffin, Crichton cutting a lock from her hair...
  • Stargate SG-1: Janet Fraiser's funeral in the episode Heroes Part II, with a memorably apt eulogy given by Sam. Daniel also gets one when the team thinks he's dead in Fire and Water, and they even start packing up his belongings. We never see them do this again for him, even when he's died (okay, ascended) right in front of them and they have no reason to think he's coming back. In fact, Jack flat out refuses a request by Sam to do this in season 8 when Daniel was known to be on a spaceship that exploded in the vacuum of space; he's 'not holding a funeral for someone who's not dead'.
    • Although no funeral is seen, it should be mentioned that in the film Continuum, Sam says that a ship has been renamed after General Hammond. The actor, Don S. Davis, had recently passed away.
  • Despite the poor nature of his death (Exploding tumor), Dr. Carson Beckett's funeral was a very touching affair, as his body was taken by the main cast members through the gate back to Earth.
  • Maggie McGuire's funeral in Shameless. A real Tear Jerker, especially the parts that showed the main charcters in black and white against a plain white background, showing their inner thoughts.
  • Played with on Bones: When Booth steps in front of his stalker's bullet meant for Brennan at the end of The Wannabe in the Weeds, the next episode opens with the characters going to his funeral. Subverted in the fact that Brennan refuses to go until Angela convinces her. For the other characters it's treated as a meaningful funeral and they believe that Brennan should be treating it the same. Also, when they're at the funeral it's revealed that Booth is not dead at all and the funeral was staged to catch an underground criminal who vowed to only reappear at Booth's funeral.
    • Several episodes also end with the Meaningful Funeral of the Victim of the Week.
  • Subverted in New Tricks; the first episode of the second series begins ominously with a funeral in progress, with Gerry Standing's friends, daughters and ex-wives solemnly standing outside a church watching undertakers carry a coffin in, with the dialogue between the characters implying that Gerry has passed away between the last series and the new one... until Gerry screeches to the curb in his car and runs towards them, obviously a bit harried and flustered. Turns out Gerry's just extraordinarily late to his grandson's christening, and they've had to let the vicar conduct the funeral for a pauper while everyone was waiting for him.
  • The West Wing episode "Requiem" opens with the characters attending the funeral of Leo McGarry, who had passed away in the previous episode. Doubly a Tear Jerker in that the funeral—and episode—was very obviously a send-off to actor John Spencer as well, who died in real life. Combines later in the episode with To Absent Friends, to great effect; the funeral is clearly about mourning Leo's passing, whereas the wake is about celebrating Leo's life and how much the other characters loved him.
    • At the end of that episode, when several of Leo's closest associates sit around remembering him, they mention with affection a number of traits that we never actually saw in the series, and which don't seem very Leo-ish (teller of tall tales?). This troper has always wondered whether the traits they were celebrating were actually those of John Spencer.
    • Though less sad because of the lack of Reality Subtext, Mrs. Landingham's funeral was a Tear Jerker, and also lead to a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Pres. Bartlet.
    • In "In Excelsis Deo" Toby and Mrs. Landingham go to the funeral of a homeless Korean War veteran.
  • Compo's death in Last of the Summer Wine got 2 episodes-worth of this. The more traditional funeral was in the second, but the first was probably the most moving. A selection of the people of Holmfirth stood on a hillside arranged to form the words 'See Ya Compo'. All the main characters were taken to the side of a nearby hill, and were visibly moved by the gesture, all the male characters removing their hats in tribute. Especially Cleggy.
  • Detective Crosetti's funeral in Homicide: Life on the Street.
  • The first season finale of "Sons of Anarchy".
  • The series finale of The 4400 ends on a funeral for Danny and Susan Farrell, who had both died in the previous episodes. Most of the cast, including those who didn't even know them, were present.
  • Louis's funeral in Due South. For a show known more for its comedy and lighter drama, that scene combined with Loreena McKennitt's "Full Circle" is heartbreaking.
  • This troper felt that D'Angelo Barksdale's funeral on The Wire was rather moving, since he was a reasonably decent guy despite being a criminal.
  • Smallville had a surprisingly emotional funeral scene for Jonathan Kent complete with gently falling snow, overcast sky, sad tinkling music, and subdued colors for a normally very bright, vivid show.
  • In Sherlock The Reichenbach Falls, we don't actually see Sherlock's funeral, but we do see John Watson standing at the graveside, begging him to stop being dead. It's very meaningful and moving.
  • Used as necessary in C-Drama Sword and Fairy, as ninety percent of the cast is dead by the end of the series.


Video Games

  • Phantasy Star 4 contained the funeral held by the characters for Alys. A boss's spell left her infected, and the party left her behind to rest in an inn, visiting occasionally, only for her to eventually die. Everyone spent the night there thinking, and then the next day held quite a conventional, subdued funeral before resuming the quest.
  • Hinawa's Funeral in Mother 3; Mostly because the people lived together in a very tight knit community.
  • Persona 3 shows Gekkoukan High holding a memorial service for Shinjiro; most teachers and classmates, who only knew the character as a brooding Jerkass, feel nothing about the event until Junpei snaps out in rage at them. After the service is over, a lonely Akihiko comes up to the altar and delivers a heart-wrenching monologue to Shinji's memory, which awakens his Ultimate Persona.
  • Lost Odyssey has the funeral of Kaim's daughter, who dies not long after Kaim is reunited with her after thinking she'd died as a child. Unusual in that the preparations for the funeral, and the funeral itself are interactive, the player actually plays the funeral. If anything, that makes it even stronger.
    • Even if the effect is fractionally spoiled by the rather crass minigame in the middle.
  • Umineko no Naku Koro ni has Beatrice in Episode 7. Of course, Bernkastel finds a way to ruin it...


Web Original

  • "Kate's Memorial Service" in Kate Modern, until Tariq arrives and the mood changes abruptly. The episode was filmed live, with fans of the show attending.
  • The funeral for Ma-Ti at the end of Suburban Knights was one, especially as it followed on the heels of his Heroic Sacrifice


Web Comics


Western Animation

  • The entire first half - almost - of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hereafter" deals with Superman's death and funeral. Though he was not as dead as was thought.
  • Ellie's funeral is shown in a single scene toward the beginning of Up; it takes place in the same church where she and Carl had been married.
  • While not a "funeral" in the sense that she's Killed Off for Real, Eliza being put in stasis at the end of the Galaxy Rangers episode "New Frontier" has all the earmarks of one, including a somber speech by Walsh and Zozo tearing up visibly.
  • Sitka of Brother Bear is given an elaborate farewell ceremony after his death saving his two brothers from a bear.
  1. ↑ killing Rachel to get Baam to stop going
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