Never Got to Say Goodbye: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Alice has been [[Killed Off for Real]] or spirited away. Normally, this would be cause enough for Bob to stress, but the angst level is upped when he remembers that he forgot to give Alice that [[Dying Declaration of Love|one last "Goodbye" or "I love you" just before she disappeared for good]].

 

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** A non-romantic example is played straight in the first part, with Roberto and a 12-year-old Tsubasa. {{spoiler|Roberto left without saying a word to not separate Tsubasa from his friends and family and to not stunt his growth as a player.}} Cue to a [[Tear Jerker]] as Tsubasa has an Heroic BSOD.

** Also played straight in the manga, with {{spoiler|Hyuga recalling how he was not being able to say goodbye to his dad, since Hyuga Sr. died in a road accident in his way home, when Hyuga himself was 10. The kicker? He recalls it when his ''mom'' is seriously ill and in the verge of death.}} [[Tear Jerker|Sob!]]

* In ''[[Gankutsuou]]'', Franz not only didn't say goodbye to his father who had to leave on business during his birthday, he also told his father that he hopes he never comes back. Oops when [[Be Careful What You Wish For|his father dies in a car accident]]...

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' during TSR, this is pretty much the thing that {{spoiler|Gauron}} takes drastic measures and an incredible amount of planning to prevent from happening to himself with Sousuke. It wouldn't be too far off to assume that the only thing that probably was sustaining him and keeping him alive was his desire to see Sousuke for one last time, and he even goes so far as to order the complete destruction of a city just so he could lure Sousuke and have some last words with him. Sousuke, on the other hand, [[Why Won't You Die?|could have done without seeing him again...]]

* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', Tohru explains to Shigure that while her mother Kyoko was alive, she would always tell her "Goodbye, be safe!" But the one morning when Tohru wasn't awake at the time her mother left, Kyoko died.

{{quote|'''Tohru:''' I... I had a test. I studied almost the whole night. And when it was time for Mom to go to work, I didn't wake up. I couldn't tell her "Bye! Be safe!" [[Wham! Line|And she...never came home.]]}}

 

* In one strip of [[The Boondocks]], Huey tells Caesar that a friend from back home died, and he never got to say goodbye, [[Single Tear|shedding a tear as he mentions this trope]].

 

 

* ''[[The Elements of Harmony and the Savior of Worlds]]'': Megan never got to say goodbye to her friends before the Rainbow Bridge collapsed. 20 years later, when a new portal is opened, she finds that time in the two worlds fell out of sync when the bridge was lost. {{spoiler|For the world where Equestria lies, it has been 1500 years.}}

* In the [[Katawa Shoujo]] fanfic [http://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=5600#p80479 Reconciliation], which takes place after Hanako's bad ending {{spoiler|Hanako}} regrets {{spoiler|her}} actions, only to {{spoiler|find out that Hisao has died of a heart attack}}. The trope name is used more literally when {{spoiler|Lilly talks about how Hisao died before she could reach the hospital}}.

** He does grab Indy into a fierce hug - probably the first ever shared by those two - and practically sobs, "I thought I'd lost you, boy..." I think that was actually enough for Indy at that moment.

* In ''[[Donnie Darko]]''. {{spoiler|Donnie and his mother, Rose, get into an argument at the beginning of the movie. That night, the airplane turbine crashes into Donnie's room, but Donnie avoids it because he's sleepwalking at the time, and the events of the movie play out. The night before she goes out of town, Rose sees one of Donnie's disturbing drawings in his room, but embraces her son instead of freaking out. When time is rewound to shortly before the turbine (which was from the plane she was on) crashes into Donnie's room, he chooses to stay in his room, the crash killing him in the process. At the end of the movie, Rose laments that she ended things with her son on a sour note, the last words that he ever said to her was calling her a "bitch".}}

* Sarah Jane in ''[[Imitation Of Life]]'' to her mother, Annie. In her attempt to pass for white, she shunned her mother. When her mother died, Sarah Jane in her grief, disrupted her funeral procession screaming that she "killed her mother." She hadn't spoken to her mother since the day she told her to leave her alone.

 

** Done again later on in the series. Spencer said these ''exact'' words when he and the rest of the team discovered that {{spoiler|Emily Prentiss had died after she was stabbed in the torso.}} It turns out that {{spoiler|[[Not Quite Dead|she faked her death]] and left the country.}}

* In ''[[Torchwood]]: Children of Earth'', Ianto dies in Jack's arms, having already told him that he loves him. Jack has plenty of time to say it back, but he's in such denial about it that he can't.

* In ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Red's mother dies as Eric is driving her home. Because she was being a heartless crow (like usual), no one had anything good to say about her, but were still heartbroken when she was gone.

{{quote|'''Red:''' I didn't say "I love you," or even "See you later." No, the last thing I said to her was "Show me tail lights."

 

== [[Music]] ==

* The ending of [[Blake Shelton]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BEvvp1YZG8&ob=av2e ''The Baby''] quotes the trope name.

 

== [[Radio]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Batman: Mask of the Phantasm]]''. The ending and the end credits song.

* Subverted in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Tweek vs. Craig", in which the shop teacher constantly says this about his dead fiancée. When her ghost appears to him and he finally gets to say it, he realizes it didn't make him feel better at all.

{{quote|'''Fiancée''': [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Saying good-bye doesn't mean anything. It's the time that we spent together that really matters, not how we left it.]] }}

* Played straight and for laughs, interestingly enough, in [[Pixar]]'s ''[[Cars]]'', where Mater is upset that he never got to say goodbye to his new friend Lightning McQueen after he is suddenly whisked away to a big race. The next time they meet, Mater greets McQueen by saying "goodbye."

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', "Cyborg the Barbarian": Cyborg is summoned back in time to help fight a war against monsters and grows close to a warrior named Sarasim, only for his friends to pull him back to the present during the final battle. With no idea what happened to her and her people, all he can do is say "I didn't even get to say goodbye." {{spoiler|To his relief, Raven finds a history book showing the tribe's victory.}}

* A real life example can be found in ''Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 2'' volume, the story called "Good Night Dad", in which the author had considered telling his father that he loved him, but did not, and the next day, found out that his father had fallen to his death.

* In a [[Truth in Television]] example, shortly after the death of Macho Man [[Randy Savage]], [[Hulk Hogan]] said that they had only recently buried the hatchet after years of feuding, and expressed regret that they spent so long hating each other when all along they should have been good friends.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Tear Jerker Tropes]]