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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"When every private widow well may keep
''By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind."''
|'''[[William Shakespeare]]''', "Sonnet 9"}}
Just before the [[Big Damn Heroes]] scene, or just after the hero's done his [[Heroic Sacrifice]], the girl he left behind discovers that she's pregnant. He's gone, but not forgotten. Subtrope of [[New Child Left Behind]].
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Bonus points are awarded if this is the result of them having sex exactly once. Double Bonus [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|if it was the girl's first time, too]], or [[Fridge Logic|if the reaction to her pregnancy later on is "Well thanks for leaving me with a child to raise by myself."]]
It's generally considered ''very'' romantic, even in historical settings where a single mother can be expected to have a hard time of it (especially during wartime; even if he didn't die in the war
The intersection of [[Her Heart Will Go On]] with [[Babies Ever After]]. May involve a [[Birth-Death Juxtaposition]], or result in [[Dead Guy, Junior]]. This trope seems to be a recurring theme in horror films, sort of an extension of the puritanical belief that [[Death
Usually an [[Ending Trope]], so there will inevitably be spoilers in the examples section. Sometimes a [[Beginning Tropes|Beginning Trope]], to introduce [[Turn Out Like His Father]]
If the trope is
{{examples}}▼
{{endingtrope}}
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[
* After {{spoiler|Asuma}} dies in ''[[Naruto]]'', {{spoiler|Kurenai}}, hinted to be having a relationship with, is revealed as very, ''very'' pregnant.
* Happens at the end of ''[[
* [[The Wise Prince|Emperor Hotohori]] in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' can fall under this trope. Though he was officially married and the pregnancy wasn't necessarily discovered ''after'' his death, the whole point of '''having''' the child was to leave behind an heir '''in case he died''' in the battle {{spoiler|with Kutou.}}
** And the child looks ''remarkably'' like him as well!
* Possibly ''[[Inverted Trope|inverted]]'' in the backstory of ''[[
* {{spoiler|Mine Kujyou}} discovers she is pregnant by {{spoiler|Shuro (a.k.a. Akiba)}} at the very end of ''[[Eternal Sabbath]]'', after {{spoiler|Shuro has died in the final battle with Isaac}}.
* ''Kinda'' what happens to Hayate after ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* Happens in the little-known anime movie ''Like The Clouds, Like the Wind''. It's an especially sad example since the male member of the couple kills himself soon after having sex with his wife for the first time.
*
* Happens a couple of times in ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]''
** One memorable episode was about the vengeful girlfriend of a criminal Leon killed in the line of duty. D manages to break the cycle of revenge by appealing to her that she did not want her unborn child's mother to be a murderer.
** A second, much darker version occurs in ''Pet Shop Of Horrors: Tokyo''. A woman's dead boyfriend is temporarily brought back to spend O-bon with her on the one-year anniversary of his death. At the end, he prepares to return to the land of the dead, but she is unwilling to let him go. She is found a week later in her apartment with the rotting corpse of her boyfriend... and now pregnant.
* Gender-flipped in ''[[
== [[
* The Wash one-shot "Float Out" of the ''[[
* Crossing over with [[Real Life]], in Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical comic ''[[Persepolis]]'', she tells the story of one of her relatives who was in jail about to be executed by the government. His wife bribed a guard so they could have one last night together, the result being...
** That's even the point - she wants his baby to remember him by, even though she knows (and he warns her) how terrible life is for an unwed mother.
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** This puts a whole new spin on Seymour not wanting his mother to know about his research. It's not that she's unauthorized to know. It's that she knows this life got her husband killed and doesn't want to lose her son.
** This contradicts with the ''Ghosts of Yesterday'' novel, which states that Seymour's father is named Walter, and he is alive and well in the late 60s. In the comic, William dies in 1954.
* [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]] [[Captain America (comics)|Captain Marvel]] slept with his girlfriend just before his fateful mission. The child ended up being raised practically from birth by the US Government, trying to create a new Cap. [[Gone Horribly Wrong|What they got was]] the [[Complete Monster|Ultimate Red Skull]].
** Mainstream Cap also got Sharon Carter pregnant before he his death ([[Unexplained Recovery|He got better.]]).
== [[Fan
* The whole reason {{spoiler|why everyone is going after C.C}} in a ''[[Code Geass]]'' continuation, ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6969408/1/In_the_End In the End]''.
* Toward the end of ''[[A Sad Story]]'', {{spoiler|Harry's}} girlfriend Maria tells him that he's going to be a father, and thus can't die yet.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' badfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3739288/1/Lisa_is_Pregnant Lisa Is Pregnant]'', Bart dies while trying to keep Lisa from freezing to death by having sex with her. This results in her getting pregnant, and Marge opposes Lisa getting an abortion because the last living part of her child is inside Lisa, causing Lisa to change her mind and have the baby out of respect for Bart.
* The ''[[Titanic]]'' fandom uses this trope all the time, on the assumption that Jack ''could've'' gotten Rose pregnant when they [[Auto Erotica|made love in that Model T]].
* ''[[
** It's now canon.
*** '''''YES!!!!!!!!!'''''
* In the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' AU ''[[
* This is one of the reasons Rei and Asuka give to Ranma to convince him to make love to them in male form for the first time in chapter 17 of the ''[[Ranma ½]]/[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' crossover ''[[The Wild Horse Thesis]]'' -- that if he does get one or both of them pregnant, and they survive SEELE's upcoming attack only for him to be returned to his original timeline, they'll still have "a little piece" of him with them.
* In the ''[[RWBY]]'' fic ''[[Relic of the Future]]'', Winter Schnee arranges a [[Three-Way Sex|three-way assignation]] between Raven Branwen, herself, and her fiancé Jaune Arc in the last weeks of Jaune's life for this very reason
== Film ==
* During the credits of the 2010 [[Live Action Adaptation]] of ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato|Space Battleship Yamato]]'' {{spoiler|Yuki is seen with her son from Kodai who died destroying the last Meteor Bomb}}. This is during the ending credits no less.
* A variation occurs in ''[[
* ''[[A Nightmare
* ''[[Austin Powers]]'', the supposed reason why Scott was created. It would later turn out to be not totally true.
* ''[[Candyman|Candyman: Farewell to The Flesh]]''. Paul dies, but not before leaving Annie a parting gift.
** The [[
* ''[[The Terminator]]''; Kyle Reese dies after impregnating Sarah Connor, enabling her to give birth to John Connor.
* ''[[Cold Mountain]]''; {{spoiler|the main character, after reuniting with his wife}}.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean
* ''[[Planet Terror]]'' ("I told you, I never miss.")
* ''[[Premonition]]'': Apparently this is supposed to make the film's ending uplifting rather than horribly depressing.
* ''[[Inside]]''. As depressing as it is, it only begins this way and gets much, much worse.
* In ''[[Taking Lives]]'', after taking out the
* ''[[Revelation]]'' sees our hero and heroine searching for an ancient box containing the nails that held Jesus on the cross, while trying to evade an evil cabal. Upon finding the box, the cute but bookish heroine notices it has a male/female symbol on the front and has a sudden urge to "love thine neighbor", of course the guy, whom she's known for all of 12 hours, has no problem in putting off their escape from the baddies for a couple minutes while he takes care of business. The goons show up
* ''[[Rumpelstiltskin (
* The ending of ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'' is set up so that, {{spoiler|while David is killed,}} his relationship with Alex ensures the possibility of a bouncing baby sequel. Although not explicitly stated, the character played by Julie Delpy in the ''[[
* In ''[[Starman (
* ''[[The Painted Veil]]''. In the book, [[Your Cheating Heart|it isn't his]]. In the movie it's unclear.
* In ''[[Demonic Toys]]'', a cop tells her boyfriend (also a cop) about her pregnancy right before a drug bust. You can pretty much guess what happened right afterwards.
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* The 2009 remake of [[Children of the Corn]], the movie ends with a proclamation that the cult's "age of sacrifice" has been lowered from 19 to 18. [[The Dragon|Enforcer]] Malachai is clearly one of the people who is now too old to live and resigns himself to his fate, leaving behind a very upset wife with a bulging belly.
** Also Implied: The movie features an occult ceremony deemed ''"The time of fertilization"'' by the [[Creepy Child]] high priest leading it. The ceremony includes a very vocal sex scene between two non-speaking unnamed extras. It is strongly implied that the woman gets pregnant from this. Her ceremonial sperm donor mightn't have a name, but he is addressed in the credits as "The oldest boy". So if other members of the clan were past the age of sacrifice, obviously the oldest boy must be, too.
* In the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
** Although, not ''completely'' true to form. Baby Jim Kirk was born moments before dad died, and Dad got to name him, instead of being conceived without soon-to-heroic-sacrifice dad knowing as is typical with this trope.
* Subverted in ''[[My Life]]'' in which Michael Keaton's character {{spoiler|isn't expected to live long enough to see his child. He does anyway.}}
* Forms the plot of the 2009 tearjerker ''[[The Greatest]]''. In this case, parents of a dead teen take in his pregnant girlfriend.
* Happens in the epilogue of Dario Argento's ''[[The Card Player]]''.
* ''[[Pearl Harbor]]'' leaves Our Heroine and Our Hero together with the [[Murder the Hypotenuse|Dead Hypotenuse's]] baby.
* In the third ''[[Hellraiser|Hellraiser III: Hell
* ''[[A Mighty Heart]]''{{context}}
* ''[[Braveheart]]''
* In the 2009 film ''Grace'', the father-to-be dies in a car accident. {{spoiler|The unborn child dies as well, but she gets better...sort of.}}
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* This is the surprise twist at the end of ''Crush'': Kate is revealed to be pregnant with Jed's baby. It is the only reason the movie avoids an unbelievably [[Downer Ending]].
* ''People Will Talk'', this is the basis for the plot with the added complication that they never married. When the doctor tells her about her pregnancy, she is so distraught about having to break her father's heart and admit to premarital sex that she attempts suicide. The doctor tells her that there was a mix-up with the tests and she wasn't pregnant, then proposes so that when she does have the baby, there will be nothing shameful (except the fact that she will give birth about seven months after the wedding, which no one seems to notice.)
== Literature ==
* ''The Shadow in the North'' by [[Philip Pullman]]. Though this does address the "unwed mother in 1870s England" issue by making the custody of Sally's child a plot point in the next book.
* {{spoiler|Seren Pedac}} in ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen|Reaper's Gale]]'' after {{spoiler|Trull Sengar}} has a particularly random [[Dropped a Bridge
* ''The High Lord'' by Trudi Canavan
* In "Gone With the Wind", after Scarlett's first husband dies she has his son. Subverted in that Scarlett is actually annoyed at how people keep saying how lucky she is to have something to remember her husband by.
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* In the [[Backstory]] to [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|Gods of Mars]]'', Deijah Thoris was consoled for losing John Carter with his son, Cathoris. It was when Cathoris vanished as well that she did something foolish.
* ''[[Cold Mountain]]'': {{spoiler|between Inman and Ada}}. Apparently this is [[Truth in Television|based off of the real conception of the author's great-great aunt, but still.]]
** This book contains multiple examples of this trope. Again, its use is somewhat
* Similar to the midpoint of ''The Thorn Birds'', where Meggie becomes pregnant by {{spoiler|Father Ralph just before he leaves her and returns to the Church}} and specifically says that this baby will be a part of him that she can keep. The child becomes one of the two major protagonists of the second half of the novel, and is a prime example of the "[[Turn Out Like His Father]]" trope.
* After Claire leaves Jamie in the 1700s, their daughter Brianna fills this role at the end of the second book in the ''[[Outlander (
* At the beginning of ''Private Wars'', Tara Chace learns she is pregnant by her lover Tom Wallace, who died at the end of ''A Gentleman's Game''.
* In ''The Rapture of Canaan'', {{spoiler|James commits suicide out of fear when he learns that he is the father of Ninah's unborn child.}}
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* ''[[A Thread of Grace]]'': Claudia and her fiance play this trope very straight at first. They get married, have sex (her first time), and he dies in an attempt to save the local townspeople. They even marry knowing that he's likely going to be dead by the end of the week. {{spoiler|Tragically subverted in that the child is born premature and dies two days later.}}
* Inverted in [[Douglas Coupland]]'s ''Girlfriend In A Coma'', as Karen, the titular girlfriend gives birth while in a coma, giving her boyfriend someone to remember her by.
* Played with in ''The [[Enchanted Forest Chronicles]]'', in that Cimorene's pregnancy was revealed well before there was any hint that anything would happen to Mendanbar, and that he's not actually dead, simply [[Sealed Good in
* Anthony Trollope's ''Barchester Chronicles'' opens with Eleanor's husband having died between books, leaving Eleanor completely devestated. Until their baby was born. "And thus the widow's deep grief was softened, and a sweet balm was poured into the wound which she had thought nothing but death could heal."
* Malorie Blackman's ''[[Noughts and Crosses]]'' - a pretty big plot point towards the end, with a bit of a twist. {{spoiler|Callum gets Sephy pregnant, and soon after gets arrested for terrorism and raping Sephy (the latter is a lie, it was consensual) but Sephy's dad, a high-ranking government official, offers them a choice: he will free Callum if Sephy has an abortion, or if she keeps the baby, Callum will be hung. They choose the latter, resulting in this trope and a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] of sorts from Callum.}}
* In [[The Witcher]] cycle, it appears at least some elves believe in it. Justified in that their numbers are limited, so those about to die make an attempt to remedy this. Possibly averted given low elven fertility, which could mean they see it as a variety of another trope, [[Last Dance]].
* ''[[
* In ''Beyond the Summerland'', the first book of L.B. Graham's ''The Binding of the Blade'' series, {{spoiler|Joraiem}} is murdered right after the end of his and {{spoiler|Wylla}}'s honeymoon; in the epilogue, when they are bringing his dead body home to his parents, we find out that {{spoiler|Wylla}} is pregnant with his baby.
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* Played straight in '''[[Skins]]'' with {{spoiler|Jal and Chris}} but then averted with {{spoiler|Jal getting an abortion}}
* Gender flipped at the end of ''[[MacGyver]]'', when {{spoiler|Mac discovers that the girl he loved and wanted to marry back in college had given birth to his son, and he now has someone to remember ''her'' by.}}
* Also gender flipped in ''[[Star Trek:
* Played straight at the end of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' with {{spoiler|Kasidy, who was revealed to be pregnant with Ben Sisko's child in an earlier episode}}
* Subverted at the end of ''[[Mirai Sentai Timeranger]]'', where Honami Moriyama gives birth to the child of Domon/TimeYellow. Why is it a subversion? {{spoiler|Because Domon doesn't really die, he just goes back to his time.}}
* In the ''[[
* Invoked in-universe in ''[[
* Played with in an episode of ''[[
* ''[[
* Genderflipped in [[Angel]], where Darla dies giving birth to Connor.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Mass Effect
** After the [[Time Skip]] in [[Mass Effect 2
* Played with in the ending of ''[[Overlord]]: Raising Hell''. After you complete the [[Bonus Level of Hell]] only to get stuck down there, the final cutscene shows [[The Dragon|Gnarl]] reminiscing on the sinister exploits of the [[Villain Protagonist]], and discovering that the Overlord's mistress is bearing the Overlord's child. "Evil always finds a way..."
* One of the more absurd examples occurs in ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius
** Possibly justified because {{spoiler|she's [[Our Dragons Are Different|a dragon]], and considering they live for thousands of years, gestation period could be really long.}}
*** The problem with that argument though {{spoiler|is that there is at least one other dragon that we know for sure had a child, and she definitely wasn't pregnant for over twenty years.}}
*** However, do note that {{spoiler|said dragon had lost her Laguz powers as a result of becoming pregnant.}}
*** {{spoiler|Her powers yes, but if Lehran is any indication, the biology of the laguz parent's non-shifted form doesn't change.}}
* The second campaign of ''[[
* Occurs in ''[[Ever 17]]''. {{spoiler|1=Tsugumi is pregnant with Takeshi's children after he dies on LeMU. However, subverted because [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]].}}
* Noh is implied to be pregnant in her ending for ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' 2, despite the fact that historically she never bore [[Oda Nobunaga]] any children.
* The ending of ''[[Muv
* In the "Severed" DLC for ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'' it is revealed {{spoiler|if you look near Harley's old outfit from the first game, there is a positive pregnancy test on the floor; [[The Joker]] dies at the end, making this a villainous example}}.
** Also, she can be heard briefly singing to {{spoiler|the baby}} during the credits at the end.
** However, the "Harley Quinn's Revenge" DLC heavily hints that {{spoiler|Harley is not actually pregnant, having instead gotten a false positive after many negative tests}}.
* [[Knights of the Old Republic]]: The canonical version is that LSM!Revan trucked off to the great unknown to fight the True Sith, never returning, and leaving Bastila knocked up (with the likely prospect of exile, among other consequences). Their descendant [[Identical Grandson|Satele Shan]] is a major NPC in [[Star
* After completing the bonus dungeon in [[
* [[Metal Gear Solid]]: While it has been known that {{spoiler|Solid Snake is a clone of Big Boss}} very early on in the series, it's revealed near the end of the series that {{spoiler|he wasn't grown in a test tube but inside an actual woman. The clones were created by the Patriots when Big Boss appeared to be mortally wounded and the woman who volunteered was his occasional girlfriend EVA.}}
* ''[[Honkai Impact 3rd]]'' has a gender-flipped take from the supplementary comics: {{spoiler|Dr MEI dies from Honkai exposure before Kevin can return from the failed battle against the Herrscher of the End on the Moon, but not before creating a baby from their genes. This child, who Kevin names Adam, follows him and the other survivors into cryosleep and later becomes the progenitor of the Kaslana [[Heroic Lineage]].}}
== Web Comics ==
* A decidedly skewed version occurs at the end of ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky]]'': After Walky's heroic sacrifice, Joe mentions that they may be able to resurrect him using [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]], but only if they can find a complete genetic sample. Cut to Walky's deeply religious (and canonically virginal) girlfriend Joyce looking ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20121030165530/http://www.itswalky.com/d/20041017.html extremely]'' embarrassed.
* In the [[Backstory]] of ''[[Order of the Stick]]'', for the black dragon and his mother.
* ''[[Fans]]!'' has a two-in-one: the time-travelling Joseph Oberf was born after both his father (Rikk) and his genetic mother (Rumy) were killed, since he was implanted as a fetus in his birth mother (Ally).
* Suspecting he might die if he goes off to war, Candi invokes this trope by trying to get herself pregnant with Donte's child in the [[Ciem Webcomic Series]]. In the books, she attempts the same ploy ''twice.'' The world needs an Emeraldon. And if the last one dies without having children, she fears the worst for everyone's future. Both times she attempts it, the attempt fails. When he accidentally knocks her up some time later, it nearly leads to disaster.
* It was hinted in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' from the moment the "fairy" Immortal calling herself Pandora used "Raven" as a part of her assumed name, that not only Raven is her son, but she didn't "reset" into the next life for too long mainly because she still didn't make peace with the idea of her time with Blaike becoming a distant memory akin to "reading a memoir". Later, she explicitly confirmed this. Adrian wasn't newborn, but still about 10 when his father was killed, which is why she had to stay around and care for him, which contributed to her excessive protectiveness, and the whole mess of mistakes and attempts to fix them.
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* An episode of ''[[Clone High]]'' uses this trope at the end of a film Abe Lincoln made.
{{quote|
* In both versions of ''He-Man'', this is the origin of the Sorceress's daughter (who is revealed to be Teela).
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* Singer [[Roza Rymbaeva]] was seven months pregnant with her second child when her husband suddenly died of a heart attack.
* Broadway actress and singer [[La Chanze]] was eight months pregnant when her husband was killed in the 9/11 attacks.
** Speaking of 9/11, People Magazine recently did an article on [https://web.archive.org/web/20130928025417/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20524377,00.html children born after their fathers had perished in the attacks.]
* Ethel Kennedy had her 11th child six months after RFK's assassination.
* Buddy Holly's wife was pregnant with their first child in 1959, when an airplane carrying Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper crashed in Iowa and killed everyone onboard. In a sad subversion of the trope, she miscarried soon after his death.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Romance Arc]]
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[[Category:Romantic Resolutions]]
[[Category:Women Are Delicate]]
[[Category:Son of Trope Daughter of Index]]▼
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Son of Trope, Daughter of Index]]
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