But Now I Must Go: Difference between revisions

* In [[Moonwalker]] Michael Jackson turns into a spaceship and flies away, while his young friends say "He's going home." ...averted though in the fact that he comes back...immediately.

* In [[UHF]], Philo makes his grand exit this way.

'''George''': [dubious] Oh...okay. Have fun! }}

* In ''[[The Legend of Bagger Vance]]'', after helping [[Matt Damon]]'s character regain his golf swing, Bagger Vance leaves never to return, cementing his [[Magical Negro]] status.

== Literature ==

* Jesus, in [[The Bible]].

** [[Word of God|He'll be back, though. Eventually.]]

* This is a recurring theme in the light novel series, and the anime adaptation, of ''[[Kino's Journey]]'' in which the main character, as a drifter, has a self-imposed limit of staying three days upon reaching a town or rest stop and can give no exceptions regardless of the situation. This is in order not to form attachments to prevent the ideal of traveling. A little different in that the plot follows Kino to each next place. {{spoiler|This is explored deeper when the the main character, eventually revealed to be female, discovers a place she can finally grow used to loving while becoming acquainted with someone sharing many common and reminiscent traits with her. Coping on her decision on whether or not wishing to finally settle down, the conclusion is the final episode of the anime adaption, whilst the light novels simply continue, and still are, after that point.}}

** And he is spoken of later in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in ''[[Discworld/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]''.

* [[Robert E. Howard]] did a superb [[But Now I Must Go]] ending for the ''[[Solomon Kane]]'' story "The Blue Flame of Vengeance":

* ''Running with the Demon''. John Ross drifts back out of town.

* After half a book of back story, this trope basically becomes the entire premise for the ''Castaways of the Flying Dutchman'' books by Brian Jacques.

* Five of the seven books in '[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]' involve the heroes being sent back to England in the end. In the other two books, they didn't because 1) the main characters were natives, and 2) {{spoiler|they were dead}}, so going back wasn't an option.

* [[A Wrinkle in Time]] has this with {{spoiler|Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit.}}

* At the end of the first part of ''[[Friedrich Nietzsche|Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'', Zarathustra tells the group of followers that have gathered around him "Now I bid you lose me and find yourselves, and only when you have all denied me will I return to you." He does, indeed, return.

* At the end of the [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novel ''Kahless'', the original Kahless tires of his life as [[The Emperor]] and decides to leave. His subjects ask him where he will go. Deciding to play up on their myths of him (mostly so they'd leave him be), he points to a random star and tell them to look there. 1500 years later, they do.

** The whole point of the novel is demystifying the figure of Kahless and showing him as just a man. In fact, the whole idea of forging the first bat'leth from his own hair dipped in lava was merely a dream he had. He promptly makes a sketch of the weapon and takes it to a blacksmith.

* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force Ghost continued to advise Luke Skywalker for a while after [[Return of the Jedi]], but he eventually moves on to the afterlife, much to Luke's sorrow.

** Obi-Wan's Force Ghost does make two more appearances. First, to congratulate Luke on the birth of his son, then to celebrate the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong.

* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', several characters do this, most notably {{spoiler|Cody, Shortwhisker, and Snookthorn.}}

** Used in a more conventional way for the episode "Stark Raving Dad", when Michael Jackson/Leon Kompowsky [[Walking the Earth|leaves for places unknown]] after saying "Well, my work here is finished."

** Also parodied in "Marge Vs. The Monorail", after the monorail crisis is resolved:

'''Leonard Nimoy''': ''[Chuckles knowingly]'' Didn't I? ''{{[[[Star Trek]] beams away}}]'' }}

** Would {{spoiler|Homer's mother leaving to rejoin the underground}} count? True, she came back, but nobody knew she would for a fair number of years. It was also one of the biggest [[Tear Jerker]] moments in the show's history.

** In the [[Whole-Plot Reference|Mary Poppins parody]] episode, [[Captain Ersatz|Sherry Bobbins]] does leave at the end, but not because her work is done:

And so I must be leaving you! }}

* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'': "For The Man Who Has Everything".

* Numbuh One choses to leave in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' to join the Galactic Kids Next Door.

* In the first episode of ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'', after dropping off a couple petty criminals at the police station: "Now I must go: The scent of crime is in the air!"