The Last Dance: Difference between revisions

** But what happens next is even worse. {{spoiler|His mom whose death he wanted to take revenge on the Emperor for turns out to be alive and well and [[Lady Macbeth|a co-conspirator of the Emperor]]. So he has to kill them both. Now, with the last of his primary motivators gone (avenging Marianne), but certainly no more optimistic from the experience, he refocuses on making a better world for everyone, involving taking over the freaking planet and being ''so'' much of a tyrant that everyone's anger gets focused on him, and then dying.}}

* ''[[Death Note]]'' this trope is the reason why Death Note users with [[Deadly Upgrade|shinigami]] [[Evil Eye|eyes]] cannot see their own lifespan.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'' there's Kimimaro, the most loyal of Orochimaru's servants, who admires Orochimaru so much that he is willing to be his next [[Grand Theft Me|vessel]]. However, due to his [[Blood From the Mouth|disease]], he can't, and so decides to help bring the only other worthy vessel to Orochimaru in his ''literal'' final ''hours''. {{spoiler|To do so he just had to defeat two of the main characters including ''the'' main character without breaking a sweat while enduring incredible pain, and then almost defeat Gaara, twice surviving an attack that uses sand to completely crush someone and make a [[Rain of Blood]] out of it/them (that never before failed) and being ''buried'' only to be stopped by is own disease killing him. Made all the more tragic by his last words in which he declares that [[Tear Jerker|only Orochimaru ever understood him]]....and cut to Orochimaru saying that Kimmimaro does'nt matter. Bonus points in the fact that he actually calls his attacks "dances", so it makes this trope a little more accurate in that part.}}

** Zabuza gets this too. Following the death of his [[Morality Pet]] Haku, utter defeat at the hands of Kakashi, the smashing of his dream to eventually become Mizukage and betrayal by his employer Gatou, he is given a lecture by Naruto on the [[Power of Friendship]] that forces him to admit that yes, he did care for Haku, despite acting like he didn't give a damn, and takes off his mask, [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] that he is human after all. He proceeds to mow through Gatou's thugs and kill Gatou with a kunai ''in his mouth'', suffering numerous fatal wounds in the process, but lives long enough to ask Kakashi to place him next to Haku.

*** Though when {{spoiler|Harry actually does go to face (what he believes to be) certain death}} in ''The Deatly Hallows'' he's more resigned than defiant--the fact that his death appears to be inevitable seems to have taken some of the bravado out of him.

{{quote|''Yet it did not occur to him now to try and escape (...). It was over, he knew it, and all that was left was the thing itself: dying.''}}

* In the [[Discworld]] book ''The Last Hero'', Cohen and his Silver Horde decide to go on one last adventure, [[Rage Against the Heavens|returning fire to the Gods]], [[Stuff Blowing Up|with interest]], as revenge for letting them grow old.

** Also in the Discworld, wizards and witches have it as a perk that they know beforehand when they're going to die (as well as having Death show up for them personally). It's mentioned that many a wizard has died drinking the last of his good wine while incidentally owing large sums of money to loan sharks. (Witches tend to be a bit more conscientious and set their affairs in order so their successor can get on with it.) Also, in at least one book, the rest of the wizards throw a going away party for a wizard slated to die, which goes awry when the [[The Grim Reaper|guest of honor]] doesn't show up.