The Mourning After/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: One half of a couple dies (or leaves), and the survivor is still loyal to him/her.
  • Played Straight: Alice and Bob are together, but Alice dies of an illness. Bob never finds himself another girl.
  • Exaggerated: After Alice dies, Bob can't bear the thought of life without her and so commits suicide.
  • Inverted: Alice dies, and Bob starts dating his childhood friend Caroline.
    • Alternatively, Bob repeatedly sleeps around after Alice's death. Or, he cheated a lot when he was still in a relationship with Alice.
  • Justified: Bob still has strong feelings for Alice that he can't shake.
    • Bob is a clairvoyant, and he can still see Alice.
  • Subverted: Bob starts dating Caroline eventually.
    • Bob goes through a string of short-term flings and one-night stands.
  • Double Subverted: But then realizes he still has feelings for Alice and breaks up with Caroline.
    • But he never again has a long-term relationship, and the girls he sleeps with don't mean as much to him as Alice did.
  • Deconstructed: Bob is wallowing in his grief and that's holding him back and could negatively affect all his relationships.
  • Reconstructed: Bob eventually finds the strength to move on, from the good memories he has and the knowledge that Alice would want him to be happy.
  • Parodied: After Alice dies, Bob becomes Emo and develops a Personal Raincloud.
  • Lampshaded: "Now that she's gone, I'll never love again..."
  • Averted: Alice dies, and Bob doesn't so much as blink an eye.
  • Enforced: Rule of Drama
  • Exploited: The Powers That Be have a Secret Test of Character for Bob: they take away Alice and see how he fares; if he passes the test (by not getting involved with another girl) they will bring Alice Back from the Dead. Otherwise, Bob will be cursed and Alice will still be dead.
  • Invoked: Alice dies, and Bob promises that he will wait until he is reunited with her in death.
  • Defied: Bob feels that Alice wouldn't want him to sacrifice his own happiness and starts dating again.
  • Discussed: "Poor Bob. I don't think he ever has loved another girl the way he loved Alice, and I don't think he ever will."
  • Conversed: "Bob should just move on. I mean, Alice wouldn't mind, right? And even if she would, there's not much she can do about it."
  • Played For Laughs: Alice (something of a Clingy Jealous Girl in life) dies, and drives other girls away from Bob.
  • Played For Drama: Almost always is.
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