Tragic Keepsake: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]], [[Take Up My Sword]], [[Death Notification]], [[It Was a Gift]], and [[Memento MacGuffin]]. When Bob is feeling particularly sad over Alice, he may hold the keepsake in a [[Cradle of Loneliness]].

 

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

* Nagi in [[Deadman Wonderland]] wears a scarf {{spoiler|that belonged to his dead wife}}, as well as a locket. {{spoiler|He believes it contains a picture of his infant son, but in actuality there is nothing inside the locket; his child was cut out of his wife's belly and the body preserved in a jar.}}

* In [[Sorcerer Stabber Orphen]], the Tower of Fangs pendant that the male lead carries actually belongs to his best friend/mother figure Azalie and not to him. Since Azalie turned herself into a dragon in an experiment and Orphen left the Tower to try search for a cure, well...

* Tsunade from ''[[Naruto]]'' kept a necklace that was given to her by the First Hokage (her grandfather). She later gave it to her younger brother, who died. After that, she gave it to her lover, who also died. After all that, she eventually gives it to Naruto after he wins a bet with her.

** Naruto keeps the scratched headband Sasuke left behind for a good while. It's unclear if he still has it.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'': {{spoiler|Jack carries around Carly's glasses after her death, [[Deus Ex Machina|until]] she gets better.}}

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': {{spoiler|Kamina found his signature [[Badass Cape]] worn by his father's corpse.}} In ''[[The Movie|Lagann-hen]]'', {{spoiler|Simon wears Nia's wedding ring as a necklace after her death.}}

* ''[[Togainu no Chi]]'': In the anime, Keisuke's tag.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** Also in ''[[Elf Quest]]'' Cutter keeps his late father Bearclaw's wolf-head necklace but doesn't have time to take it with him when humans set fire to the Holt. Returning to the spot some years later he finds its melted remains.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Maverick keeps Goose's dogtags in ''[[Top Gun]]''

* In ''[[Law Abiding Citizen]]'' Clyde keeps his daughter's charm bracelet. The same one she was seen making for her mother at the very beginning of the movie.

 

* Will Parry (''[[His Dark Materials]]'') grew up hearing tales about his brave father, the explorer, and was told by his mother that he would grow up to "take on his father's mantle." He does this quite literally. (However, it's not made explicit how long he keeps or wears the mantle itself. Hmmm....)

* From ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Deathly Hallows'', the fake Horcrux Harry and Dumbledore had gone to such great lengths to retrieve from the cave:

** This is also an example of the hero not keeping the keepsake; it ends up being a [[Chekhov's Gun]] instead, when Harry gives it to Kreacher, an act that results in the house-elf that had loathed Harry and his friends becoming one of his most loyal allies.

* In ''[[False Memory]]'' by Dean Koontz, Dr. Ahriman has {{spoiler|his fathers eyes in a jar. Not as a reminder of some past wrong, however, but rather because he is a [[Complete Monster]] who killed his father and stole his father's eyes in an attempt to understand his own inability to cry and subsequent fetish for tears}}

 

* In ''[[The X-Files]]'', Scully always wears a small gold cross necklace. When she's [[Alien Abduction|abducted]] near the beginning of season 2, it's torn off, and Mulder wears it himself for the three months she's missing. It shows up a few more times when they're separated as a symbol of their bond.

* In Season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', {{spoiler|reformed}} Future Sylar keeps the broken wristwatch {{spoiler|which gave him his name}} as a reminder {{spoiler|of the terrible things he did before he reformed}}.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' - Commander Ivanova wears a single earring. Her brother died wearing the other half of the pair in the Minbari War.

* ''[[Burn Notice]]'' - In the Season 2 Finale we find out Victor kept pictures of his family as a tragic keepsake to spur him on to wipe out the shady company that burns spies and then recruits them for black ops missions.

* ''[[Castle]]'' - Kate Beckett wears her murdered mother's wedding ring around her neck as a reminder of why she does what she does. Also inverted, in that she also wears her father's old watch as something of an Uplifting Keepsake; she helped him recover from her mother's death by helping him overcome the alcoholism he fell into afterwards. Because it's more readily apparent (and unusual), Castle mistakes the latter for the former.

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' Revealed villain Helena Wells, a person who had just escaped from over a century in the [[And I Must Scream]]-prison where history's most evil masterminds are bronzed for all eternity, breaks into the place where they stored her personal belongings. She only takes one thing: A locket. Cue massive speculation what kind of artifact that locket must be. Then a couple of episodes later we learn what kind of locket it is: The normal kind. The locket contained the only remaining picture of her daughter. [[Affably Evil]] doesn't even begin to describe it.

* ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'' features a metaphorical example. Owen, another rogue operative, made drawings reminding him of the people he killed. He eventually has them tattooed on himself.

* In ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', woe betide the man who dares steal Mr. Gold's chipped teacup—a relic from the fairytale world, where the cup was chipped by Belle. The fact that Mr. Gold {{spoiler|is one of two people in Storybrooke who remembers his true identity}} means that while other characters ''are'' seen with their own emotionally-significant objects, only Gold is aware of the significance of his own keepsake.

 

* ''[[Scion]]'' signature character Horace Farrow carries a .45 revolver with him. His uncle Seth used it to kill Horace's (step)father and shoot out Horace's eye, but dropped it when Horace nailed him in the groin with a shotgun. It's heavily implied Horace carries it so that one day he can put a bullet from it through Seth's head.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Ace Attorney]]:'' Apollo Justice's bracelet {{spoiler|used to belong to his mother. She probably left it with him when she abandoned him.}} Similarly, after {{spoiler|Trucy's mother disappeared,}} her father gave her a locket {{spoiler|with her mom's picture in it.}} Naturally, {{spoiler|Trucy and Apollo actually have the same mother. Guess Thalassa isn't too great at sticking around her children.}} Both cases are a subversion since {{spoiler|their mother is alive.}}

** In ''Trials and Tribulations'', {{spoiler|The Master's Talisman that Misty Fey was obligated to wear around her neck for as long as she lived contained a picture of Maya and Mia, so they would always be with her until the day she died. Subverted in that Maya and Mia weren't dead; Misty had, in fact, abandoned them.}}

* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' parodies this with the "Dead Guy's Memento," which is obtained by combining a Dead Guy's Pocketwatch and a Picture Of A Dead Guy's Girlfriend.

* Cubones from ''[[Pokémon]]'' are notable for wearing their dead mother's skull on their heads. They wail for said mothers often.

*** Maybe they die after laying the egg... like some insects...

*** They were Dittos...

* In ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'', [[The Hero]] {{spoiler|can pick up Elisa's feather cap after her [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.

* ''[[Halo: Reach]]'': Just before {{spoiler|Jorge}} makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], he gives Noble Six his dogtags, who keeps him for the remainder of the game.

* ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' has these in the form of collectible [[Meaningful Name|"mementos"]].

 

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', James Eglamore keeps a knife that was a present from his old flame, the recently-deceased Surma.

* [[Homestuck]]: In the End of Act 5, after {{spoiler|the Exiles are massacred, Serenity, WV's firefly companion, hangs around PM}}.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', Mako wears [[Scarf of Asskicking|a red scarf]], which is a common fashion statement for Firebenders in Republic City. But he is unusually attached to his scarf. When he goes to the restaurant with Asami Sato, he wears it with his tuxedo. Later on, she buys him a silk scarf, which he does not wear, so she asks why. [[Tear Jerker|Mako tells Asami the scarf is all he has left of his murdered father]].

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* As a matter of fact, several religions keep a whole collection and record of these things. The most famous ones are [[wikipedia:Relic#Christian relics|the Catholic relics]] - the most poignant and tragic (and sometimes, creepy) are those that belonged to all kind of martyrs, but any inspirational beloved will do. Relics come in three flavors: body parts of the actual saint (can vary from drops of blood in a bottle to an entire body, bonus points if it's uncorrupted), items that were worn in a regular basis by the saint (i.e.: Saint Pio of Pietrelcina's gloves which he used to cover his stigmata), and items that were merely touched or blessed by that saint (such as a robe, a piece of the Holy Cross, a favorite shepherd's crook, etc.) Several miracles are credited to relics, no matter what flavor they are: i.e., in Italy the vial that contains the blood of Saint Gennaro is said to have its contents miraculously liquified during the saint's feast.

** As a bonus, during medieval ages there was a whole ''black market'' of relics, where diverse Catholic groups would steal them and either sell or smuggle them to other places. An example would be [[wikipedia:Catherine of Sienna#Veneration|Saint Catherine of Sienna's head]].

 

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