Tragic Keepsake: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~pulp_fiction_koons~~.jpg|link=Pulp Fiction|frame|"It was your birthright. And he'd be damned if they were going to take your birthright."]]

[[File:pulp fiction koons.jpg|link=Pulp Fiction|frame|"It was your birthright. And he'd be damned if they were going to take your birthright."]]

Bob's [[Dead Little Sister|little sister]] Alice was killed in what he would later call [[My Greatest Failure|his greatest failure.]] He continues to fight for her, trying to 'fix' the world so that no one else ever has to go through this, or just seeking to [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|take vengeance upon her killers]]. Though doing so may make him a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] or [[He Who Fights Monsters|go completely mad]], it's [[Was It Really Worth It?|all worth it]] to him.

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== [[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 a dark example, in ''[[Afro Samurai]],'' the titular character carries around ''his father's severed head'' in a basket, until it (the head) is destroyed in a battle.

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* Suzaku from ''[[Code Geass]]'' hangs onto his late father's pocketwatch throughout most of the first season. At first blush it seems to be a standard keepsake, but as the season progresses and we learn that {{spoiler|Suzaku killed his father, which was the direct cause of Japan's surrender}}, so the watch represents his own ties to the past and his attempts to make up for that incident. At the very end of the season, he leaves the watch with what will become another symbol of his being shackled to the past: {{spoiler|the corpse of Euphemia, the woman he loved}}.

* In ''[[Kyou Kara Maou]]'', when Yuuri first arrives in Shin Makoku, Conrad gives him a pendant. A flashback reveals that Conrad's close friend Julia first gave it to him years ago, before she died, and that Conrad's been wearing it ever since. {{spoiler|His passing it on to Yuuri is especially significant, since he knows (and we later find out) that Yuuri is Julia's reincarnation.}}

* At the end of the Dark Tournament saga of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Sakyou gives Shizuru a gold plated lighter just before [[Face Death with Dignity|calmy facing his end]]. She keeps it for the rest of the series.}} A rare case of a hero having a [[Tragic Keepsake]] of a ''villain''.

* At the end of the Dark Tournament saga of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Sakyou gives Shizuru a gold plated lighter just before [[Face Death with Dignity|calmy facing his end]]. She keeps it for the rest of the series.}} A rare case of a hero having a Tragic Keepsake of a ''villain''.

* In the [[Comic Book Adaptation]] of ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV'', Fou-lu explicitly keeps Mami's bells around {{spoiler|after Mami was used as the literal [[Human Resources|warhead]] in a [[Fantastic Nuke]] in [[The Empire]]'s attempt to kill him. It's literally all he has left of one of exactly ''three'' people who show him decency, and Mami's bells falling from the sky is the clue that she was used as the warhead (and what quite blatantly turns him into a full-blown [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]).}}

** This is in turn based on material from the official artbook in which Fou-lu (after he's gone into a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] that has literally [[Off with His Head|decapitated the government of the Fou Empire]] and destroyed much of it) is shown on his throne with his shishi/foo-dogs and Mami's bells.

** Mami's bells end up as a [[Tragic Keepsake]] (and in fact a legitimate Tragic [[Memento MacGuffin]]) a second time during the [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] (that incorporates the "bad end" of the game). {{spoiler|Ryu confronts Fou-lu with Mami's bells, noting she's ''the'' counterexample to Fou-lu's arguments that [[Humans Are Bastards]]--even going so far as to explicitly point out that Mami's bells are Fou-lu's "most treasured possession". This triggers a failure of the [[Split Personality Merge]] (which leads up to the manga's rendering of the "good end" of ''IV'').}}

** Mami's bells end up as a Tragic Keepsake (and in fact a legitimate Tragic [[Memento MacGuffin]]) a second time during the [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] (that incorporates the "bad end" of the game). {{spoiler|Ryu confronts Fou-lu with Mami's bells, noting she's ''the'' counterexample to Fou-lu's arguments that [[Humans Are Bastards]]--even going so far as to explicitly point out that Mami's bells are Fou-lu's "most treasured possession". This triggers a failure of the [[Split Personality Merge]] (which leads up to the manga's rendering of the "good end" of ''IV'').}}

* {{spoiler|Tsubaki}} from ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' once had a toy ball given to her by her deceased mother. {{spoiler|Becomes a [[Chekhov's Gun]] when Yukiteru finds it and uses it to distract Tsubaki and kill her.}}

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' slightly subverts this with Edward's pocketwatch, which is issued to every State Alchemist employed by the Amestris Government as a form of identification (so it didn't come from anybody who died). However, the date when Edward and Alphonse burned down their house (3.Oct.10, although "10" as a year is not established) was carved on the inside of the lid, to serve as a reminder to Ed and Al that they must move forward because they have no more home to return to.

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

* In [[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt]] Stocking kept her engagement ring after the Ghost she fell in love with passed on due to finally loving Stocking back.

* Several in [[Oniisama e...]], particularly {{spoiler|Rei's golden bracelet and porcelain doll}}. The second becomes {{spoiler|Nanako}}'s own [[Tragic Keepsake]] after {{spoiler|Rei dies}}. (Alongside {{spoiler|some unused cigarettes}}, in the anime.)

* Several in [[Oniisama e...]], particularly {{spoiler|Rei's golden bracelet and porcelain doll}}. The second becomes {{spoiler|Nanako}}'s own Tragic Keepsake after {{spoiler|Rei dies}}. (Alongside {{spoiler|some unused cigarettes}}, in the anime.)

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* Mac Taylor on [[CSI: NY]] keeps a beach ball from his last vacation with his wife before her death on 9/11. He can't bring himself to let it go as it has her breath in it, the only phsyical(ish) thing he still has of her. (Unless you count her son Reed.)

** He also had opera tickets that he eventually let wash away into the ocean in the episode that aired around the 10th anniversary.

* 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.

* 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.

* In a ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' episode, a judge keeps the amount of change in his pocket he had on the day his son was kidnapped.