History Main / DyingAlone

* In ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' Jimmy's brother Chuck commits an unforgivable offense against him. Chuck claims he did it for Jimmy's own good. Jimmy's cold response is that Chuck, who is mentally ill and only has his brother to look after him, is eventually going to be overwhelmed by his illness and die alone. His prediction is proven correct at the end of the season.

* "Cubicles" by Music/MyChemicalRomance contains the line, "I think I'll love to die alone."

* In ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'', this is how Ruruka Andou dies. After killing Izayoi and Kizakura indirectly, she runs off, alone. She spends the last few moments before the time limit having a monologue about how she'll never die and she can make as many friends as she wants after she gets out of the mutual killing... [[CruelAndUnusualDeath only to be murdered in one of the most gut-wrenching deaths of the franchise]], alone and terrified.

* In a veterinarian's personal account, though pet owners are given the option to leave the room when their pet is [[MercyKill euthanized]], he pleads for them not to. The pets always become scared and confused, desperately looking for their master right when they're about to die. [[SubvertedTrope However]], it turns out [[https://talesfromtreatment.tumblr.com/post/739372834406662144 this may not be as true as people think]].

* In a veterinarian's personal account, though pet owners are given the option to leave the room when their pet is [[MercyKill euthanized]], he pleads for them not to. The pets always become scared and confused, desperately looking for their master right when they're about to die.

See also AFriendInNeed, and SecretlyDying, which can lead to this. DistractedFromDeath (where a person may not necessarily die alone but they do die unnoticed by others around them) can be a variant.

** Episode 8 of the first season has a drunk and depressed Blitzo explicitly bring up the idea of dying alone again. It's no wonder considering that the same day (in the previous episode) includes him going on a fake date with someone who could very much be his devoted lover, except Blitzo can't believe he's serious about it, just to spy on his HappilyMarried friends on their first anniversary date, and it ends up with him getting a public TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from both his former girlfriend ''and'' his former childhood friend, both of whom he alienated. Pretty much shows what his problem is.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Episode 6 has Blitzo be subjected to a really bad TruthSerum-induced DisneyAcidSequence that devolves into everyone he knows yelling at him that he is going to die alone, revealing this to be his deepest, darkest inner fear. Tragically, while Blitzo DesperatelyCravesAffection, he also subconsciously self-sabotages all of his relationships, thus running the very real risk of turning this into a self-inflicted fate.

* {{Defied|Trope}} in ''Literature/AiNoKusabi''. Iason has fallen victim to a trap: as a result, he has lost his legs, is helplessly trapped in an exploding building, and now [[FaceDeathWithDignity calmly waits for his end]]. Then his lover Riki comes to join him so he ''[[TogetherInDeath doesn't die alone.]]''. And after OneLastSmoke that doubles as an [[IndirectKiss indirect]] LastKiss, Iason and Riki go down together.
* Eoin Colfer's ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': In ''The Lost Colony'', Captain Holly Short dies alone, but is only dead briefly (Hey, the author is the first person to point out [through Artemis] that time-related words are flexible in a time field). Soon though, Artemis finds a way to use the chaotic nature of the time distortion around them to fix it.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/ForwardTheFoundation'': A major theme of the final Asimov-penned Foundation story, ''Forward the Foundation'', which chronicles the second half of Hari Seldon's life, leading up to his creation of the Plan, is the loss of everyone close to him. [[spoiler: His wife, Dors Venabili is targeted by an anti-robot weapon and killed. His foster-son Raych dies during a riot on another planet. His daughter-in-law and grandson take a spaceship to a supposed safe haven, but it just vanishes without a trace. By the end, the only person Hari has left in his life is his granddaughter Wanda, but they are also separated as she and the other founding members of the Second Foundation are required by the Plan to go into seclusion, and thus he never sees her again before his death.]] However, while he may die alone, Hari also dies content in the knowledge that the future is safeguarded.
* Given how often death comes in a setting where men and women pilot giant war machines, often in single combat, it is no surprise that the ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' has this happen to many of its characters; for instance, it seems all too appropriate that this is the fate of selfish schemers like Pavel Ridzik and Aldo Lestrade in during the ''Warrior'' trilogy. However, this is also done in a heart-wrenching fashion during ''The Dying Time'' to Lori Carlyle and ''The Hunters'' to Morgan Hasek-Davion.
* In ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'', Charlotte is too weak, after making her egg sac, to make the trip from the Fair back to the farm. Wilbur takes her eggs back with him, helping to raise her children the next spring.

** However, this is averted in the 1973 film version, when Wilbur stays long enough to watch her pass away [[TearJerker and cries as the humans come to take him home]].

** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry dies alone. [[OnlyMostlyDead Mostly.]]

* In the ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Spellfire'', Elminster says "If it falls within thy power, let no creature die alone."
* This trope is [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] in Creator/NeilGaiman's short piece "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories," which is a TakeThat against Hollywood and its transient, shallow nature. The narrator is staying in a hotel, and more specifically the same bungalow where Creator/JohnBelushi died, and everyone he meets offers a different version of the night, naming various celebrities who were present in the room. At the story's end, the ancient custodian of the hotel--who is probably the only person who remembers the truth--tells the narrator that ''everyone'' has it wrong: Belushi died completely alone, with no one to help him.

* Defied in Suzanne Collins' ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', when Katniss stays with Rue and sings her a song for her LastRequest.
** Played straight with Foxface.
* Referenced by Eragon and Glaedr in ''Eldest'', the second book of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. While tutoring Eragon in the ways of dragons and riders, Glaedr warns him against taking his partner's soul into his body, "as this will result in both your deaths." Eragon comments "How terrible, to die alone, separate from the one who is closest to you." To this, Glaedr responds "Everyone dies alone, Eragon. Whether you are a king on a battlefield or a lowly peasant lying in bed among your family, no one can accompany you into the void..."
* Weaponized in ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd''. Occasionally, Dave, the narrator of the story, will go on nihilistic, cynical rants about how the true horror of living on Earth is dying alone, and dying slow, with no one to help you - either because they don't know you're dying, don't care, or don't know you existed in the first place, and dying can happen to anyone at anytime - just as simple as taking the wrong turn in your car. It turns out this is a worldview utilized by [[TheHeartless The Shadow Men]], nihilistic multidimensional conquerors who spread misery and hate to add to their ranks.

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheLongWatch'', Interplanetary Patrol Lieutenant John Dahlquist, after a superior attempts to recruit him into a coup attempt, [[RebelliousRebel instead]] makes a ''HeroicSacrifice'' by barricading himself in the nuclear armory and manually disabling all the nuclear weapons, taking a fatal dose of radiation in the process. He dies alone, sitting by the door he barricaded. Radiation levels are so high that robots have to be used to recover his body for [[DueToTheDead a hero's funeral]].

* In Aarom Dembski-Bowden's ''Literature/NightLords'' novel ''Void Stalker'' Talos Valcoran allows his brother Cyrion to die in his arms after Cyrion is fatally wounded and blinded by Jain Zar, and upholds Cyrion's final wish to not have his gene-seed harvested so that he can rest from the Eternal War.
* In John Barnes's ''Literature/OneForTheMorningGlory'', the Duke remembers kneeling beside men he had just mortally wounded and holding their hands and assuring them in their last moments.

** ''Rebel Force'' has Ferus Olin left mortally wounded by Darth Vader. Leia comes across him and holds his hand as he dies -- and he has a vision of a long-dead friend [[HoYay/StarWarsLegends and partner]] coming to him, and it's not until Ferus sees Roan and feels him holding his hand that he is ready to go.
--->"[[YouAreNotAlone Did you really think I would leave you here alone?]]"

* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Literature/{{Memory}}'', Miles tells Elli Quinn that Taura will die soon and asks her to get him the news so that he can be with her.
* Creator/CharlesDickens:
** In ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'', Sydney Carton talks with a seamstress on the tumbrel ride to the guillotine, confides the truth, and encourages her in facing death. He succeeds.
--->'''Seamstress:''' I mind nothing while I hold your hand. I shall mind nothing when I let it go if they are rapid.\\
'''Sydney:''' They will be rapid. Fear not!
** In ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge that his miserly life will lead him to die alone and unmourned. To add insult to injury, his household staff [[RobbingTheDead steal and sell his possessions]] before his body has time to cool. This moves him to {{Def|iedTrope}}y this trope and mend his ways.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', the grieving Leonid laments that after he suffered so much, Ellard died alone; Uriel offers what consolation there was with Leonid's having been with him.
*** Later, when Leonid realizes the woman the daemon freed is a member of his own regiment, he observes that [[BecauseDestinySaysSo may have happened]] so that he can die with his friends. Uriel looks at his fellow SpaceMarine and agrees that it is best not to die alone. When she [[DyingAsYourself shows some self-awareness]] and approval, it gives him the strength to make a HeroicSacrifice.
** In ''The Killing Ground'', Uriel kneels by the gravely wounded Lord of the Unfleshed and comforts him before [[MercyKill shooting him]].
** In Creator/BenCounter's ''Galaxy In Flames'', Tarvitz hunts for his battle brothers, the Emperor's Children, in battle -- partly in hopes of getting the battle back together, but partly so that he will not die alone but with battle brothers, in defiance of [[UnfriendlyFire Horus's treachery]]. It succeeds; he reflects when he gathers with the last handful, whether Emperor's Children, Luna Wolves, or World-Eaters, that he knew their names now, men who had just been grime-streaked faces were now his [[FireForgedFriends brothers]].
** In Lee Lightner's Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolf's Honour'', Ragnar stays by the dying Haegr, holding his hand.
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''False Gods'', when [[DyingAsYourself the Chaos taint leaves the mortally wounded Temba]], his [[ManlyTears tears]] convince Horus of his sincerity, and so Horus kneels by him and tries to comfort him (and cries himself after Temba's death).
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Fulgrim'', Lucius walks away from the dying Captain Solomon Demeter, but in a complete inversion, Solomon is glad of it, finding it "peace", because he had [[TurnCoat betrayed them]] and tricked Solomon into [[FriendOrFoe killing men on his own side]]. On the other hand, the [[CueTheSun sun is setting]], and he feels as if [[EmpathicEnvironment the world marked his passing]].
** In Creator/JamesSwallow's Literature/BloodAngels novel ''Deus Encarmine'', Rafen hurries to the dying Koris on hearing he is asking for him. When Turcio pulls back -- many Blood Angels fear that the Black Rage is contagious -- Rafen is disgusted.
*** [[{{Irony}} Ironically enough]], Koris had originally rejected Rafen for his failures at teamwork, and accepted him after Rafen had expressed his [[AnAesop lesson]] as "He who fights alone dies alone, but those [[FireForgedFriends who battle as brothers]] will live forever" -- but in the course of the duology, Rafen finds himself fighting and nearly dying alone and isolated.
** In Creator/DanAbnett's Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''Blood Pact'', Gaunt muses on why Ayatani Zweil is their chaplain; a big reason is his care for the dying and [[DueToTheDead the dead]].

* This trope is the reason, in the poem, ''"All my friends are dead."'', as to why the elderly subject attends a family gathering (something she would avoid otherwise), as with all her friends dead and being at (or close to) the end of her life, she wants to avoid this trope by attending said gathering.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', this ends up the case for Marvolo Gaunt. When he returned from [[TheAlcatraz Azkaban]], his son was still imprisoned there and his daughter [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere had already run away from him to elope with a man she loved]], leaving him spending the rest of his life in the filthy little shack that is the Gaunt residence, alone and without anyone to care for him. According to Dumbledore, Marvolo did not live to see the return of his son.
* ''Literature/TheShepherdsCrown'': As with all witches, the LivingLegend Granny Weatherwax knows when she wakes up on her last day alive. She spends it alone, [[CatharticChores getting her cottage ready]] for her successor and even making her own coffin. {{Downplayed|Trope}} since nobody ''truly'' dies alone on the Disc; when TheGrimReaper appears to escort her spirit away, she greets him as an old friend.
* In ''Literature/DarkShores'' Teriana comforts dying legionnaires in the medics' tent. She thinks nothing of it but their commander Marcus explains to her that it was really important for them not to be dying alone, on the other side of the world.
* In ''Scénes de la vie de bohéme'', the source for the opera ''Theatre/LaBoheme'', Rodolphe and his friends are mistakenly informed that the [[IncurableCoughOfDeath consumptive]], hospitalized Mimi has died well before it actually happens, with the result that she dies alone in the hospital, never knowing why her lover has stopped visiting her. Puccini's opera [[LighterAndSofter softens]] this ending, though, letting her die happy with her lover and friends all around her.

* In ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'', it's prophesied that the title character will die "alone, unmourned, and unloved" - indeed, that's what happens in the final issue. It may be a pessimistic description of anyone's death as much as a curse on Cerebus.

* The first chapter of ''The ComicBook/{{OMAC}} Project''. With the rest of the heroes considering him worthless and his only friend in hospital, Ted Kord manages to figure out what is going on, but with no backup, he is subdued easily. The issue ends with him being shot in the head. In ''O.M.A.C. Project'' issue one, it is revealed his remains were destroyed so no one could know he was dead.

** In ''ComicBook/TheLeperFromKrypton'', Superman is dying from an incurable disease which kill him within hours, so he builds an one-passenger rocket and heads towards a faraway star to be cremated. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} (carrying her cousin's past and present sweethearts Lois, Lana and Lori in a survival pod) and a funeral cortege trail behind him, but they turn around when he is approaching the star Flammbron so he can face his end alone.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': Many deaths reflect this but John Hartigan has the most gut-wrenching as he has to commit suicide alone in the woods so "a young girl can live".
* During the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' story arc "Wolf at the Door", Reed talks to a man who's about to commit suicide. His teenage son died in a car accident, he and his wife have divorced, and he just found out he has throat cancer, but the fact that he's going to die isn't what scares him - it's the idea of dying alone in a hospital bed with no-one there. Reed gives him a number to call and promises to be there for him, even if he's fighting a supervillain at the time.
* In "The List: [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]] #1", Frank Castle, after being beaten and torn apart by Wolverine's son Daken at Osborn's request, does die alone. He has alienated his only friend, Henry. To make matters worse, this comes after he has re-killed his family, whom the Hood had brought back to life. No one is there to cry for him save Henry, who is there in time for him to see Daken decapitate Frank, though he does not know this at the time. This set-up provides the breaking of the Punisher and leads up to his coming to terms with his actions in "Franken-Castle".
* ''Franchise/XMen'': The fate of Mr. Sinister in ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', giving the character a rare tear-jerking moment. Despite having kicked the dog a LOT both in the [=AoA=] continuity and the normal Marvel comics, his final moments have him realising that there's no one left to even mourn him.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors'', an arc describes the last reunion of the Howling Commandos. As they go down the list of those who have fallen in battle, the life of each character is discussed. One particularly tearjerking one involves a man who was afraid of dying alone, but continuously put himself in danger to protect his friends and allies. As his death is described, he is mentioned to have died in his sleep with no family around him. But Dum Dum Dugan held his hand the entire time, ensuring that he would not die alone. Particularly poignant considering the conclusion of that arc...
* In the ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' graphic novel ''Hooky'', Mandy tells Spidey that she doesn't truly believe it's possible for him to save her from the lethal curse that has sent the demonic assassin after her. The reason she wants him to come along is that she simply wants someone to know it happened because otherwise, no-one would know she had died fighting it - or cared. Fortunately, it ''is'' possible to defeat it; to make a long story short, she misinterpreted the prophecy that made her believe its purpose.
* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': [[VainSorceress Sistah Spooky]] ended up in this position near the end of vol. 8. She is literally in Hell, seriously wounded, short an arm, staring down an artillery-sized death ray, all alone... and she is ''happy''. The love of her life is ''not'' suffering the Torments of the Damned, the woman whose life she helped wreck out of petty jealousy is [[ItMakesSenseInContext tied up aboard a doomsday weapon auto-piloting itself to Earth]], this is as good a death as she could hope for a better outcome than she thought she would get... then someone who would rather not be forced to leave someone to die ''[[MyGreatestFailure again]]'' comes [[BigDamnHeroes riding a doomsday weapon to the rescue]].
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': The Executioner was a fairly minor villain -- until Creator/WaltSimonson gave him the heroic version of this trope, [[YouShallNotPass standing off the entire army of the Asgardian underworld]] in an awesome moment.

** The page image comes from [[http://xkcd.com/695/ this strip]] about the Mars rover, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(rover) Spirit]]'', which was declared dead on March 22, 2010.

** In the sequel, ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainVoyageOfWisteria'': Grace ends up stabbed in the stomach by Ogami with no Apex to comfort her -- as she disbanded them at the end of the Fog Car in the previous story -- and only lamenting that she just wanted to be noticed (as in, let her parents love her)

* In ''Manga/SoulHunter'', this is probably the death Taikoubou AKA Fukki would have gotten if it weren't for Dakki. Jyoka, being afraid of dying alone, requests that Taikoubou accompany her, to which he agrees. After she dies, he is left to crumble and die alone, away from all his companions and friends. Thankfully for him, Dakki revives him.

* This is possibly the fate of Chirin in ''Anime/RingingBell''. Having trained under the wolf but realizing that he cannot kill his own kind, Chirin fights the wolf and kills him. But the sheep [[UngratefulBastard shun him]], believing him to be neither sheep nor wolf and believing that no monster like this should live with them. Alone and [[DespairEventHorizon full of despair]], Chirin returns to the mountains and calls out for the wolf's spirit in the harsh winter storm. It's hinted that he had died alone, but sheep have said to have heard the sound of a ringing bell every winter.

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', when ''Serenity'' is crippled by an explosion, Mal evacuates the crew but stays onboard himself in the slim hope their distress signal is answered before he freezes. When told by Inara he doesn't have to stay behind and die alone, Mal [[DarkAndTroubledPast (a war veteran and former infantry sergeant whose home was destroyed early in the same war—and his side lost)]] counters: "Everybody dies alone." This convinces her despite her {{Tsundere}} tendencies because she's SecretlyDying, which is why she doesn't pursue a relationship with him. A bit sadder in hindsight.

* And the page image's twin, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover) Opportunity Rover]], was officially declared dead [[https://abc7chicago.com/science/my-battery-is-low-and-its-getting-dark-opportunitys-last-message-to-scientists/5137455/ on February 13, 2019]], roughly ''15 years'' after it had made landfall on Mars, and almost 9 years after ''Spirit'' died. Its last message, though translated into something a bit more fanciful than the diagnostic data read-out it was delivered on, is often read as "[[ImColdSoCold My battery is low and it's getting dark.]]" But while she may have died alone, she didn't die unloved; NASA's final farewell to "[[AffectionateNickname Oppy]]" was to play her Music/BillieHoliday's "I'll Be Seeing You", and the whole world paid tribute to the "little rover that could."

* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'': the [=WWII=] era film starts with protagonist Seita's death as he dies ignored by everyone around him in a train station of malnutrition a sight in Japan that by the end of 1945 had become so commonplace that commuters barely even notice anymore. His ghost then recollects the months leading up to his death and the film is a posthumous HowWeGotHere story.

* In ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'', what is arguably the worst TearJerker in the series is the death of Fulle. He dies a slow death alone, crawling through the rain, attempting to reunite with Pacifica (with their happy memories together flashing through his mind).

* Narrowly avoided by Shizuo from ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' He is apparently shot twice by [[JerkAss Horada]] and left to bleed to death, alone in an alley, but [[MadeOfIron his natural resistance to pain]] saves him from this.