History Main / MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The Bounty Hunter storyline has Braden, your mentor and [[ParentalSubstitute de facto father to Mako]] being murdered by rival bounty hunter Tarro Blood. At the end of the Chapter 1 arc, [[spoiler: when you finally see Tarro locked up aboard a Republic cruiser that you've been assigned to blow up (after you kill a Jedi on board), he will try to goad you into letting him out so you can fight mano y mano. He'll tell you it's what Braden would want. But Mako says Braden would want to see him just as he is, trapped and humiliated and without the option of a big showdown. The decision is up to the player, let him fight you or leave him to die on the ship]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'': After King Triton has Sebastian and his band imprisoned, Ariel drops this to make him reconsider his ban on music.

* Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog, as unpleasant and aloof of a person he is, aims to protect the planet Earth out of honor for his deceased friend Maria who loved the planet and begged him to protect everyone right before dying of her wounds.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic:'' The Bounty Hunter storyline has Braden, your mentor and [[ParentalSubstitute de facto father to Mako]] being murdered by rival bounty hunter Tarro Blood. At the end of the Chapter 1 arc, [[spoiler: when you finally see Tarro locked up aboard a Republic cruiser that you've been assigned to blow up (after you kill a Jedi on board), he will try to goad you into letting him out so you can fight mano y mano. He'll tell you it's what Braden would want. But Mako says Braden would want to see him just as he is, trapped and humiliated and without the option of a big showdown. The decision is up to the player, let him fight you or leave him to die on the ship]].

* ''Film/ScreamVI'': While reprimanding Gale for writing about the last Ghostface murders after promising not to do so at the end of ''Film/Scream2022'', Sam asks, "What would [[spoiler:Dewey]] think?" ([[spoiler:as he was one of the victims of the previous massacre]]). Gale's reaction is mostly being taken aback by Sam bringing this up, calling it "a low blow".

* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'' Bruce Wayne reveals to Rachel Dawes that [[spoiler:he was considering avenging his parents by shooting Joe Chill, who murdered them. Rachel then slaps Bruce twice.]]

* PlayedForHorror in ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Maria [[BestServedCold has spent the last two years]] preparing to [[KnightTemplarParent avenge her son Kiritaka by murdering the bullies responsible for his death]], and is prepared to do whatever it takes to kill them all. However, after [[AlphaBitch Shikimi]] sends Iijima to beat up Maria [[DisproportionateRetribution for taunting her at school]], Maria quickly realizes that, once she kills Shikimi, Iijima could be used by the police or even by [[BigBad Okaya's]] gang to draw a connection between the two, potentially outing her as Shikimi's murderer. Maria prepares to [[HeKnowsTooMuch silence Iijima by killing him]] when the two go to a love hotel, but then [[ISeeDeadPeople an apparition of Kiritaka]] reminds her that Iijima is not one of her targets. Shocked at what she was about to do, Maria relents and [[EveryoneHasStandards agrees that Iijima doesn't need to die]], and decides to silence him by other means after killing Shikimi. What makes this horrifying, though, is that Kiritaka's "ghost" has a hole where his face should be, ''[[BodyHorror leaving his brain and blood-stained tongue to spill]]''. Clearly Maria is still traumatized from cradling his mangled remains. And it's implied that the only thing stopping her from going full psycho is "[[ISeeDeadPeople an apparition of her dead son]]."

* Adrian Raven of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' attempts to use his deceased father Blaike Raven as a morality chain towards his unstable immortal mother Pandora by pointing out [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-12-21 "Father would hate what you've become."]] It has a [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2017-01-02 fairly strong impact.]]

* PlayedForHorror in ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Maria [[BestServedCold has spent the last two years]] preparing to [[KnightTemplarParent avenge her son Kiritaka by murdering the bullies responsible for his death]], and is prepared to do whatever it takes to kill them all. However, after [[AlphaBitch Shikimi]] sends Iijima to beat up Maria [[DisproportionateRetribution for taunting her at school]], Maria quickly realizes that, once she kills Shikimi, Iijima could be used by the police or even by [[BigBad Okaya's]] gang to draw a connection between the two, potentially outing her as Shikimi's murderer. Maria prepares to [[HeKnowsTooMuch silence Iijima by killing him]] when the two go to a love hotel, but then [[ISeeDeadPeople an apparition of Kiritaka]] reminds her that Iijima is not one of her targets. Shocked at what she was about to do, Maria relents and [[EveryoneHasStandards agrees that Iijima doesn't need to die]], and decides to silence him by other means after killing Shikimi. What makes this horrifying, though, is that Kiritaka's "ghost" has a hole where his face should be, ''[[BodyHorror leaving his brain and blood-stained tongue to spill]]''. Clearly Maria is still traumatized from cradling his mangled remains.

* In the first season of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver tries to talk Thea about her drug problems saying it isn't what their father would want for her, only for her to blow him off with "the dead don't want anything".

* In one episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', Autolycus is hellbent on killing the villain of the week who is the same man who murdered Autolycus' beloved older brother who practically raised him. Autolycus' thieving career began when he robbed the villain blind in revenge. Xena is worried that Autolycus actually killing the man might start him on a career as an assassin (noting that with his skills in disguise and infiltration he'd be one of the best). She convinces Autolycus to stop by asking him what his brother would have wanted, reminding him that while the villain may have made him the thief, it was his brother who gave the thief his heart. Xena asks him if it was the heart of a murderer.

* [[spoiler:Mollymauk Tealeaf]] from ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' becomes this to the Mighty Nein after [[spoiler:his untimely death in episode 26. His mantra of]] "Leave every place better than when you found it," becomes something of a MeaningfulEcho, and well as their guiding principle throughout the campaign.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': An OnlyMostlyDead example appears in "Deep Freeze", when Mr. Freeze agrees to help Grant Walker freeze the world (killing everyone outside his little utopian community) in exchange for a cure for Nora. Batman convinces Freeze that if he went through with it, Nora would hate him after she found out what he'd done.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': In "The Great Tree Heist", Captain Planet suffers a worse-than-usual attack while trying to stop Greedly's latest operation, and, when the team tries to re-summon him, he doesn't appear. While they don't say it, they clearly think he's dead. Linka rallies the others to go stop it themselves. Wheeler agrees, saying that they need to do it "[[AndThisIsFor for Cap]]", and Kwame adds that he would want them to do it.

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePony2022'': Fluttershy is shown to have this effect on Discord in the first comic arc. Many centuries after Fluttershy had passed on, Discord -- witnessing the collapse of Equestria thanks to [[spoiler:Opaline]] stowing division among ponies because of their different types of magic -- begins to see magic as the source of Equestria's problems and should be destroyed to preserve harmony, which he believes Fluttershy would have wanted. This belief is challenged in issue 10 when he's shown [[spoiler:Fluttershy's message she recorded for him, reminding him that ponies' different kinds of magic should be ''embraced'' because they let every pony be their most authentic selves and make the world a better place. Heartbroken, Discord gives up on his quest to destroy magic, and the new generation of ponies promise they'll help him bring back the harmony he and Fluttershy want for Equestria]].

* Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog, as unpleasant and aloof of a person he is, aims to protect the planet Earth out of honor for his deceased friend Maria who loves the planet and begs him to protect everyone right before dying of her wounds.