Leitmotif upon Death

This is when the character's Leitmotif starts playing during or around their death. Seeing a beloved character die is very sad. Especially if they've been around for such a long time. But there are some ways to make the death sadder. Perhaps we learn about their backstory after they have already died or that character just confessed their love to another. But this is one way to move the audience to tears without being part of the story telling.

The music piece that was associated with them burrowed within the audiences minds so much is now playing for the final time, just to let you know that they are gone. They may be done in a Dark Reprise to contrast the happier tones that were played at scenes when they were alive. Either way, hearing it just brings tears to the audiences eyes. As a Leitmotif often plays when the character does something significant during the story, hearing when they die could be considered the character's last hurrah.

Compare to Death Song, where a song is sung by a character when someone is dying. Also Compare to Mood Motif, due to it usually being in a sad tone. Contrast Moment of Silence, for when someone dies and there's (usually) no music at all.

As this is a Death Trope, all spoilers will be unmarked in the examples below. You Have Been Warned!

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Sailor Moon, Princess Kakyuu has a slower and more melancholy version of her theme song during her death scene.

Films — Animated

• The Lion King (1994): When Simba finds his father Mufasa dead, "This Land" plays in a very somber tone. While this piece is mainly used to for the Pride Lands, Mufasa was in most of the scenes where the score was played. It is also used when Simba is visited by Mufasa's spirit.
• Beauty and the Beast: Near the end when The Beast dies, a sadder reprise of the title song and The Beast's Leitmotif known as "Death of the Beast" plays.
• Pinocchio: After the title character sacrifices his life to save Geppetto, a much slower and instrumental version of "When You Wish Upon A Star" is played on violin in the next scene when the other characters return home with his lifeless body.
• The LEGO Movie: Vitruvius'/the Prophecy's leitmotif plays when Vitruvius gets decapitated by Lord Business.
• Subverted in The LEGO Batman Movie. The Bat-Family's leitmotif plays when Alfred gets knocked off the Batwing, and the film makes it seem like he'll fall to his death into the lava below. However, Barbara Gordon decides to go back to rescue him and Batman and Robin catch him in time.
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Jack Horner's theme plays as he dies by being engulfed by the crumbling wishing star after the map to it is destroyed.

Films — Live-Action

• Star Wars:
  • A New Hope: Downplayed when Obi-Wan is dueling with Darth Vader. The Force Theme briefly plays in a few moments before he is killed. Strangely, it is followed by Leia's Theme, where she had little importance in the scene.
  • Return of the Jedi:
    • Luke visits Yoda and in the scene his theme plays during it. At the end, he succumbs to his old age.
    • After Vader saves Luke from The Emperor's attacks, his suit is badly damaged. When he is about to die a gentler, less sinister version of The Imperial March plays representing his return to the light side of the force.
  • The Last Jedi: Luke distracts Kylo Ren with a force projection of himself to aid the Resistance's evacuation on Crait, which drains all of his energy. As he watches the sun set similarly to how he did in A New Hope, The Force Theme (which also played during that scene) plays as he starts to fade away.
  • The Rise of Skywalker features Leia's iconic leitmotif playing in the background as she dies.
• Avengers: Endgame: Iron Man gets ahold of the Infinity Stones and snaps his fingers, turning Thanos's armies to dust. His leitmotif plays when he sits down and disintegrates himself.
• In Animal Farm (1999), Old Major sings the song "Beasts of the World," which came to him in a dream. When he is killed soon after, a sad, choral version of the song is heard as the animals look over his dead body.
• Gremlins: A rendition of The Gremlin Rag, the Gremlins' leitmotif, plays as Stripe, the leader of the Gremlins, melts in the sunlight.
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch:
  • The film gives the Gremlins a new leitmotif (though it doesn't entirely replace The Gremlin Rag), which plays when Mohawk, the leader of the Gremlins until Brain Gremlin takes over, burns to death from Gizmo's makeshift fire arrow.
  • Dr. Catheter's leitmotif plays as he gets killed by the Electric Gremlin electrocuting him.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: When the One Ring is destroyed and Sauron's power in the physical world begins to dissipate for good, the Leitmotif which characterized Mordor throughout the movie trilogy plays but flipped from minor to major, making the formerly-dark music instead sound triumphant and uplifting as Sauron's evil leaves Mordor and Middle-earth for good.
• Queen of the Damned: As Akasha is drained dry by Maharet, her menacing leitmotif (first heard at the start of the film) is repeated as a dramatic funereal dirge, as Akasha is once again reduced to an inanimate statue that quickly collapses into a cloud of smoke and ashes.

Live Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • In "Planet of the Spiders", "Logopolis", and "Time and the Rani", the show's main theme, which serves as an occasional leitmotif for the Doctor, is quoted during his regeneration, which is treated as the death of one incarnation and the birth of the next. "Logopolis" takes it a step further and mixes the title theme with the Watcher's leitmotif, referencing the Watcher's nature as a manifestation of the Doctor's future and thus hammering in the transition between incarnations.
  • Adric's leitmotif plays after he is killed at the end of "Earthshock". This is the last piece of music heard in the story as the final credits roll without the familiar theme tune or any music at all.
  • In "Power of the Doctor", the 13th doctor's leitmotif plays as she regenerates.
• Once Upon a Time: When Belle dies of old age in her immortal lover's arms, the theme from Beauty and the Beast, the inspiration for the romance arc, plays for the first time in the show
• Game of Thrones: In the Season 4 finale, "The Rains of Castamere" — which is House Lannister's and especially Tywin's leitmotif In-Universe as well as out — plays on the soundtrack when Tywin is killed by Tyrion with a crossbow bolt.

Music

• This is heard in its purest form in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Romeo And Juliet, which tells the story of the doomed romance and assigns each significant actor their own leitmotif. Juliet's love theme plays out in slow funereal time at her death scene.

Theatre

• In Albert Herring, when the crushed remains of Albert's wreath are brought in and he is believed to have been killed, the ensuing Premature Eulogy is preceded by a mournful reminiscence of the "May King" theme, bells and all.
• Elisabeth: The latter half of "Der Schleier fällt" (The Veil Falls), the final song of the show, is sung to the tune of "Ich gehör nur mir" (I Belong to Myself), Elisabeth's "I Want" Song and leitmotif. It occurs after she has been stabbed to death by Lucheni and runs into the arms of the Grim Reaper.
• Hansel and Gretel (1893) is a rare happy example of character death leading to thematic transformation. The Wicked Witch's demise is immediately celebrated with a jubilant waltz arrangement of her motifs, and the gingerbread witch arrives in the final scene with an utterly triumphant version of the broomstick motif.
• Porgy and Bess:
  • A sad version of Robbins's theme, interspersed with menacing muted brass echoes of the crap shooters' theme, plays a few times under the last recitative passages of the first scene, at which point Robbins has been killed in a Gambling Brawl and the other characters are trying to hide before the police arrive.
  • After Porgy fights and kills Crown, a faint bass echo of Crown's theme can be heard under Porgy's triumphant laughter.
• The Ring of the Nibelung:
  • In Die Walküre, when Siegmund is lying dead on the stage near his fainted sister and broken sword, a quiet echo of the Wälsung theme is played.
  • Fafner's leitmotifs already dominate the music before and during his fight with Siegfried, so it's logical that they continue to play during his dying speech until he breathes his last.
  • When Siegfried snaps and fells Mime in a single stroke, the descending thirds of his theme are played several times over in an orchestral shriek.
  • Siegfried receives the biggest send-off of all following his death in Götterdämmerung with the orchestral interlude known as "Siegfried's Funeral March," whose themes are major leitmotifs associated with not just Siegfried but Siegmund, Sieglinde and Brünnhilde.
• In The Saint Of Bleecker Street, immediately after Michele fatally stabs Desideria, everyone stands in Stunned Silence as the orchestra echoes her theme in fortissimo agony.

Video Games

• Quite possibly the most well known example would be Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. Her theme plays right after she is killed by Sephiroth and continues throughout the fight against Jenova Life, only ending after she is laid at the lake.
• Sonic Adventure: A slow jazz version of Gamma's theme plays as he self-destructs and the Flicky inside him comes out after being mortally wounded by Beta at the end of their final battle.
• Paper Mario:
  • Paper Mario: Sticker Star: During the final boss battle against a giant Royal Sticker-powered Bowser, Kersti decides to sacrifice her power to Mario by having him use her a sticker in combat to defeat Bowser. "Kersti's Plead", a music box rendition of Kersti's theme, plays when she says her goodbyes to Mario as she's being used up. However, her death is undone when Mario wishes her back to life after defeating Bowser and rescuing Peach.
  • Paper Mario: The Origami King: "Bob-Omb's Encouragement", a sadder version of Bobby the Bob-Omb's theme, plays before he sacrifices himself to destroy a boulder Olivia is trapped under and when he appears as a ghost to give Mario advice on how to make Olivia feel better after his death.
• Deltarune: In Chapter 2, after defeating Spamton NEO on the Normal Route, the subsequent cutscene depicting his final moments is underscored by "Dialtone", which interpolates the leitmotif for Shadow Crystal bearers such as himself.
• Klonoa: Door to Phantomile: Grandpa is introduced with a relaxing tune called "Grandpa's Chair." When Joka blasts Grandpa's house with a giant laser midway through the game, a slower, sadder version of "Grandpa's Chair" plays as Grandpa is dying in Klonoa's arms. The music stops completely when Grandpa dies.
• In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, a sad piano version of Maya Amano's theme plays upon her death.
• The King of Fighters All Star: At the very end of the 2002 Story, an arrangement of "Zhe Prime" kicks in as Nameless destroys NESTS's Deimos base with himself still inside. The first few notes additionally play as he succumbs to his injuries, joining Isolde in death.
• Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: In Eliwood's chapter 28: Valorous Roland, and Hector's chapter 30: The Berserker, Ninian is dying after Eliwood mistakenly attacks her when she is in her dragon form. When she is dying, the default version of her theme plays if Eliwood did not reach the A support with her. If he did, a slower and sadder version of Ninian theme plays instead.
• Grim Fandango: A dramatic rendition of Domino's theme plays before he gets crushed by the S.S. Lamancha's crushers in Year 3.
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture:
  • Father Jeremy's leitmotif repeats as he says his final prayers and is assimilated by the Pattern, this time repeated as a soft One-Woman Wail before the rest of the choir solemnly joins in.
  • A section of Wendy's theme "The Mourning Tree" is heard as the bombers sweep overhead, though this time it's rendered as a purely instrumental theme as the Pattern envelops her.
  • As Frank waits for the bombers to reach him, a segment of Jeremy's theme is repeated - as if to signify Frank's loss of faith in the wake of Mary's death; then, as the airstrike begins and the Pattern begins to assimilate him, the ending lyrics from his theme "Carry Me Back To Her Arms" are repeated in a One-Woman Wail: "And a-roving I'll go until death comes for me/to carry me back to her arms..."
  • Lizzie's theme, a lullaby, is repeated as a soft piano theme as she prepares to leave Yaughton for the sake of her unborn child... and then the bomber planes sweep over her and the theme swells to an orchestral fanfare as she vanishes from view.
  • Stephen's theme repeats as a One-Woman Wail as he soaks himself in petrol and prepares to set himself alight before the Pattern can take him... but then he sees Kate within the light, reaches out to touch her - only to accidentally drop the lighter into the petrol. As the flames rise, the music swells into a soaring choral dirge even as Stephen sinks to the ground.

Web Original

• Subverted at the end of JonTron's Starcade series. After Jon defeats George Lucas, all that's left is removing Vader's mask in a parody of the famous scene from Return of the Jedi. As he stares down in shock at the supposedly dying person before him, the Game Grumps jingle plays softly and it's revealed that Vader is Arin Hanson, who was Jon's co-host when Jon was on the aforementioned show. However, Arin's not actually dying, and instead the series ends with a Dance Party Ending.

Western Animation

• Frosty the Snowman: A sadder rendition of the main song is sung after it is shown that Frosty has melted.
• Futurama: In "The Sting," during Fry's funeral in Leela's coma dream, Scruffy plays Fry's favorite song and recurring motif, "Walking on Sunshine," on the bagpipes as they shoot his coffin into space.

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