Basic Trope: Someone is dying, but only they know it.
- Straight: Bob has a terminal disease and only has a few months to live, but he never tells anyone.
- Exaggerated: Bob only has a few days to live. He still pretends he's never been healthier.
- Downplayed:
- Bob lets people know he hasn't been feeling well lately, but doesn't clarify that his illness is terminal.
- Feigning Healthiness: Bob has a minor, more temporary illness, but pretends he's fine.
- Justified:
- Bob doesn't want his friends to pity him, or similarly, doesn't want them to be sad or worried about his oncoming death.
- Bob doesn't realize his illness is terminal and thinks he'll get better soon.
- Bob isn't supposed to tell anyone about his illness.
- Inverted: Bob is fine, but ends up being Mistaken for Dying.
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Bob isn't dying.
- Everyone knows that Bob is dying.
- Enforced: Bob is required to die at some point in the story, but having him die in battle wouldn't necessarily make sense, so it's decided that he has a terminal illness that he never told anyone about.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Bob is specifically told not to let anyone know he's going to die soon.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob immediately lets everyone know that he's dying so that he can figure out how to plan his remaining days.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Secretly Dying. What? No, I'm fine...
