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"I've always hated that... that name... "The Legendary Magical Five." There were eleven of us. Two died during the war, and there were nine of us at the final battle. We're just... the five who survived . The truly "legendary" ones... are the six that died."
— War Nurse Kurumi, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka
Fan Works
"My name… is Buggy. I was a Roger Pirate, I sailed with the King of the Pirates, so too did I know his great rival, Edward ‘Whitebeard’ Newgate! The two met on many occasions, as friends and enemies alike, and as such, I feel that it is only right that upon his passing, I say these words! That I make sure that none can refuse him the respect he is due! I speak, to ensure that the world knows that even in death, his body did not fall. That in life, his figure, wading into the depths of war and hell, even as he was actively dying with every step, was truly monstrous. The total number of sword wounds he received in this battle was 402. He was shot by 96 bullets and was hit by 23 cannonballs. He died at the age of 72, with a kidney missing, several feet of scar tissue scattered across and throughout his body, failing vision, a bad lung and knee… And a cast-iron liver that I don’t doubt was still in perfect condition to this day, lucky old geezer… BUT DESPITE ALL THIS! Despite all of it! His proud back… over the entire course of this day’s events… over the course of his entire life as a pirate… Never, not once, received a coward’s wound! He never received a single scar from running away!"
The tears came again, but Shinji ignored them and continued on. A long piece of wood was stabbed deep into the soft sand, and a horizontal piece was attached with some old nails and a good-sized chunk of concrete. Several hours passed. Eight crosses were made, all standing next to each other. A larger nail was turned into a crude chisel, and eight names were scratched into the wood. Shinji slowly removed the shining silver cross from around his neck and hung it on the nail in Misato's memorial, completing the picture he had formed in his mind several hours ago. He sat back on his haunches and wiped his eyes clear, solidifying the image in his mind.
'I'll have to come back in a few days, to make sure they're still standing. Perhaps I should come here once a week, like some sort of pilgrimage.'
'I'll have to come back in a few days, to make sure they're still standing. Perhaps I should come here once a week, like some sort of pilgrimage.'
A generation raised in the shadow of nuclear holocaust had learned to detach the disposal of the dead from the rituals of mourning, more so when a decomposing or radioactive corpse could contaminate the closed environment of a rocketship.
But spacers had their own rites; bodies were not set adrift in the void or launched into the Sun (which could be billions of miles away) but wrapped in dermaplastic and fastened outside the hull until they could be recycled as reaction mass for the ship's engines—or in the case of a torchship, placed where they would be cremated by the exhaust plume. What had been cold-blooded pragmatism in the early days of Space exploration was now a hallowed ritual.
'Those we loved are gone, these bodies are but empty shells,' thought Janeway. 'We consign them to the fire to be scattered across the stars. Ashes to ashes, stardust to stardust...'
But spacers had their own rites; bodies were not set adrift in the void or launched into the Sun (which could be billions of miles away) but wrapped in dermaplastic and fastened outside the hull until they could be recycled as reaction mass for the ship's engines—or in the case of a torchship, placed where they would be cremated by the exhaust plume. What had been cold-blooded pragmatism in the early days of Space exploration was now a hallowed ritual.
'Those we loved are gone, these bodies are but empty shells,' thought Janeway. 'We consign them to the fire to be scattered across the stars. Ashes to ashes, stardust to stardust...'
Film
"This boy was brought up in a time of blood and dying and never questioned a bit of it. He never turned his back on his folks or his kind. I rode with him... and I got no complaints. The blue bellies will give ya a better burial than I can, boy."
—Josey Wales, The Outlaw Josey Wales
"Luna, say something... bible-like over these bodies."
— Riddick
Hector: Send a messenger to the Greeks. Tell them they can collect their dead.
Lieutenant: Would they have done the same for us?
Lieutenant: Would they have done the same for us?
— Troy
Literature
Tsai Wo asked about the three years' mourning for parents, saying that one year was long enough.
"If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite lost. If for three years he abstains from music, music will be ruined. Within a year the old grain is exhausted, and the new grain has sprung up, and, in procuring fire by friction, we go through all the changes of wood for that purpose. After a complete year, the mourning may stop."
The Master said, "If you were, after a year, to eat good rice, and wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?" "I should," replied Wo.
The Master said, "If you can feel at ease, do it. But a superior man, during the whole period of mourning, does not enjoy pleasant food which he may eat, nor derive pleasure from music which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if he is comfortably lodged. Therefore he does not do what you propose. But now you feel at ease and may do it."
Tsai Wo then went out, and the Master said, "This shows Yu's want of virtue. It is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents. And the three years' mourning is universally observed throughout the empire. Did Yu enjoy the three years' love of his parents?"
"If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite lost. If for three years he abstains from music, music will be ruined. Within a year the old grain is exhausted, and the new grain has sprung up, and, in procuring fire by friction, we go through all the changes of wood for that purpose. After a complete year, the mourning may stop."
The Master said, "If you were, after a year, to eat good rice, and wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?" "I should," replied Wo.
The Master said, "If you can feel at ease, do it. But a superior man, during the whole period of mourning, does not enjoy pleasant food which he may eat, nor derive pleasure from music which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if he is comfortably lodged. Therefore he does not do what you propose. But now you feel at ease and may do it."
Tsai Wo then went out, and the Master said, "This shows Yu's want of virtue. It is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents. And the three years' mourning is universally observed throughout the empire. Did Yu enjoy the three years' love of his parents?"
"Let the vermin be flung into a pit. But the Dwarf we will give to his own people to be buried in their own fashion."
— High King Peter, Prince Caspian
"We must bury them [animal carcasses] all."
— Boxer, Animal Farm (1999 film)
"I will remember those who have been forgotten."
— The Second Ideal of the Edgedancers, The Stormlight Archive
Sabriel folded the man's arms against his chest ... Then she stood and drew the Charter marks of fire, cleansing, peace and sleep in the air above the corpse, while whispering the sounds of those same marks. It was a litany that every Charter Mage knew, and it had the usual effect. A glowing ember sparked up between the man's folded arms, multiplied into many stabbing, darting flames, then fire whooshed the full length of the body. Seconds later it was out and only ash remained, ash staining a corselet of blackened mail.
— Sabriel
"If any ground is Consecrate, this ground is.
If any day is Holy, it is this day."
If any day is Holy, it is this day."
— Tiffany Aching officiating a burial, Wintersmith
Live-Action TV
"That... that is not my future. I'm not gonna be buried in a grave. When I'm dead, just throw me in the trash!"
— Frank Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Rube: Well, you gotta stick around 'til your body's been laid to rest.
George's ghost: I'm meat in a Ziploc! How much more rest do I need?!
Rube: That's not important. What is important is that you say a proper goodbye to this life before you say hello to the next one.
George's ghost: I'm meat in a Ziploc! How much more rest do I need?!
Rube: That's not important. What is important is that you say a proper goodbye to this life before you say hello to the next one.
— Dead Like Me, "Pilot"
Music
You must respect the dead
That's where your future lies
You must respect the dead
Or they'll rip out your eyes
That's where your future lies
You must respect the dead
Or they'll rip out your eyes
— Whiplash, "Respect the Dead"
Video Games
"Requiescat In Pace."
— Ezio Auditore, Assassin's Creed II
Altair: No man should pass from this world without knowing some kindness.
Al Mualim: But he shunned your graces.
Altair: As was his right.
Al Mualim: But he shunned your graces.
Altair: As was his right.
Venom Snake: We'll make diamonds from their ashes, take them into battle with us.
Kazuhira Miller: A shining light to our brothers-in-arms, even in death...
Kazuhira Miller: A shining light to our brothers-in-arms, even in death...
"I'm not quite sure what it means to mourn, or even if we have a soul to concern ourselves with... But I hope you’re at rest 2B. Sweet dreams. I’ll be with you before long."
— 9S, NieR: Automata
"I've never seen the point in honoring the fallen. They fell. They lost. And if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a loser.
On the other hand, when the losers refuse to accept the obvious and come out of their graves to bite us in the ass, I can defend spending a little time putting them back."
On the other hand, when the losers refuse to accept the obvious and come out of their graves to bite us in the ass, I can defend spending a little time putting them back."
— Kirsten Geary, The Secret World
"Take a moment... even this man deserves some kindness. Let the Almighty decide his ultimate fate. Father, some men exist to test our faith... this man here, Elias Green, butchered countless innocents and took... souvenirs of their flesh... until, thankfully, he was stopped by a lone man, another lost soul on their own path. For in these dark times it takes a goodly brute to put an end to men like these. Guess... I guess that's all there is. Amen."
— Blackwater Pastor, Red Dead Redemption 2
Webcomics
"It's proper to bury. Only heathen Ssaelit burn the dead. Gefendur bury them always safe in the earth so they can give back to Fat Yerta what they borrowed."
"A world shaped against us; a world of a hundred humiliations. We struggle unsated in stomach, heart, mind, loins. We wither, we waste, we want. And when at last we die, to amuse the gods the basest vermin infest us. As our loved ones weep, we bloat and stink at their feet. God Ssael tells us to reject that. Burn every corpse! Spare man the one humiliation within our power. And even the worst of us are still men, hm?"
Obi-Wan: The Jawas should be burned. It is their way.
R2-D2: My way too. Oh, you mean the dead ones.
R2-D2: My way too. Oh, you mean the dead ones.
— Darths & Droids, Episode 737
"Funerals are the most important cultural celebrations in Wachiru. We will not celebrate your birth, or help the living, or care how you die, but by the Powers you must have a proper funeral."
Web Videos
Western Animation
Starscream: Dreadwing, what has gotten into you?!
[Dreadwing slices off the bit of the drill Starscream is defending himself with with his sword]
Starscream: Wait, this is about Skyquake isn't it?! I thought we had put that behind us!
Dreadwing: So have I! [swipes at Starscream]
Starscream: [yelps] Casualties are an unfortunate consequence of war! But I assure you your twin met his end with great honor!
Dreadwing: WHICH YOU DISGRACED BY RAISING HIM FROM THE DEAD!
Starscream: Oh, you know about that... There must be something I can do! Some form of reparation I can offer to alleviate your anguish!
Dreadwing: YOUR SPARK WILL SUFFICE!!!
[Dreadwing slices off the bit of the drill Starscream is defending himself with with his sword]
Starscream: Wait, this is about Skyquake isn't it?! I thought we had put that behind us!
Dreadwing: So have I! [swipes at Starscream]
Starscream: [yelps] Casualties are an unfortunate consequence of war! But I assure you your twin met his end with great honor!
Dreadwing: WHICH YOU DISGRACED BY RAISING HIM FROM THE DEAD!
Starscream: Oh, you know about that... There must be something I can do! Some form of reparation I can offer to alleviate your anguish!
Dreadwing: YOUR SPARK WILL SUFFICE!!!
