Quotes / The Lost Lenore

"So, it's Valentine's Day and there's a place I stop by once a year. Nobody knows. I don't make a big deal out of it. It's about remembering someone who was so important to me I was going to spend the rest of my life with her. I didn't know that meant she would only get to spend the rest of her life with me. There is nothing I can do about it and I've come to accept that. But, when you lose someone you love, everyone tells you to pick up and move on. 'Don't dwell on the past.' 'It is what she would want.' And that makes me smile. Like I would ever want to forget you."

— Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Blue

Paris: You know, it's funny, but Asher died right at the height of my passion for him. I kind of wonder what would have happened if he had lived. Would I have stayed in love with him forever?
Rory: I don't know.
Paris: He died before I could find out. Now I'll always be in love with him. He's my Mike Todd.

— Gilmore Girls

Caitlyn: She still hasn’t moved on?
Vi: Moving on from loss is hard, Caitlyn[...]You and I both know that.

— Adventures of the Morning Star

"The woman I loved is... dead."

— Christian, Moulin Rouge!

"I couldn't tell whether it was Mona or her sister; the body was a mess. The sick bastard had really gotten a kick out of it. Seeing her lying there got me thinking about another woman's body on another bed. Got me thinking about a fallen cradle..."

— Max Payne

"Vachon was a conquistador who was turned while fighting an Incan man he was fighting. The vampire who turned them tells them to stop senseless killing in the world—before killing herself senselessly."

— Allison Pregler on Forever Knight

"I'd propose there's a counterpart to the MPDG, though I don't have nearly as catchy a name. That would be the guilt-inducing ghost wife, filmed in ethereal late afternoon light, fragile, frequently desexualized, a specter of memory and failure haunting our tortured, widowed heroes — why couldn't I save her — in visions, flashbacks or more fantastical set-ups. (...) Idealized and resented, ghost wives are both saint and tormentor, instrumental to the plot, spurring our mourning hero on to seek revenge, redemption or resolution. Like the MPDG, there's a distinct subjective quality to their characterization — they're along for the ride, but they don't get to tell the story. Unlike the MPDG, being dead, the best they can hope for is to be banished or joined in the afterlife."

— IFC.com

Now, never losing sight of the object—supremeness or perfection at all points, I asked myself—"Of all melancholy topics what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?" Death, was the obvious reply. "And when," I said, "is this most melancholy of topics most poetical?" From what I have already explained at some length the answer here also is obvious—"When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover."

— Trope Namer Edgar Allan Poe, The Philosophy of Composition

"What am I supposed to be, now that she's gone? When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different. Someone better. When that person's taken from you, what do you become then?"

— John Reese, Person of Interest

"The memory of our days is still burning me up inside."

— Guts, Berserk

"Do you want to know the horrible truth? I can't even remember what she looked like... I only know she was the one thing I ever wanted...someone took her away from me...and seven kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind."

— King Robert Baratheon, Game of Thrones

The assassination of White’s wife is played off like the death of Obi Wan and Dumbledore combined. Yet despite that we only had two scenes with the wife before and both of them she was a shrill heartless b*tch.

—Miles Antwiler on Year of the Dragon (1985)

"This is how I'll always remember you. Surrounded by winter. Forever young, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love. The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish Best Served Cold."

— Mr. Freeze, Batman: The Animated Series

"Someone extremely dear to me was lost very early in my life. My mind has always plagued me with the question: If the choice been placed in my hands, could I have saved her? The memory of her has haunted me my entire life, and more so in these last few years than I could ever have imagined. But given the events of these past few weeks I feel confident that had I been given the chance I would have made those sacrifices myself. Had I only the chance..."

— Director Leonard Church, Red vs. Blue Reconstruction

Jane Sagan: What is it like when you lose someone you love?
John Perry: You die too. And you wait around for your body to catch up.

— Old Man's War

It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it over?
You won, and she chose you
And she loved you
And she's gone
It's over, isn't it?
Why can't I move on?

— "It's Over, Isn't It?", by Pearl, Steven Universe

How do you feel, loving a rose?
Guarding her life day and night
How do you feel, losing that rose?
Killed by a storm you can't fight...

— "Lea", CATS

Major Anya Amasova: Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. License to kill and has done so on numerous occasions. Many lady friends, but married only once. Wife killed—

James Bond: (bluntly) Alright, you've made your point.

Amasova: You're sensitive, Mr. Bond?

Bond: About some things, yes.

— The Spy Who Loved Me

"Kill everything you see. Kill them all. And once Targoviste has been made into a graveyard for my love, go forth into the country. Go now. Go to all the cities of Wallachia: Arges! Severin! Gresit! Chilia! Enisara! Go now and kill. Kill for my love! Kill for the only true love I ever knew. Kill for the endless lifetime of hate before me."

— Dracula, Castlevania (2017), "Witchbottle"

All my friends tell me I should move on
I'm lying in the ocean, singing your song
Ah, that's how you sang it
Loving you forever can't be wrong
Even though you're not here, won't move on
Ah, that's how we played it

— Lana Del Rey, "Dark Paradise"

Since your death
Everything has felt
so meaningless and vain
That I've lost the will to live

Love, your death
Ripped my heart right out
And since you went away
Life's had nothing more to give

— Sentenced, "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die"

"My love, sweet queen and noble wife, I alone remain to bring delivery of your pain. Severed, my darling, too quickly from this life. Of fires drawn and memories met, I shall hold our two hearts again in single time."

—Dr. Anton Phibes, The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Cloud: Tifa, I'm not fit to help anyone. Not my family, not my friends, nobody.
[...]
Tifa: Which is it? A memory or us?

— Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Timpani... After you vanished, I searched long for you. I never stopped looking. I searched and searched, but I never found you. Without you, the world held no meaning or joy. So I used the forbidden prophecy of the Tribe of Ancients to end all worlds. I wanted to destroy everything that had taken you away from me...

— Count Bleck, Super Paper Mario

Edgin: When Zia died, so did my devotion to my oath. I'm sorry, it's just hard to relive this...without Jarnathan here.
Councilor:Again with this?
Edgin: But he missed the most important part of my backstory! How can he judge me without knowing my motivation?

— Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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