Ending Memorial Service
An end-of-story memorial service given by a support or surviving major character in memory of less fortunate characters. May serve as a handy explanation of what would otherwise be a Gainax Ending to wrap things up and tell you that no, the heroes are not "just hiding", or merely an emotive, tragic summative on the sorry affair.
See The Hero Dies and Kill'Em All for what may lead to this kind of ending being needed. May be used to prevent a Gainax Ending. Bittersweet Endings are the most common to feature this. See also To Absent Friends, which is closely related.
Note that this is both an Ending Trope and a Death Trope, so expect major spoilers... especially since the appearance of this trope is an indication that the main character might have bought it.
So read on at your own risk.
As a Death Trope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.
As an Ending Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.
Anime and Manga
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has one, held for Kamina.
- The Vampire Hunter D movie Bloodlust ends with Leila's funeral 60 years later.
Comic Books
- In All Fall Down, Grace delivers one of these for Sophie, with strong implications that the heroes and villains will eventually find closure and move on.
Film
- Occurs in the ending of the classic submarine movie Run Silent Run Deep.
- Armageddon has this.
- Occurs in the ending of Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan.
- Occurs at the end of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
- A Filipino movie called "Utol" ("Brother") ended with the main character attending his friend's funeral. Then he adopts a puppy on his way home. Awww.
- Brief and solemn at the end of Serenity. No dialog necessary.
- The Bucket List.
Literature
- The Mysteries of Pittsburgh ends with Cleveland's funeral and Art reflecting on the summer past and how the various characters have dealt and are dealing with it.
- The end of The Wild Boy is like this, with a memorial service for Ilox and Phlarx.
Live Action TV
- Season 1 of Combat Hospital ends with a memorial being interrupted by new wounded coming in and medical staff leaving to deal with it.
- Torchwood: Miracle Day ends with a funeral for Esther.
- The Doctor Who episode "The Family of Blood" ends with a memorial service attended by Timothy- a young boy for the majority of the two-parter, but now seen nearly a hundred-years later, reflecting on World War I.
- Parodied by Canada's Worst Driver in its season 7 finale, which gave a funeral to The Alleged Car.
- The Stargate SG-1 two-parter "Heroes" ends with the funeral for Dr. Frasier, where Samantha Carter reads a list of names belonging to people whom the departed has saved.
Video Games
- At the end of Halo 3, Earth's commander gives a memorial service in memory of those who died in the final battle, including Master Chief. Subverted in the fact that Master Chief isn't quite dead yet.
- In Final Fantasy X, Yuna delivers this at a memorial blitzball tournament, reminding everyone of the sacrifices made by certain characters to bring peace to Spira.
- In Dragon Age, if your Grey Warden sacrificed themselves to stop the Archdemon then you'll get to see their memorial service.
- At the end of Mass Effect 2, if you lose squadmates on the Suicide Mission you will see Shepard standing over a group of coffins, one for each teammate lost. Averted if you work your hardest to get everyone out alive.
- Full Throttle ends with a memorial service held for Malcolm Corley, who is killed early in the story. The "biker priest" Father Torque reads the elegy.
Western Animation
- The second episode of Galaxy Rangers ends with Eliza being put into stasis. It's not a funeral in the sense she's dead, but she might as well be. Complete with Rousing Speech by Commander Walsh, Perpetual Smiler Zozo openly weeping, and Eliza's husband making his Heroic Vow to restore her to life, no matter what it takes.
- The Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se" was split into several sub-stories, with most of the major characters getting their own little vignette. Iroh's Tale ending with a heart crushing song about war, while the old-general cried over his son's memorial. To make it worst, it counts as an actual memorial to Mako, Iroh's voice actor who had just passed away.