Final First Hug

"Trunks... Papa has not hugged you once... not since you were born. Please let Papa hug you."

—Vegeta, Dragonball Z

Some characters (and some real people) consider the very natural act of a father showing his love for his children to be un-manly and anathema. They so habitually maintain their stoic badass attitudes they never tell their children they love them or hug them, not till their dying hour.

Heroes or antiheroes who enact this trope have lived their entire lives true to the notion that emotion is weakness, still loving their children but never even saying so.

Yet, at the moment of death, such a father might find that his pride seems immaterial and insignificant compared to the crying child before him. Deciding that it's not worth to go to his grave honorably with regret for it, he dissolves into the long overdue personification of love for the first and last time before facing the final journey.

The source of many Tear Jerker endings. Doing this means usually also to Go Out with a Smile. See also Last Kiss.

Examples of Final First Hug include:

Anime and Manga

• In the Japanese version of Dragonball Z, Horikawa Ryo's finest performance as Vegeta was encapsulated in the scene where he must get his son Trunks to escape from the incoming demon Buu. The invariably proud Warrior Prince softens with sincerity, and says the page quote above, does so before giving his life to save his family's (Of course, he also knocks him unconscious to prevent the boy from following.).
  • This isn't even the first time Vegeta's done that. In Namek Saga, he pats Gohan on the head, says that he and the boy are like brothers who must look out for each other... then knees him in the stomach. He then tells the 5-year-old boy to get the hell off the battlefield and go back to his ship.
  • Chris Sabat likewise did an outstanding job, leaving many in the english speaking audience crying Manly Tears that day hearing his performance, giving his son, Trunks his Final First Hug.
• Ross Igorl and his estranged son Alan (also Laura, not strictly his child, but a war orphan the good guys have adopted) in Dancougar.
• When Raoh of Fist of the North Star, broken-and-defeated by Kenshiro, holds the younger warrior's face for the first and final time like a big brother:

Raoh: Come, let me see the face of the man who has defeated Raoh... You are magnificent, my little brother.
Kenshiro: Big brother...

• A friendly version in Fairy Tail, Jellal and Erza do this when they believe that they are about to be obliterated by Etherion, Jellal seeing the error of his ways and Erza refusing to abandon him like before. They don't die and Jellal still turns out to be evil, so...
• Happens during the apocalyptic season 1 finale of Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Christina and Lichtendahl die in each other's arms when the Ptolemaios is destroyed.

Film

• The Terminator may not be able to cry, but his love for his "adoptive son" John was more than affirmed with his one and only embrace for him in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
• Perhaps not a hug, but the tone of this trope is certainly there in Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader asks Luke to remove his helmet so he can look at his son through his own eyes 'just one time'. Since they'd been enemies on the opposite sides of the war and all, and Luke's father was in the process of showing us that Redemption Equals Death, it's understandable why this was the first and final display of affection.
• In the 2007 Beowulf movie, it is revealed the the dragon Beowulf fights to the mutual death is actually his own son, by way of the same creature that was mother to Grendel. After the climax of the movie, wherein the dragon has mortally wounded Beowulf, and he has torn out the dragon's heart, they both crashland on the beach. There, the dragon's form melts away into the waves, revealing a shiny, golden humanoid. It's not quite a hug, but Beowulf looks his son in the eyes and lays a hand on his shoulder before his corpse washes away.
• Tron: Legacy: The reintegration between Flynn and Clu looks a lot like this, with Flynn wrapping his arms around his "wayward son" even as Clu is being absorbed back into his body.

Live Action TV

• Sam and Dean in Supernatural would die for each other, have killed for each other, would sell their soul for each other but when do the fans finally get to see them hug? When Sam's just been stabbed in the back and dies in Dean's arms. Oh Kripke, you Magnificent Bastard!
• In The X-Files episode "Anasazi," Mulder visits his father, who gives him a big hug shortly before he is killed in his own bathroom. Earlier in the season, he had noticeably declined to hug his son. Probably not the first hug ever, but likely the first in a long while.
  • Similarly, in season 8, Mulder only gets to see his son for two days before having to leave to go into hiding. Originally intending just to be a long absence, this turns out to be the only time he ever got to see William.
• On Lost, Jack's father is hard on him believing this will mold Jack into a great doctor. Their "final first hug" occurs in the finale, after they are both dead.
• Parodied a bit in the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft". Within the game, Stan's father's character is killed in combat, and the two avatars play out a tearful Final First Hug. Meanwhile, Stan and his father are both alive and well in front of separate computers. (Not to mention that Death Is Cheap in the video game, and Randy can revive his character with only minor inconvenience.)

Video Game

• Big Boss of Metal Gear Solid 4 hugs his cloned son for the first and final time as he dies in front of the grave of The Boss, his adoptive mother and teacher. Notable since Solid Snake and Big Boss were enemies in the original Metal Gear games.
• It's not exactly the trope, but after the final battle of Mother 3, after Claus kills himself with his own lightning, he stumbles towards his twin brother Lucas and hugs him for the last time. A Tear Jerker moment, indeed.
• It's pretty safe to assume that Jecht hasn't praised Tidus once, at least not that Tidus can recall. So after the party defeats Sin/Jecht and Jecht collapses, dying For Real, it means a lot that Tidus rushes to his dad's side and that Jecht doesn't push him away.

Real Life

• David Vetter spent his entire life isolated in a plastic bubble (yes, this is the original Bubble Boy). His parents were only able to hold him as he lay dying.