Grief Tropes

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Tropes about grief and mourning losses, usually of people who have died, but not necessarily. See also Funeral Tropes, Will and Inheritance Tropes, and This Index Broke Up.

Has nothing to do with a Griefer.

• Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: A character who unintentionally caused a child's death in the past carries the burden into the present.
• Aging Pet Angst: Grieving over a pet that is getting old and doesn't have a lot of time left.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy: YMMV; a character's detractors feel sorry for the character after they are killed off.
• Alas, Poor Villain: A villain's demise is portrayed as sympathetic.
• Alas, Poor Yorick: Lamenting the deceased while holding their skull.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: A twin dies and their surviving sibling grieves their passing.
• Antagonist in Mourning: The bad guy feels sorry for the hero's death.
• Bleed 'Em and Weep: Someone cries after killing someone.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Two characters bond over the fact that they both have missing relatives.
• Break-Up Bonfire: A character burns mementos of a failed relationship.
• Burn Baby Burn: A character burns something with negative associations.
• Comforting the Widow: Someone takes advantage of someone else's grief to have sex with them.
• Condolence Casserole: Grieving people receive baked dishes after someone close to them dies.
• Cradle of Loneliness: Cradling a keepsake of the person you're mourning.
• Cradling Your Kill: The corpse is cradled by the killer.
• Distant Funeral Attendee: Someone attends a funeral separate from the other mourners.
• Empty Bedroom Grieving: A person's death and/or disappearance is magnified by their abandoned bedroom.
• Empty Chair Memorial: Honoring someone's memory by leaving the chair they used to sit in empty.
• Eternal Grief at the End: A character is unable to move on after losing a loved one.
• Excessive Mourning: Someone mourns another person's death to the point that they become a problem.
• Family Pillar Death: The grief over the loss of a parental figure causes the rest of the family to break apart, often times ending in them disliking, if not outright hating each other.
• Five Stages of Grief: Sad characters always go through these five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Mourning someone because you could've had a great life with them.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: The Hero mourns for their dead loved one and then gets over them very quickly.
• Good Night, Sweet Prince: A Stock Phrase used when a man dies.
• Grave-Marking Scene: A character visits the grave of a deceased loved one.
• Grief-Induced Split: A couple breaks up after a tragedy, usually a death.
• Grief Makes You Crazy: Someone loses their sanity due to losing a loved one.
• Grief Song: A musical piece about someone mourning the death of a loved one.
• Hats Off to the Dead: Respecting the dead by removing your hat.
• Heartbroken Badass: The tough as nails badass feels sad because they've lost their loved one.
• Her Heart Will Go On: When a person's love interest dies, they don't let their death keep them from finding someone else to love.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Hero blames themself for not being able to prevent a loved one's death.
• I Miss Mom: Character misses their dead/missing parent(s).
• In Memoriam: The work features a dedication to someone who died before the work was released.
• Last Disrespects: Rather than being mourned, someone is mocked or disrespected by the people close to them after their death.
• Losing the Team Spirit: A team falls into depression after someone's death.
• Lost Food Grievance: A character is sad because they just lost some food they were going to eat.
• The Lost Lenore: A character loses a love interest, and their death affects them more than if they'd lived.
• Lost Pet Grievance: A character feels upset over the death of their beloved pet.
• Lost Toy Grievance: A character is sad about losing a beloved toy.
• Mangst: An otherwise tough character (usually male) is dealing with a subtle form of grief.
• Memorial Character: A character in a work is based on or named for a real person who died, as a way of immortalizing that person.
• Memorial for the Antagonist: Offering a funeral service for the deceased villain out of respect or honor, despite their atrocities.
• Memorial Photo: The deceased has a photo of them when they were alive shown during the funeral service.
• Missing Man Formation: Fighter pilots fly in an incomplete formation to honor a fallen teammate.
• Mocking the Mourner: A character uses another character's loss as a means to deride or harangue them.
• Mourning a Dead Robot: A robot dies or is destroyed, and is mourned by its organic counterparts.
• The Mourning After: After the love interest dies, the surviving member of the couple refuses to find a new love because they consider it disrespectful to their deceased lover.
• Mourning an Object: An inanimate object is destroyed, goes missing, or stops working, and is treated by the characters as though it has died.
• Moving Beyond Bereavement: A character arc in which the death of a loved one must eventually be accepted.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Character is upset about a loved one's death because they never had the chance to say goodbye before their demise.
• Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Person mourning someone they thought died unknowingly interrupts the person without realizing they're actually alive.
• Pietà Plagiarism: A pose where a dead person is carried in the arms of someone grieving them.
• Poppies for the War Dead: Poppy flowers symbolize and memorialize those killed in war.
• Premature Eulogy: People pay their respects to a dead character, without the realization they're still alive.
• Remember the Dead: You only exist in the afterlife so long as there are people who remember you.
• Sex for Solace: Characters have sex, usually repeatedly or unhealthily, to reduce the pain from a traumatic experience, usually someone's death or a failed relationship.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Creating a shrine to honor the deceased.
• Sorrowful Stutter: A character chokes up when speaking about or saying their deceased loved one's name.
• Survivor Guilt: The one person left alive feels bad that they didn't die with the others who were killed or that the others weren't the ones who survived.
• To Absent Friends: Two or more good guys gather to grieve for a dead comrade, without a formalized structure.
• Too Injured to Save: People grieving for a friend who is about to die.
• Tragic Abandoned Toy: A sentient toy grieves after being lost or forgotten.
• Tragic Bromance: Two heroes are friends. One dies.
• Tragic Keepsake: A bereaved person holds onto an item because that's all they have to remember their dead loved one.
• Tragic One-Shot Character: A one-shot character is killed and their death affects the main character.
• Tragic Stillbirth: Parents are saddened by their child being stillborn.
• Viewers in Mourning: A fictional character dies, the audience is extraordinarily sad.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Characters express sorrow at lives wasted, particularly those of their enemies.
• Why Couldn't You Save Them?: Someone is angry at the hero because they were unable to save a loved one.
• You Should Have Died Instead: A grieving character lashes out at someone who apparently was more deserving of death than the beloved person who did pass away.