List of last words in fiction

"Baoyu, Baoyu, you are so ..."

("宝玉，宝玉，你好 ...")

— Lin Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin and Gao E, 1791).

"O! love,—joy,—peace!"

— Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852).[1]

"Who, —who, —who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

— Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852), quoting Romans 8:35.[2]

"Lord, forgive me all!"

— Anna Karenina in Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy, 1877), after throwing herself under a train.[3]

"Look out—here I go!"

— The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1900), after Dorothy throws a bucket of boiling water onto her, melting her body.[4]

"Like a dog!"

("Wie ein Hund!")

— Joseph K. in The Trial (Franz Kafka, 1925), while being executed by two functionaries of the court.[5][6]

"It's the finish – but let's incinerate – this."

— Herbert West in "Herbert West–Reanimator" (H. P. Lovecraft, 1922) before being lynched and torn to pieces by the undead mob he had resurrected through his scientific experiments.[7]

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"

— Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick (Herman Melville, 1851).[8]

"God bless Captain Vere!"

— Billy Budd in Billy Budd (Herman Melville, 1924), just before being hanged aboard HMS Bellipotent.[9]

"Billy Budd, Billy Budd."

— Captain Edward Fairfax Vere in Billy Budd (Herman Melville, 1924), mortally wounded by musket ball from French ship.[10]

"Now is the Quest achieved, and my doom full-wrought."

— Beren in The Silmarillion (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1977), mortally wounded by the great Wolf Carcharoth.[note 1][11]^:186

"Water, water! Take now Niënor Níniel daughter of Húrin; Mourning, Mourning daughter of Morwen! Take me and bear me down to the Sea!"

— Niënor Níniel in The Children of Húrin (J. R. R. Tolkien, 2007), before killing herself upon learning that she has married and conceived a child by her brother, Túrin Turambar.[12]

"Hail Gurthang, iron of death, you alone now remain! But what lord or loyalty do you know, save the hand that wields you? From no blood will you shrink. Will you take Túrin Turambar? Will you slay me swiftly?"

— Túrin Turambar in The Children of Húrin (J. R. R. Tolkien, 2007), to his sword before killing himself.[note 2][12]

"Forgive me, and my pride that has brought you to this doom."

— Isildur in Unfinished Tales (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1980), to his son Elendur before attempting to escape the battle of the Gladden Fields with the One Ring.[13]

"There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"

— Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937), to Bilbo Baggins.[14]

"Fly, you fools!"

— Gandalf the Grey in The Fellowship of the Ring (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954), to his fellowship before being pulled off of the broken Bridge of Khazad-dûm in Moria.[15]

"Let me lie here — to keep the Fords till Éomer comes!"

— Théodred in Unfinished Tales (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1980), mortally wounded at the First Battle of the Fords of Isen.[16]

"Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed."

— Boromir in The Two Towers (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954), when mortally wounded by Orc arrows.[17]

"Come hither! Come, if you are not all recreant!"

— Denethor in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), to his servants just before immolating himself.[18]^:130

"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

— The Witch-king of Angmar in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), before being slain by Éowyn.[18]^:116

"Hail, King of the Mark! Ride now to victory! Bid Éowyn farewell!"

— Théoden in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), naming his nephew Éomer as King of Rohan after being mortally injured by his horse falling on him in battle.[18]^:119

"Precious"

— Gollum in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), while falling into the Cracks of Doom with the One Ring.[18]^:224

"You told me to; you made me do it."

— Gríma Wormtongue in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), to Saruman just before cutting his throat and then being shot with arrows by Hobbits.[18]^:299

"You do what Sharkey says, always, don't you, Worm? Well, now he says: follow!"

— Saruman in The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), to Gríma Wormtongue just before being killed by him.[18]^:299

"In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!"

— Aragorn in The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen from Appendix A of The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955), to Arwen, his wife and queen, on his deathbed.[18]^:344

"... what's wrong?"

— Jason Todd In Batman: A Death in the Family (DC Comics, 1988) to his biological mother Sheila Haywood after finding out that the Joker had betrayed her and locked them up in a room with a ticking bomb.[19]

"... nice one, mate."

— Billy Butcher in The Boys (Dynamite Comics, 2012) while being killed by Hughie Campbell.[20]

"You fucking fucking fuck you fucked my life!!!"

— Homelander in The Boys (Dynamite Comics, 2012) to his clone Black Noir after finding out that the latter incriminated him for heinous acts of mass murder, rape and cannibalism.[21]

"Doomsday ... is he ... is he ..."

— Superman in The Death of Superman (DC Comics, 1993) after his titanic struggle with Doomsday which left them both (temporarily) dead.[22]

"I want to go home."

— Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue (Mykelti Williamson) in Forrest Gump (1994), to Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), after being mortally wounded in the Vietnam War.

"John, I'm not going to shoot you between the eyes! I'm going to shoot you between the BALLS!"

— Bennett (Vernon Wells) in Commando (1985), to John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger), before attempting to shoot him, only for Matrix to impale him with a pipe.

"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?"

— Sors Bandeam (Ross Beadman) in Revenge Of The Sith (2005), to Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) before he kills him and several other younglings during Order 66 in the Jedi Temple.

"Rosebud."

— Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) in Citizen Kane (1941), where the film largely revolves around these last words.

"You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister you were right."

— Darth Vader (Sebastian Shaw[note 3]) in Return of the Jedi (1983), replying to his son saying "I've got to save you."

"Yes, anything."

— Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), agreeing to help Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), before Kylo impales him with his lightsaber and he falls from the bridge they are standing on.

"I feel ... cold."

— Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), after being shot by Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).[note 4]

"Say "auf wiedersehen" to your Nazi balls."

— Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) in Inglourious Basterds (2009), to Dieter Hellstrom (August Diehl), before shooting him in the groin, causing a shootout in which he's killed.

"What have you ... done!"

— Ironhide (Jess Harnell) in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), after Sentinel Prime shoots him through the back with a cosmic rust rifle.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

— Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) in Django Unchained (2012), to Django (Jamie Foxx), before being shot by Butch Pooch (James Remar).

"I'll get the money. Tell them I-I'll get the money."

— Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) in Casino Royale (2006), to Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), before being shot by him.

"Clever girl."

— Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) in Jurassic Park (1993), to a Velociraptor, before being devoured by it.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

— Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner (1982), to Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), shortly after saving his life.

"Someone has to help."

— Tadashi Hamada (Daniel Henney) in Big Hero 6 (2014), to his brother (Ryan Potter), before rushing into a fire to save Professor Callaghan, only for the building to explode.

"I would have got you."

— William "D-Fens" Foster (Michael Douglas) in Falling Down (1993), to Sgt. Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall), after being shot by him in a suicide-by-cop act.

"I'll always love you."

— Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) to her father Donald Thompson before finding out that he's actually Freddy Krueger in disguise.[23]

"Alice! You'll need my power!"

— Kristen Parker (Tuesday Knight) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) to Alice Johnson after being thrown into a boiler by Freddy.[24]

"Buddy, I think you're slime."

— Officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) in RoboCop (1987) to crime lord Clarence Boddicker before being blasted to death by him and his gang prior to being resurrected by OCP as RoboCop.[25]

"Megatron? Is that you?"

— Starscream (Chris Latta) to the named character in Transformers: The Movie(1986) when he crashes Starscream's coronation in a new body, immediately recognizing his murderer. He transforms into his brand new turret form and shoots Starscream, the plasma reducing his body to colorless shards of dust.

"I'm scared of you ..."

— Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) to The Homelander (Antony Starr) in The Boys (2019) before he kills her with heat vision.[26]

"The Shiniga-"

—When Watari, L's assistant, erases their digital evidence after he is attacked by the named creature, L (Alessandro Juliani) attempts to warn his coworkers of the creature hidden in the building before his sentence is interrupted by a heart attack dealt to him by Light.

"O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die."

— Romeo

"O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die."

— Juliet

in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare, 1597), where the two commit suicide by poisoning and stabbing, respectively, in grief over the other's death (although Juliet's death was fabricated).[27]

"So 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet."

— Sir John Falstaff

in The Life of Henry the Fifth (William Shakespeare, c. 1600), as reported by Mistress Quickly.[28]

"The rest is silence."

— Prince Hamlet

in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (William Shakespeare, c. 1600), after being wounded with a poisoned rapier.[29]

"Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!"

— Desdemona

in The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice (William Shakespeare, 1603), after being strangled by her husband, Othello.[30]

"I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee. No way but this; killing myself, to die upon a kiss."

— Othello

in The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice (William Shakespeare, 1603), after stabbing himself.[30]

"Kokoro ... You were right about your father ... Tell your sister you were right ... You ... have ... become ... vice-president ... of DOATEC ..."

— Miyako in Dead or Alive 7 (Future), to her daughter after being assassinated by a skull-masked sniper.

"The new Shirai Ryu are worthy. It is heart, not fighting, that makes them warriors."

— Scorpion in MK11 to himself in the past after being impaled and poisoned by D'Vorah.

"Keep going to the forest! Don't look back! Run!"

— Sypha Belmont talking to her son after tripping on a log while they were running from lycans in Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate.

"This is good... isn't it?"

—Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, making peace with Solid Snake before succumbing to the new strain of FOXDIE.

"I know it's soon, but ... Think you'll ever love again? Maybe you won't kill your next family ..."

— The Joker in Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013) while provoking Superman into plunging a fist through his ribcage after tricking Superman into killing his pregnant wife Lois Lane and detonating a nuclear bomb that destroys Metropolis.[31]

"Sha-"

— Shazam in Injustice attempting to harness his powers while Superman holds him by the neck for bringing up Lois before Supermans cuts off his breathing with frozen breath and fries his brain with laser vision.

"Yes... I know... But I wanted to believe it! ... I wanted to live in a world where only Reploids exist...... with, you..."

— Iris in Mega Man X4 (1997) after Zero, her lover, defeats her while she is blinded by grief of the Colonel's death after Zero killed him. Iris dies after Zero accidentally destroys her Ride Armor's Exterior Power Core, reverting her to her original form. Immobilized, she defends herself by explaining she wanted to live in a world with only reploids(a race in the series) together with Zero. This scene, even more Zero's dialogue after, was ridiculed in the 2000s for its mediocre voice acting and syncing.

"Ha... I die victorious... Count Dracula rises even now! Let him purge the world in flames! Hahaha!"

—Shaft in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night displays his personal chimera of Dracula to Alucard before he is vanquished. You can also fight him using Maria, but canonically Alucard is credited.

"Oh, when I'm gone, everyone' gonna remember my name, Big Smoke!"

—Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) before dying due to bullet wounds.

"Martyr me....For Cordis Die"

—Raul Menendez in Call of Duty: Black Ops II should David Mason, the playable character, decide to kill him in the final mission

"Send me out...with a bang...."

—Sergeant Johnson in Halo 3 before succumbing to his wounds after being critically injured by 343 Guilty Spark

"In a world without gold, we might have been heroes!"

—Blackbeard in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag shortly before being cut down by a British sailor during a battle