Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?
Rhett: I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong.
Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!
Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you.
Rhett: That's your misfortune. [turns to walk down the stairs]
Scarlett: Oh, Rhett! [watches Rhett walk to the door] Rhett! [runs down the stairs after him] Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
Rhett: I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong.
Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!
Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you.
Rhett: That's your misfortune. [turns to walk down the stairs]
Scarlett: Oh, Rhett! [watches Rhett walk to the door] Rhett! [runs down the stairs after him] Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
A Stock Phrase said by one character desperate for another not to leave. Often said by a very lonely character, or maybe a young character with no one else to look after them. Said by a love interest frequently as well.
May be accompanied by a Caught the Heart on His Sleeve moment. Many many variations exist, such as "Don't leave me alone again!" "Don't abandon me!" or "You can't go!" May be accompanied by Please, I Will Do Anything!.
If the person being addressed has to go on alone regardless for whatever reason, expect a Tear Jerker moment, especially when done coldly, such as with a Little "No". This is also quite common when the person being addressed is dying, in which case this becomes How Dare You Die on Me!. Can also be a plea to prevent Dying Alone. Alternatively, to instantly turn this trope happy, just add one You Are Not Alone.
There's a third variant as well, which is less heartfelt or tragic (or more accurately, less tragic for the speaker, and even then there are exceptions) and more disturbing—this variant is generally meant to make the speaker of the phrase seem more abusive or possessive, as detailed a bit more in the Real Life section below. In these cases, expect a smidge more emphasis on the "me" part of the phrase.
Contrast with Please Dump Me. Compare Please Wake Up.
Example subpages:
Other examples:
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Comic Books
- Amulet: In Book 1, Miskit leaps onto Silas's deathbed begging him to not leave his creations before they're temporarily shut down until Emily wakes them up again.
- Blue Beetle: In the 2006 series issue #7, Jamie, having vanished for a year, has his family not exactly accepting of him, and so he explains what's happened, eventually reliving a moment when he cries out "Don't let me die alone!". Which is when they go to him.
- Infinite Crisis: In issue #7, as her cousin Golden Age Superman is dying, Power Girl cries out "please, don't leave me alone".
Power Girl: No. Don't leave me alone, Kal. Please, don't leave me alone again.
- The Maxx: In issue #11, Julie and Maxx are sitting on a rooftop, where Julie is struggling to find the words to explain to him why she has to move away, with little success. While Maxx stares stoically off into the distance, The sky around him is literally comprised entirely of the words "please please please please...don't leave."
- Superman:
- In the story The Life Story of Superman: When Pa Kent dies, Clark cries and begs him to not leave him (again, since he was losing his second father).
- A non-death example occurs in The Tyrant Superman (Superman (1939) #172). Superman loses his powers and passes the title on to a young Kandorian, telling Jimmy what happened as he explains that his replacement will be answering the signal watch now. As he says goodbye and walks away, Jimmy begs his best friend not to just disappear from his life.
- The Ultimates: When Hulk thought that Betty was getting away in a military transport plane, he got nuts and yelled "DON'T LEAVE BANNER ALONE AGAIN"
- Watchmen: When Jon Osterman is trapped in a lab device that will, as far as he knows, kill him in a few seconds when it switches on, he breaks down and begs Janey Slater not to leave him. She does, though - she says that she can't stand to watch.
- Wolverine: At the end of the Wolverine (2003) story arc "Get Mystique", Raven, grievously wounded by Wolverine, begs him not to walk away without finishing her off. He ignores her, and walks away, leaving her to expire slowly and painfully, screaming and cursing at him (don't worry, she gets better).
- X-23:
- At the end of X-23: Innocence Lost, X-23 kills her mother in a chemically-induced berserker rage, just as they destroy and escape the Facility that bred her. As Sarah Kinney dies and tells Laura that she loves her, for a moment she stops being a weapon and is just a little girl again, hopelessly begging, "please don't leave me."
- In a flashback scene in All-New Wolverine #7, Laura begs this of Wolverine when he rides off after leaving her at the Xavier School, claiming that it's the best and safest place for her to be and that he can't offer her the sort of family life she wants. Later, Gabby says the same thing about Laura's intentions to send her away to find somewhere safe for her to live a normal life. It triggers Laura's memories of Logan, and twists the knife even further about the guilt she's feeling about the entire situation. Eventually she decides otherwise, in part for that very reason.
- Zombo: Shouted by the bloke who had his arms and legs eaten on the Deathworld by a Cannibal Tribe. His friends say "screw that!" because he's too big to carry.
Films — Animation
- Belle to the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991). This is right after Gaston has seemingly dealt him a fatal wound and she follows this up by telling him that she loves him. After that, he transforms and the curse is broken.
- Coco: Miguel says this to Héctor as he and Imelda are giving him their blessing to send him home, just as the sun is coming up.
- Coraline had a nightmarish version, when Coraline is crawling through the tunnel between her house and the Other World to escape the Other Mother, who frantically pounds on the small door, begging her to come back. The way the camera lingers on it is downright creepy.
The Other Mother: AAAAAAHHH! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!
- In FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Crysta says this to her mentor, Magi, who is about to essentially die.
- Dory to Marlin in Finding Nemo.
Dory: No. No, you can't...Stop! Please don't go away. Please? No one's ever stuck with me for so long before. And if you leave...if you leave...I just, I remember things better with you. I do, look; P...Sherman, forty...two...forty-two...I remember it, I do. It's there, I know it is, because when I look at you, I can feel it. When I look at you...I'm home. Please, I don't want that to go away. I don't want to forget.
Marlin: I'm sorry, Dory..... but I do. - Kung Fu Panda 1:
- In the final scene, Po says this to Shifu when he thinks that he's succumbing to Mentor Occupational Hazard. Hilarity Ensues. The director acknowledges in the DVD commentary that they were consciously "cheating shamelessly" to get the expected audience reaction.
Po: Don't die, Shifu, don't die...
Shifu: I'm not dying, you idiot! (Beat) Dragon... Warrior... I'm...at peace... - Played straight during Oogway's ascension.
Shifu: Master! You can't leave me!
- In the final scene, Po says this to Shifu when he thinks that he's succumbing to Mentor Occupational Hazard. Hilarity Ensues. The director acknowledges in the DVD commentary that they were consciously "cheating shamelessly" to get the expected audience reaction.
- The Land Before Time: Near the end of the first film, Littlefoot's mother appears to him in the form of a cloud which soon starts to dissipate, and he begs her not to go as he chases after her. However, her cloud form reappears and shines a beam of sunlight down to reveal the Great Valley.
- The Lion King: When Mufasa's spirit appears to Simba, telling him to remember who he is and go back to reclaim his rightful place as king, Simba chases after him while he's disappearing, begging him to not to leave him. However, Mufasa's words finally sink into Simba's mind and he decides to go back.
- In the little-known film Nocturna, Tim says this to the Cat Shepherd after the latter dies.
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse:
- An example coming from a villain comes in Into the Spider-Verse. The Kingpin Wilson Fisk]]'s inter-dimensional super-collider shenanigans are motivated by trying to find alternate-universe replacements of his now-deceased family, who ran away after stumbling upon him attempting to kill Spider-Man, tragically dying in the process from a car accident. During the climactic battle inside the collider, he and his plans come to utter ruin when they begin to fizzle in, reacting with the exact same horror at the sight of him trying to kill Spider-Man. Both times, he drops everything to beg for them to come back.
- A flashback in Across the Spider-Verse has Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman begging the mortally-wounded Peter of her home dimension not to go as he loses consciousness and passes away.
- Tangled:
- Mother Gothel convinces Rapunzel to stay in the tower with her by claiming she's too weak and naive to handle the world by herself. Gothel even follows it up by claiming how heartbroken she'd be if any misfortune were to befall Rapunzel if she went out on her own.
- At the climax, after Eugene has cut her hair and is dying of a stab wound, Rapunzel begs him not to leave her.
- Roo begs this to Tigger teary-eyed during the climax of The Tigger Movie, after Tigger attempted to leave the Hundred Acre Wood to pursue his family.
- Megatron, critically injured after his battle with Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, is mocked and kicked by Starscream who orders the Decepticons to leave without him. Megatron begs Soundwave not to abandon him who obliges and carries him along with the others.
- Viva in Trolls Band Together tries to trap Poppy and her friends so she won't lose her sister, Clay opens the door anyway, since he doesn't want to lose his brother either. As Poppy and her friends are leaving, Viva is unable to follow since she's too afraid to step outside, so she begs her sister to stay with her.
Viva:Poppy! Please! I want you to stay!"
- In Turning Red, Mei's red panda spirit is practically bawling its eyes out as Mei goes through the red moon ritual to banish it into a talisman. This forces her to rethink and relive all of the happy moments it has brought her and her friends. In the end, Mei refuses to separate from it, acknowledging that the red panda is part of her.
- At the conclusion of Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope hugs Ralph, and with tears in her eyes, tells Ralph he could stay in her castle with his own wing where he'd be appreciated as he wasn't in his own game.
Films — Live-Action
- The Batman (2022): A woman who Batman helps onto a medevac chopper near the end of the film holds his arm not wanting to be separated before he wordlessly calms her. This is deliberately contrasted with earlier in the film where Gotham's civilians are just as terrified of him as criminals, symbolizing both the public's changing perception of him and Batman's decision to switch from being a Terror Hero to a Hope Bringer to Gotham.
- Chestnut: Hero of Central Park: When Sal plays with Chestnut alone one day, she sees her sister Ray crying on the front steps because she didn’t know where Sal was. Ray begs Sal not to leave her and Sal assures her that she won’t. In the climax, Sal decides to run away with Chestnut without letting anyone know. Ray doesn’t take this well and worriedly tells Laura and Matt, “She’s gone! She’s gone without me!”
- Randal to Dante in Clerks II, on the last day before Dante plans to move to Florida from New Jersey. Also in Clerks III as Dante dies.
Randal: Don't fucking leave me, man. Don't leave me! HELP!!!
- Ever After: Rodmilla does one of these to Auguste as he lays dying of a heart attack, but it's more selfish than loving since she's wailing that he "cannot leave [her] here" while basically ignoring his heartbroken young daughter kneeling beside him; after he does die, Rodmilla proceeds to be horrible to Danielle for the next ten years.
- A Face in the Crowd ends with Lonesome Rhodes screaming "Don't leave me, Marcia," even after his Beleaguered Assistant admits to him that she was the one who sabotaged his career, over frustration with his raging ego, and tells him to never call her again.
- In Far and Away, Shannon says this to Joseph, after his Dying Declaration of Love.
Shannon: Joseph. Joseph, please. Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me alone...
- In Fifty Shades Darker, after almost being killed by one of Christian’s exes, Leila, out of jealousy, and unable to stand his need to dominate, Anastasia intends to leave him reasoning to consider their relationship. Distraught, Christian submissively drops to his knees begging Ana to not leaving him and promises to try his best to change his ways while putting her hand on his chest (which he has never allowed her or anyone to due to his traumatic scars) to show his sincerity.
- In The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Max begs this of Lavagirl when Sharkboy is electrocuted in the water by literal electric eels, shouting, "I CAN'T LET YOU GO! You'll die..." She turns back, ruefully saying that Sharky is her best friend. Later, Max begs them to not die after Lavagirl drags Sharkboy and herself back onto the surface, only for them to temporarily die anyway.
- Gone with the Wind ends with Rhett leaving Scarlett despite her pleas.
- Interstellar has a variant where Cooper sees into the past and sees when he said goodbye to his daughter Murphy. Having endured a lot throughout the movie including learning that his children have come to hate him, Cooper begs Murphy not to let him leave, but being outside of space-time, she can't hear him.
- Lethal Weapon 3 has a platonic example. For the first two-thirds of the movie, Murtaugh has had nothing but good-natured ribbing from his partner Riggs about his imminent retirement. When Riggs tries to snap him out of his Heroic BSoD after he shoots a teenager in the line of duty, however, tempers run high and Riggs's real fears emerge:
Riggs: After all the shit we've been through, don't you get it? Don't you get it? When you retire, you're not just retiring you, you're retiring us! You're retiring us!Murtaugh: That's not my problem!Riggs: Yes it is!Murtaugh: That's not my problem!Riggs: You're the only family I've got! I've got three beautiful kids, I love them, they're yours! Trish does my laundry! I live in your icebox! I live in your life! What am I gonna do? What am I supposed to do?
- In Man of Steel, Jenny begs Perry not to leave her when she's trapped under some rubble as the deadly shockwaves from the Kryptonian World Engine get closer and closer. Perry abandons his chance at escape to stay with her and keep her calm.
- The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima has this — based on what Lucia Santos
said was an actual conversation with "the lady from heaven" — as Lúcia realizes the lady means to take her little cousins "to heaven" long before herself:
Lúcia: You're going to take them? You mean they're going to—The Lady: Have no fear for them!Lúcia: But why must they go, why? What will I do without them? Please, dear lady, don't you see — we've been together since we were babies! They're like my sister and my brother. I took care of Jacinta when she was just a little thing. Besides my mother, I love them more than anyone in the world... Forgive me, my lady. I'll do anything. Let me suffer for them, and I'll be glad. But don't take them. Don't leave me here alone.The Lady: Dear child, I'll be with you always... I will never abandon you. My immaculate heart will be your refuge and the path that leads you to God.note
- John to Elizabeth in 9½ Weeks just after she walks out.
- Towards the end of North Face, Toni is close enough to a team of rescuers to be able to talk to them, but there's some very hard-to-pass terrain between them, it's getting dark and very cold, and it's not safe for them to stay. He's freezing to death and it's unclear whether he'll make it until the next morning when they promise to come back. He begs them to stay and help him; his girlfriend ends up spending the night out there with him, although she can't do anything to help.
- An especially wrenching version in the film Open Water, where the female lead tearfully screams at her husband, who's dying from the wounds sustained in a shark attack, to "hang on! Don't you leave me out all by myself!" Sadly, it proves useless. He dies and the heartbroken woman finally gives up hope of rescue and kills herself.
- John Reed to Louise Bryant in Reds!.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:
- Sam, cradling Frodo's unconscious body, begs him, "Don't leave me here alone. Don't go where I can't follow." note
- Near the end of the film, when the hobbits are gathered at the shore, and Frodo must say goodbye to Sam. This also counts as a Tear Jerker, when Sam realises Frodo intends to leave and not come back.
Frodo: We set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved. But not for me.
Sam: You don't mean that. You can't leave.
- Adam to Lawrence at the end of Saw I as Lawrence is crawling away out of the bathroom to go get help for the two of them.
- Amanda does this with Daniel during Saw III when it looks like he's died from the nerve gas.
- Elinor to Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, when the latter is dying of a fever.
- Shane ends with Joey calling out to the titular gunslinger as he rides off into the sunset:
Joey: Shane! Come back!
- Star Wars
- Twice in Attack of the Clones:
- Padme's pleads with her bodyguard (who has been posing as her) not to die on her in the opening scene.
- Anakin finding his mother, who was captured and tortured by the Tusken Raiders, and cries for her to stay with him. She's only able to smile in happiness at getting to see him one last time before dying as he cradles her.
- Inverted in Return of the Jedi: as he's dying, Anakin/Vader tells Luke to leave him (which Luke initially refuses to do).
- The Force Awakens: During the flashback, a young Rey is seen begging whoever left her on Jakku (presumably her family) to come back as they're leaving on a ship. She also begs Finn, her first real friend, not to abandon the fight against the First Order, to no avail.
- Twice in Attack of the Clones:
- In Thor: The Dark World, Thor begs an apparently dying Loki to "Stay with me, ok?"
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
- Sarah has a dream of Kyle berating her for getting herself locked up and leaving John vulnerable. As Kyle walks out, Sarah chases after him begging that he stay but he vanishes out of her sight.
- In the final battle at the steel factory, John expresses the same sentiment for Sarah as she works to hide him and sacrifice herself to T-1000 to buy him enough time to escape.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction: Tessa says this to Cade when she is inadvertently captured by Lockdown (who was mainly trying to capture Optimus).
- The Israeli film Ushpizin, when Moshe runs after his wife, begging her not to leave him.
- In Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Aunt Roo screams and begs Katy and Christopher not to leave her alone, saying everyone has abandoned her, as the two flee the burning house with Aunt Roo locked in a supply room.
Literature
- A Brother's Price: When Jerin goes off to get married, his littlest sister says she doesn't want him to leave, just like their father did. (The father died not long ago). Cue crying by every kid under five in the family. He eventually comforts them by suggesting they bake a cake, and clarifying that he will come and visit them.
- Cradle Series:
- The primary thing that gets Yerin worked up is the thought of people leaving her, for whatever reason. Her family was slaughtered when she was a child, she was adopted by the Sword Sage, and then he died at about the time the story started. Despite her complaints, she quickly latches onto Lindon, and gets very anxious several times in the early books when it looks like he might leave her. He never does, but when they get separated in Ghostwater, they both have a lot of trouble being apart for a few weeks. They hadn't been apart for more than a day or two since they had met, so they constantly worry about each other.
- Everyone on Lindon's team is like this, Yerin is just the most obvious about it. Lindon was the weakest of his clan and treated as a criminal just for existing, so all he wants is people who appreciate him. Little Blue started life as a non-sapient spirit destined to be used as a reagent in some potion, left in a box until Lindon found her. Eithan, for all his smiles and self-promotion, has been isolated by his incredible skill and genius his entire life and just wants people to be able to walk with him on an even level. Orthos was a great guardian who burned out his own sanity protecting the family, and was left in a cave waiting for a Mercy Kill until Eithan found a way to cure him. Mercy was the genius of her clan who was always friendly to everyone, but her revelation that her motives weren't as pure as she thought shakes her to her core and leads to her exiling herself to prove that she can be a good person after all. Ziel was one of the greatest geniuses in his generation, leading his own sect at an incredibly young age, until he was crippled in a fight against the Sage of Calling Storms while trying to buy time for his sect to escape—and they all died anyway, so it was All for Nothing. None of them will give up on each other, because none of them want to be left behind again.
- In a Celia S. Friedman novel, the protagonist, a young woman orphaned and homeless because of war, becomes the mistress of a soldier who is very much in love with her but whom she doesn't love at all, though she is deeply grateful for his kindness and protection. As he lies dying, she engages in a bit of method-acting, remembering how much she loved her mother and how desperately she misses her, and with all that emotion in her voice cries out: 'I love you, don't leave me!'.
"I was in time. He heard me."
- In the Darkest Powers series, Chloe has an unvoiced one when Derek admits that he often believes that he should leave the group because he endangers them due to being a werewolf. (Not because he might hurt them, but because staying puts them in the line of fire of the numerous people trying to kill him.)
Chloe: I need you. I didn't say that, of course. How could I, without it sounding weird? But I felt it, heart hammering against my ribs, and it wasn't some romantic I can't bear to be without you nonsense. It was something deeper, more desperate.When I thought of Derek leaving, the ground seemed to slide under my feet. I needed something to hold on to, something solid and real when everything around me was changing so fast. Even if there were times when I thought it would be easier without Derek there, ready to tear a strip off me at every misstep, in some ways I relied on that—someone to keep me thinking, keep me striving to do better, keep me from burying my head and praying that it all worked out.
- Scout, in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, was grudgingly taken on as a Padawan by a Jedi who didn't want to like her, since he thought she'd wind up killed. Her previous Master, just before she became his padawan, had been killed in the Clone Wars, and this one was mortally wounded in an ambush.
He was smiling. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile before. Tears welled up inside Scout. "Don't try to talk. It will be all right, Master. Master Yoda will be here soon to take care of you." Tears dropped from her eyes onto his shattered chest. There was a long hitch in his breathing. His eyes closed. "Master Maruk? Master Maruk! Don't go," Scout cried. "Don't leave me!"
His eyes opened, and he smiled again. "Never...," he whispered. "... my Padawan."
His eyes closed, and he was gone. - Brekke, in the second Dragonriders of Pern novel, pleads with F'nor to not die after he is severely injured during a dangerous impromptu scouting mission to the Red Star. To make the situation even worse for her, this happens not very long after the death of her dragon, an event that has been known in other cases to drive the surviving rider to suicide. Her anguish is so amplified by dragon minds that pretty anyone on the planet linked to a dragon or fire-lizard hears it and gives F'nor and his dragon the willpower to teleport back home.
Brekke: Don't leave me alone!
- It's not said out loud on-page in Dr. Franklin's Island, but as Miranda progresses much faster through changes, and is more subject to The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body than her friend Semi, it weighs very heavily on Semi's mind, and she often thinks of Miranda as leaving her behind.
- Earth's Scariest Monsters!: In "Saturday Morning Fever," Isabelle tearfully begs Jermaine to come back to her and their friends during his Saturday morning-induced trance in Saturnos' realm in the Ghost World. She tells Jermaine the Scaredron need him before saying she needs him.
- Karl Oskar does this with Kristina in The Emigrants. Twice. First when she's sick with scurvy on the journey across the Atlantic, then again when she's sick after a miscarriage. It only works once.
- In A Fightingman of Mars, the titular hero, Tan Hadron, has been betrayed by the woman he (supposedly) loves. He realizes that while he can cope with that, he could never survive betrayal by his 'friend' Tavia and begs her never to leave him.
"Swear you will never leave me, I cannot live without you!" (but they're just good friends and comrades - right).
- The Hunger Games:
- "Stay With Me." "Always."
- Also when Clove takes a fatal blow to the head with a rock and Cato begs her to stay with him.
- Hurog: When Oreg is separated from Ward (to whom he is bound as a slave by ancient magic), he suffers so horribly that, once reunited, he clings to Ward's leg and begs him never to leave him again. There is some amount of Fridge Horror, as his suffering when spending too much time too far away from his "owner" is likely an intentional side-effect of the magic that binds him.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, from Sam to Frodo: "Don't go! Don't go where I can't follow!"
- The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong:
- Played for laughs with Ji Jue. He asks Shang Qinghua to stay longer because he doesn't want to return back to his shizun and get beat up again, as Shen Qingqiu was slyly getting pay back at the Bai Zhan Peak disciples for bullying his disciples.
- The Old Palace Master's last words as Qiu Haitang goes mad and flees. As he starts getting covered in the Ties That Bind plants, he starts hallucinating that Luo Binghe is Su Xiyan and begs her to stay with him.
- Luo Binghe begs Shen Qingqiu on many occasions not to leave or abandon him. Shen Qingqiu doesn't understand the true extent of his fear and trauma until Luo Binghe is driven mad by Xin Mo and takes drastic action to keep Shen Qingqiu by his side.
Luo Binghe: It's fine if you resent me, it's fine if you hate me. I won't make any great demands. If you're unsatisfied, you can hit me, try to kill me. After all, I won't die. As long… As long you don't leave me. Truly, I only have this one wish.
- Spice and Wolf: At end of the first volume, Lawrence, afraid that Holo will leave anyway if he asks her not to, he instead demands that she stick around to pay for the clothes she ruined. It works.
- All over the place in The Twilight Saga.
- In When Women Were Dragons, Alex is terrified of losing people she loves. When she fears being left behind by her sister Beatrice, she pleads, first silently and then out loud, for Beatrice to stay with her.
- The Work and the Glory: After over a year of Nathan being either away on missionary service — even missing his daughter's birth — or attending the School of the Prophets from early morning until supper time, though Lydia understands that he's doing important things, she's depressed to breaking point and begs him not to go to Missouri again just to check on things.
Lydia: If Jessica had been hurt or something, then I wouldn't stop you, Nathan. You know that. But she's all right. And I need you, Nathan. Please don't leave me.
- In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff begs this of Cathy, oddly enough, after she is already dead.
"Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer – I repeat it till my tongue stiffens – Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you – haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- In "Passion", after Angelus murders his love interest Jenny Calender, Buffy's Watcher goes on a Suicide Mission to kill Angelus, only to be saved at the last minute by Buffy. Giles rages at her that this wasn't her fight; Buffy slugs him, then gives Giles a Cooldown Hug, crying and saying "You can't leave me. I can't do this alone."
- And again when Giles leaves Buffy after realising he's a Living Emotional Crutch for her.
- In the Angel episode "A Hole in the World", Wesley holds Fred as she dies and begs her to hold on. When she dies, he is so distraught that all he can choke out is a repeated "Please."
- Criminal Minds: The UnSub of "The Uncanny Valley" says it to a victim who's trying to escape.
- Earth Abides: Heather begs Raif not to go while he dies.
- Farscape: Pilot and Moya feel this way toward their crew. The danger in "Through the Looking Glass" only happens because the other main characters were all discussing abandoning ship and Moya and Pilot wanted to prove they were still useful so everyone would stay.
Rygel: (incredulous) You want us to stay?Pilot: Of course! We are most fulfilled when serving others. Your presence is gratifying and comforting.
- In the series finale of Flashpoint, Parker is shot multiple times and critically injured. As they wait for medical help to arrive, both Ed (on scene) and Dean (listening in through the radio) plead with him to stay with them.
- Friends: Chandler claims that he and Monica have split up to get them out of going to dinner with his newly-divorced, obnoxious Jerkass boss Doug. Doug proceeds to drag Chandler to a bunch of strip clubs to help him "celebrate his freedom". After a horrible evening, and seeing just how pathetic Doug has become, Chandler returns home to Monica and says this to her:
Chandler: You know what the worst part was? I got to see what my life would be like without you...please promise that you will never leave me, that we will grow old together, and be with each other for the rest of our lives.
Monica: I promise.- One that didn't work out so well was when he changed his mind about telling Janice she should break up with him to go back to her husband. He ends clinging to her leg in the middle of the coffee house and begging her not to leave. It's both sad and pathetically funny.
- General Hospital: Tracy Quartermaine is talking to her father who is dying, and says "Please, don't go!"
- Girl from Nowhere: TK asks Nanno of this in "Lost and Found". Unfortunately, she does and it's the saddest moment of the first season.
TK: I really like being with you. Please don't disappear on me.
- House:
- House does this to Cuddy in the episode "Bombshells".
- Wilson to Amber in the season four finale.
- House's behavior towards Wilson in early Season 5 is also rooted in this.
- House to Wilson when Wilson decides to give up a part of his liver for a patient. "If you die, I'm alone."
- House trying to push Wilson to undergo chemo to prolong his life is this in typical House fashion. He's a jerk about it, but ultimately he just doesn't want to lose his best friend.
- Leverage: Hardison has been captured, and buried alive. Parker is holding up pretty well, but as things heat up, she begins to lose it.
"Don't leave me, Alec!"
- Lucifer: In the Season 4 finale, Chloe begs Lucifer not to leave her so he can retake the throne of Hell, also confessing her love for him. It doesn't work, but he does give her a parting kiss.
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: In the fourth episode, Kentaro, stranded in the Alaskan cold with near-hypothermia, has a hallucination of his Disappeared Dad whom the cast are trying to find, and he begs him not to leave him again.
- The O.C.: In the season 3 finale, when Marissa and Ryan get in a car accident, a dying Marissa begs Ryan to stay when he says he needs to go get help. This leads to Died in Your Arms Tonight.
- Punky Brewster: During the first two seasons Allen Anderson was usually the addled tag-along chum. In season three's "Divorce Anderson Style," Allen is consigned to moving away with his mom to another city. As he says his goodbyes, Henry, Mrs. Garrett and Cherie hold up just fine. Punky is another story: when Allen gets to her, she loses it. As Allen leaves, Punky collapses into Cherie's arms, crying her eyes out.
- Smallville:
- Clark and the women in his life (Clark and Lana, Clark and Chloe, and Clark and Lois) do this. A lot. Whenever one of them gets one of their many deaths or near-deaths, trust the other to exclaim this.
- In "Reckoning", this happens with Clark and Martha saying this to Jonathan after his heart attack.
- "Phantom", Chloe to Lois as the latter dies. She gets better.
- Sort Of: Played for Laughs in the lead-up to the Moving-Away Ending. Sabi is preparing to move to Berlin while their sister Aqsa is about to have a baby, raising concerns over whether they should stay for the family's sake. After the baby is born, Aqsa locks eyes with Sabi and whispers, "Don't go... [Beat] ...Kidding."
- Supernatural: Effectively said by Dean when his brother is dying in his arms at the end of the first part of season two's two-part finale.
- Top Gear: The Bolivia special features a terrifying drive along the cliff-filled Death Road. Afraid of heights and stuck with a car with no headlights, presenter James May begs this, word for word, of his Vitriolic Best Bud Richard Hammond, whose car does have functioning lights. In a Friendship Moment, Hammond promises to stay with him.
- Touched by an Angel: In one episode, a young prostitute is thrown from her customer's car, having been badly beaten but him. As she lies in the alley, she's approached by Andrew, the Angel Of Death. Not knowing who he is, but likely still realizing that she's dying, she pitifully begs him to stay with her, never realizing that's exactly why he's there.
- The Tudors: As Queen Jane Seymour lies dying of puerperal fever following the birth of her son Edward, Henry VIII visits her bedside and invokes the trope by name.
"Please... don't go. Just because you have done everything that you promised, please don't leave me."
- Whoniverse:
- Doctor Who:
- "Last of the Time Lords": A recurring villain coaxes one of these out of the Doctor:
The Master: [Do you think I would want to] spend the rest of my life, imprisoned with you!?
The Doctor: You've got to, come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done? Axxons, remember the Axxons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left. I've no one else. REGENERATE!
The Master: How about that? I win! ...will it stop, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop? [dies]- "Amy's Choice": Amy does it twice. First to the Doctor and Rory when they're made to fall asleep, leaving her alone in the freezing TARDIS with the Dream Lord. Second towards Rory when he's been hit with the dissolving gas, and he's crumbling away into dust.
- Done again in "The Angels Take Manhattan", when the Doctor breaks down and full-out begs Amy not to let an Angel touch her and send her back in time to Rory in a section of spacetime that the TARDIS can't go to without ripping a hole in the universe. She refuses him. The fact that it's played as being incredibly pathetic and selfish on the Doctor's part makes his utterly honest, tear-choked "I will never see you again!" and his shriek of anguish as he falls face-down on the ground in grief when Amy vanishes even more heartbreaking.
- "The Time of the Doctor": Clara tries her best to stay composed while the Eleventh's reaching his very end, but when he begins regenerating, she breaks down into tears and begs him in a hushed voice to not change.
- Torchwood: Children of Earth:
Jack: Ianto? Ianto? Don't leave me, please. Please.- The War Between the Land and the Sea has Kate say this to Colonel Ibrahim as he dies, having just Taken The Bullet for her.
- Doctor Who:
- Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Justin loses his memory, resulting in Alex desperately begging him not to leave her, after she starts crying and telling him that he is everything that she has ever wanted to be.
- Xena: Warrior Princess: An episode that added much fuel to the Les Yay fire had Xena screaming, "Don't you leave me!" while trying to resuscitate a not-breathing Gabrielle.
Music
- The subject of Ane Brun's "Don't Leave" requests this of the narrator, who assures the subject that this was never their intention.
- Bal-Sagoth's "Return to the Praesidium of Ys" has one where the narrator tells his love interest to stay with him. To put it on perspective, he is Zurra, a demonic demigod responsible for the destruction of entire civilizations, lord of the denizens of the Black Galaxy and a being capable to stand his ground against some of the major powers of Bal-Sagoth-verse, yet by the end of the song his tone is one of someone begging the Sylph he is in love with
Return with me beyond the stars, rule with me a thousand worlds.
- Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now".
- City and Colour's "Constant Knot" and "Weightless".
- Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is a song about a woman begging her beloved to stay with her, they don't have to admit their love for each other, because just being with her is enough. The fact that Dusty was a bisexual seems to add an extra layer of potential sadness to the song.
- In Fairy Tales, by Eric Lane Barnes, the song "A Humming Bird" is about a man desperately pleading for his dying lover to cheer up and get well again because he doesn't know how he could possibly live without him.
- Peter Gabriel: "No Way Out" is narrated by someone dreading the impending death of a loved one, begging them to hang on to life to no avail.
- Get Set Go has the song "Please Destroy Me", where the narrator makes a long list of things they will allow the lover to do ("choke me, bleed me" and "murder everything I am" among others) just so long as the lover will stay with him.
- Played for Laughs with The Lonely Island's "Sushi Glory Hole", a satire on tech startups pitching really stupid and niche concepts, is about two Tech Bros pitching an app for a glory hole where you get fresh sushi delivered right to your mouth. The investors are understandably disgusted and keep getting up to leave, leading to the bros repeating:
- FLAVOR FOLEY's "Static" revolves around a children's show/cartoon mascot long left behind by her now-adult audience, who is terrified by a frightening and tiring adult world compared to a bright and poppy cartoon world where everyone's safe and happy and has either retreated into her own world or trapped herself in a TV broadcast — either way, she grows increasingly frantic when she thinks the viewer is going to leave, trying to convince them to at least leave the channel on when they inevitably leave.
When you go, just don’t change the channel
I hope you won’t be long
After all, I want to be wanted
Is that so wrong? - Hitoshizuku-P's song "Sunflowers of Parting Regrets," sung by Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len, is about a brother and a sister living in Japan during World War II. Though the siblings wanted to go through life together, watching the sunflowers in their garden grow, the brother is drafted into the army, to the sister's dismay, which is understandable given that their father's death in battle led to their mother's suicide when they were children. As her brother is boarding the train to join his brothers-in-arms, the sister grabs his sleeve and tearfully begs him not to go. He pulls her hand away, saying that in going to war he is protecting her, and asks that she give him a smile as a parting gift. She refuses, not wanting to reward him for causing her so much grief. The final picture in the video, which depicts the sister as an adult holding three sunflowers, seems to imply that her brother never returned, as the three flowers seem to represent the three people she lost.
- Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas."note
- "Mother" by John Lennon, which has him wailing "mama don't go, daddy come home" at the end.
- Madeline Harper Guest's "Not Ready" has this as a main theme, possibly with shades of How Dare You Die on Me! or Stay with Me Until I Die mixed in, depending on how you interpret it.
- Michael Jackson's "Don't walk away."
- Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Walk Away"
- Jade'snote "Don't Walk Away".
- "Red, Red Wine" by Neil Diamond has the narrator addressing this sentiment to a bottle of wine—in the second person, even—seeing it as the only company he has to turn to.
- P!nk's "Please Don't Leave Me". Goes straight to Nightmare Fuel if you watch the music video or listen closely.
You're my perfect little punching bag.
- Pink Floyd: In The Wall, the track "Don't Leave Me Now" revolves around Pink contemplating the collapse of his marriage and begging his wife not to leave him, claiming that he's dependent on abusing her (the film adaptation clarifies that he's simply exaggerating his faults as a byproduct of his ongoing mental breakdown, with his real issue being his emotional detachment from his spouse).
- Radiohead has the fan-favorite "True Love Waits", which went unreleased for over 20 years, and which includes the repeated line "Just don't leave/Don't leave". The original version of the song on acoustic guitar is a bittersweet song about finding love and wanting to hold on to it, written shortly after frontman Thom Yorke entered a relationship with Rachel Owen; the song finally got a studio version on 2016's A Moon Shaped Pool, just after the end of Yorke's 23-year relationship with Owen, as a mournful-sounding piano ballad reflecting sadly on love lost.
- The song "Ikanaide" by Sohta featuring the Vocaloid Kaai Yuki, whose title translates to "don't go" from Japanese, is about someone who pretends that they aren't bothered by a loved one going away on a trip/moving, but who internally wants to beg her not to go.
- Supertramp's "Don't Leave Me Now". Interestingly, this Roger Hodgson song is the last track of the last Supertramp album where he would get involved, since he was already in the process of leaving the band and nasty royalties conflicts later made sure he would never come back. Jowever, unlike what the song implies, Hodgson was the one who took the initiative to leave.
- "Don't Ever Leave Me" from the musical Sweet Adeline.
- VNV Nation has a song "Illusion" where the chorus is this trope said a different way.
Theatre
- Aspects of Love includes a particularly cathartic and pathetic one from Rose in the finale.
- In Follies, in the Pensieve Flashback of Ben breaking up with Sally, Young Sally says, "Don't leave me, Ben. I'll kill myself, I'll die!" Ben doesn't take her suicide threat seriously at the time.
- Frank Wildhorn's Dracula has this in the song number Loving You Keeps Me Alive where the titular vampire pleads with Mina for her not to go to Jonathan and instead stay with him.
- In Hamilton, Maria Reynolds says this to Alexander Hamilton during "Say No to This" when he confronts her after her husband James reveals that he knows about (and most likely orchestrated) their affair and blackmails Hamilton into giving him money.
- In Legally Blonde, Elle suffers a Heroic BSoD after getting hit on and fired by Professor Callahan and decides to go back home. Her friend Emmett, who by this point has fallen deeply in love with her, desperately begs Elle to stay.
Emmett: If you can hear, can I just say - how much I want you to stay?
Elle: It's not up to me, just let me be "Legally Blonde"...
Emmett: I need you to stay... - In Lizzie, the titular character's home life is so awful that when her older sister leaves town for a few days, she begs her not to go.
Please, don't leave me here, alone with them!
Web Comics
- Lucy of Bittersweet Candy Bowl is terrified of Mike leaving her forever, and reacts poorly when she thinks, after Mike has rejected her, that Paulo wants nothing to do with her as well.
- Out of the Blue: In Chapter 7, Felix, having realized his romantic feelings for Mack and reliance on him for his well-being after the flood, desperately tries to convince Mack to come back to the lake with him. He conceals his true feelings and instead promises to keep Mack safe and keep him company as he tries to figure out how to get Mack back to his home in the ocean. Mack is hesitant at first, but he eventually goes along with Felix's wishes.
- Penny Arcade: Played for some very Black Comedy in Ripped From the Headlines - Tycho accidentally kills his wife Brenna while trying to show off a move he learned playing Splinter Cell, and is left cradling her dying body in his arm while invoking this trope. Amoral Attorney Bob Greasy comes along in the next strip and tells Tycho he needs to get over his grief (which is all of about 2 minutes old at this point) so they can start up a Frivolous Lawsuit over Brenna's death.
- Stand Still, Stay Silent: Tuuri and Onni share a mutual moment of this on one of the first pages. Tuuri, who is going on an expedition into the Silent World with their cousin Lalli, pleads to Onni to join them because she doesn't want to leave her big brother behind alone. Onni, who for some reason hates everything that has to do with the Silent World, refuses to go outside the walls of his home town and is for very good reasons afraid his little sister and cousin may not come back, pleads for Tuuri to stay home. In the end, neither manages to sway the other.
- Unsounded: In the companion story Orphans, Matty breaks his silence after losing his eyesight for the first time to beg his father not to leave him.
Web Original
- In the Ask Jappleack blog, a spin-off of the PONY.MOV series, Jappleack would regularly abuse (physically and otherwise) her sister Apple Bloom for various reasons. One reader finally demanded that she stop mistreating Apple Bloom and love her, dammit! Jappleack ponders for a minute, then yells for Apple Bloom. She stares down at Apple Bloom, who's clearly expecting another beating. Instead, she wraps her arms around her neck and says "Don't you leave me. Don't you dare fucking leave me." Confused, Apple Bloom tells her that she loves her too. Jappleack herself seems relieved that she's finally been nice to her sister. Naturally, Apple Bloom is crushed by Discord in SHED.MOV almost immediately after.
- Done through song in The Nostalgia Chick's date with The Nostalgia Critic. After it dies a crashing death with Critic having an Am I Just a Toy to You? breakdown and both of them running offscreen, you'd think the ship had sunk if it weren't for the chorus of "Baby Come Back" playing over the ending credits.
- The Nostalgia Critic chased after Tamara after she tortured him in The Wicker Man (2006) review, not angry that she'd hurt him but annoyed because she left and he wanted to give her a job.
Western Animation
- In Adventure Time, Betty's heartbroken reaction as her fiancee, Simon Petrikov (who would later become the Ice King) goes insane due to the influence of the crown he's wearing:
Betty: Simon... don't leave me like this...
- Amphibia: In the Grand Finale, Sprig tries this with Anne when she plans to sacrifice herself to destroy The Core. Unfortunately, he's too late to stop her from absorbing the power of the stones.
- Arcane: Powder begs Vi not to abandon her after accidentally killing the rest of their adoptive family and that she needs her as Vi is walking away. Vi was going to return to save her from Silco but gets arrested before she can. Powder in general has some massive attachment issues.
- Played for Laughs in the Bob's Burgers episode "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins". After Bob tells the unstable-but-harmless vagrant they've invited into their home for Christmas that the woman he loves (who is a mannequin) is "probably in a dump somewhere", the man runs from the room in tears. Linda is pissed at Bob for ruining the man's Christmas and angrily orders the kids out of the room, which Bob asks them not to do. This goes back and forth with Bob getting more desperate for them to stay, culminating in him shrieking "Don't leave me!", probably because he figured Linda wouldn't kill him in front of the kids.
- Played for laughs in the Danger Mouse episode "Mechanised Mayhem." As Greenback's transport, the Frog's Head Flyer, is rebelling against him and Stiletto kicking down the door of their hideout, Stiletto issues an S.O.S. which DM retrieves. As DM and Penfold prepare to backtrack to London:
Stiletto: Oh, don'a leave me! What-a shall I do?!
DM: Just keep your beak crossed and hope the Flyer gets cramp before the door gives in. - Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: In "Home Sweet Homing Pigeon," Dick Dastardly uses this along with Crocodile Tears to keep Klunk, Zilly and Muttley from leaving him as their discharges have come in.
- Though not outright stated, Krass in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) has a fear of abandonment after her parents died in a crash. She was Happily Adopted by the Tiger Tribe, but fears having any of her new family leave her, especially her pseudo-brother Adam. She regularly argues with him over his desire for them to be heroes as the Masters of the Universe because she fears he'll leave the tribe for a new life. In the season two finale, Skeletor's ghost convinces her that the Masters have abandoned her for positions in the Eternos Royal Court, and offers to bring her parents Back from the Dead if she'll help him come back to life too. This triggers her Face–Heel Turn into Rampage.
- In Justice League Unlimited, Ace begs Batman to stay with her in her final moments before the same condition that gave her powers ultimately kills her. He does.
- The Legend of Vox Machina: The episode "The Sunken Tomb" ends with Vex getting caught in an instant-death trap accidentally triggered by Percy, and dying on the spot. This is then followed by a flashback to the days after her and her twin brother Vax ran away from their abusive home — the two of them had gotten in a fight and tried to split off from eachother, but Vax eventually returned to her in tears, telling her that he needs her and ending with "Do not go far from me". Cut back to the present, and Vax is hysterically sobbing over Vex's corpse.
- Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny does this in "A Wild Hare" during his "death" scene, which makes Elmer Fudd wallow in self-pity after Bugs "dies."
- Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: Magoo (as Ebenezer Scrooge) to the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, when the latter abandons him in a cemetery.
- In the Oscar's Oasis episode Lost, Harchi does this to Oscar when he gets separated from his friends.
- The Owl House:
- In "Yesterday's Lie", Camila is heartbroken to learn that Luz intentionally chose to stay in the Boiling Isles instead of immediately returning home, and makes her promise to stay with her for good once she finds a way home.
- At the beginning of "Clouds on the Horizon", The Collector desperately calls to King to not leave him in the In Between Realm while the former is an astral projection.
- In "King's Tide", Luz doesn't want to leave everyone on the Boiling Isles at the mercy of the Collector, but Amity pleads for her to stick with her and the rest of the group.
- Phineas and Ferb: In "The Beak", Phineas tells Isabella he cannot help her report on Khaka Peü Peü's battle with the Beak, and she begs him not to leave her again as this was the fourth time today he let her down. Unknown to her, this was because Phineas can't tell her that he is the titular superhero to avoid risk of putting her in danger if his identity was exposed.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Squidward's School for Grown-Ups", a heartbroken SpongeBob shouts this to Patrick after Squidward calls him out for attempting to shave Patrick's beard and having learned nothing at being mature like him, and proceeds to take Patrick away leaving the sponge alone with risk of losing his best friend forever.
Real Life
- As Alexander Graham Bell lay dying, Mabel, his wife, whispered, "Please don't leave me." Bell signed the word "No", lost consciousness, and died shortly after.
- Supposedly, "Please don't leave me" were Chris Farley's last words to a prostitute who was with him during his fatal drug overdose. She left anyway, after taking pictures of him and stealing his watch.
- One of many, many eerie parallels between Farley and his hero John Belushi. They died at the same age, of the same cause, and had very similar dying words. Belushi's were "Just don't leave me alone." He died alone too.
- Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher and lifelong guide, was reportedly haunted by the memory of these words from her tubercular brother James, who was shut up with her in the county poorhouse and died at the age of eight.
- The last known person to see Layne Staley alive was former bandmate Mike Starr. According to him, about a week and a half before Layne's corpse was discovered, he visited with him briefly and saw that he was deathly ill. He urged Layne to call 911, but he refused, threatening to break off their friendship. This led to an argument, and Mike stormed out. Mike later stated that as he was leaving, he heard Layne calling after him, "Not like this! Don't leave like this!" He is believed to have died that same night or the day after. Up to the day he himself died, Starr blamed himself for Staley's death.
- Abusive Parents sometimes intentionally provoke this reaction in their children. The parents' own low self-esteem causes them to crave a sense of being "needed", so they may convince the child that they cannot be left alone, in a situation where the parent is absent, or doing anything independently, lest something terrible happen. And if it does, they blame the child's foolishness for thinking they could do anything by themselves. Replace "parent" and "child" with "spouse", and the situation is the same.
- A deep fear of abandonment is a core symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder. Unfortunately, when combined with other symptoms of the disorder, such as mood swings, impulsive and/or dangerous behavior, and a Hair-Trigger Temper, someone with BPD may end up driving their loved ones away anyway, sometimes in a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
