| abstract | - Alice has been Killed Off for Real or spirited away. Normally, this would be cause enough for Bob to stress, but the angst level is upped when he remembers that he forgot to give Alice that one last "Goodbye" or "I love you" just before she disappeared for good. This guilt can be understandable if the hero and the victim had a strained relationship and he never came around to telling him how he really felt about them. More often than not, however, they had a healthy, long-lasting relationship, and the hero's grief over that one phrase he forgot to say on that one day comes off as just a stubborn refusal to quit blaming himself and move on past the guilt phase. Alternatively, Bob and Alice parted on bad terms the last time they saw each other, and Bob wanted to apologize, but now knows he will never get the chance. In other words, when the hero says "I never got to say goodbye," it's usually set up as an excuse for him to continue brooding even when it's clear that it's just one small thing in context of the happy times they shared together. In shows with a more paranormal bent, this is often the precursor to the departured person returning briefly as a ghost or apparition, to give the angstee chance to say goodbye and gain closure. The slightly darker version is I Wished You Were Dead. This has absolutely nothing to do with Rickrolling, incidentally. Examples of Never Got to Say Goodbye include:
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