Cruel and Unusual Death: Difference between revisions

* The short story ''Dark Red Mind'' has a scene where, after finding out that [[The Mole|the Colonel was in on the villain's plan]] the whole time, the three lead superhumans kill him in a truly nightmarish way. The Colonel gets in his car, turns the key in the ignition, and looks into the rear-view mirror to find Justin and Bethany sitting in the backseat. Just before he can get out, Justin uses his telekinesis to forcibly buckle the Colonel's seatbelt as tight as he can, making sure he can't get out. But that's not enough. Bethany uses her phasing powers on his hands ''without even touching him'', making sure he won't even have a physical chance to escape. Then, the third superhuman, Kaitlyn, with the ability to cut through things with her mind, slams her hands on the hood of the car. The Colonel begs for mercy, and Justin, with his only line in the story, simply replies, "Sorry, man. None left for you." Then Kaitlyn uses her power to ''cut through his neck as slowly as possible'' until she finally cuts all the way through.

** All of this is happening while [[Soundtrack Dissonance|Nocturne #2 in E-Flat Major is playing on the car radio.]]

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'''s tie-in novels feature a heavy dose of this. The Kamigawa trilogy was probably the high point: a minor god is devoured by disembodied mouths, a monk is drowned by a water mage while restrained, a telepath gets ''being frozen to death'' sent to her via telepathy, an immortal king is [[Taken for Granite|turned to stone]] and [[And I Must Scream|shattered, breaking his mind and his sight into thousands of tiny bits]]... Choryu, the water mage, suffers a fate almost beyond comprehension: he is bound with life-sustaining spells, burned beyond recognition, cursed a thousand different ways, has poison soaked into every inch of his flesh, and is slowly fed his own limbs. His actual death is a [[Mercy Kill]], making this an inversion.

* In the ''[[The Draka|Domination series]]'' by S.M. Stirling the stock punishment for any dissent is to be staked. The victim slowly dies, but if they tire and relax they'll just fall onto the stake more. It takes some skill to make the stake just the right length so as not to kill the victim too soon.

* [[Richard Morgan|Richard Morgan's]] fantasy novel ''[[The Steel Remains]]'' has one society sentence various people to death by gradual, mechanically-assisted impalement. This happens to a childhood friend of the main character. Later, due to a journey through possible alternate worlds/lives, the central character himself lives through such an experience. The description is... memorable, and not in a good way.

* ''[[Ghostgirl]]'' - She chokes on a friggin ''gummy bear'' while distracted by the guy she likes.

* The Short Story ''Jericho'' has the titular hero exiled by his own people, captured by humans, beaten, whipped, and eventually castrated and skinned alive.

* Failing to bind an Andat in ''[[The Long Price Quartet]]'' can have some pretty horrific consequences. For example, having your veins fill up with crushed glass. Or growing twisted mouths all over your body that vomit up you blood. Or slowly filling up with seaweed and black ice until your stomach ruptures.

* In ''[[The Hunger Games]]'', many of the deaths in the arena are especially cruel. And some of the ones in ''Mockingjay'' are so gory that many can't imagine how the movie could be made without earning an R-rating.

* The last chapter of Zola's ''Nana'' focuses on other characters as they visit the title character's deathbed. The cheerful prostitute, who single-handedly ruined the fortunes of some of the richest men in France through sheer profligacy, dies horribly disfigured by smallpox.

* Grenouille, the protagonist in ''[[Perfume|Perfume the Story of A Murderer]]'', has murdered twenty-five beautiful virgins to create the most glorious, irresistible perfume in the world. For his crimes he is ''supposed'' to have his ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows and shoulders shattered and then be hung up to die, but he escapes this fate: in the end, he pours the perfume over himself and is torn to pieces and devoured by an adoring mob. The author makes it clear just how hard it is to tear a living human being into pieces, too.

* In The Quest for Blank Claveringi, a short story by Patricia Highsmith, the protagonist is stranded on an island {{spoiler|populated by [[It Can Think|INTELLIGENT]] man-eating snails the size of buicks}}. Suffice it to say this does not end well.

== Western Animation ==

* About 95% of all Kenny's deaths in ''[[South Park]]''.

* Blurr's death in [[Transformers Animated]]. He was crushed into a cube for crying out loud! And that was after he found out that his "boss" so-to-speak, was a double agent.