Death Seeker: Difference between revisions

Compare [[The Berserker]]. Contrast [[Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You]] (a character offers someone to take his life due to remorse) and [[Martyr Without a Cause]]. Also [[Immortality Seeker]], for those seeking immortality instead of death. [[Martyrdom Culture|Martyrdom Cultures]] may regard such a character as a role model. Compare ''and'' contrast [[Not Afraid to Die]], where someone in definitely unafraid of death, but isn't actively seeking it out. Likely to cause a [[Threat Backfire]] to any death threat, for obvious reasons. Also see [[Miles to Go Before I Sleep]].

* Suzaku Kururugi's exceptional piloting skills and willingness to put himself in mortal danger in ''[[Code Geass]]'' are revealed to be because he is a [[Death Seeker]] of the [[Redemption Equals Death]] variety: {{spoiler|after he murdered his father, ex-Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, and doomed Japan to Britannian tyranny because of that, he seeks to be punished for the crime he was never blamed for}}. This gets a whole lot trickier when Lelouch places a [[Mind Control|Geass]] on him instructing him to "Live!" with no duration or parameters. Thus, whenever he tries to do something suicidal, or even just accepts that death will be the result of his current situation, the Geass command forces him to take any action he possibly can to avoid dying. {{spoiler|Given the [[Crapsack World|nature of ''Code Geass'']], this has predictably tragic results.}}

** [[Batman]] himself subconsciously slid into [[Death Seeker]] territory after [[Dead Sidekick|the death of Jason Todd/Robin II]], to the great worry of [[Team Mom|Alfred]] and Dick, and prompting Tim into becoming Robin, under the belief that 'Batman needs a Robin.'

* [[Word of God]] says {{spoiler|Rorschach}} from [[Watchmen]] is a [[Death Seeker]]. {{spoiler|He finds it.}}

{{quote|'''Cyborg Superman''' (attacking [[Green Lantern|Green Lanterns]]): ''Lethal force has been authorized, Green Lanterns. Please, use it.''}}

* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], to a [[The Woobie|horribly painful degree]]. And, no, it didn't start during/after [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]], either, though that certainly [[Up to Eleven|made it worse]]. It started when he was struck with [[Survivor Guilt|survivor's guilt]] over the [[My Greatest Failure|death of Yin Sen]] -- that's right, it started with his ''origin story'' -- and [[Hurting Hero|just kind of]] [[It Got Worse|went downhill]] [[Drowning My Sorrows|at breakneck speed]] [[Trauma Conga Line|from there]]. Unfortunately, Marvel [[Darker and Edgier|isn't kind enough]] to just [[Mercy Kill|let him die]] at this point, whether by way of [[Driven to Suicide|suicide]] or [[Suicide by Cop|death by supervillain]] -- though this may be [[Blatant Lies|justified]] by the fact that apparently, [[Running the Asylum|no one at Marvel]] has [[Did Not Do the Research|bothered to crack open a psychology textbook]] to figure out that [[The Mentally Disturbed|someone like Tony Stark]] should probably not still be alive of his own free will. Considering Tony's history of barely caring if he lives or dies, [[Be All My Sins Remembered|as well as his absolute self-loathing]], it's hard to believe that he's still breathing. Hell, if nothing else, it's a goddamned miracle that he hasn't [[Driven to Villainy|become an outright supervillain]], gone [[Murder Is the Best Solution|batshit crazy]], or [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|worse]]. Usually, when a character [[Despair Event Horizon|hits rock bottom]], the general procedure is to [[Redemption Equals Death|have them]] [[Heroic Sacrifice|go out]] [[Dying Moment of Awesome|in a blaze of glory]]. Instead, Marvel [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|handed him]] [[Kick Them While They Are Down|a shovel]].

** He ''did'' become a supervillain and died briefly. It was called "The Crossing" and he was replaced by a teenaged version of himself. [[Dork Age|No one liked it]]. [[Death Is Cheap|Adult Tony came back]] and it's been [[Retcon|Retconned]] that [[Not Himself|he wasn't himself]], Teen tony got written out, and it's more or less [[Fanon Discontinuity|ignored]] now.

* Thanos is a [[Death Seeker]] but not for the typical reasons. He wants to die because he is ''in love'' with the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Death.

* Lady Shiva of [[The DCU]] is a [[Death Seeker]] like Cassandra Cain {{spoiler|her own daughter}} mentioned earlier. Shiva has always regretted that her sister was killed for the sake of her own potential as a martial artist and confessed to Cassandra that she misses her every day. As a result, Shiva is a mix of a [[Blood Knight]] and a [[Death Seeker]]. She continues to challenge and train gifted martial artists out of a need to validate her sister's death by proving that she is the strongest, but at the same time she secretly hopes to die at the hands of someone better due to her guilt.

* In Phyllis Ann Karr's [[King Arthur|Arthurian novel]] ''[[The Idylls of the Queen]]'', Mordred fits the role pretty well--he spends the majority of the novel expecting (and hoping) the narrator Kay will kill him ({{spoiler|His theory of the murder he and Kay are attempting to solve is that it was an attempt on his life by Kay and Guinevere}}) and pisses a couple people off hoping they'll murder him because of the prophecy that he'll bring Arthur's kingdom down. A better example in his backstory, right after a hermit gives him the prophecy and tells him who his father is, he rides on into the tourney he was headed to and nearly succeeds. Most people think those injuries addled his brains.

* [[William Butler Yeats]]' poem "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" is about a [[Death Seeker]] [[World War I]] aviator.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: [[CIA]] director Calvin Span is revealed to be this in ''Home Free''. He died of a heart attack as a result of him shovelling his driveway. He knew better than to do that, considering that he had heart surgery a few years ago. His co-conspirator Owen Orzell thinks that Calvin had a death wish. Considering that Calvin was in bed with [[Big Bad]] Henry "Hank" Jellicoe, had a gambling addiction that was going out-of-control, had to turn against Jellicoe to save his own hide when Jellicoe's bad guy status was revealed, had the deaths of CIA agents on his conscience because Jellicoe wanted [[Revenge]] for Calvin turning against him, and the president forced him to resign for failing to capture Jellicoe in one month, it's not much of a stretch for this guy to become a [[Death Seeker]].

** Angel himself has some [[Death Seeker]] tendencies, though more back on [[Buffy]]: He seems to be trying to get Buffy to kill him in ''Angel'', tries to get Spike to kill him in ''What's My Line, Part 2'', and is insistent on sacrificing his life in ''The Zeppo''. On ''[[Angel]]'', he was pretty much unfazed by hearing he was going to die in ''To Shanshu In LA''. Oh, and he made a suicide attempt in ''Amends,'' but that's not how the trope works.

* Arguably Claire from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''--there's more than a little suicidal element to the way she repeatedly attempts to kill herself in order to gauge the extent of her powers.

* As recently pointed out by her therapist, Meredith of ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'' may be a subconscious [[Death Seeker]].

*** Troll Slayers also show up in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' as a career for player characters. The exit career -- the ''only'' exit career -- for the Troll Slayer is the Giant Slayer. The exit career for the Giant Slayer is the Daemon Slayer. The exit career for the Daemon Slayer is 'Glorious Death'. The note aside the career asks any player who wants to voluntarily pick it to 'think it over carefully'.

** There's also a [[Point Build System|disadvantage]] called 'On The Edge', that basically allows you to play your character as a [[Death Seeker]]. It makes you passively suicidal. You won't off ''yourself'', but if you're, say, [[Curb Stomp Battle|facing down an entire biker gang while armed with a toothbrush]]...

** He stops being a [[Death Seeker]] once he has a vision of the future (or rather, the present). He is astounded by how far humanity has advanced technologically and wishes to experience it for himself.

* {{spoiler|Kratos}} from ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' is eventually revealed to be a [[Death Seeker]] and has singled out [[The Messiah|Lloyd]] as the one who'll finally kill him -- {{spoiler|which he'll have to do because Kratos' lifeforce keeps a seal on the [[Cosmic Keystone]]}}. Fails miserably, after Lloyd [[Take a Third Option|merely beats]] ''[[Take a Third Option|six]]'' [[Take a Third Option|shades of hell out of him]] during their final encounter, {{spoiler|undoing the seal}}, and then proceeds to chew out his [[Not Quite Dead]] opponent over being so incredibly ''stupid'' in trying to throw his life away.

** Similarly, in Oblivion, {{spoiler|the Gray Prince, half-orc Grand Champion of the Arena, sends you on a quest to determine his heritage. When faced with the news that his father was a vampire and he is illegitimate, (more the first than the second, in fact he only seems to care about the first) he becomes a [[Death Seeker]]. If you challenge him to the title of Grand Champion, he will accept, then sit still and allow you to kill him, even offering verbal encouragement.}}

* The masked man and woman (AKA {{spoiler|Shura and Serion, Adell's blood parents}}) in ''[[Disgaea]] 2''. Being almost entirely incapable of controlling their actions yet entirely aware of the atrocities Zenon forces them to commit, the two henchmen literally ''beg'' Adell to kill them -- all while they do their very best to do the same to ''him''.

* Albedo from ''[[Xenosaga]]''. Since his unique genetic makeup makes it literally impossible to die (as in, his head can be ripped off with no ill effects whatsoever), he gets very upset when he finds out that his two brothers don't have the same ability. This becomes the main driving force behind his actions throughout the first two games--he wants to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|unseal]] the [[Cosmic Horror]] because it's the only thing capable of killing him and ensuring that he and his brothers can be together forever.

** {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]]}} in ''Awakening'' also turns out to be a [[Death Seeker]]. {{spoiler|She cannot tolerate existence being cut off from the Old Gods' Call after being "freed" by the Architect. She hopes to end the silence and find the song again in death.}}

* Reckless Cop Dangerama in ''[[Zettai Hero Project]]'' fights entirely using [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Dangerous Forbidden Techniques]] and taunts the Final Boss into hitting him with his most powerful attack. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by the game, saying that his tv shows often get cancelled because "He's a bad influence on the kids." {{spoiler|It's revealed the reason he's looking for a place to die, and tries to get hurt as much as possible is because he was unable to save the woman he loved, ending up sacrificing her in order to save a great number of people.}}