Death Seeker: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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At some point in the past, a character had a [[Moral Event Horizon|traumatic]] [[Despair Event Horizon|experience]], or found themselves dishonoured, or committed a crime they could not repay or lost everything worth living for. For [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|whatever reason]], instead of just [[Driven to Suicide|committing suicide]], they went off seeking battles to fight, hoping to find an [[Suicide by Cop|enemy who would kill them]], and achieve an [[Redemption Equals Death|honourable]], [[Heroic Sacrifice|heroic]] or otherwise acceptable death.

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Kambei in ''[[Samurai 7]]'', who is actually disappointed that he has managed to survive ''yet again'' even while most of his his subordinates have once again died.

** The anthology "Endless Nights" had a soldier whose life was empty, until he encountered [[Perky Goth|Death]] and actually helped her on a job by breaking down a magic gate so she could enter a castle and claim the inhabitants. Now, he enters battle with renewed vigor, in the hopes he will meet her again.

* Daredevil (not Matt Murdock) of ''[[Earth X]]'' is unkillable due to his regenerative powers. It's not clear how he became suicidal, but he becomes the center of a circus act in which the audience is invited to kill him if they can. Later he tries to get several [[Big Bad]]s to kill him, culminating in his multiplying into many versions of himself when he is ripped apart. Late in the series he apparently finally gets his wish, but only after all of humanity has joined him in [[Blessed with Suck|painful immortality]] (due to the death of Death).

{{quote|'''Cassandra''': <thinking> I will never take another life, not even hers... so I will pretend to go all out, and then I'll die. I don't have to do this, I can still use Batman's method, I can still be... mediocre for a lifetime... or perfect... for a year.

'''Shiva''': "Well?" }}

** [[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.'

** Similarly in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'', while it's not explicitly stated Batman is constantly reflecting on the life-and-death situations he finds himself in and musing that "this would be a good way to die," the clear implication being that he's actively looking to go out in a suitable blaze of glory. {{spoiler|Ultimately subverted; although Batman appears to go out in a blaze of glory fighting Superman, it's revealed that he faked his own death, having discovered a new purpose to live over the course of the story.}}

** {{spoiler|So much so that when he was revived, the first thing he did was shed a tear over being alive.}}

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

*** {{spoiler|Except maybe not. It appears that he's expected to play a role in the "Reign Of Doomsday" arc that's coming up due to Doomsday's apparent interest in the original replacement Superman from [[The Death of Superman]]. Sucks to be Henshaw... again}}...

* Eilif the Lost was the last survivor of a Viking [[Lost Colony]] in Antarctica. Old and growing infirm, he tried to goad [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] into killing him. "I would have fought a god, my lord. What Viking could have asked for a more glorious death?"

* Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse from [[Scalped]] has an unconscious death wish. He constantly throws himself in dangerous gunfights with psychopaths and always alone. It's hinted that he suffers from ptsd {{spoiler|(child abuse, fighting in Kosovo and witnessing a massacre)}}, suicidal behaviour {{spoiler|(flashback to a young Dashiell cry and put a gun to his temple, second time he does the same thing when he could've prevented the murder of a young boy)}} and from deep seated anger {{spoiler|(his fists are bruised most of the time and we see him slamming his fists against his own truck)}}. When Dash is confronted by {{spoiler|his father}}, the conversation between them pretty much confirms all of this and more importantly his death wish.

* [[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]].

* 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.

** Don't worry, if you read The End {{spoiler|Thanos winds up saving ALL REALITY which he originally tried to kill off HALF OF. By the end Thanos himself makes the statement, [[Redemption Equals Death|"I have been many things...]] [[Heel Face Turn|and now, healer."]] Death, in return for his sacrifice, finally gives him her love.}}

* 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 one [[Star Wars]] story arc, the crooked ex-Senate Guard Venco Autem learns that he has a terminal illness, and so takes on suicidal jobs like assassinating corrupt Senators because he has nothing to live for. At the end of the comic, he places himself in a situation that he has little hope of escaping from in order to kill the Senator, and is indeed shot dead by his brother.

 

 

* For ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', in Kasuto of Kataan's "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160914005458/http://kasuto.net/fanfic.php?main=fanfic%2Feternity.html&top=fanfic%2Feternitymenu.html Eternity]", the villain is attempting to kill herself with a special spell {{spoiler|which would happen to kill several million bystanders}} after realizing that immortality is actually a curse since the world is boring after living for a really long time. She had already tried every other conventional method and failed.

** Being the author of this story, I'm flattered that I'm listed on this site. But to contribute, this story was a [[Shout-Out]] and [[Homage]] to X-Files season 6 episode 10 [http://in-the-x-i-believe.blogspot.com/2007/08/season-6-tithonus-6x09.html "Tithonus"].

{{quote|{{spoiler|And as he stood upon the battle fields, she thought back to his oath: [[I Will Wait for You|to be reunited with his love upon a hill of swords.]] To be reunited with his lover. His lover was dead. [[Together in Death|And it was only through battle that he could finally join her again. When he too was dead]].}} }}

** Needless to say, after being {{spoiler|revived by Tiffania}}, he clearly states that at that moment, he really, REALLY, hated her.