Death by Despair: Difference between revisions

Content added Content deleted
VisualWikitext
m (update links)
m (clean up)
Line 6: Line 6:
'''Citizen One:''' It’s the nineteenth century. That’s the kind of shit that happened then.|[[Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson]]}}
'''Citizen One:''' It’s the nineteenth century. That’s the kind of shit that happened then.|[[Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson]]}}


Sometimes, life sucks. People go bankrupt. Plans go awry. People we love die. Terrible things happen to people. And sometimes the poor, unfortunate people to whom terrible things happen just... stop. [[Death by Despair]] is what happens when someone loses the will to live, and as a result, just dies. There's rarely a readily apparent medical cause for it. Just a broken heart, or a broken soul for those cases not caused by the loss of a loved one.
Sometimes, life sucks. People go bankrupt. Plans go awry. People we love die. Terrible things happen to people. And sometimes the poor, unfortunate people to whom terrible things happen just... stop. '''Death by Despair''' is what happens when someone loses the will to live, and as a result, just dies. There's rarely a readily apparent medical cause for it. Just a broken heart, or a broken soul for those cases not caused by the loss of a loved one.


A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Despair Event Horizon]], since this is the result of despair that severe.
A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Despair Event Horizon]], since this is the result of despair that severe.
Line 65: Line 65:
* Iseult of ''[[Tristan and Iseult]]'' fame.
* Iseult of ''[[Tristan and Iseult]]'' fame.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' people who lose the ability to [[Functional Magic|channel]] do this as well as Warders with dead Aes Sedai who aren't killed trying to avenge them.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' people who lose the ability to [[Functional Magic|channel]] do this as well as Warders with dead Aes Sedai who aren't killed trying to avenge them.
** Warders who outlive their bonded Aes Sedai and can't avenge their deaths (if the Aes Sedai wasn't killed by someone, or died in an accident, or someone else gets there first, etc.) more become [[Death Seeker|Death Seekers]] By Despair -- they'll continuously throw themselves at Shadowspawn and dangerous problems until they finally get killed.
** Warders who outlive their bonded Aes Sedai and can't avenge their deaths (if the Aes Sedai wasn't killed by someone, or died in an accident, or someone else gets there first, etc.) more become [[Death Seeker]]s By Despair—they'll continuously throw themselves at Shadowspawn and dangerous problems until they finally get killed.
* Catherine Earnshaw-Linton of ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]''. Nellie Dean personally believes Heathcliff died of this too, and was not [[Driven to Suicide]] -- she sees his refusal to eat or sleep for days as a "result" of his illness rather than a cause.
* Catherine Earnshaw-Linton of ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]''. Nellie Dean personally believes Heathcliff died of this too, and was not [[Driven to Suicide]]—she sees his refusal to eat or sleep for days as a "result" of his illness rather than a cause.
* In ''[[American Gods]]'', a funeral director observes that an elderly man whose wife just dies will most likely be dead himself in about eight months. In his experience, elderly women who lose their husbands are usually able to live on, but elderly men can't handle it and will stop taking care of themselves and lose the will to live.
* In ''[[American Gods]]'', a funeral director observes that an elderly man whose wife just dies will most likely be dead himself in about eight months. In his experience, elderly women who lose their husbands are usually able to live on, but elderly men can't handle it and will stop taking care of themselves and lose the will to live.
* After both of Colonel Filitov's sons died young, one while fighting counterrevolutionaries and one due to his tank suffering a critical defect, his wife faded away. The loss of his entire family is what inspired him to start working for the CIA, becoming [[Jack Ryan|The Cardinal of the Kremlin]].
* After both of Colonel Filitov's sons died young, one while fighting counterrevolutionaries and one due to his tank suffering a critical defect, his wife faded away. The loss of his entire family is what inspired him to start working for the CIA, becoming [[Jack Ryan|The Cardinal of the Kremlin]].
Line 75: Line 75:
** Played straight at the end of the novel by Don Quixote, whom could not survive his [[Fan Disillusionment]]. (This is a petty reason to die, it's [[An Aesop]]).
** Played straight at the end of the novel by Don Quixote, whom could not survive his [[Fan Disillusionment]]. (This is a petty reason to die, it's [[An Aesop]]).
* Happens to the Aboriginal boy in ''Walkabout''. He believes the girl's fear of him is because she's seen the spirit of Death on him (in fact, she's just afraid because she's been taught Aboriginals are savages and never actually met one before). Because he thinks death is coming for him, he then more or less wills himself to die.
* Happens to the Aboriginal boy in ''Walkabout''. He believes the girl's fear of him is because she's seen the spirit of Death on him (in fact, she's just afraid because she's been taught Aboriginals are savages and never actually met one before). Because he thinks death is coming for him, he then more or less wills himself to die.
** More precisely, he catches the flu from the girl's brother, but has neither the inherited resistance nor the will to fight it. (The movie is more explicitly [[Death by Despair]]: he hangs himself after the failure of his courtship dance.)
** More precisely, he catches the flu from the girl's brother, but has neither the inherited resistance nor the will to fight it. (The movie is more explicitly Death by Despair: he hangs himself after the failure of his courtship dance.)
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Freckles's conviction that he is unworthy of Angel is killing him after his injuries.
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Freckles's conviction that he is unworthy of Angel is killing him after his injuries.


Line 83: Line 83:
* A [[Red Shirt]] in "[[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E04 The Naked Time|The Naked Time]]" tried to commit suicide, [[Interrupted Suicide|was stopped before he seriously hurt himself]],then died anyway because he couldn't summon the will to fight off the minor infection of the wound.
* A [[Red Shirt]] in "[[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E04 The Naked Time|The Naked Time]]" tried to commit suicide, [[Interrupted Suicide|was stopped before he seriously hurt himself]],then died anyway because he couldn't summon the will to fight off the minor infection of the wound.
* Seen in ''[[Scrubs]]'' in episode "My House", when a patient whose husband had just passed was suffering from "Broken Heart Syndrome" (see Real Life examples of this trope).
* Seen in ''[[Scrubs]]'' in episode "My House", when a patient whose husband had just passed was suffering from "Broken Heart Syndrome" (see Real Life examples of this trope).
** This happens to lead to one of the show's all-time great [[Imagine Spot|Imagine Spots]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVebMKT3uDs "Box of kittens, STAT!"]
** This happens to lead to one of the show's all-time great [[Imagine Spot]]s: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVebMKT3uDs "Box of kittens, STAT!"]
* One way to interpret Fumine Sonozaki/Shroud's death on ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]''.
* One way to interpret Fumine Sonozaki/Shroud's death on ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]''.
* In series two of ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', Lavinia develops Spanish flu before her wedding to Matthew, forcing them to cancel. While Matthew thinks she is in bed, she witnesses him and Mary kiss with Matthew explaining that Violet asked him to marry Mary. Lavinia [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|tries to convince him to go back to Mary]], but then her condition inexplicably worsens and [[Death of the Hypotenuse|she dies suddenly]], leading Matthew to conclude that she died of a broken heart because she believed he did not love her.
* In series two of ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', Lavinia develops Spanish flu before her wedding to Matthew, forcing them to cancel. While Matthew thinks she is in bed, she witnesses him and Mary kiss with Matthew explaining that Violet asked him to marry Mary. Lavinia [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|tries to convince him to go back to Mary]], but then her condition inexplicably worsens and [[Death of the Hypotenuse|she dies suddenly]], leading Matthew to conclude that she died of a broken heart because she believed he did not love her.
Line 111: Line 111:
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', you can inflict this on your enemies: The [[Urine Trouble|Jarate]] weapon causes anyone hit by it to "lose the will to live" and take more damage from you and your allies' weapons. Played entirely for laughs- this ''is'' TF2.
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', you can inflict this on your enemies: The [[Urine Trouble|Jarate]] weapon causes anyone hit by it to "lose the will to live" and take more damage from you and your allies' weapons. Played entirely for laughs- this ''is'' TF2.
* The Apathy Syndrome victims in ''[[Persona 3]]'' suffer from this after Shadows from humanity's Collective Unconscious feed on their sense of "self." All they do is shamble around and vegetate, doing nothing but wait to die, while letting out the occasional moan if you try to talk to them. In the Bad Ending of the game, {{spoiler|Nyx inflicts this upon ''everyone and everything on Earth, including the main characters''}}.
* The Apathy Syndrome victims in ''[[Persona 3]]'' suffer from this after Shadows from humanity's Collective Unconscious feed on their sense of "self." All they do is shamble around and vegetate, doing nothing but wait to die, while letting out the occasional moan if you try to talk to them. In the Bad Ending of the game, {{spoiler|Nyx inflicts this upon ''everyone and everything on Earth, including the main characters''}}.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'', possibly uniquely among fantasy [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]], replaces the admittedly conceptually illogical "hit points" most games use with "morale points." The general idea seems to be that the ''only'' way to die is literally from despair, though this despair is most commonly caused by the pain of being surrounded by enemies and stabbed repeatedly. Given the legendarium of Tolkein, mentioned in the Literature section of this very page, it's actually harder to argue against this being canonical than you'd think.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'', possibly uniquely among fantasy [[MMORPG]]s, replaces the admittedly conceptually illogical "hit points" most games use with "morale points." The general idea seems to be that the ''only'' way to die is literally from despair, though this despair is most commonly caused by the pain of being surrounded by enemies and stabbed repeatedly. Given the legendarium of Tolkein, mentioned in the Literature section of this very page, it's actually harder to argue against this being canonical than you'd think.




== [[Web Original]] ==
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Ink City]]'': while not explictedly played out, [[Word of God|Word of Mundane]] gave this as the reason for {{spoiler|[[Ruby Gloom|Misery]]}}'s departure: the horrifying fashion in which her best friend departed from the City and the [[Awful Truth|Awful Truths]] he unintentionally shared with her beforehand caused her so much grief that she curled up and wasted away.
* ''[[Ink City]]'': while not explictedly played out, [[Word of God|Word of Mundane]] gave this as the reason for {{spoiler|[[Ruby Gloom|Misery]]}}'s departure: the horrifying fashion in which her best friend departed from the City and the [[Awful Truth]]s he unintentionally shared with her beforehand caused her so much grief that she curled up and wasted away.
* After realizing the painful truth that he's a waste of space whose life has gone nowhere, [[The Nostalgia Critic]] [[Tear Jerker|slumps over his chair to eventually die alone]]. Luckily, he then gets some confidence back with an awesome song.
* After realizing the painful truth that he's a waste of space whose life has gone nowhere, [[The Nostalgia Critic]] [[Tear Jerker|slumps over his chair to eventually die alone]]. Luckily, he then gets some confidence back with an awesome song.


Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Death_by_Despair"