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Dig Your Own Grave: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Dig Your Own Grave 9426.jpg|frame|[[Superdickery.com|Doesn't Batman have a code against killing too?]]]]
When a character must literally dig a hole for their body, usually being forced to as the last thing they do before being killed or even [[Buried Alive]].
One might wonder in these kinds of situations why the character just doesn't refuse to dig the grave since they're going to die anyway. Usually the reasoning is that the prisoner goes along with it because we wants to eke out as much time for his life as possible. And, at least in fiction, this is often what saves the character. Much like an elaborate [[Death Trap]], it gives the digger time to think of an escape plan, or their allies time to save them.
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* Subverted in an advertisement (for life insurance?). A middle-aged man announces that "If you want something done properly, do it yourself," and begin to dig. After several shots angled to make it look as if he's digging his own grave, it's revealed that he's actually working on a swimming pool.
== Comic Books ==
* The cover of ''[[World's Finest]]'' #195 (pictured above) had Batman and Superman forcing Robin and Jimmy Olson to dig their own graves. (Superman, [[Super Dickery|being a dick]], forces them to dig the graves when it would take him less than a second and no effort at all for him to dig them.)
== Film ==
* Happens to all the (former) deputies at the hands of the wanted mass murderer, {{spoiler|former District Attorney Mike Powers}}, in ''[[
* The Nazi prisoner who uses the opportunity to try to endear himself to his captives in ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]''.
* Happens in ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]''. Digging a grave by hand does take a lot of time, a lot of things can happen.
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* Happens to the [[bandito]]s in ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]''.
== Literature ==
* Witches in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series know exactly when they're going to die, so some of them will dig their own graves and lay down in them when the time comes, to make everything nice and tidy. Wizards also know when they're going to die, but they tend to use that knowledge to have death parties.▼
* Subverted in [[Artemis Fowl]] :The Eternity Code; Mulch is forced to 'dig his own grave', but he's a dwarf, with natural tunnelling abilities, so he was hardly in any danger.▼
* In ''[[Pale Horse Coming]]'' by Stephen Hunter, corrupt cops arrest the protagonist, and one orders him to dig his own grave. However, the police chief, recognizing the protagonist's [[Badass]] potential, says it's a stupid idea and has him thrown in jail instead.▼
== Live
* One of the fantasy spots in ''[[Scrubs]]'' shows Eliot doing this as she antagonises Carla.
* In the sixth season of ''[[Lost]]'', {{spoiler|Ben}} is forced to do this by Ilana. He's able to get away, though, and [[Redemption Equals Life|is redeemed]] when he confronts her and she forgives him for {{spoiler|killing Jacob}}.
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* In ''[[Life]]'', there was a two-partner called "Dig A Hole" and "Fill It Up." In the first episode, Crews and Reese solve a murder case where the [[Sympathetic Murderer]] forced his victim to "dig a hole" and then "fill it up." In the second episode, when Crews finds the real killer of the crime he was falsely imprisoned for, he forces him to dig a hole...{{spoiler|but doesn't kill him}}.
* In the ''[[Inspector Morse]]'' episode "The Way Through The Woods", the murderer forces Lewis to dig a grave for himself and another victim. As per the trope text, this gives Morse time to come to the rescue.
* In the ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' episode "The Council", a shady mobster digs his own grave before being beaten, tossed into the grave, and buried alive by his boss. The IM Force dig him up immediately afterward so they can interrogate him about that boss.
* Subverted on ''[[Las Vegas]]'', when Ed hauled a creep out to the desert and ordered him to dig his own grave with his bare hands, terrorizing him for his misdeed, then just left him standing there.
==
* ''[[Dungeons
▲* Witches in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series know exactly when they're going to die, so some of them will dig their own graves and lay down in them when the time comes, to make everything nice and tidy. Wizards also know when they're going to die, but they tend to use that knowledge to have death parties.
▲* Subverted in [[Artemis Fowl]] :The Eternity Code; Mulch is forced to 'dig his own grave', but he's a dwarf, with natural tunnelling abilities, so he was hardly in any danger.
▲* In ''Pale Horse Coming'' by Stephen Hunter, corrupt cops arrest the protagonist, and one orders him to dig his own grave. However, the police chief, recognizing the protagonist's [[Badass]] potential, says it's a stupid idea and has him thrown in jail instead.
▲* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' once had a cursed magic item that did this. When the Shovel of Internment was used it dug a hole, forced the user to jump into the hole and paralyzed him, then filled up the hole, burying the victim.
== Video Games ==▼
* Officer Tenpenny has C.J. do this in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' when C.J. finally outlives his usefulness. Though it isn't C.J. who ends up in the grave.▼
== Western Animation ==
* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' [[Star Wars]] Special, Peter, as Han Solo, makes several stormtroopers [[Black Comedy|dig their own grave, then shoot each other]] because he's tired of the [[Darker and Edgier|special being so family friendly]].
* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Comic Book Guy and Skinner are ordered to dig their own graves by Burns. Comic Book Guy prays to Superman for help digging his hole.
▲== Video Games ==
▲* Officer Tenpenny has C.J. do this in ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas]]'' when C.J. finally outlives his usefulness. Though it isn't C.J. who ends up in the grave.
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:
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