Doomed Protagonist: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"When I am taken, all my memories will fade, crowded out by [[Fate Worse Than Death|eternal suffering.]] My imagination takes over and I see myself struggling through the body of the King, wracked with agonies and unable to remember any other existence. I know that I will have no more thoughts of freedom or safety or home because my very understanding of the concepts will be lost to me and [[Arc Words|it hurts.]]'' {{spoiler|[[Madness Mantra|it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts]]}}"|The protagonist of [[Ben Croshaw|Yahtzee's]] [http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/features/expedition.htm "The Expedition"]}}

The story almost always [[Bolivian Army Ending|ends just short of his final transformation or death,]] and sometimes [[In Medias Res|begins with a later scene]] that [[Foregone Conclusion|shows him doomed]]. It is also almost always told from [[The All -Concealing "I"|the first person.]] These stories are usually [[Apocalyptic Log|Apocalyptic Logs]]s.

This may happen because of a [[Viral Transformation]], [[The Virus]] or [[The Corruption]]. Compare [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror]], when the character was that way all along. Contrast [[And Then John Was a Zombie]], when this is used as an ending twist. Also compare [[Heroic Willpower]], which particularly special heroes can use to resist their fate. Not related to [[Doomed Byby Canon]] or [[Foregone Conclusion]], although they can cover protagonists who are doomed. May lead to acting like a [[Sheep in WolfsWolf's Clothing]].

== Anime and Manga ==

* Seita from "''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]"'': The first scene is him dying in the streets and then it flashes back to the past.

* The premise of the classic [[Film Noir]] ''[[D.O.A.]]'' and its 1980s remake.

* This is the premise of ''[[Crank (Film)|Crank]]''. {{spoiler|However, it's subverted, as he ultimately survives.}}

* The original ending of ''[[The Crazies]]'' remake had {{spoiler|David getting a nosebleed, this showing that both himhe and Judy were actually infected with [[The Virus|Trixie]] }}.

* Everyone in ''[[Threads]]''. {{spoiler|It doesn't look like humanity, at least in the UK, will last beyond a few generations.}}

* This is the very idea behind Jean-Pierre Melville's ''[[Le Samouraï]]'', but in a simple crime drama. You know what's coming. {{spoiler|And so does he.}}

* The title character of the movie ''[[Simon Birch]]'' is going to die. You know this from the beginning, as the [[First -Person Peripheral Narrator]] is narrating the entire movie over his grave.

* ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien 3]]'' has {{spoiler|Ripley with a queensqueen's embryo inside her.}} Granted we learn this approximately halfway through.

* At the end of the uncensored version of [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP-835's]] [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/835aarfull uncensored after-action report], it's revealed that {{spoiler|the hero has been infected with [[The Virus]] and will soon go into containment with the other victim}}.

* {{spoiler|Shirou during the Heaven's Feel route}} in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'', after {{spoiler|having his arm removed by the Shadow and getting Archer's grafted onto him.}} The [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] that comes from using it would be survivable (though with a reduced lifespan) if he had years of gradual training to ease into it and did not have to overuse it -- unfortunatelyit—unfortunately, he hasn't got the luxury of either. Whether this is a subversion or not depends on the ending; in the True End, he gets better, in the Normal End, [[Downer Ending|he doesn't]].

** The prequel, ''[[Fate Zero (Literature)|Fate /Zero]]'' has this happen to Kiritsugu, who is cursed by the Grail, and dies a few years later, before ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'' begins.

* The ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series has {{spoiler|Raziel}}. Pain, betrayal, torture, humiliation and death? Oh yes, he has that coming in spades, but his is a more brutal kind of doom: After being executed by his master Kain, he's ressurectedresurrected as a soul-devouring entity. Later, he becomes bound to a spectral blade known as the Reaver. After travelling back in time {{spoiler|he learns that the Reaver is in fact the soul of his own future self, once imprisoned within the blade and driven insane after milleniamillennia, and that it is his destiny to suffer the same fate.}}. He resists at first, but by the end realizes it ''has'' to happen and accepts it.

* It looks like [[MegamanMega Man Legends|Rockman Trigger]] will remain stuck on Elysium. He's been up there for over a decade, and all of Roll, Tron's, and ''Capcom's'' attempts to bring him back to Terra have failed.

* Might be the fate of the two lead protagonists in ''[[Dead Rising]]''. {{spoiler|even the fate of the survivors are in question,}} well in Otis' opinion anyway. Also, at the end of the "real" ending, the message {{spoiler|"And yet he complained that his belly was not full."}} is shown.

* In ''[[Halo|Halo Wars]] '' {{spoiler|this is the fate of Sgt. Forge when he enters the sun's core of the shield world}}.

*** Although everyone DOES''does'' die eventually, and in a society like theirs, most people wouldn't live much longer than that anyway.

*** Avernus would LOVE''love'' to prove you wrong, as he's, pardon my words, old as shit AND a grey warden who's prolonged his life using blood magic.

* A couple of ''[[R-Type]] Final''[['|{{'}}s]] endings leave the pilot disabled and floating in space.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' ends this way. {{spoiler|All the heroes know that it is futile to fight Nyx Avatar. Sure enough, after fighting it, [[The Battle Didn't Count]]}}. Shouldn't be all that surprising because it's a [[Mega Ten]] game and "Memento Mori" shows up quite a bit in the intro. {{spoiler|ItsIt's ultimately subverted by the protagonist making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to contain Nyx Avatar.}}

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. {{spoiler|At first, Yuna is doomed as were all the summoners before her to become the next Sin after the calm. Once the cycle is broken, Yuna is no longer doomed, but it becomes clear that Tidus is now doomed because he only exists as a dream of the Fayth and will fade once Sin is destroyed and the Fayth awaken.}}

* The Nameless One is damned even in the best endings of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. Somehow it's not a [[Downer Ending]], as Nameless is at peace with himself, and battling in the Lower Planes is old hat to him by now.

* At the end of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', {{spoiler|Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[Serial Escalation|walking through a microwave chamber]], and [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown|fighting Liquid Ocelot]], knows that he only has about six months to live before his [[Cloning Blues|artificially accelerated aging]] finally kills him.}} But it's okay, because he's happy.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]-2'': {{spoiler|Serah. The game also reveals that ''all the player characters except Fang and Vanille'' were supposed to be this for the previous game.}}

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