Dying Like Animals: Difference between revisions

When it becomes clear that a major threat to people's lives exist, you would expect them to drop everything else and [[Fighting for Survival|deal with it]], right? Well, not necessarily. After all, if the huddled masses were capable of saving themselves, then what would they need heroes for? People are [['''Dying Like Animals]]''' when they're actively working against their own best interest — sometimes even their literal survival — during a crisis situation. Instead of an asset, helping out the heroes to counter the threat, they're a liability at best and a hindrance at worst.

* The humans in ''[[Melody of Oblivion]]'' are either ignorant of the fact that Monsters have invadedinvaded—and -- and defeated -- humanitydefeated—humanity, or are complicit in offering children as sacrifices. Children and most adults fall into the former category, with only the leaders of a given area knowing the truth. The existence of the heroes, the Melos Warriors, is completely denied by nearly everyone.

** ''The Deathly Hallows'' {{spoiler|sees [[The End of the World as We Know It]] as Wizarding England (a democracy) basically transforms from one much like current England into a [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi-like]] police state pretty much openly run by Death Eaters, with Ostriches, Weasels, Mice, and Bats running rampant for weeks after the coup. Slytherin House becomes a bunch of Chimeras (Snakes, Jackals, Mice, and Lemmings), while the other houses are boars. You see, a Death Eater placed a mind-control jinx on some of the elected leaders, and most people, for no apparent reason, continue to trust the ''Daily Prophet.'' Mousehood becomes the overriding force in society for the next seventeen or so chapters, to the point where encouraging graffiti glows with phoenix fire by comparison. (Aberforth has convinced himself that he's a Mouse, but this runs totally counter to [[Fighting for Survival|his actual actions]]. A real [[Casablanca|Rick Blaine]] type, that one.)}} [[Harry Potter/Characters/Ministry of Magic|Dolores Umbridge]] and caretaker Filch both become Jackals -- UmbridgeJackals—Umbridge when the Ministry is taken over by Death Eaters, and Filch when Umbridge [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|takes over discipline]] in Hogwarts.

* Although ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' are the [[Trope Namer]] for many of the animals in [[Fighting for Survival]], [[The Last Battle|the final book]] presents the creatures falling into the habits of [[Dying Like Animals]]. Most of the creatures act like Sheep who are easily herded into the plans of [[The Empire|the Calormenes]]. The Ape Shift is a classic [[The Quisling|Snake]]: he tricks the gullible donkey Puzzle into [[Gullible Lemmings|helping him trick the Narnian masses]], and the Dwarves deserve a special mention, since they play the role of both Reindeer and Bats at various points in the story.

* ''[[Lost]]'': At the beginning of the series, Rousseau is very much a Lone Wolf, though she can eventually be convinced to ally with the survivors (but not join their community). The survivors themselves often degenerate into Boar-ishness. Sawyer is a quintessential Vulture -- untilVulture—until he becomes nicer and there are no more corpses to rob.

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' has Colonel Mason, a Turtle who believes that the city's forcefield will keep out the bulk of the [[Killer Robot|Killer Robots]]s and his own security forces and the Rangers will take down any that make it through. (Compare with the Rangers' [[Mission Control]], who is very concerned about the humans' ability to keep pace in an [[Exponentially Escalating Arms Race]].) He only reluctantly goes along with any of the Rangers' more proactive plans that risk lowering defenses even the slightest amount. This backfires once when an evil plan hinges on having everyone trapped ''in'' the city; and he eventually admits he's wrong at the end, once [[Big Bad]] Venjix activates a bunch of [[Manchurian Agent|Manchurian Agents]]s under his nose.

** [[Depraved Bisexual|Depraved Bisexuals]]s [[Career Killer|Zevran]] and [[Pirate Girl|Isabella]] have shades of the Butterfly: since theirs is a [[Crapsack World]], they might as well enjoy the good times while they last.

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', most of Vvardenfell's inhabitants are some combination of Sheep and Reindeer, while certain members of the Temple and House Redoran turn into Lemmings at one point in the main quest. On the other hand, they're also the only ones actively trying to fight the Sixth House, while the other Houses (particularly the Telvanni) are largely Ostriches. The corprus stalkers are Rats, while the Tribunal -- whoTribunal—who helped create the problem in the first place -- areplace—are the resident Mules.

* In ''[[Mega Man Star Force]] 2'', Electopia's whole population is basically turned into Mice. At the climax of the story, the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon|lost continent of Mu appears]] and the [[Big Bad]] makes a submit-or-die speech; from that point on, almost every NPC you talk to is scrambling to prove him/herself worthy of membership in the "Neo Mu Empire". There's a plot reason for this, but it's still annoying -- whoannoying—who wants to save a bunch of quislings?